Fairport Harbor - Painesville area (Cleveland, Akron: sale, apartment, house)

[WRnative]

It's great that the Painesville Railroad Museum saved the historic depot, but there isn't much inside the museum. The caboose on the museum's grounds certainly is an historic artifact, as children no longer remember when all trains ended with one.

Painesville Railroad Museum

http://painesvillerailroadmuseum.org/restoration.htm

The more significant local history museum is just outside Painesville next to Riverside High School in the old county home building.

Lake County History Center | Museum

[WRnative]

My hunch is that the most popular casual restaurant in Painesville is the Perkins on Mentor Ave. It's one of the few Perkins restaurants left in Greater Cleveland.

Rider's Inn is just west of Perkins. It's the best old stagecoach inn left in Greater Cleveland, and a fairly popular dining location. I don't know how the New Day road trip show missed visting Rider's Inn.

About Rider's Inn

Hellriegel's Inn is in Painesville Township, halfway to Mentor. It's been an fixture in central Lake County for almost a century, and still is the go-to place for high school reunions.

Home | Hellriegel's Inn

Silvestro's Depot Cafe is the most popular legacy restaurant in Painesville, and Local Tavern's Fish House is located just off Richmond St. and south of Route 2, close to Fairport.

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaura...unty_Ohio.html

Another top-rated B&B in Painesville is Fitzgerald's, across from City Hall. It's in the Mentor Ave. Historic District, as is the Steele Mansion Inn. Rider's also is a B&B.

Lake County / 10-43 Mentor Avenue Historic District | Remarkable Ohio

[formerlyofpainesville]

Originally Posted by tropicgirl

Thanks Formerly, this is interesting. It is so sad when they tear down those beautiful old buildings. That's what drew me to FH/P in the first place - an old Victorian home! (which I'm still considering as it's a great price) Those buildings have so much more character than what we have now. I don't think we even have the craftsmen and women who know how to build that kind of architecture any more, so once it's gone, it's gone. So sad. Thanks for the video link. it's helpful to see it "live."

Yes, while sadly a lot of buildings, including many 19th century homes, were demolished in Painesville, a lot of them still remain. The best of them are located in the area of Lake Erie College (which dates from 1856) in the Mentor Avenue Historic District. Most notable, perhaps, is the recently restored Steele Mansion, a Second Empire home that's 150 years old and was on the verge of demolition until a local family came to its rescue, and over the course of several years of painstaking hard work, rebuilt it and turned it into a B&B. This is a great story for anyone thinking of buying and restoring an old home-- HOME

[formerlyofpainesville]

Originally Posted by WRnative

Painesville had no chance of keeping a major hospital, especially as the new hospital had to be built before the old one was demolished. The Lake hospital system also needed a large site with more convenient freeway access, and in this regard the Tripoint location is superb, located at the intersection of the Route 44 north/south freeway, and the I-90 east/west freeway.

Although Tripoint hospital is now located in Concord Township, Painesville was able to leverage some quirks of Ohio law and its public utility services to form a joint economic district in Concord Township. This enables Concord to collect income taxes in the district, which are shared with Painesville. Townships in Ohio aren't allowed to levy income taxes.

https://www.concordpainesvillejedd.com/

I actually think Painesville city management played a very bad hand excellently.

maybe you're right, but as I recall in the years right before its demolition, Lake East had even invested several million $$ in upgrades. That doesn't make any sense if true. Honestly, I think the reason they relocated was to cater to the more affluent and white suburbanite population of the surrounding areas outside of Painesville City. As for a hospital needing to be near freeway access, some of the best hospitals in the country are located in what are arguably the worst parts of "inner" cities and still manage to thrive. Think Cleveland Cllinic. It's still hard to believe they couldn't have upgraded and developed a better medical facility on the site they had downtown.

[formerlyofpainesville]

Originally Posted by WRnative

Great materials on the Lake Theatre. I now can see the art deco influences, which likely never registered with me as I knew little if anything about art deco before the theater was demolished.

Do you have the link to the Painesville Facebook page that is loaded with similar materials?

