Cleveland Suburban Living

Cleveland, Ohio Suburbs

Cleveland, like many northern cities, has suffered a severe population decline since its heyday in the 1950s. Many people have left the savage city of Cleveland and sought solace in the soft underbelly of the middle-class suburbs.

Things to do in North Olmsted, Ohio

North Olmsted is located in Northeast Ohio and is easily accessible by major highways, close to the Ohio Turnpike and minutes away from Hopkins International Airport. It also has access to the RTA, our regional transit system.

Shopping and Dining choices are very diverse. North Olmsted is the home to the “Great Northern Mall” a huge shopping town that is anchored by fine stores like Dilliard’s, Sears, JC Penney, and Kaufmann’s. It could easily take a day to browse all the shops, so be sure that you wear comfortable walking shoes! Great Northern has a food court that is sure to please.

Sbarro, McDonald’s, Harry Buffalo, and Taco Bell are some of the choices offered. There are also strip malls in the same area with merchants like BestBuy, Bed Bath and Beyond, PetSmart, Pier 1 Imports, Dick’s Sporting Goods, and Home Depot. In the same immediate area, you can find a number of dining choices. Applebee’s, Bennigans, Chili’s, Lone Star Steakhouse, Macaroni Italian Grille, Ruby Tuesday’s, Panera Bread, Brueggers Bagels, Red Robin, and Chuckie Cheese are just a few.

The Great Northern Mall is easily found off of Interstate 480. You can enter and exit from both East and West. (I 480 also terminates into the Ohio Turnpike) There are many hotels and lounging in the area if you decide you want to extend your stay.

North Olmsted has a large recreation center that offers indoor and outdoor (seasonal) swimming pools, indoor skating and hockey, indoor tennis courts, and various classes to learn karate, gymnastics, adult fitness, Irish step dancing, tennis. Classes are affordable and vary in times and pricing.

Parma, Ohio

Parma, Ohio is a surreal place. Once you’ve visited there, you’ll understand what that statement means. Travel down State Road to a simpler time, when all stores were named with a prefix of Parma, such as Parma Meats, Parma Pets, and Parma Bicycles, all real stores on State Road in Parma. Most structures were designed in the ’50s when being “homey” meant something and big-box retailers hadn’t yet been let out of the box.

What is the quintessential Parma?

The thing that just screams “Parma!” the most is the naming of Amrap Rd. Amrap, of course, is Parma spelled backward. Pure genius. Who would have thought of that? If you plan on operating in Parma, you need to think Parma.

Parma is also well known for pierogies and some other stuff called chicken paprikash. They both are tasty, and chicken paprikash was something I never had until living in the Parma area.

Of course, Parma wouldn’t be complete without a mall. The ParmaTown Mall. Anchor stores are Wal-Mart, Kaufmann’s, JCPenney’s, Sear’s, and the Disney Store. Dining in the area includes

If you love bowling, you will love Parma, Ohio. Parma has many bowling lanes to choose from. Myself, I enjoy automatic scoring so it’s got to be the Freeway Lanes on Brookpark Road for me. Your mileage may vary.

Solon, Ohio

Solon, Ohio is a well-developed suburb south of Cleveland. Solon is closely situated on all major highways and is a transportation hub. Solon is home to Nestle SA and other large multinational companies.

Westlake, Ohio

Westlake Ohio is a city on the move.

Westlake Ohio is a city that is up and coming. With projects such as the huge Crocker Park shopping mall, Westlake is progressing rapidly as one of the West Side of Cleveland’s best communities.

Crocker Park is a new living and shopping development in Westlake, Ohio. Along with numerous high-end retailers and restaurants, Crocker Park offers living space in the same place. With all that Crocker park has to offer, it is easy to see why some would be happy to call this home.

Westlake has been growing fast in recent years. The city services and the school system are considered to be top-notch. Westlake has a household income of greater than $60,000 and home values are over $200,000. The populace is relatively affluent and well educated.

Westlake is home to many wealthy football players, like Kellen Winslow II, who recently smashes his motorcycle while doing wheelies at the parking lot of Tri-C in Westlake.

Brook Park Ohio

Brook Park Ohio is a highly industrialized suburb of Cleveland, that is home to several automobile factories and a number of strip clubs.

Both Ford and General Motors are employers on the factory stretch of Brook Park road near Cleveland Hopkins International Airport.

Although a small town, Brook Park has a huge tax base due to its being the home of the Airport, GM, Ford, and many other commercial concerns.

Brook Park is currently in the process of renovating and upgrading the RTA station’s surrounding area. This station works as a major transportation system that runs from the Cleveland Hopkins Airport and terminates at Windermere, on Cleveland’s Eastside. It stops at Downtown Cleveland’s Tower City for a quick, inexpensive way for a business traveler to get downtown from the airport if he doesn’t wish to pay for a taxi.

Life in Cleveland Suburbia

In contrast to the fortunes of the inner city of Cleveland, the suburbs of “Greater Cleveland” (notice how the name itself reeks of superiority) have done QUITE well for themselves in the last 40 years.

Cleveland, like many other rust belt cities, experience a period of “white flight” from the inner cities into the suburbs from the 1950s on that left the inner city drained of a middle class. Revitalization efforts are always talked about as being vital to the city, but they almost always fall short when the topic turns to neighborhoods. The people of Cleveland want what the suburbs of Cleveland already have: good city services, decent public schools, and a relatively high quality of life.

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