If you consume urban space through a back-lit screen, then you know that it has become a predictably absurd place. A place where people are content and wisdom is masked by ignorance.

These same screens portray Cleveland as a city rinsed of its spirit. The reality is that our space is an intellectual and aesthetic void well suited for contemplation. The gap between what was and what we hope for is populated by a beautiful unseen world. It is in this world that we interact with the heavens and meet death before she arrives.

While there are many uncertainties in this cold, dark and desperate world, one thing is for certain—Jack loves his Boo and the Insanes love is everlasting.

Body Language from Cleveland SGS on Vimeo.

If you have been following Cleveland SGS over that last few years you will know that we have gradually moved away from documenting solely the exteriors of Cleveland small business and shifted our focus to the owners inside.

The second participant in our video series is Paul Zeitzew, owner of Body Language. Paul is a retired Stetson hat salesman who 16 years ago transformed the Body Language novelty shop into a Cleveland institution. Gifted in the art of retail, Paul runs a disciplined and profitable operation that is one-of-a-kind in our beloved city. We hope you enjoy the video above.

ClevelandSGS was amused by this antiquated Cleveland police warning that announced a, “woman’s place is in the home but money’s place is not in the top of her stocking”. We also found this other snippet from a 1967 blurb in the Plain Dealer that asked the question about why women were not on the Mounted Police force.

Despite this evidence of sexism the Cleveland Police Department (CPD) was actually looked upon as rather progressive in comparison to some cities in regards to how women were hired. CPD even set up one of the first women bureaus in 1929. Yet it took Mike White until 2001 to name a woman (Mary Bounds) to the top job as Cleveland’s first chief of police and second African-American to hold the post.

ClevelandSGS has long admired the work of local sign painter, Israel. His steady hand, top notch lettering skills and distinctive latin flavor adorn several buildings just north of the Clark and West 25th and intersection. We were thrilled to happen upon him steady at work this afternoon. We’d like to thank Israel for taking the time out to have a chat with us and we look forward to seeing the completion of his current work.

Once in a while we come across a long lost Cleveland title that we decide to write about for our SGS Book Club.  The picture above is from a 1929 work titled Brief History of Mouth Hygiene in Cleveland. As many know Cleveland has a great history of pioneering in medicine, manufacturing, corned beef and hand painted signage. What we were surprised to find out from this work was that the city’s dentistry profession worked together to battle the epidemic of rotting teeth in Cleveland school age children.

Reading works about dentistry sounds mind numbing to the uninitiated, but this book works on a few levels. First you are not subjected to photos of hideous looking teeth, the book instead paints a picture of the horror show that was going on in our grandparents mouths. The book is interesting because many of the theories espoused in it are quite anachronistic to the medical profession of today.  Most importantly the book presents a snapshot of how Cleveland was growing and how a group of caring doctors reached out to tackle and actually defeat a serious epidemic within their own city.

For a look at a few pages from this work, please check out this link.

Now stop reading this and go floss.

For the last twenty years Angela’s Family Restaurant has been serving breakfast, lunch, and dinner to satisfied Clevelanders. Owner Mike Kontos purchased the restaurant when it was formerly known to East siders as the Old Shoreway Diner.  Mr. Kontos renamed the restaurant Angela’s in honor of his wife.  Daughter Markia Ameres runs the restaurant each day and was kind enough to enlighten us about the decor of Angela’s.  Inside the restaurant hangs a bevy of famous and not so famous boxers. Markia explained that her father was a boxer is his home country of Greece and is still a pugilist aficionado.

Breakfast is Angela’s busiest time of day, a steady stream of regulars make their stop before jetting off to work.  Although Markia told us that the neighborhood has changed a bit over the years, they still enjoy working in the area and look forward to serving their regular clientele.

SGS recommends that if you are in the neighborhood try to make a stop at 7121 St. Clair Ave. for breakfast. The food was great, and was brought to us roughly three minutes after being ordered. SGS is already planning a return visit, after Markia sold us on the dinner menu. Angela’s daily serves up homemade stuffed cabbage and stuffed peppers. We were told that visitors find themselves ordering one of these two dinner offerings, while eschewing the niceties of bothering to view a menu.

The store is Dave’s Supermarket on Payne Avenue and the song is Survival by Prince Far I.

Most inner city kids spent at least some portion, if not the majority of their free time hanging out at Cleveland recreation centers and pools. Historically the city has been a great proponent of sponsoring urban recreation centers. There was an explosion of centers following World War II, and then a sharp decline in the 1960’s.  Thankfully the Parks and Recreation Department has still managed to provide residents with 20 centers around town.

Recently SGS drove past Sterling Recreation Center, site of the building where some of us spent hundreds of hours playing outdoor basketball. We were pleasantly surprised to see a group of eight young men still shooting hoops on the same old shoddy court of our youth.  The kids in the picture above all live within ten minutes of the center, and told us that they play there every night that they can. Many kids find that recreation centers and libraries are two of the only places that they are not only tolerated but welcomed.

When playing flag football, and indoor soccer for Sterling we often would play rival recreation centers (damn that Cudell they always seemed to beat us) for Cleveland neighborhood bragging rights. The wonderful thing was that every kid had the same familial feeling at their home gym as my own did. Most city recreation workers make a nice living, but most of all they create a lifelong bond with kids who take advantage of these great opportunities.  Hopefully as we are forced to make increasingly tougher decisions about what programs we cut around the city, these centers will survive and continue to offer a second (or first) family to our city’s kids.

SGS never knew Ralph McLeod Jr. personally, we only knew that he commissioned one of the finest hand painted crowns in the City of Cleveland (see black crown with diamonds). It is business owners like Mr. McLeod that inspire us to do what we do.  They define communities with their personalized commercial stamps and it is these stamps that make us proud to be from Cleveland.

Rest in peace Ralph McLeod Jr.

Click here to see more pictures of Big Daddy’s.