Thanks for posting.

yeah, I wasn't thinking of art deco influences as a child when I walked by or watched a movie at Lake Theater either--lol. As a footnote, I had read that the theater opened in the fall of 1939 on the same day Hitler invaded Poland. Accordingly, in the next day's Painesville Telegraph, guess which story was in the lead on the front page? Also, the Lake Theater was the site (as I remember) of the premier of "One Potato, Two Potato," Painesville's connection to Hollywood, considered a groundbreaking film on the topic of interracial marriage. Though not a big-budget movie by any means, it was critically acclaimed at the Cannes Film Festival in 1964, awarding Barbara Barrie best actress. I believe she's the only main cast member still living (she's in her 80's and still appears in New York stage productions to excellent reviews). I remember when "One Potato..." was being filmed in the park downtown around the Parmly Hotel. Attached is the final courtroom scene with an exterior sequence toward the end. As per your other question, I can't for the life of me remember where I got those pages on Lake Theater. I recall a facebook page about Painesville (I think it was called "You know you're from Painesville if..." of something similar) a few years ago on which people posted historic photos, that one day just "poof!" seemed to disappear. I still try to retrieve it every so often. I'll keep you posted. But as you noted, the Lake County Historical Society is a good source...


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cOE1VjBa8ls

[WRnative]

Originally Posted by formerlyofpainesville

maybe you're right, but as I recall in the years right before its demolition, Lake East had even invested several million $$ in upgrades. That doesn't make any sense if true. Honestly, I think the reason they relocated was to cater to the more affluent and white suburbanite population of the surrounding areas outside of Painesville City. As for a hospital needing to be near freeway access, some of the best hospitals in the country are located in what are arguably the worst parts of "inner" cities and still manage to thrive. Think Cleveland Cllinic. It's still hard to believe they couldn't have upgraded and developed a better medical facility on the site they had downtown.

Consider the lack of parking at the old hospital site in Painesville.

Great medical centers perhaps are in inner cities for historical reasons, but consider how many hospitals in smaller cities have closed across the U.S.

Tripoint's location provides indisputably easier access for a wider client base than the old hospital site in downtown Painesville. And, yes, perhaps some of the more affluent individuals in Lake County would find Tripoint more attractive than if it were built in downtown Painesville. That's not a bad outcome if the Greater Painesville area is attempting to keep a viable, local hospital.

My point is the situation in Painesville could have ended much, much more badly for the city.

[tropicgirl]

Wow, I love her!! It's funny, but my friend and I who are considering relocating to your area have thought - since we were 12 years old!! - that it would be fun to live in a lighthouse!! Yes! Kudos to the "pioneer" !! There are 4 lighthouses for sale right now on a website selling old historic homes. Unfortunately, all 4 are clear out in the water, i.e., not joined to the land with a yard, a road, and a lightkeeper's home etc. so we would literally have to rowboat out there everytime we left the "island". They are simply the light tower structures on a slab of concrete - not much to look at really, but the idea has always appealed to us. Thanks for that. I enjoyed reading about the woman.

[tropicgirl]

And what a great story about Steele Mansion. I just LOVE that old architecture and would give my eye teeth for an 18th century Colonial! I'm so glad someone was able to save that beautiful building; unfortunately, most of us ordinary folks can't afford the price tag to renovate those old homes -- or they are located way out in the boonies (I'm talking population less than 1000!) so economically it's difficult to even make a B&B - or whatever - pay for itself. So sad as they say a lot about the history of America.

[WRnative]

Originally Posted by tropicgirl

Wow, I love her!! It's funny, but my friend and I who are considering relocating to your area have thought - since we were 12 years old!! - that it would be fun to live in a lighthouse!! Yes! Kudos to the "pioneer" !! There are 4 lighthouses for sale right now on a website selling old historic homes. Unfortunately, all 4 are clear out in the water, i.e., not joined to the land with a yard, a road, and a lightkeeper's home etc. so we would literally have to rowboat out there everytime we left the "island". They are simply the light tower structures on a slab of concrete - not much to look at really, but the idea has always appealed to us. Thanks for that. I enjoyed reading about the woman.

I think she's interested in selling her Fairport lighthouse. I'm not certain it would be safe to live there in winter unless a protected walkway with railings were installed.

[formerlyofpainesville]

Originally Posted by WRnative

I think she's interested in selling her Fairport lighthouse. I'm not certain it would be safe to live there in winter unless a protected walkway with railings were installed.

I heard about this project in the summer. What a great story, but didn't know she's thinking of selling. I can't imagine what a full time undertaking such a project would entail. But tropicgirl, if you do visit Fairport obviously you'll have to seenthe old lighthouse on the "mainland" overlooking town, which also has a museum. You can go to the top (a little vertigo-inducing, at least it was for me) and and get a great view of Lake Erie. I a story decades ago when I was a kid, when the longtime keepers were still there, in which they had some relationship to the legendary Hollywood gossip columnist Hedda Hopper (she was before everybody's time), and that she was maybe going to retire and live in Fairport (it didn't happen and don't know if any of that was true)


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hhtKWBocp8w