WHAT'S NEW ON THE SQUARE

New Generation Directories

The directory signs in each quadrant of the Square were erected in the renovation of 2000, and their printed maps updated from time to time. A month ago they still showed long-gone places like Yours Truly and fire restaurant.

The picture below shows the new sign in front of the CVS store in the northeast (also called "A") quadrant. It is a simple attractive sign that tells visitors the Square's birth year (1929) and that they are in the City of Cleveland.

At the lower left corner a large QR code allows visitors to use their smart phones to access the ShakerSquare.com website. There they can find a directory for each quadrant and the names of the restaurants, stores and offices (street level and second floor) on the Square. Then one click to see their address, phone number, website link and more.

So good that this aspect of historic Shaker Square has been updated to serve a new generation of visitors.

September 27, 2024
 

A New Day Is Dawning

Shaker Square is at its best in the summer when its restaurant patios are full with locals and visitors, young and old, enjoying our nearly 100 year-old gathering place. You can feel the energy.

This summer it was a construction zone. Its streets and what lies below them were being rebuilt. Closed streets, construction equipment, piles of materials, dust everywhere. Few visitors. Empty restaurant patios. One welcome sign of life remained: the Saturday morning North Union Farmers Market.

On August 26th the construction equipment was gone, and the barriers too. This once-in-a-generation rebuild will soon be done.

The renovation of Shaker Square's buildings is also nearly complete. The new owners of the Square, finding them in poor shape, invested and did what had to be done to enable a better future.

Our Square's darkest time is ending. A new day is dawning. It will move ahead, step-by-step, more vital, with old friends returning and new friends discovering it. Let us all enjoy this and, each in our own way, support it.

See you on the Square.

Arnie Berger   September 1, 2024

A good coffee house, as Dewey Forward's place was for many years, can be the heart of a neighborhood. Melissa Hirsch, a creative local entrepreneur who operates Cafe Unbar on Larchmere, will be opening Cafe Indigo in the old DEWEYS space at 13201 Shaker Square.

The new cafe will offer ice cream in addition to coffee and other traditional cafe items, such as sandwiches, soups and salads. Look for an opening by November.

This is great news for friends of Shaker Square ─ to have a place with character and local connections, and not a cold franchised enterprise.

Consider this my order for a coffee mocha milkshake. Please call me when it's ready.

Arnie Berger   August 27, 2024