Every once in awhile you will find something on the street that tickles your fancy. Such was the case when an SGS member found this flyer oozing out of a Plain Dealer box in September, 2008.  SGS tried to find out if this event was the real deal Holyfield but we never could verify it. The flyer did lead us to the web site Byron’s Boxing Girls. The site sells comics of scantily clad ladies punishing each other with a beautiful brutality. If anybody has additional information about Interracial Foxy-Boxing please let us know.  We will take a break from sign hunting to cover this event.

The Stefanic Family has been cutting heads in the St. Clair/Superior neighborhood since 1969. Unlike most barber shops the Stefanic’s skillfully service all races, sexes and political orientations. Blacks, Whites, Puerto Ricans and even Santas (pictured above) come from miles around to experience the Stefanec’s clipper magic.

If debating current events is your thing no topic is off-limits. City prosecutors and area dopemen debate everything from Iran’s right to acquire nuclear weapons to the legalization of gunjee weed. Stefanec’s is one place where a human can have their brain massaged and manicured at the same time.

Pictured above is an area Santa retiring his hair for the year. In anticipation of the Christmas season, this gentleman stops cutting his hair and beard in June so that he can deliver the gift of Christmas to his grandchildren and a local nursing home. Adriana, one of Stefanec’s best barbers, eagerly awaits the challenge of returning Santa to his normal orientation.

The Stefanec’s Barber Shop pictured above is located at 3227 Superior Avenue.

Southwest corner of East 55th and Cedar.

The pairing of image and sound is something Cleveland SGS takes very seriously. After a long heated debate we felt that Cobra’s War off of Dancehall Xplosion ‘99 was the perfect match for this picture. Domino’s pizza is ferociously average and the young man shielding his identity is definitely a mean master-blaster.

If you recognize this spot then you know evening hours are when the adult trade flourishes. SGS wishes well to Christmas companionship and the lonely leftovers of Lorain.

SGS is pleading with Clevelanders this holiday season to exercise caution by taking a few extra seconds to look at yourself before you leave your house.  If you are wearing pajamas before you set foot one out the door–you have made a grave error in judgment.  Cleveland of course is known for its amazing fashion sense, but we are on the verge of taking the Full Cleveland to the next level. SGS has noticed that this city is at defcon four.  If we do not stand up and channel our inner Al Gore we run the risk of not being able to reverse the damage we are inflicting on other people of fashion conscience. Please think before you wear pajamas in public.

In the wake of the loss of Lancer’s, SGS was discussing other local landmarks that have shuttered or burned down in the last few years. We all felt that Sweet Daddy Tim’s was one of our favorite spots to stop at or simply gaze at. Unfortunately Sweet Daddy Tim’s shut their doors to Woodland Ave. shoppers within the last couple of years.

If you check out the architectural build of Sweet Daddy Tim’s you could tell that this was not the most well designed sculpture of all time. Rain is not a buildings friend when it rolls to the center instead of off to the sides. Yet Sweet Daddy’s still commands one of the greatest signs/ mascots ever to grace a Cleveland sign. You think it would have been enough that the Sweet Daddy Dog sported a nice suit and a white felt hat-but if you look closely he confidently swaggers out of the shop with a cold six pack.

Here is hoping that both Lancers and Sweet Daddy Tim’s make a comeback to bring some flavor back to a town that seems to be losing it more everyday.

In 2004, Plain Dealer writer Kathleen Murphy Conlan wrote a story about John Hawkins (pictured above).  The story caught the attention of SGS because we have always been fond of Mr. Hawkins’ sunny disposition. Recently the SGS crew was discussing how the gravitational pull of Cleveland’s darkness was making them hateful and complacent. Then we passed the “Hawk,” a man who despite life’s burdens is constantly reminding us of the human soul’s eternal light.

Against our better judgment and out of respect for the man who makes downtown worth visiting, we have lovingly reproduced the P.D. article about John Hawkins for your reading pleasure.

“Forty-seven days and a wake-up call till spring!” John Hawkins sings in a beautiful baritone. “That’s the doorman’s anthem in winter. We started the official countdown to spring at 62 days,” he says. Hawkins , 43, of Cleveland, sings happy greetings to hundreds of downtown travelers each day during his shift as one of three doormen for the Hyatt Hotel Cleveland at the Arcade . He sings, he says, to take his mind off the cold and to make people smile.

And they do smile.

“Watch their faces,” says Wayne Koury. Koury owns the nearby restaurant Frank & Pauly’s and passes through or by the Arcade almost every day. He enjoys Hawkins ’ gregarious nature. “He gets so many people to smile. I love it,” Koury adds.

At 6 feet and 220 pounds, Hawkins cuts a military presence in his long black wool overcoat, low-slung, armed forces-style cap and shiny patent-leather boots. People walking through the bustling Arcade entrance into the Hyatt seem surprised at the melodious, kind words that echo through the archway.

“What’s going on, my good man?” he asks with a quick salute to a passer-by.

“The sun favors those who smile the most,” he sings to another. Hawkins doesn’t stay idle for more than a minute. Between helping overnight guests with bags, giving directions to confused pedestrians and opening the heavy door for as many people as possible, Hawkins , a divorced father of one son, doesn’t have time to think about leaving home with the Army National Guard for Kosovo.

His unit, Company B of the 237th Forward Support Battalion in Newton Falls, has been on standby for active duty numerous times during the last year. Hawkins has served in the National Guard for three years, and has worked at the Hyatt for the past year.

“I’m not worried about going overseas,” he says. “My faith and my singing will get me through anything.”

Plain Dealer, The (Cleveland, OH) - Sunday, February 29, 2004

SGS found this ad for an unsuccessful mayoral bid by Martin L. Sweeney in the Cleveland Call and Post. The September, 1941 ad was meant to reach out to Cleveland’s African-American voters. When most Clevelanders today read the name Martin Sweeney they think of our current council president and his alleged scandals and current work at City Hall.  

The real Sweeney scandal actually took place during the time Elliot Ness was Safety Director of Cleveland. Ness investigated Dr. Francis E. Sweeney numerous times in connection with the Torso murders.  Francis was the first cousin of Martin so Ness had to be careful about questioning the relative of a local political hotshot. It did not help matters that both Martin L. Sweeney and Ness were not fond of each other.

As the torso murder saga lives on theories still abound that Francis E. Sweeney was the real mad butcher–even though he was never tried for any of the related crimes.  For more information on the Sweeney family during this time check out this amazing synopsis of events from the tru crime library.

The picture above is colorized flexi-enhancement of a July 20, 1970 May Company ad featuring the May’s Apollo Fashion Crew. The audio accompaniment is DJ Pierre’s “Its Hot!”