West Side Market

Cleveland's public market is the West Side Market.  Opening to shoppers in November of 1912, it is the oldest continuously operating municipally owned market in the city. It's located in the Ohio City area, and was built to replace the Pearl Street Market across the street. Of three public markets that included the Broadway Market and the Central Market, only the West Side is still in existence.  The public markets were built to serve Cleveland's growing immigrant population in the early 20th century.

Construction was begun in 1908, and the building cost a total of $734,890.72, a princely sum for the day. There were originally 109 stands inside selling meats, dairy products, bread, groceries, and ethnic foods. In 2008, the West Side Market was designated as one of "10 Great Public Places in America".

We arrived about 10:30 am, thinking that we would miss out on many of the "good stuff".  Wrong!  Fortunately we were able to score a free parking spot next to the produce stands.

The tall stack can be seen for miles, identifying the location of the market.

The produce aisles are lined with some of the most delicious and different fruits and vegetables that can be imagined!

From corn to asparagus, brussel sprouts to potatoes, and everything in between, it was a vegan dream!

One stand was selling flowers,

And another had dragon fruit. Said to be a lot like a Kiwi.

The fruit is cut in half and the center scooped out.  Looks terrible, but could be delicious!

Our first steps inside the market gave us an immediate idea of what to expect:

The building is divided up into a large number of individual businesses, each with it's name overhead, and a cold case displaying the items for sale.  Bakeries and meat markets predominate, with an old world heritage.

Yes, that is Head Cheese!

But we did have to get a couple chops. Only $8 for two smoked pork chops about an inch thick!

Pinzone's had some awesome cuts, as did Czuchraj's, Turczyk's, and Wiencek's.

The mashed potatoes looked good, if a bit different in color….

All the food was making us hungry, and as we looked up at the ceiling, we wondered what the Market would look like from up there.

So, a couple of smoked brat sandwiches later, and a trip up some stairs through a door marked "office", we came out on a balcony just below the big windows at the end.  An hour of people watching and sausage eating provided a great end to our visit!

The Market is a peek into the past, before supermarkets and Costco's and Walmart's came along.  This is how we used to buy food and goods!

On the way back to Nessie with our haul, we stopped in Hudson, a beautiful small town south of Cleveland, for a cup of coffee and conversation with two ladies from Youngstown that were on a shopping expedition.

I almost forgot: before we left the market, we had to have a sweet, so we bought several samples and shared some flakey pastries at the coffee shop!

On the suggestion of the desk here at the Streetsboro KOA, we tripped into downtown Streetsboro to visit the Library.  The Public Library offers computers, along with several free applications, for patrons' use.  One of those apps is a free version of Ancestry.com, which we used to find out a bit more information about my father's family.

Donna's brother had researched and provided the info that I mentioned on another post, but today we were able to find out that my great Grandfather moved his wife and entire family from Cleveland to South Pasadena, California, some time in the '20's. A list of children and links to a variety of other sites provided marriage and death certificates.  More good stuff!  It's like a detective mystery, except the characters are your own family!  Wow! We'll continue this as time permits. For now, it's back to Nessie, and preparation to move on tomorrow.