r/Cleveland • u/Remote-Current5999 • May 19 '25
Help a Tourist Why is downtown so empty?
Just spent four days in your city and absolutely loved it! It’s great what they’ve done with buildings downtown and the new residential construction I saw next to the river and in Ohio city.
That said - I was incredible confused and alarmed by the fact that there is almost zero people in downtown, regardless of day and time of day. What’s going on? Where are the people that go to the offices? And that literally live downtown? I spent 3 days waking around and would barely encounter a soul walking on the sidewalks
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u/Zeke333333 May 19 '25
What part of downtown? Some areas are commercial only, even the restaurants are only open for lunch M-F. Other parts of downtown have apartments and condos, and those areas are much more lively in the evenings and weekends.
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u/Remote-Current5999 May 19 '25
So you think remote work still plays a huge role in the downtown ? I live in NY and most companies have a 3-day per week office mandate, which I think has helped bring people back downtown
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u/Zeke333333 May 19 '25
That’s a lot of it. Even 3 days in the office is 40% less people than vs. 2019, and we don’t have anywhere close to the population density of NYC.
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u/coneynfaygo May 19 '25
Remote work is a factor but the reality is the amount of jobs downtown is a fraction of what it was built for. Even if you count all those new residents downtown, they do not make up for all the offices that have either closed, gone remote/hybrid or moved.
People like to throw around the 25k population number but they aren’t factoring that most of those office conversions once featured thousands of employees working in them. In some cases you had hundreds of people working on one floor. Now you have a smattering of people living on one floor. That’s a net loss and you see it in the lack of activity on the city streets.
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u/maskthestars May 19 '25
After hearing for 2-3 years how productive we were and how profitable the company did for them to stuff folks on raises, once my company did that I go as far out of my way to not eat out downtown. If you grab food for breakfast and lunch in my case AL’S deli or dunkin, or Emily’s, heninens or Ohio city burrito, you’re talking around $20-30 to eat that day. HR told us the city was leveraging tax benefits as far as forcing us back. We lost 2/3 of our company w return to office. A lot of folks I work with feel similar and you only catch us coming and going from the parking garage.
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u/NoseResponsible3874 May 19 '25
When did he mention remote work? Even people who work in offices downtown drive in, park in garages attached to their buildings (or lots adjacent to their building) between approximately 8:00 and 9:00 am, then between approximately 4:30pm and 5:30pm, they get into their cars and they drive home to the suburbs. Nobody ever comes downtown for no good reason.
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u/Old-Air1062 May 19 '25
Unless there is an event going on, it will be pretty quiet
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u/SehnorCardgage May 19 '25
Yeah I think it was just a particularly quiet week/end. No major sports, no Broadway show at Playhouse Square, localized events elsewhere (graduations).
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u/neosmndrew May 19 '25
The big thing is the marathon closed much of the shoreway which is how many folks get into downtown.
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u/thrownthrowaway666 May 20 '25
But yet we need every street down there to have a bus lane😂
OP right here just goes to show that we don't want it. Why would it make sense. Nobody is downtown daily. Those that are.either drive and use the parking garages or they live down there.
Half the people residents were likely boozing at GLBC, townhall, butcher brewer etc
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u/Lacrosseindianalocal May 20 '25
At least if there were rub n tugs open i would have a reason to go downtown.
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u/No_Aspect5713 May 19 '25
As someone who has worked downtown for the last 10 years and comes downtown a few days a week, it’s been a drastic shift with the downtown population before/after Covid.
Not only population but bars, restaurants, retail as well, it’s a ghost town compared to pre 2020 most days.
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u/Wildse7en May 19 '25
I was shocked to see the Paninis near Progressive field was gone. Wasn't great but it was an institution. The Jake would like you bring your sammies in.
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u/NoseResponsible3874 May 19 '25
Paninis have closed locations all over the area. What does this have to do with anything?
