CLEVELAND - A quick trip to the West Side Market!

[MyTwoSense]

Welcome RBCA!   

[peabody99]

I'm actually kind of glad that I don't work (or live near) the Market. It would be waaaay too easy to just stop by with the intent of picking up one or two things and end up with a side of beef, herbs measured in raw tonnage, and eighty pounds of produce I don't need but "hey, they were offering it a such a great price!".

Actually, living by the Market is great because you can just pick up what you need, and you can go as often as you want (well, as long as it's open!) I love shopping in small amounts...last Wednesday I bought half a pound of sausage and a small container of sour cream (which you can get in bulk...I can never use up an entire tub from the supermarket) for less than $3.

I agree, when I am not so busy, I pop in to shop m,w,f and get just a couple days groceries. the best is you get exactly what you want-ie you pick which piece of meat you want and how much. Plus the vendors love to share recipes and cooking tips. If I am in MIA for long some actually take notice- it isn't Giant Eagle. B/c they do not sell processed items such as frozen foods you are forced to eat healthier.   

[mrnyc]

^ I think it is BETTER than NYC, which has tipped the scales toward  too much yuppie (is there a more up to date word to describe this? A young professional is not what I really mean, rather an outwardly pompous, self centered type person). However WSM has every demographic in Cleveland. It is hard to go anywhere and see that anymore

it's not all like that. there are still old school city markets in nyc. they were originally built by the city to get the pushcarts off the streets. they're still around even in manhattan (essex & harlem). yuppies don't really go to those. no more or less so than the wsm anyway. most visitors have no idea of them.

nothing in ny or really anywhere compares to the wsm building tho. nor the breadth all in one place.

La Marqueta is closed.  The last time I was there (approximately) 4 years ago, the only thing open was an arepas stand. 

It showed how far down the tubes the market went and the changed demographic of El Barrio.  I think the entire market consist of four or five buildings and it's in ruins.  From what I understand, the market was supposed to be rebuilt when the Metro North was rehabilitated.

i hadn't been theere in years, that's a shame, but it may be replaced by a new public market in the seaport:
http://gothamist.com/2007/11/15/a_new_market_fo_1.php

meantime, essex is still going strong (although only using one of two buildings):
http://www.essexstreetmarket.com/history.html

point being its not all yuppies, caviar & disneyland in manhttn quite yet.

[peabody99]

my parents were Manhattanites until they decided to spawn (I still begrudge them, may they rest in peace,  for leaving). Anyhow, they missed it so much we often traveled to the city when I was a growing up. My  70's and 80's memories of the cityscape were more like scenes from Taxi Driver than some of what I see now...I do like it is cleaner and safer,  but this whole corporate thing has to go...I cannot believe Times Square anymore.   Basically the city has too many wealthy people in one place. I do not consider a struggling actor/actor eating ramen from Connitiecut poor, but the way. Boring. Not that I want people to be poor of course...I wish SES was more balanced and the income gap narrowed...But one type of demographic makes for blech and on one end over priced cheese and veggies and on the other having a corner market that only carries wonderbread, mayo and processed food. None of this is good for humanity. To bring this back, the WSM serves us all, no matter where we are from

P.S I really do love NY...but it has issues.   

[MayDay]

RBCA - welcome to the forum - love your blog, btw!

For the record, I would love to live closer to the Market... it's not so much the time or even the money I'd spend there, it's the effect the time/money would have on my waistline. It's like you said, you can get so much food for so little money (and that's NOT including the "produce by the ton" vendors) - I'd have a hard time knowing when to stop. I'm a Taurus and we are all about creature comforts - food being close to the top of the list. And besides, I can't cook too well too often - I can't have my partner expecting great meals every day!

[jpop]

Man. The West Side Market is one of those places that truly makes me love Cleveland. Such a unique place, and such a trademark of the city. Beautiful.

By the way, I almost got diabetes just looking at the cookies and pastries and cakes. And. It. Was. Good.

