Results tagged “Cleveland” from Intelligent Travel Blog

Popular culture has done Cleveland a disservice. Most of its references to the city are negative: Drew Carey's "Cleveland Rocks" anthem did little more than reinforce stuffy mid-Western stereotypes; basketball star Lebron James is from there, but can't ever seem to stop talking about leaving town; David Foster Wallace used it as the ideal-because-it-isn't-ideal setting for his first major novel, The Broom of the System; even Dr. Seuss commented on the polluted state of Lake Erie in The Lorax. There was that unfortunate burning river situation (due to pollution) back in the '60s, and more recently, this series of "hastily made" tourism videos, which have drawn over a million views on YouTube, haven't helped. 

As we noted earlier this year, Cleveland is making strides to clean up its act. And you gotta love a city that doesn't take itself too seriously, as evidenced by the annual tongue-in-cheek Burning River Fest. But the one attraction that has me itching to visit Rock City, despite negative media representations, is the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum (pictured above), which is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year. Interestingly, the celebratory concert will be held in NYC's Madison Square Garden (on October 29 and 30), rather than in the Rock Hall's hometown. And with the opening of the Rock Annex in New York last year, it looks like Cleveland may be experiencing some competition to maintain its nickname. In the meantime, click through the jump for a few reasons to add the original Rock City to your destination list:

Forty years ago, Cleveland's river burned. Literally. The Cuyahoga River, which winds through Cleveland and Akron, was once one of the most polluted rivers in the United States, having caught fire more than a dozen times since 1868. When it burned in 1969, Time magazine described the Cuyahoga (which means "crooked river" in Iroquois) as the river that "oozes rather than flows" and where a person "does not drown but decays." Needless to say, the 1969 fire spurred environmental concerns and a plethora of environmental legislation was passed, including the Clean Water Act and the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement.

But where is Cleveland today? According to MSNBC, Rock City still ranks among one of the most polluted cities in the U.S. (In fact, one fifth of the top 25 air-particle polluted cities are located in Ohio. Ouch.) But the city, if ever slowly, is hopping on the green bandwagon, trying to dispose of its bad rap.