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u/InfiniteJackfruit5 May 19 '25
It was a ghost town pre Covid
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u/No_Aspect5713 May 19 '25
I mean what are you comparing it to? As a medium sized midwestern city, downtown population and working crowd was more than enough to sustain multiple winking lizards, drug stores, etc.. up and down 9th.
The galleria actually had shops, a food court.
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u/cabbage-soup May 19 '25
Agree. I would go on a downtown date maybe every other month pre pandemic. My husband and I revisited post pandemic and it felt like the only people out were homeless folks who mostly seemed to be tweaking out on drugs. Nothing felt welcoming or lively. And a lot of our favorite businesses were gone. Hate to say that I haven’t gone back since.
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u/Simple-Mastodon-9167 May 20 '25
This is the answer. My husband worked downtown and his whole company still works remotely.
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u/hotpotato112 May 19 '25
On top of what other mentioned, no cavs games and guardians were out of town, too.
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u/TGrady902 May 19 '25
It’s pretty wild that between the downtowns of Cleveland, Columbus and Cincinnati, only about 45,000 Ohioans call those downtowns home combined. It’s why all the downtowns in Ohio feel dead outside of the M-F workday and weekend festivals and events. Nobody lives there!
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u/tankerkiller125real May 20 '25
And yet ALL of those cities try to claim massive portions of non-city area as "the Metro area". I've run into people from Cleveland the city itself who insist I'm a "Clevelander" no I'm not prick. I'm a North Eastern Ohioan, I don't want to be associated with the city at all. I don't even go into the city unless I've been forced to by family (maybe once a year), or some other thing forces me down into the city (maybe once a decade). Keep your damn "Metro area" to yourself.
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u/TGrady902 May 20 '25
Metro areas are the non-city areas, as you put it, around the city. If you live in the suburbs, that is firmly within the metro area.
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u/tankerkiller125real May 20 '25
I wouldn't call a 35 minute drive from the city on a good clear day part of the Metro, but I guess that's just me.
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u/randyscavage21 May 20 '25
metro areas were created specifically to include the people who commute 30-60 minutes to the city
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u/leehawkins May 20 '25
Cleveland’s metro area is actually rather compact, especially compared to Columbus. Lorain, Lake, Media. and Geauga Counties are all part of it, and it’s easy to make the argument that especially Summit and Portage, as well as Stark, Wayne, and even Tuscarawas, Ashtabula, and Erie Counties have strong economic ties to Cleveland and Cuyahoga County as well. Compared to Columbus, there’s nowhere near as much farmland included in the MSA or CSA because Greater Cleveland is a lot more compact. And I’m not making this up—it’s the Census Bureau who nails this stuff down. There are a lot of people who drive an hour to work in Cleveland. That’s true in a lot of places…especially now that people don’t have to drive in 5 days a week.
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u/fd6270 May 20 '25
It is just you - this is a very well defined term, people aren't just pulling that out of thin air.
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u/equitablethrowaway May 19 '25
I spend a lot of time in downtown Cleveland for work. There’s a noticeable buzz in the air when the Guardians, Cavs, or a concert are in town but most buildings are government offices, banks, insurance companies, etc. Ohio City and Little Italy are decently crowded when I go as well as the flats when you’re nearing the weekend.
I live in Columbus and Cleveland’s downtown is much more active. I also think a lot of suburbs in both cities have cultivated their own little “downtown” with plenty of good shops and restaurants so there’s no real reason to drive into the city core.
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u/Philly_ExecChef May 20 '25
My hotel is pretty much packed with conferences from now until September.
Early spring is dead outside of sports weekends, or significant concerts (AC/DC coming up).
Everyone here bemoaning the death of downtown almost certainly spams Amazon deliveries, eats at garbage restaurants like the Strongsville line up, and thinks the RTA is a one way ticket to murder.
It takes a lot of collective indifference and choices to fuck up a city economy.
