Christmastime in the City

As Christmastime approaches, the face of the city tends to drop its often-cynical sneer and begins to sport a smile. The smiles on the faces of innocent children; the smiles on the faces of far-from-innocent retailers; the smiles on the…

Tiny homes, contd.

Gulliver Lane in Samson Heights was apparently not the only experiment with downsized housing in the Twentieth Century: Lilliputia was a Utopian city of midgets that prospered within the confines of Coney Island’s Dreamland before the whole amusement park burned…

Friday Facts: Mayor Matthau, Cat Runs

:: Number of wars memorialized at War Memorial Park– 10 :: This was the 57th year that the Senior choir from Central High performed at the City Hall tree lighting ceremony. :: The tree lighting was was also the 57th…

The Underground Winter Zoo

Winter is coming to the Pullman Zoo. Nowadays that doesn’t mean much. The gibbons and lemurs have moved to indoor enclosures, and many of the zoo’s other inhabitants– the bison, and llama– simply grow thicker coats. When Sheffield’s Vinyl Mfg.…

The Survivor- This Year’s Holiday Fest Tree

There is much you can say about this year’s official City Holiday Festival tree, to be lit tonight in front of Old City Hall. It’s very tall (49 feet), very Teutonic (Austrian Pine), will be very bright (over 8,000 lights,…

Survivors of the Radio Apocalypse

In 1967, Jeff Crane walked out onto North Canton Avenue and winced from his first view of sunlight in 16 years. As his eyes adjusted, he took a nervous look around and saw an unwashed, bushy-bearded, shabbily-dressed, long-haired man stumbling…

Thanksgiving and the night before

Tonight is the busiest bar night of the year, often resulting in several impromptu semi-reunions around the city. After the cut, a partial list as to which bars serve as gathering places for alumni from area schools. :: Central South…