[mrnyc]

my parents were Manhattanites until they decided to spawn (I still begrudge them, may they rest in peace,  for leaving). Anyhow, they missed it so much we often traveled to the city when I was a growing up. My  70's and 80's memories of the cityscape were more like scenes from Taxi Driver than some of what I see now...I do like it is cleaner and safer,  but this whole corporate thing has to go...I cannot believe Times Square anymore.   Basically the city has too many wealthy people in one place. I do not consider a struggling actor/actor eating ramen from Connitiecut poor, but the way. Boring. Not that I want people to be poor of course...I wish SES was more balanced and the income gap narrowed...But one type of demographic makes for blech and on one end over priced cheese and veggies and on the other having a corner market that only carries wonderbread, mayo and processed food. None of this is good for humanity. To bring this back, the WSM serves us all, no matter where we are from

P.S I really do love NY...but it has issues.  

well what city doesn't?

i have plenty of relatives, including my grandparents and my mom's husband & family, all from nyc and the metro too. i also spent a lot of 70's-80's time in nyc, including living there previously. so i do have a long view. i am somewhat disagreeing with you. if you take times sq as being "nyc" yes unless you are a 1st time tourist you are gonna be bored. but if you, who know better, are going to invoke the whole city's name like that, look at the whole city. it's hardly all scrubbed up like times square.

those yuppie/wonderbread/chains,etc. you are worrying over (as we all are) is mostly based downtown and a few parts of the boroughs. for one manhattan example, don't forget a realtor neighborhood like hudson hts is just a chunk of washington hts. the latter is still very much "for real" and attracting dominicans. this is no different, except in scale, from battery park gentrifying up a chunk of detroit-shoreway in the cleve.

rest assured the sometimes unseen "rest of nyc," which is by far most of the city area-wise, is still a full range of ses levels and continually varying immigrant cultures. i'm trying to show that on photo threads sometimes. it ain't all times square & disneyland just yet.

[jpop]

Times Square boring? More like, so frustrating and horrible that I wanna kill everyone.

[MayDay]

^Times Square - where I realized that "road rage" isn't just reserved for motorists.

[peabody99]

I do not think Times Square is the heart of NY! And can assure all, that is not where I spend my time when in town. I just think the city (like others such as San Fransisco) continues to risk its diversity by being a wealth magnet. 

[jpop]

I wholeheartedly agree with peabody. But maybe that's because I'm a bitter, miserly old college student barely making ends meet, and it's a bit irritating that it takes me almost an hour to get into midtown Manhattan because I can't afford to live anywhere but the Bronx.

However, ironically, I think Cleveland suffers from the opposite extreme. It'd be nice for both Cleveland and NYC to reach more of a middle ground in their economies.

[MayDay]

Oh I'll be the first to say I'd love to see a little more gentrification around here!

[peabody99]

oh I agree, but not too much to where people are priced out. I do find it hilarious when people say ANY Cleveland neighborhood is "gentrified"...compared to what?  A remodeled Victorian or loft conversion does not gentrify a neighborhood by any stretch of the definition

[jpop]

I agree. More definitely needs to be done. However, I applaud the city's efforts and I have hopes that things will eventually change. I'm encouraged by the recent progress in the city's economy in terms of diversifying from a predominantly industrial one. I think one thing that needs to happen in Cleveland is more education. More people need to go to college and stay in the city, stopping the city's brain drain, if there is one. I think this is a huge component necessary for Cleveland to progress into the future.

[peabody99]

I agree about brain drain, however much more important we need people from other regions and internationally resettling in Cleveland and bringing fresh perspectives and ideas. Both my spouse and I hear to the point of ad nauseum from local (educated, talented) folks..."well thats the way it has been always done...." or "what do you expect from local politics" etc. There is a pervasive pattern to avoid challenging the status quo. Fresh meat ,so to speak is essential . A number of young people actually leave NYC (may even have lost some population), but they never speak of a "brain drain" b/c there will always be a fresh face coming in with big ideas.

[jpop]

Again, I totally agree. Not only is it essential to changing things politically, but the business environment thrives when it sees that people from local government to its population in general are open to new, fresh thinking. Status quo kills. Any person in business will tell you that. Any business that is open to change and evolution will thrive over a business that is not.

It's one of the reasons that I'm very excited about where Cleveland is right now. People complain about the loss of industrial jobs, and that this is a sign of a weakening economy. To a degree this is true, but what do you MAKE of it? It's FORCING people to change. Change is good because it forces the need for unconventional thinking to get out of a rough spot. The government is finally beginning to realize that status quo is no longer good enough. In creating an environment city and region-wide that is open to the "brainier" companies and jobs that the region needs, it will attract the people that go along with that. This, unfortunately, will take some time, and progress needs to made in this direction, but I have hopes this will continue to happen. I think the government wants it to happen, which is encouraging.

[Whipjacka]

I went to the market today and took a quick pic with my camera phone while my dad was buying some meat.