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u/Twosheds11 May 22 '25
You're not wrong, but it seems like every time the city needs money, they raise taxes on the downtown parking lots. I don't wanna come downtown if it means paying $20 to park. I'd go to Gordon Square, Collinwood or Ohio City instead.
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u/NoseResponsible3874 May 20 '25
How do you think you’re going to fix your “problem” by blaming the people who “don’t” go downtown because it sucks to be downtown?
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u/Unskrood May 19 '25
It took moving away for a number of years to understand this too.
I thought Cleveland was always busy until I moved away and saw other cities to realize we do not have nearly as much foot traffic as most and I am not sure what exactlis the factor for the lack of it
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May 19 '25
Everyone here lives in the suburbs. Combine that with an irrational fear of the city.
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u/Unskrood May 19 '25
Very true! As a kid I grew up hanging out in the west side market. I tell that to people now and they all go oooo that was dangerous back in the 90s.
Idk if I just never saw it being a kid, but I don’t remember much trouble at all. It’s always people who didn’t go to Cleveland talking about how dangerous Cleveland is.
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u/robodog97 May 19 '25
Uh, Ohio City wasn't dangerous in the 1990s, it had already been revitalized by the late 80s thanks to Great Lakes Brewing and other local business owners. There were and are dangerous neighborhoods, but that hasn't been one for a long time.
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u/canttakethshyfrom_me May 19 '25
They said they always heard it was dangerous and didn't see evidence of that.
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u/leehawkins May 20 '25
I think Moda was the thing that drew a lot of undesirable elements to W 25th until the 00s…and when that closed the neighborhood really really took off. Whether that added to the danger, I don’t know, but it definitely hurt the desirability before it closed.
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u/OolongGeer May 19 '25
Downtown population is almost up to 20,000 people.
But yes, for some reason, they are pretty quiet. That said, Rising Star Roasters can be pretty busy. And somehow, the Winking Lizard at 1300 E 9th is packed, all the time.
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May 19 '25
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u/NoseResponsible3874 May 19 '25
Apartments in or near central business districts are always poorer value (on paper, anyway) than houses in the suburbs. That's not unique. The problem is there are no amenities or reasons I would want to live downtown even if it were *cheaper* than living elsewhere, but developers and landlords seem to think they can charge whatever they want and then wonder why nobody takes them up on that offer...
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u/OolongGeer May 19 '25
There isn't a huge market, which is why there are so few of those types of properties like that on the market or being developed. Those are good things.
The majority of development recently has been reimagining historic office buildings into affordable housing. Many apartments at $1,200/mo and below.
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u/Pistallion May 19 '25 edited May 19 '25
Irrational fear? Cleveland almost doesn't want us to come there. What ia there that we cant get anywhere else that isnt a professional sports game?
I saw them charging $70 for the parking next to the basketball arena. Who the fuck is like yess I cant wait to go downtown and spend $70 before we get there.
On top of that, they don't do anything to incentives younger families to live there. You families are the ones that would want to live down town but then every place its over priced
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u/neosmndrew May 19 '25
People with your mentality typically just want to stay in the suburbs, which is fine.
But Cleveland has plenty of events/museums/restaurants/entertainment/institutions that you cannot find in a suburb
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u/NoseResponsible3874 May 19 '25
What, specifically, does downtown have, besides MLB/NBA/NFL and MAYBE the Rock Hall (although how many people have an interest in going there more than once in awhile, at most), that can't be replicated in the suburbs (or at least other parts of the city that are definitely not downtown)?
I'll wait.
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u/AgileSafety2233 May 19 '25
Not that many unusual events downtown that aren’t found in suburbs. Venture to the burbs, change your mentality about it.
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u/BlueGoosePond May 19 '25
$70 is the event rate, not the every day rate.
I bet that garage was full too. The Cavs had a great season and people wanted to go see them.
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u/Pistallion May 19 '25
People aren't going downtown unless there is an event. Every aspect of life is better in the suburbs outside of the cavs/guards/ browns.
