As the number of travelers with their sights set on Cleveland rises, so too does the number of entrepreneurs willing to rent those visitors a place to crash via Airbnb. From a spare room in one’s home to the entire home itself, the number of available short-term rentals in the area is spiking. 

Some might say that the opening of a waxing studio in the former home of the Speak in Tongues music club signals a seismic shift in the Ohio City neighborhood it calls home. To owner Danielle Fuller, it simply fills a need for those looking to get pretty.
 
On Tuesday, July 8, Fuller opened the doors to Bloom & Clover Wax Studio at 4309 Lorain Avenue, the former home of the infamous rock club Speak in Tongues, which closed in 2001. It has remained vacant ever since.

“You wouldn’t believe the random stuff we found in this place,” says Fuller.

Walk in there today and you’ll find a hip, contemporary space with three employees eager to depilate clients in style and comfort. The former S.I.T. space was divided into two 1,000-square-foot properties.

“The space is a little industrial, mid-century modern mixed with hard edges,” says Fuller. “It has its rough edges, but with pretty pieces -- just like me.”

Fuller, who lives in Ohio City and has a child who attends Campus International, is a skilled aesthetician with years in the business. But all of those years have been spent in suburbs, where all of the salons and studios tend to be located.

“The problem is that there isn’t anywhere for girls -- and guys too -- to go in the city for these services,” she says. “All the salons are in the suburbs. With all the young professionals moving into the neighborhood and downtown, it seemed like the perfect timing to open.”

In addition to making customers baby-smooth, Bloom & Clover will also offer spray tans. “We want to keep people out of the sun and healthy,” she adds.

In addition to old cassette tapes, Fuller unearthed the old bowling alley addition in the back, which doubled as “home away from home” for many touring musicians. That old lumber was turned into furniture.

As for the name, Fuller says she was just looking for something “fun and quirky, not all new-agey.”

If you're considering a move to Cleveland, there might be no better means to examine the broad range of residential options than by hopping aboard a City Life tour hosted by Cleveland Neighborhood Progress. In a few short hours, participants enjoy an immersive dive into a number of Cleveland's most in-demand neighborhoods.
 

Recent grants awarded to the Collinwood and St. Clair Superior neighborhoods are allowing them to proceed with arts- and culture-based projects each hopes will revitalize their communities and boost their economies. The efforts are part of a larger national movement known as creative placemaking.

It's been four years since Cleveland began allowing residents to keep chickens and one year for Cleveland Heights. Rather than the chicken-induced apocalypse predicted by some vocal critics, neither city has experienced any significant issues. In fact, chickens are improving communities in unexpected ways.

If you've enjoyed a drink at Lolita on a weekend night during the past two and a half years, chances are good Will Hollingsworth poured it. During that same period of time, Hollingsworth has been formulating his greatest recipe yet: The perfect bar, which will open this summer in Tremont.

When it opens this spring, The Katz Club Diner will become the sixth enterprise to hazard a bet on the twin diner cars on Lee Road in Cleveland Heights. But this time around -- thanks to the skill and experience of chef-owner Doug Katz -- the odds are not stacked against its success.

For 15 years, Declan Synnott has owned and operated the popular Parnell's Pub on Lee Road in Cleveland Heights. In the ever-fickle bar biz, that's eons.
 
Synnott, who moved to the States from Dublin, purchased the bar (nee The Charles Stewart Parnell) from its previous owner in 1997. He expanded the bar into the adjoining space in 2004.
 
Synnott's next expansion will be a tad more ambitious: In March, Parnell's Downtown will open in PlayhouseSquare, in a space that has seen its share of short-lived operations. Most recently, it was home to Corks Wine Bar, which lasted a little less than three years.
 
"I plan on doing the same thing as Parnell's in the Heights, but just do it downtown," Synnott explains.
 
That means offering a casual, comfortable atmosphere, live soccer on the tellie, good prices on whiskey and the best Guinness drafts in town, and zero food.
 
"I want to cohabitate with all the restaurants down there like I have for all these years in Cleveland Heights," he adds. "There is a fine array of restaurants down there already. My expertise is in the beverage side of things. I'm going to stick with what I'm good at."
 
Other than some cosmetic changes, Synnott does not foresee making any significant changes to the space at 1415 Euclid Avenue (next door to the Allen Theatre), which in recent years also was home to Hamilton's Martini Bar.
 
