My city by the lake

Last week, while home in Cleveland, I spent some time with an old friend. Oh, sure, I saw beloved commenter tommyo, and a broad range of family members, old neighbors and the like. But on Sunday, I had the day free and my dad didn't have a tee time, so the two of us headed down to The Flats, the gritty alimentary canal of Cleveland. The following is a look at Cleveland in all its crumbling, industrial glory.

Here's an old lift bridge over the Cuyahoga River. As the name suggests, the bridge just rises up when freighters need to pass. At each end there was a little gatehouse, disused and with broken windows. On one side, the door had been forced open and I was able to shoot the interior. I think these used to be where the bridge operators worked, but now they have a little room that actually rises up with the span.


A shot from on the bridge.


The bridge operators' "office."


I think this was a gatehouse. Nothing but old lockers and debris inside now. A plaque mounted above this doorway noted a major bridge improvement project took place in 1940.


Downtown Cleveland through the ironwork.

After this, we drove out to the part of the Flats called Whiskey Island. It's no longer an actual island. The Cuyahoga used to run parallel to the coast for a long way before it actually emptied in to Lake Erie. But a long time ago, they cut through to shorten the trip. The old mouth of the river is now gone, but the peninsula is still called Whiskey Island. Apparently, there's plans to make it into a park, but for now it belongs to salt mines and gravel companies. We were shooed away shortly after snapping a few pictures. Apparently, it's private property.


Big piles of gravel.


I'm proud of this shot because I snapped it from the window of my father's car. I thought the yellow railings would look cool, and they do.


Two of Cleveland's sports venues, Gund Arena and Jacobs Field, as seen from the Tremont neighborhood. Both great places for games (although my last trip inside the Gund was for a concert).


In point of fact, it was an excellent day for a Guinness. Tremont is a great neighborhood, and where I would live if I moved back there. One of the neighborhood's many Orthodox churches is famous from a scene in The Deer Hunter, as well.


I love Charles Sheeler. Can you tell? I really need to come back in the winter, when the light will be all thin and watery.


I think a steel mill used to be here.