Hell go next door to Tremont, ohio city, or Lakewood and its still better.
Its my whole point. Cleveland wants people to come downtown and then when we the people ask why, its like downtown dont want us.
$70 to $40 parking is just a prime example
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May 19 '25
Take the RTA.
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u/Pistallion May 19 '25
Some people live 30 mins away via car, they ain't taking the RTA.
Im not making arguments why or why not people should go downtown. Im telling why this is the case if you like it or not
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u/Candyman44 May 20 '25
Lol you’re worried about over priced homes for young families… start with decent schools first.
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u/robertwadehall May 19 '25
I live in the burbs and go to Uni Circle and downtown a few times a month. In the last 2 months, I’ve been to the Western Reserve Museum, a concert at the Agora, a concert at the House of Blues, Easter Brunch at Cleveland Chop, dinner at Blue Point Grille, dinner at Guarinos, lunch at Hofbrauhaus. Lots of places to go. I like when they have valet parking. If parking isn’t convenient, I uber down.
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u/Eliot_Ness_45 May 19 '25
I know a bunch of folks who live downtown, young and older. Being cautious and aware, as you would be in any city like Cleveland, is recommended.
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u/AadeeMoien May 19 '25
It all boils down to a lack of affordable living space downtown. Downtown apartments in the 700-1000 range are either slumlord level or are shoeboxes, all other accommodations start at about 1300 and get more expensive rapidly. The people who can afford those rents can also easily afford to rent a decent apartment or even a whole house in a quiet suburb.
This all results in a death spiral. There's no local economy (shops, services, etc.) because the only resident population can afford to shop elsewhere and the workers at those shops can't afford to live in the neighborhood they work in.
Rents needs to be forced down in the majority of the buildings. Chasing "young professionals" is a foolish fantasy that our business-first mayor and city hall have done for decades.
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u/hmanasi93 May 19 '25
Downtown Cleveland is pricing itself like Denver or Austin without the industry or nightlife to back it up.
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u/InfiniteJackfruit5 May 19 '25
I looked at condos downtown when i lived in the burbs. I'd have loved to move downtown but the condos were like 300k-350k with a 700-1000 dollar a MONTH HOA fee. For comparison, you can find some condos down in south beach with similar prices/hoa fees.
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May 20 '25
I had a 2 bed 2 bath downtown apartment in the halle building before covid for $1200/month
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u/leehawkins May 20 '25
Cleveland I think made some huge mistakes back 50ish years ago demolishing all of its old buildings to build shiny skyscrapers with hundreds of parking spaces. This eliminates a huge amount of cheap commercial and residential space in favor of fancy space that the market doesn’t have the money for, and makes it too convenient for suburbanites to drive to exactly where they’re going and then turn around and leave without setting foot on the street.
Austin honestly is making the exact same mistakes with the parking, but it also has no good public transportation. It has, however, managed to keep a lot of its older building stock, which is good for a number of reasons. A key reason cities shouldn’t aim to knock down every small building down is that it keeps small businesses and landlords in place because they can buy a building, pay it off, and own it for decades, without getting priced out on rent. Get a few big landlords to own the neighborhood, and you get a monopoly that will just sit on empty space until someone comes along and rents it at sky high prices.
What should the city do to bring more life to the streets? It’s hard to right a lot of the urban planning sins of the past. But a big problem Cleveland has is that it’s way too easy to park right where you want to go and then just leave, and the public transportation is in a death spiral thanks to repeated cycles of state budget cuts. Having a lot of office space that isn’t utilized anywhere near as much after COVID really hurts too. More residential conversions will help. But I also think it hurts that there is a lot of collusion going on in both the apartment and the hotel markets, and that is artificially inflating prices and depressing occupancy. There are also a lot of neighborhoods dominated by a single landlord, which brings the same problems as collusion, but is much harder to solve.