Outgoing owner Greg Bodnar says that the crowds never materialized for him at Corks.
 
"The biggest problem down there is that nothing much goes on unless there's a show; and even then, it's an hour before the show and maybe an hour after," Bodnar explains. "If anything is going to make it there, an Irish bar will have the best chance."
 
In addition to the theatre crowd, Synnott hopes to attract commuters, neighborhood residents and of-age college students.
 
Synnott's partner in the business is Joseph Rodgers, who for 16 years was a bartender at Flannery's.


Sources: Declan Synnott, Greg Bodnar
Writer: Douglas Trattner

By design, the life of a celebrity looks effortless. But the engine that drives that lifestyle is a non-stop schedule that would sap the strength of far weaker men. I know, because I tried to keep up with celebrity chef Michael Symon during a recent visit home that included business meetings, book signings, restaurant visits and too-brief social get-togethers.

It's no exaggeration to say that Cleveland wouldn't be half the city it was and is without the steady influx of foreign-born peoples. But nowhere, perhaps, is our city's melting-pot pedigree more evident than on the plates served at ethnic eateries throughout town. Every time we tuck into a delicious plate of ethnic food, we have these brave immigrants to thank for it.

The Cleveland-Cuyahoga County Port Authority is asking voters to vote "Yes" on Issue 108, a levy that would cost property owners roughly $20 a year per $100,000. Fresh Water discusses the importance of the levy and more with Port President and CEO William Friedman.

If you don't know the name Scott Kim, then you likely have been missing out on some of the most thrilling food presently served in Cleveland. Kim's Shaker Square restaurant Sasa encourages exploration through a bevy of Japanese small plates. With Accent, slated to open in just weeks, the chef's culinary borders will expand past those of Japan to include influences from Korea, India, China and beyond.

In the best of cases, getting a book published can take one to three years from start to finish. Or, you can do it the way Richey Piiparinen and Anne Trubek did with Rust Belt Chic: The Cleveland Anthology. The pair of Cleveland writers managed to compress the entire Sisyphean process into an implausible three-month timeframe.

"The burlesque performer was the original sex symbol of America," states Bella Sin, a third generation performer herself. "It was an art form." Come see one of the hottest entertainment forms from the 1950s -- and 2010s -- on Saturday, August 4, when 35 neo-burlesque performers steam up the Beachland Ballroom during the 2nd Annual Ohio Burlesque Festival.

Imagine having just 48 hours to make movie magic. That's what the adrenaline-fueled 48-Hour Film Project is all about. When 42 teams of filmmakers show up at Anatomy this Friday night, they'll pluck their film genre from a hat. Then they will have just two days to write, shoot, edit and score their short drama, comedy, western, detective, horror or romance film.

What if we viewed Cleveland as a startup? "The ingredients for a successful startup and a successful city are remarkably similar," argues tech blogger Jon Bischke. You need to build stuff that people want. You need to attract talent. And you need capital to get your fledgling ideas to a point of sustainability.

The term "Rust Belt Chic" has been bandied about in urban journalism circles for over a decade. But lately, the connotation and import of that catchy phrase seem to be taking on a welcome new identity. A book in progress from Cleveland-based writers aims to take ownership of the phrase and help define what it truly means to live in a recovering Rust Belt city.

Very soon, the City of Cleveland Heights will amend its zoning code "To encourage sustainable practices in residential neighborhoods." This legislation makes the city one of the most sustainable in the United States. Changes will make it expressly lawful to install rain barrels, plant front-yard vegetable gardens, build compost bins and replace asphalt driveways with those featuring semi-pervious materials. But without question, the topic garnering the most buzz is backyard chickens.

One of the most widely read Fresh Water features was a story on Ohio's burgeoning craft distillery trend. But it wasn't all good news: As it stood at the time of publication, only one permit was allowed in each of Cuyahoga, Franklin and Hamilton counties. What's more, those few permit holders could distill but not sell their wares on-site. A new law eliminates the restrictions on the number of permits while enabling holders to sell their products directly to consumers.

Blame it on the recession or chalk it up to a generation of people who prefer vinyl records to MP3s, but the trend toward creative entrepreneurship is real and rising. People value authenticity, and that often comes in the form of a handmade object with pedigree and a good story to boot. These folks have all traded in their "day jobs" to pursue their passion of making things by hand.