Hotel Bruce

Cleveland natives know there is more to the city than first meets the eye. It’s a city that warrants a second and third look, and sometimes a lifetime among its burrows, to reveal that at certain times and places, it has an almost otherworldly quality.

Of course, Cleveland has its brand-name landmarks— the Flats, the Rock Hall, Terminal Tower, The Jake— any of them likely to be as familiar to visitors as to us. But we’ve noticed a handful of places with their own allure. Places that have a disorienting effect. Places that seem to transport the casual dreamer to other locales, some exotic, some merely distant. These are sights that stir the imagination and offer a playful invitation: “Let’s pretend we’re elsewhere.”

Here are some of the twilight zones we’ve stumbled into in our daily excursions through the city.

A noontime drive or bike-ride along Martin Luther King Boulevard affords a winding tour of stone bridges, brooks, and foliage. The well-tended Cultural Gardens lining the route relate the unique and diverse perspectives of the city’s countless immigrants. Of specific ethnic interest— like Boston’s Little Italy—Murray Hill boasts art galleries, lemon ice, and some fantastic Italian repast.

For a true glimpse of the Forest City, Lakewood’s tree-lined avenues transport the stroller to similar routes in the Carolinas. The North Shore is a stunning (and at present, under-utilized) highlight of the city’s landscape.

A sailboat view from Lake Erie casts the city skyline in a new light, reminiscent of breezy San Francisco or a seagull-trod Cape Cod. Looking across the water from Edgewater’s shore, one can almost glimpse a distant, stony Alcatraz.

Making our way from boutique to bakery on West 25th Street to our ultimate destination, the West Side Market, it is easy for the happy traveler to imagine she is in Brooklyn, NY. The cries of produce vendors in Russian, Spanish, or Italian emphasize our city’s immigrant roots, blending into the hustle-bustle of Ohio City.

In the summer, the Puerto Rican festival breathes a joyous and song-filled air into Tremont and the West Flats. You can enjoy a fried pork sandwich and salsa dancing.

For another otherworldly treat, check out one of the summertime rock shows from the patio at Pat’s in the Flats. Amidst a sunset born of an industrial haze, the mammoth oil tanks and lazy palm trees are the perfect backdrop for the very weird (and very loud) sounds coming from the guitar amplifiers.

The historic district by Fairhill on the East side evokes a certain pastoral manner that might be enjoyed in the English countryside. No postage stamp lawns here, but the studied chaos of flora and fauna. Pointy-peaked rooftops, and flowers blooming on every corner further support the fantasy.

There’s the Temple of Lost Love, a pocket of the Flats that spontaneously became a freeform public art gallery and performance space. It’s sort of behind the Tower City Ampitheater (in the valley).

It was whitewashed a while back, but people go back to the place and resurrect it. A 12-minute documentary called “What Grows in the Ashes of This Garden,” was made about it by a collective of artists, and Lou Muenz, Tremont-based photographer and webmaster for the Pat's in the Flats has a photographic tribute to the place.

Also, check out the small garden at St. Herman's of Alaska (on Franklin Blvd next door to the Franklin Castle) to which people bring food or just sit in. There are flower and vegetable patches and this odd collection of onion domes which look like they've been salvaged from old orthodox churches. There are probably around six of them that just dwell, hodge podge, in the garden. It's very cool and worth a drive by. I'm sure one of the monks in St. Herman's would fill you in on the history of the collection. My kids often stop for a gaze on our way to the YMCA.

Recently, a small collective of folk created a small children's garden on W. 45th just south of Franklin. It's very, very colorful, even though people in charge of salvaging the place have been getting some flack from people saying it looks garish and so on. I think it invites children in and as a resident of the street, I think it's neat and I want it to stay. It looks a heck of a lot better than the old weed and junk strewn vacant lot it once was.

Speaking of gardens...since the Botanical Gardens closed up the Children's Garden to us (as they now charge admission—unfortunately), we've been going to the Learning Garden adjacent to Dunham Tavern on Euclid Avenue. It features vegetable patches, an orchard and an interesting chicken coop. When you're there, you don't feel like you're in the middle of the city at all. It feels as if you're on a farm.

Do you know of a place In Cleveland that invites flights of fancy, whimsical wishes or could easily be someplace else with the slightest imaginative push? Write to us at marc@hotelbruce.com.