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u/Candyman44 May 20 '25
They have a tremendous opportunity to develop the lakefront and solve all of the problems you’re describing. Who has the misplaced confidence in local govt that they will get this right? Hell they are so scared of doing something they want to renovate the stadium instead of build a new one and make Cleveland a mini Chicago
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u/LoCarB3 May 19 '25
Why is it then that downtown's population has continued to grow significantly over the last decade while the rest of the city has lost population. They're completely correct in chasing young professionals and empty nesters, not just in downtown, but across the city as a whole as income tax revenues have actually increased as the population has decreased.
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u/AadeeMoien May 19 '25
12000 people is hardly a bustling metropolis. And that's with less than 75% of apartments rented (and rented here includes people who are using them illegally as Airbnbs which anyone who lives downtown can tell you is a problem in every building.)
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u/LoCarB3 May 19 '25
Where are you getting 12,000? Multiple sources put it around 20k. Also would love a source on 75% occupancy
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u/Candyman44 May 20 '25
How is this different than a suburb? You can’t even find a rental in Collinwood for 700 that’s livable
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u/N757AF May 19 '25
Lack of grocery stores continues to be a pain in downtown living. The dysfunctional City of Cleveland bureaucracy, the safety services and city services that continue to fail us. I lived at East 4th and Prospect pre-pandemic, until I finally had it and left, in that time I had three broken windows and a guest had their catalytic converter stolen. CPD was no help. My friend tracked down the catalytic converter thieves and turned to OSP when CPD refused to investigate, back when OSP actually worked within the city limits.
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u/GullibleAd6671 May 19 '25
Lived in Denver which is a larger MSA, and still experienced ghost town vibes during non-weekday business hours / no special events. Most cities nationwide are experiencing a new normal of foot traffic post-2020.
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u/Flyguy3131 May 19 '25
I visited a week ago to see the Phillies play (drove from the Philly burbs). We went to little Italy for lunch and to stroll. It was busy and very nice. But not overly crowded. We visited back in 2022 to go to the RRHOF and we were very surprised how nice the area was and also how less crowded it was. Rush hour was not even a thing. I chalk it up coming from such a large and busy city/area to being in a much smaller city. It was refreshing to be honest to not be fighting crowds. We have friends that live in a suburb of the city which is also very nice. We are very impressed with the area.
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u/Timely_Help_4065 May 19 '25
Yeah, compared to the traffic in Philadelphia, it would seem like nothing
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May 19 '25
Flip side.. I'm a Clevelander who spent three days in Chicago and was pleasantly surprised at how many people were out. They were everywhere.
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u/bikeypeddler May 19 '25
I'll bet you weren't in the loop-- last time I was in Chicago, the loop was scarily empty on the weekends. Cleveland isn't alone in having a quiet downtown-- that's my point. Chicago has spots of business district weekend emptiness too.
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u/QuintinityTheCoder May 19 '25
The north and east parts of the loop (Riverwalk/Millennium Park) are pretty busy with tourists on weekends this time of year.
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u/BootsieWootsie May 19 '25
The loop is the business area, it’s always been slow outside of work hours, but just go a couple blocks in any other direction, and it’s completely different. For Cleveland, it’s the whole downtown. I’m always shocked that even after a large event, businesses close early.
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u/NoseResponsible3874 May 19 '25
The difference is the loop is ONE of MANY commercial districts that draw crowds in Chicago, versus the vast wasteland that is the City of Cleveland.
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May 19 '25
Wrigleyville. Went to two Cubs games and it was a good time. After a Cubs win, a little ditty plays and the crowd is singing along. Kids are dancing. The crowd spills out into the street and streets are blocked off for the crowd to walk down and check out the bars/restaurants. Even when it's not game time, though... lots of people out biking and walking.
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u/randyscavage21 May 20 '25
Chicago is so much larger than Cleveland its not a fair comparison. It's like looking at Shibuya Crossing in Tokyo and wondering why Euclid Ave doesn't have that much pedestrian traffic.
