For some, the term "Rust Belt" conjures unpleasant images of empty factories, foreclosed homes and unhappy people wandering cracked streets, wondering when times will get better. But what's really happening in some of the Midwest's major cities, and how different is it from the way these cities are often depicted?

Jack Storey thinks he has an answer. The impassioned city advocate has created a documentary chronicling what he believes is a more accurate r... Read more >

Memories of flashing lights, digitized explosions, rock music and quarters being ritually plunked into plastic coin slots have a happy place in the minds of many folks of a certain generation. Two Clevelanders want to bring those sights and sounds back to the city this summer in the form of a pop-up arcade.

Coin-Op Cleveland is a Kickstarter project helmed by John Stanchina and Mike Scur. While arcade gaming collapsed in the 1990s with the ascension of home consoles, the ... Read more >

Gordon Food Service, a 115-year-old company that specializes in large package food items and kitchen supplies, is opening a new retail location on West 117th Street on a former J.D. Byrider car lot.

The new store, which has been fully approved by the City of Cleveland and is set to break ground this month, reinforces the strength of the west side Cleveland trade area, says Anita Brindza, Executive Director of Cudell Improvement.

"With the density of our popu... Read more >

A one-day crash course in urban gardening is coming to Cleveland later this month thanks to Fresh Fork Market.

The free-to-the-public event will feature a full day of classes and workshops taught by area farmers, with detailed demonstrations on maintenance, harvesting and anything else participants need to know to make their gardens grow. The April 27 fair will be held at Urban Community School in Cleveland.

Connecting people to local foods is just one goal of th... Read more >

As the owner of a small consulting firm, James Gasparatos knows all too well the struggles of running a small business, including promoting the company and finding the right talent among other things. The challenges gave Gasparatos the idea to start Gigfinity, an interactive website designed to help small and mid-size Cleveland businesses connect with customers, promote their companies and find local talent. The site also allows job seekers to peruse and apply for jobs with Gigfin... Read more >

Laurel School junior Anamika Veeramani took first place at TiE Ohio’s inaugural TiE Young Entrepreneurs (TYE) Business Plan Competition on March 13 for her online science journal for high school students, En Kephalos Science Journal. Veeramani first beat out her fellow Laurel students in a competition before advancing to the regional competition. She won $1,000 and will compete in the TiE Global competition at George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia in June.
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The Cleveland Orchestra is well known for its residencies in cities like New York, Vienna and Miami. Now the famous ensemble is bringing its talents back to where it all began.

In the first of a handful of planned residencies in Northeast Ohio, the orchestra has partnered with Gordon Square Arts District for a week of events May 11 through May 17. Visitors walking the neighborhood are bound to encounter orchestra or youth ensemble musicians performing at one happening joi... Read more >

PlayhouseSquare will soon add another delicious restaurant to the district, adding fuel to its quest to become a 24/7 neighborhood that encourages theater patrons to stick around long after the shows end. Entrepreneurs Jiyoung and John Sung will open Sung's House next month, adding a Korean and Japanese restaurant to the downtown scene.

"It's not traditional Korean food -- it's fusion style," says Jiyoung Sung, who moved from Michigan to be close to ... Read more >

A waterfall swing developed by Cleveland creatives has amassed over 2.7 million hits on YouTube, garnering the makers international recognition and business opportunities. Created by local engineers and artists, the waterfall swing has been featured at tech festivals from New York to California, hi-profile TV ads, and the Today Show.

With a record-setting recent round of grants, The Cleveland Foundation is ensuring, among other things, that a well-loved local institution will continue to make beautiful music.

Last week, the foundation's board of directors approved a best ever $26.6 million in grants for the first quarter of 2013. The funding included a $10 million grant to the Cleveland Orchestra in support of operation and programming efforts as well as the organization's larger initiative to... Read more >

If phrases like "circuit board" and "stereo inspection microscope" sound daunting, you're not alone. The tools of the high-tech maker trade can be über intimidating -- unless you live in Cleveland, where user-friendly places like TechCentral and Think[box] help normal folks to create.

Sam McNulty has the best kind of problem an owner can have; he's selling so much beer at Market Garden Brewery and NanoBrew in Ohio City that he can hardly keep up with demand. Selling kegs to patrons or restaurants that want to carry popular varieties like Pearl Street Wheat or CitroMax IPA is out of the question.

McNulty and his partners expect to solve their space crunch by early next year with the redevelopment of the Market Culinary Building, a 43,000-square-foot... Read more >

Some creative, outside-the-box thinking by the city's leading urban design and cycling advocates has led to the creation of four additional "bike boxes," which are to be installed this spring in various Cleveland neighborhoods.

The newest wave of bike boxes are modeled after a successful pilot project at Nano Brew in Ohio City. That installation transformed a steel shipping container into a colorful curbside bike garage for two-wheeled visitors.

By ... Read more >