Hello Cleveland: Things You Should Know About the Most Unique City in the World
By Nick Perry, illustrated by Jason Look
A fun little book just came out this past summer that you might want to check out if you are looking for a great read about what makes Cleveland, well, Cleveland. It’s literally a small book and only 127 pages, but it packs a ton of insights and connections about what makes Greater Cleveland an uncommon and exceptional city among its urban peers.
The book features chapters that typically aren’t more than a couple pages in length, and author Nick Perry skillfully connects themes in previous chapters with the following ones. Throughout, there’s a sort of sense that he loves the city and its environs but is often embarrassed by it. Even that attitude seems uniquely Cleveland.
He sometimes overlooks key facts – like the many famous stars who hail from Cleveland – to perhaps imply a larger point (that we have some famous people, but really, in relation to other cities, not very many). He overlooks huge stars of yesteryear like Bob Hope, Ruby Dee, and Paul Newman and other well-known contemporaries such as the Russo brothers, Steve Harvey, and Molly Shannon. Or he gets facts wrong (we are pretty sure Moses Cleaveland didn’t misspell his own name) to play upon the well-worn Cleveland just can’t get it right, theme.
In an attempt to be hyperbolic, he makes reference to downtown Cleveland basically being a ghost town where nobody lives. Although that was definitely true in the late 20th century, it sort of overlooks at least 15,000 people living there now. Admittedly, that population boom has happened very recently.
He sprinkles many gems throughout the short book, such as his description of shopping at Steelyard Commons. He references being in the shadow of a steel mill dumping red hot slag while buying for half price a defective coat from the Burlington Coat Factory. The zinger: “It’s like shopping at Mordor Commons.”
His explanation of the family-like nature of Cleveland hits home, too. He makes the case that Clevelanders, most of whom are from here, are extremely nice and trusting. He argues that most people are somehow literally related to one another in this town, and you get, in essence, one big family. So what does that look like in Cleveland? While grossly overgeneralizing, he writes:
What this all boils down to is the fact that people fight. A lot. But they also make up a lot. And criticize each other a lot. And help each other a lot.
Or his brilliant comparison of Cleveland’s and Chicago’s lakefronts. The two most prominent features on Chicago’s lakefront? A huge public park and a massive public beach. In Cleveland? A salt mine and a private airport.
Or what seems like a perfect explanation of why Cleveland not only earned the Rock Hall – despite having tenuous connections to rock ‘n roll generally – but deserves it as well. Cleveland in the 1980s, he writes, wanted the Rock Hall more than other cities.
It’s a great example of that Cleveland aspiration where you ignore the parts
that don’t fit your narrative and focus on what your mind can dream up. And that
might be the most rock ‘n roll thing imaginable.
Really, the book seems to be for Clevelanders who want to find more ways to appreciate their metro area or newbies who have just settled in Cleveland and wonder, “what’s this place all about?” It’s a fun, interesting read that interweaves historical facts and oddities with the present day – like his chapter on serial killers. Perry’s book effectively captures an ultimate intangible essence of what it means to be from this place. Sort of like when two strangers, somewhere around the world, figure out that they are both from Cleveland. There’s a lot that doesn’t need to be said – and Perry captures a ton of it in this little thome.