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u/NoseResponsible3874 May 20 '25
Tokyo is so much larger than Chicago it’s not a fair comparison. It’s like looking at Euclid Ave and wondering why Chesterland doesn’t have that much pedestrian traffic.
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May 19 '25 edited May 19 '25
People drive into downtown to work, then drive out. its more a commerce hub than a living situation, csu campus and playhouse square usually are lively. And euclid ave.
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u/Sophos1001 May 19 '25
any more info about CSU and its surroundings? actually Im an international student and ive been accepted to CSU for a Masters program. Since then, im trying to connect with people who can give me a good picture of the place and the university.
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May 19 '25
The rec center is rad.
Csu has a very walkable layout, with lots of casual dining. The traffic is kind of stupid during transfer periods and sports practices but is generally congenial to navigate if you can ignore some of the finer varieties of entitled that seems to frequent chester and euclid.
I frequent the area but dont attend the school cant give much more.
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u/ComradeGarcia_Pt2 May 19 '25
Yall never been to downtown Youngstown on a weekend then. One time I literally saw a tumbleweed roll down the street there.
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u/NoseResponsible3874 May 19 '25
That's like saying, "if you think stepping in shit is bad, try drowning in diarrhea". Cleveland is bad, but Youngstown is apocalypse porn...
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u/-MrWrightt- May 19 '25
Downtown has become an entertainment and commercial district, and less of the latter since Covid. Almost no one lives there relative to how many visit during work or events.
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u/F-ckWallStreet May 19 '25
There’s just now beginning to be a resurgence of residential real estate downtown. Prior to 2010 there were very limited apartments that anyone would want to live in long term.
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u/NoseResponsible3874 May 21 '25
Amongst the residents that are there now, how many of them are "long term" residents? Genuinely curious.
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u/F-ckWallStreet May 22 '25
That I do not know. I believe most are there at least a few years.
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May 19 '25
Weird I work downtown and it’s always bustling over in the gateway district. Especially Euclid and E. 4th.
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u/elvecxz May 19 '25
I lived downtown for several years and while I rather enjoyed it, I didn't get out of my apartment to enjoy the nightlife nearly as much as I originally thought I would. Fact is, a lot of that area is irrationally expensive and of lower quality than you might expect. Most of the best food, for example, is not downtown anymore.
I dunno, I liked a lot of individual places here and there, but I never got any sense of a cohesive community.
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u/Technical-Bit-4801 May 20 '25
My sister lived near the East 4th district less than 10 blocks from her job. Her apartment was really cute and had a nice view of the city. I loved it…I could picture myself trying out different restaurants and shops, going to events, etc.
The key word there is MYSELF, of course. 😆
She drove to and from work everyday and never once went out to explore the area. I think she lasted a year before buying a house in Richmond Heights. 🤣
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u/NoseResponsible3874 May 21 '25
I'm pretty sure a year is plenty of time to 'try out' all of the shops and restaurants within walking distance of East 4th...
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u/Momma_Bekka May 19 '25
In addition to Cleveland in general being a "more quiet" city downtown, a lot of office workers shifted to working from home during the Pandemic and actually, a lot of them have not gone back to the old way. This means it is even MORE quiet downtown than it used to be!
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u/neosmndrew May 19 '25
There was the marathon this weekend which closed a lot of the streets going in and out of downtown.
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u/vestigialfree May 19 '25
Well last weekend was the marathon and associated races so that could explain the localization but otherwise good question.
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u/Cultural_Main_3286 May 19 '25
They moved from free parking to paid parking. The casino moved in and chased away all of the shopping locations. RTA is woefully underfunded. They shut down or limited the busses from the near suburbs and sacrificed the city to the car. White flight to the suburbs and addictive dependence to the car, the shopping centers are in the suburbs and not in walking distance.
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u/Justin0hio May 19 '25 edited May 19 '25
Cleveland is never super crowded. I think you just happen to be there on a rare weekend when there's not a whole lot going on.
