Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young

 Fifty years ago today, 88,000 at the old Muny Stadium. I didn't go to many of these large outdoor events, but I was at this one.

From Scene, August 8 -14, 1974.

I recall some guy climbing the screen behind home plate fell and was seriously injured, others climbed the rafters smashing lights showering those below with shards of glass. I had been to the Emerson, Lake & Palmer concert a month earlier. A year later I saw Pink Floyd at Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh. In July 1978 I saw the Rolling Stones twice in a week, at Cleveland Stadium and at Bills Stadium in Orchard Park, Suburban Buffalo on the Fourth of July. I really preferred being indoors.

Church of the Ascension Car Show

A few snaps from last Sunday's Church of the Ascension Car Show in Lakewood.

Eastbound Freight

 Caught an eastbound NS freight at the Thoreau Road crossing on Sunday morning.

Playhouse Square

 This book, Playhouse Square and the Cleveland Renaissance is a must have. We caught John at the Lakewood Library the other night, great book, although it is odd reading about myself like I'm a historic figure. I've been in several books over the years, this one has an index and was written by an actual historian, so it seems more real.

Thermos Insulated Outing Chest 7749

 This sure came in handy during the 119-hour power outage earlier this month, it's about as old as I am.

The original box looks a little worse for the wear, the stamp says from Scranton Dry!

Coney Island Lunch

 Coney Island Lunch on Cedar Avenue, August 20, 1994, the place was never the same after the 2004 fire, although the Coney Island on Lackawanna Avenue was the better of the two.

St. Peter's Cathedral

 St. Peter's from a 1946 post card folder.

Paris Avenue

 Looking west on Paris Avenue, from West 33rd Street earlier this month.

West 33rd Street

 An industrial building along West 33rg Street, just south of Clark Avenue, from earlier this month.

Old Gas Station

 A large 1920's gas station on Clifton Boulevard, now used as a tire store.

The Modern

 An interesting doorway on Lake Avenue. We walked a bit during the big blackout to get out of the hot apartment, there's a lot of interesting doorways around here.

Lincoln Theatre

 The recently demolished Lincoln Theatre, 3378 West 25th Street, photos from last year. The theatre last exhibited pictures sometime in the mid 1920's and had varied uses afterwards, this was Poly & Sons Printers when I was a kid. This was one of the earlier picture houses in the city, a number of which are still around as churches, auto repair shops, etc.

From Moving Picture World, July 5, 1913. Abe Potiker also operated the nearby Troy Theatre, 3344 Fulton Road which still stands, and like the Lincoln has seen other uses since the mid 1920's. The Comet Theatre referenced above still stands at East 113th & Superior serving as a church.

From Motion Picture News, September 9, 1922.

Sunset

 Sunset from Brighton Park a couple weeks ago.

Tucker Times

 A bit of motion picture promotion from 1988.

Elm Park United Methodist Church

 Elm Park United Methodist Church at 712 Linden Street, from a 1946 postcard folder.

West 117th Street

 Looking south on West 11th Street about a couple hours after the storm, Interesting to see what stayed on, some streets had power, most didn't. This street is on the boundary of Cleveland, on the left, and Lakewood, on the right.

Brighton Park

 Brighton Park last Friday evening, across Pearl Road from Foote-Wolf Park at the top of the road that goes down to the Cleveland Zoo. The first time we had been here was the previous day. We had gone out looking for a fast-food place for a cheap meal, no power, no cooking, nothing hot or cold, ugh. So eventually after passing closed places, and open expensive spots we ended up here at an adjacent Burger King. I recall a go-kart track here a few decades ago, not a bad little park. I'm not sure I'd want to be here too late, looks like those who apparently dislike the Adam-12 television series gather back at the not so "scenic overlook."

Toledo Edison

 A Toledo Edison truck on Saturday afternoon, it was sure great to see these finally arrive. Our local utility sent crews to Florida for Debby just days before this storm hit home. We also saw a lot of Penn Line and Penn West trucks, the Illuminating Company/First Energy, not so much.

Sandusky Transit

 Sign on a doorway at the former New York Central station in Sandusky.

A Hard Days Night

 Sixty years ago tonight. I lost track of how many times I've seen this, always quite amusing along with some snappy tunes.

From the Plain Dealer, August 14, 1964.

Wires & Trees

 Wires and trees sure don't mix, not sure why this stuff isn't underground, trees have been known to topple in storms throughout history, so this should be no surprise to the local power company. I recall significant summer storms which rivaled this on July 4, 1969, and July 28, 1993, ravaging the region with much better response.

Radio News

 When disaster strikes and power is out, news is hard to find.

Since I'm one of the few people that refuse to be tied to a mobile, my prime source of news in the first days of the aftermath was this late 1960's Hong Kong made Atlantic AM transistor radio. Radio news sure isn't what it used to be, Cleveland is a major market but what little local news I could get was little more than self-serving statements from local politicians and power company officials, which were then endlessly repeated at the top of every hour, until the next batch came out. The rest of the time being filled with endless banter about the Cleveland Browns, the other main choice was the station carrying ESPN sports talk. 375,000 thousand without power, widespread damage, and guys on the radio are yapping sports ball, just great. My main news source thus became WWJ, Detroit, all-news, great source for national news, but again we don't live in Detroit. 

Sure miss radio when I was not all that much younger. Used to listen to all the big stations at night, WCBS, WINS, WABC, WBZ, KDKA, WGN, WLS, KMOX, WLW, WWVA, WSM, to name a few, all of which provided copious amounts of news throughout the day and into the nighttime hours, a few still do.

The Missus would get news at work, which still had power and AC, and from her mobile, relaying it to me when she returned. It would have been great to know that the local community center was open for cooling and charging, we went there on Saturday, it was a great help, charged a tablet and got some real news from television websites, WEWS mostly, and caught up on NEPA via WNEP and Andy Palumbo whose blog I usually see every morning. It seems there were a lot of average people had no idea of what was going on or when power would return, the worst-case scenario was the oft repeated August 15th, there was a real sense of abandonment here. News like community centers being open, where crews were working, where an open WiFi was, or where to get a suddenly rare commodity like ice and what stores were open would have been a great service that the multi-million-dollar communications corporations could have performed, rather than what they actually delivered in a time of crisis, primarily sports news.

Sandusky Sanitary

 A manhole cover in downtown Sandusky.

Storm Aftermath

 Lived through a major storm, four EF-1 tornadoes hit us Tuesday afternoon at 4:10, no electricity for 119 hours, quite a wild thing to witness, sounded like the subway, unhurt just inconvenienced, 375,000 without power. Thankful to be unscathed.

RTA Owl Service 1980

 The all-night buses, from April 20, 1980. Always an adventure riding the bus down Euclid Avenue at 3 AM.

North Italian Club

 The North Italian Club, 3121 West 33rd Street, from Saturday afternoon. Went to a few weddings in here when I was a kid.

Biggby Coffee

 We stopped by Biggby Coffee, 15344 Snow Road, on Saturday, quite the delightful spot for a relaxing cup with friends. I had never heard of this place before, turns out to be a Mid-Western chain based in Michigan with over 300 stores.

City Hall

 Carbondale City Hall, July 17, 2004.