I have enjoyed the back and forth e-mails with the NYC foodie. I’ll be in his city next month and eager to check out some of his recommendations. In the meantime, I asked him to share his thoughts on Cleveland in general, in addition to his restaurant critiques which I posted earlier. Here is his take on our city:

I personally find Cleveland to be an interesting, even intriguing city. First, I am fascinated by industrial and post-industrial landscapes. I find them to be architecturally beautiful, in a stark kind of way; some of my favorite structures are oil refineries at night. Anyway, Cleveland had an still has that in spades, which gave it a gritty, historical feel. Second, one can tell it was a hell of a town 50 years ago. Walking around downtown, it’s impressive to see that Cleveland had the arcade, Terminal Tower, the Soldier’s and Sailor’s monument, a theater district and a sprawling coterie of important early century business buildings. It compares favorably to the early 20th century structure of Los Angeles, Philadelphia or Chicago, and was certainly more distinguished than cities like Houston, Seattle, etc. Third, the residential architectural stock in the rest of the city is quite nice and, at times, inspiring. I drove through some of the shadier parts of town, and I assure you that other cities do not have the late 19th/early 20th century architecture that Cleveland has falling down around it. Also, some of the houses in east Cleveland (Shaker Hts, etc.) are magnificent; I was floored and have been in some very nice areas in this country. Really, it’s easy to find neighborhoods that have building that other cities (e.g., Dallas) is crying out for. That all makes it very interesting to explore and look at and consider in an historical context of industrialization and post-industrialization.

But it is hard to imagine what Cleveland’s future might be. As you can tell from my description above, I get the felling that Cleveland is on the wrong side of history. The city will continue to de-industrialize. There were entire blocks of empty store fronts downtown, which is something you don’t even see in this region’s most desperate cities (e.g., Newark). There were multiple, desperate slums that sprawled for miles. If one were to compare Cleveland to a similarly sized Midwestern city (Minneapolis), it’s probably got 10x the ramshackle neighborhoods. What could bring back the neighborhoods? What could serve as an economic ladder for the tens or hundreds of thousands of people there? On the other side of the coin, what could make someone growing up in California say “I think I’d like to check out Cleveland”? (I’m sure there are some, but not many surely?) What could be an economic driver for the city in an era when those drivers tend to congregate on coasts or where there is some other geographical benefit (e.g., Austin, Boise, etc.)?

Frankly, it was hard to pick something out. The weather wasn’t terribly good, and I’ve been told is pretty bad most of the year, which separates it from places like Atlanta or Charlotte (other similarly sized and priced towns that are growing by leaps and bounds). Northeast Ohio is perfectly pretty, but not magnificent in a San Francisco or even a Florida kind of way. Aside from the things I did, I have trouble picking out things that I would recommend to a weekend visitor. And like it or not, that’s the sort of thing that people choose when they want to live somewhere and locate companies there. Philadelphia was also a huge industrialized city and now beset by enormous slums with abandoned buildings, but it is helped by being 90 minutes from New York; Cleveland is 90 minutes from Toledo. Without something to draw creative, intelligent, entrepreneurial people in, I think Cleveland will stay the way it is, but just get “more so.”

Does any of that matter? I’m not sure. I would say that Cleveland seemed remarkably comfortable with itself. The people seemed un-pretentious and relaxed. They love their Browns. Seemed to love their Miller Lite and Bud Lite. Seemed happy to drive their American cars. (Which all contrast sharply with New York, of course.) Cleveland will certainly continue to exist as long as Ohioans have children and need to live somewhere. So you’ve got room to breathe, to live your dreams, to buy cheap houses, have families, etc. I will likely return for work, but I am not sure I would encourage my friends and colleagues to make a special visit. Again, that’s no slight to the city as I’ve told people after returning that Cleveland is a fine city and I liked it.

Again, this was based on a long weekend, mostly seen from the windshield of a car and eating by myself. I would have a more developed opinion if I had friends, family, etc.