The guardians are on a road trip, the cavs are done, nothing much going on at playhouse square, school isn't out yet, it's not quite officially summer so a lot of patios are still in the process of opening...
Also, Cleveland is broken down into small districts, almost like mini boroughs in New York city... A lot of people are concentrated in the flats, Tremont, Ohio City, Lakewood, Cleveland heights/University circle where s lot of the museums are and Little Italy is.... Cleveland downtown isnr necessarily the spot to hangout if there isnt a major event in town. Rather, the small regions spread out around the city, some within walking distance of the city center. Cleveland is one of those cities where you can't necessarily just be dropped into the city center and expect to have a fantastic experience. If you get to know a local, they can totally make job fall in love with it. Just have to know where to go.
Cleveland is never over crowded, which is great. But.... In the summer, people will be out. Glad you enjoyed the city. It gets a bad name from people that have never been here, and people who live in the suburbs who have in irational fear of downtown because of some problems in the 90s.... It's been transformed and has made a major comeback...
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u/jshrlzwrld02 May 19 '25
I would describe our downtown Cleveland as more of a residential neighborhood than a tourist attraction. They've focused so much on putting in apartments and condos, but never bothered to do anything to bring in retail.
I mean, you walked around, did you see much regular shopping or was it all touristy-shops?
Other than food and theater/bands, there aren't many reasons outside of sports for people to want to come downtown. No one went to the movie theater in Tower City. Few shops remaining inside Tower City.
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u/Shel_gold17 May 19 '25
30 years ago, downtown had places to go and have fun all over—the flats, bars on Euclid and Prospect and around Gateway, Tower City was busy, and there were loads of people walking around everywhere. Prices weren’t super high, you could find cheap/free parking easily, and no matter what part of downtown you were in it was easy to find something to do. Now things are concentrated around E4th and the Warehouse district, and the Flats have small unconnected areas of busy. We used to leave work, go to the Flats, and not come home until after midnight, but prices have gone way up and available places to go have decreased, and there are far fewer people going to them. I think it’s the downside of a cycle that may well improve as the residential areas start to fill up. A lot of people probably don’t have the budget these days for super expensive drinks in trendier places plus $25 parking and all that, I guess?
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u/bonsglass May 20 '25
I swear so many people from the suburbs are afraid to leave their yards. It’s actually quite hilarious to hear most of them discuss how dangerous Cleveland is.
They need to grow a pair. We’ve have no problem. We’ve been here for 30 years. We rent out our sagamore hills Eaton Estates property because we don’t want to be that far away from downtown Cleveland.
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u/robroxx May 19 '25
What days did you spend downtown? I'm down there Tuesday through Thursday and it's typically pretty busy during office hours. Monday and Fridays will be a bit more quiet. The weekends are a hit or miss depending on whether there is an event going on, and if the weather is decent. This past weekend was pretty cold(I was actually downtown all day Saturday for Asian Festival, drinks in Playhouse Square and a short stint at Hofbrauf(SP?) House and then to the Flats). It was kinda empty downtown until we headed to the Flats around 10pm.
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u/Visible_Plum6906 May 19 '25
This depends on what section of downtown you’re in, the warehouse district and playhouse square see a lot of foot traffic from the downtown residents while Erie view district and gateway see less when events aren’t happening or during non work hours.
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u/innerdork May 19 '25
This is the correct answer as it depends on what part. Cincinnati is the same. You can go near the stadium and ballpark on the river and it’s happening if events are taking place, but then in downtown proper areas it’s kind of dead. Then you go a little bit more north of downtown Cincy and the Rhine area is happening with breweries and food.
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u/Legally_a_Tool May 19 '25
I think this is the best take. Different parts of downtown have different levels of activity post working hours.
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u/ChunkyMilk_ May 19 '25
Asia town was suppper crowded Sat and Sunday for festival. Case graduation was also this weekend and marathon was Sunday. So I assume that drew lots of crowds away from downtown