Cleveland Ohio Downtown at Night

I lived in Cleveland Ohio for a good part of my life.  In fact, most of my adult life has been spent there.  Maybe one of these days I will do a post about moving because of the economy and available jobs....  And what it was like going from small town Kentucky to a hoppin' big urban city like Cleveland.

I often describe my relationship with Cleveland as love/hate.  I had a lot of fun in this city.  I attended about 200 concerts (seriously, I once counted my ticket stubs) and probably as many sporting events.  Nice restaurants, historic sites, and fun small towns outside of Cleveland are common.

BUT, Cleveland also kicked my backside.  It can be a rough, aggressive town.  The cost of living is higher, and the entire vibe is tough and competitive.

And, looking back, a lot of how I see the city is simply small town vs. big city differences.

Anyway, this was my first chance getting to go downtown and walk around in many years.  I must say, many things have changed.

My old favorite downtown hang out used to be Fat Fish Blue near Tower City.  I loved that place, and spent many evening listening to great live music there.  Its now a totally different bar/restaurant.

Downtown looks spectacular compared to how I remember it looking.  They have really cleaned the place up.  In fact, I would now call it a beautiful downtown.  When I lived here, I might use words like dirty and questionable to describe it.  It has come a long way.