Cleveland, lakewood, or Parma? Which is better to live in? (Cleveland Heights: Valentine's day, apartments)

[Simfan453]

I am considering moving to Clevealnd for college, but I want to know where is the best place to live. In the heart of Cleveland, in Lakewood, or in Parma? Also how's the weather in Cleveland? I've herd it's pretty bad, but does Cleveland ever see the sun?

[MABCle]

Judging from these pics do you think Cleveland ever sees the sun?


From University Circle the city's cultural district, looking downtown.



Aerial photo taken from above the I-90, I-271 junction on the east side.



Downtown and Edgewater Park's beach taken from the western edge of the park on a cliff overlooking Lake Erie.



Shaker square a dense neighborhood of upscale apartments, shops, restaurants and is all served by two of Cleveland's Lightrail lines (the city also has Ohio's most extensive bus system, Ohio's only Heavy rail or light rail system and soon Ohio's only Bus-Rapid transit system) Cleveland has alot of "Ohio's only."



Just a pic over looking Lake Erie. (From the same spot as picture 3)




What college are you going to? Knowing that will help ALOT!

[Simfan453]

I'm going to either Kent State or cleveland state.

[MABCle]

Cool. If Cleveland State I would suggest Lakewood, or really the Coventry neighborhood in Cleveland Heights as it has alot of college aged people living there. Cleveland Heights is Also near case, where a college town type area will be getting built around the case campus, which is about 3-4 miles of CSU.I don't know how far you are willing to commute, but Kent is pretty far from any of the cities you mentioned. That commute will become longer if there is a very bad snow storm. I'm not real familiar with the Kent area though.

[ottomobeale]

Lakewood for you younguns going to CSU. Nightlife and reasonably cheap. Pretty tolerant. Heads up Lakewood is where a lot of the gay population lives (apartments along Clifton Come to mind). Watch what bars you go into if you are straight. I have a gay friend there and can get info *if* you need it if that is the way you swing.
Neither for Kent. Look it up on a map. Not sure what city for Kent.
The weather often just sucks Nov 10 to mar 20. Varies intensely from awful to 75 and sunny from Mar 20 to May 10 and Oct 10 to Nov 10. Often awesome May 10 to Oct 10.

[Pinipeanut]

Hello! Im new to this whole thing but here is my input. I live in the Westpark area of Cleveland, which is right down the street from Lakewood. I also went to Kent and HATED IT! I was only there for a semester then came back home and went to Cleveland State. I'm not big into partys and drinking beer at random peoples' houses. My teachers werent nice and didnt really care about you. I lived on the 10th floor and never had any water pressure and the drains were always clogged. I do know some people that went there and loved it, but I didnt. Cleveland State was ok, didnt have enough money to stay though. I liked that I could just jump in my car and go home. O yeah at Kent there is nowhere to keep your car, if you live on campus. I would go with Cleveland State if I were you. Lakewood is good! There are a lot of bars, Lakewood is currently the place to be now that the Flats have died. The gay thing, not so true. Yeah once you get down to the Clifton area there are some, but its not like you cant walk down the street. I would rather live next door to a gay guy than a drug dealer....which there are some of those in Lakewood too. You can tell just by looking at the building that you dont want to live there. Lots of antique shops, and cute places to hang out and eat. There are always places available to live. The Westpark area that I live in is a great neighborhood, big Irish community, but its going downhill. There are NO jobs! I'm moving to Virginia because of my boyfriends job, but I would recommend Lakewood and Cleveland State to you! Any other questions dont hesitate! Bridget

[Pinipeanut]

And o yeah sorry, you asked about the weather. The weather here sucks! This past summer it rained like everyday! It is so depressing because we never see the sun! Snow, we just got hit REAL BAD on Valentine's Day, everything was closed. MABcle said the coventry area, which is a nice area, my boyfriend and I go there when we go out, but the east side is the snow belt and they get tackled with snow! Lakewood is on the westside and they dont get it nearly as bad as the east side. Also the east side is nowhere near a highway. Lakewood is right by 90 which takes you right downtown to CSU. I am not anti east side, just know the west side. Bridget

[CTownNative]

If you are looking to stay away from crime I would say Parma,but if not I would say around Cleveland,probably the near west side,its easily accesible to downtown Cleveland.The whether is really cold and snowy in the winter and really hot and humid in the summer.

[anodyne]

parma was a sundown town for a long time and has a history of racial injustice. i'd avoid parma unless you're a WASP, because although it is changing, it's largely the same.

kent is 10 miles from akron. to go to KSU, you'd live in Kent or Stow (a nice small town), possibly cuyahoga falls (another former sundown town).

[Stephlb51477]

Kent is pretty far away from the west side of cleveland, although a friend of mine does commute. I live in Lakewood, and did go to Cleveland State. Commute is easy. Lakewood is great for young people, lots of bars, restaurants, metroparks, lake. There are also lots of young families. Very safe area. The "gay" area is around 116th and Clifton which is actually Cleveland not Lakewood, and typically around that area is the gay bars. Trust me there are about a hundred other bars in lakewood which are "straight" bars. I dont know much about parma, but from what i see it is a little more bland than lakewood, the style of lakewood is more like 1920-1930s building that have been updated, where parma is more like 1950s and 60s buildings. But thats just my personal preference.