North East corner of East 75th and Rawlings, Cleveland, Ohio.

In an effort to mine all things Cleveland the SGS crew scanned this image(cover) from the 1920 World Series program (Brooklyn version).  Any serious baseball fan knows that the Tribe won the World Series in 1920, and fielded one of the fiercest teams in World Series history.  During the 1920 season the Indians lost their starting shortstop Ray Chapman, who died when he was hit in the head by a pitch thrown by submariner Carl Mays.  Like a script from a too good to believe movie the team actually rallied after this tragedy to go on to eventually win it all.  Special thanks to the Sparrow for initially regaling us with this story and for his loan of this prized possession.

The Plain Dealer filed this story on the Cleveland Anti-Petting Society on March 24, 1927.  In order to join the society a young woman had to pledge never to pet, drink, or smoke.

4 Shiny Things from Cleveland SGS on Vimeo.
A Cleveland SGS production about the merits of remaining humble.

While researching Cleveland’s most upstanding politician, Lonnie Burten, Jr., Cleveland SGS came across an article that verifies Ralph Nader’s 30 year history of calling Black politicians Uncle Toms. As recent as November of 2008 Nader questioned whether Barack Obama would be an “Uncle Tom for the giant corporations.” One would think he would have learned his lesson when in 1979 Nader referred to then City Council President George L. Forbes as an “Uncle Tom” for big business.* Nader may have expected the humble masses to rally in his defense for “speaking truth to power” however what he got in response was quite unexpected. Councilman Lonnie Burten responded to Nader’s racist comments defending both Forbes and the City of Cleveland in a manner that can only be described as refreshing. Councilman Burton said in response to Nader’s stupidity:

“There’s at least one councilman who will not tolerate some quasi-bourgeois, middle-class white person, low-rating anybody black in the city of Cleveland, … Where I come from Mr. Nader has committed a grave crime. He has written a check with his mouth that his ass cannot cash.”

“Further he wouldn’t know an Uncle Tom if one walked up and kissed him on the cheek. He should keep his white lips off the black constituents here. We can handle our own problems.”

If only our City’s councilmen and women were as forthright today.

*Call & Post, February 17, 1979, pg. 4A (link to full article .pdf)

 This a scan from the original Euclid Corridor Project. ClevelandSGS found this scan from a 1896 book on the history of the Cleveland Police Department.  

Work Out Capital from Scorpio Diamante on Vimeo.

The Cleveland SGS Team would like to invite all of our friends to the “All Things Cleveland” group show at the Asterisk Gallery this Friday, November 14th from 6pm – 10pm.

On Friday the SGS Team will be unveiling, for the first time ever, their custom designed Flexicolor Video Display System better known as the Flexibooth. The Cleveland SGS Flexibooth is a handsomely designed informational kiosk outfitted with a state of the art video display unit. Its message, conveyed in five family friendly video shorts, is one of love and financial literacy.

The SGS Flexibooth was inspired by the design elegance and commercial functionality of VGR Systems Corporation’s Advanced Video Distribution Center 3200 (AVDC 3200). VGR Systems Incorporated is a longstanding Cleveland-based commercial entity that introduced one of the first 8mm stand-up peep booths to the Adult industry in the late 1960’s. Since that time VGR Systems has delivered Cleveland’s unique brand of video display ingenuity around the globe. Cleveland SGS salutes VGR Systems’ contributions to both video delivery and the economic growth of Cleveland, Ohio.

The Asterisk Gallery is located at 2393 Professor Avenue, Cleveland, Ohio 44113.

Sincerely,

SGS DGC

Politicians, urban planners, and journalists all have theories about what specific event precipitated to the decline of our city. Inevitably during these discussions both Muny Light and  forced school busing are brought up.  Although we know that it was not one event but decades of greed and corruption that led us to this quagmire, it is still an interesting question to examine.  SGS borrowed this election flyer from Clevelander Scorpio Diamante to recall this important moment in CLE history. For additional information on this story click on this link about Municipal Light or this link about public school desegregation. For more ClevelandSGS political scans please check out this link.