Jury Duty

joey: 18th Sep 2006 - 22:00 GMT

do you remember the cleveland of your youth? pulling into public square on the rapid transit from windemere. the cavernous hall of the terminal tower were filled with office workers and shoppers. those were the days. thanks for the excurion. btw; i like your refelection photos a lot.

EvilGentleman: 18th Sep 2006 - 22:12 GMT

Every photo here is a gift, Thank you.

I am especially curious about the stacked backhoe scoops. A very interesting way to stack them, but for the life of me, I cannot figure out a logical reason why anyone would wish to do such a thing, considering how hard it must be to unstack them.

colavitos ghost: 19th Sep 2006 - 05:26 GMT

hey man, i love this post. in my eyes it pretty accurately captures the essence of downtown cleveland.

however, my understanding about the future of the cleveland trust tower doesn't quite synch up with yours. what i've heard is that cuyahoga county just bought the entire cleveland trust complex (the tower and the rotunda) amidst rumors that they'll be opening a new administrative facility there. if that is in fact the case, i'm hoping that they leave the tower's facade untouched (except, perhaps, for a well-deserved cleaning). the building, though far from universally-beloved, is a significant piece of brutalist architecture done by a little guy named marcel breuer. i'd be pretty bummed if the building came down.

also, if you've never been inside the rotunda (the shorter, early 20th C. building right on the corner of euclid and e. 9), try to find a way inside that beauty. though it's been closed for quite a while, it's without a doubt one of donwtown cleveland's finest architectural gems.

procyon: 19th Sep 2006 - 05:41 GMT

Thanks for the kind words, everyone.
CG: Cleveland Trust Tower! That's what it's called! I couldn't remember and was feeling uncharacteristically lazy about googling it/rushed about posting. Well, that's good to hear, especially if it's true. Do you happen to know what the candle thing is/was/is going to be? As for sneaking into that rotunda, sounds like a great mission for Thanksgiving break. :)
EG: I have no idea either. I guess until you pointed that out I thought it operated with the scoops stacked that way... that does seem implausible, now that you mention it. It was just sitting there the entire time I was there, though, so I never saw it in action.
Joey: Terminal Tower was still pretty full of shoppers and suits, not as full as it was when I went to see Bruce the Talking Spruce every Christmas in the late 80's / early 90's, but about the percentage of that that you would expect in September. What amazed me was all the empty real estate near public square.

Jon: 19th Sep 2006 - 19:00 GMT

Man! I just had a flashback to that talking tree. I couldn't have been more than 5 years old. I remember really long lines and there was some kind of neon lips hooked up to a tree right? Talk about a trip down memory lane.

little ukraine: 19th Sep 2006 - 20:03 GMT

this is one of my favorite posts.
i even found a picture of bruce the spruce, though I'm not sure if it's the cleveland version:
http://myweb.ecomplanet.com/wolf3324/mycustompage0027.htm

joey: 20th Sep 2006 - 01:57 GMT

my christmas memory of cleveland is the sterling-linder department store and their christmas tree. it was 7 floors tall. WOW. look at this CSU site;
http://www.clevelandmemory.org/stores/