Moving to cleveland (Lakewood, Cleveland Heights, Westlake: section 8, apartments, rental)

[WiscoAngel]

Hi! My fiance and I are looking to move to Cleveland. He will more than likely be working in Bratenahl and we were looking for a good, safe, place to live. We are both young professionals, without any children. If anyone has any suggestions please help!!

[5Lakes]

Lakewood, Cleveland Heights, Little Italy, Shaker Square, or downtown.

Tremont and Ohio City are also cool, but they might be to gritty for you.

[ctownplayer]

Originally Posted by WiscoAngel

Hi! My fiance and I are looking to move to Cleveland. He will more than likely be working in Bratenahl and we were looking for a good, safe, place to live. We are both young professionals, without any children. If anyone has any suggestions please help!!

stay far away from the eastside of cleveland, as well as most of the eastern cleveland suburbs.

[Boffo]

Originally Posted by ctownplayer

stay far away from the eastside of cleveland, as well as most of the eastern cleveland suburbs.

This is misleading since University Circle, Little Italy, Shaker Square, and Coventry are all on the east side and all these places are very nice neighborhoods. But yes, stay away from some parts of east Cleveland because they are the worst parts of the city. As far as my suggestions, I second all of 5Lakes suggestions but I would add University Circle. University Circle contains most of Cleveland museums and cultural institutions and is home to the Cleveland Clinic and University Hospitals, which are driving most of our current economic growth. Plus, it would take your fiance only about 5 to 10 minutes to get to his job. There is also a nice bike trail through the cultural gardens that leads right into Bratenahl if he wanted. Here is the University Circle website for more info.
University Circle : Find Yourself in the Circle

[costello_musicman]

If you lived downtown, you would experierce "reverse rush hour." I'm assuming you're looking to rent? I would also second Coventry, Little Italy, Shaker Square, University Circle. those are usally the best for young professionals on the eastside.

[rockyriver]

Stay out if the city of Cleveland. Shaker Heights has it's nice parts but there is a lot of crime one block from shaker square. Shaker is more blue blood that refuse to leave as the ghetto slowly swallows the city. Shaker has some pretty scary parts in my opinion and hard to get anywhere with no freeway access.

Tremont is the place to be if you are homosexual by orientation, if you are lesbian the Cleveland Heights/Coventry neighborhood is more the place. Coventry is also pretty much the hang out for CWRU and JCU students so lots of international students and graduate school students. Little Italy is more little China for this same reason. Ohio City is gay men that like to rehab Victorian houses, again with crime around the corner. The largest section 8 housing between NYC and Chicago is right on W 25. There are great places like the aforementioned happening in the city but they are being driven by alternative culture. Great places to go dine out in but I would say not to live. I like to walk my dog at night I would not be comfortable in any of the city neighborhoods. If you move to these parts you are an "Urban Pioneer" in Cleveland. Someday may be great but it is a risk right now, mainly since the housing development has stalled in these areas due to the economy, mostly overpriced townhouses and condos.

Lakewood is the place to be if you are 22-26 and fresh out of college. There is a lot of cheep housing stock, apartments galore and it is 5 minutes from downtown or you can ride the bus or the rapid. The bus is safe on the Westside and a lot of young professionals use it to get around, the east side is a whole different story. The town has tons of bars and restaurants and most of them geared toward the younger educated professionals who know how to have fun. Stay toward the west end of town if choosing to leave here.

If you are looking to buy a house you can't loose in Rocky River, this is where I live. The schools are nationally recognized, very safe place; the houses are all of very good construction with lots of character pre-war brick Tudor homes. The town has it's own little downtown with shopping and restaurants and it seems that it just keeps getting better all the time. I love living here and have been all around Cleveland in the 9 years I have been here and this town is the only reason I like Cleveland. You have the Lake to the north with nice beaches and the Metro Parks toward the east with hiking and biking and kayaking. I can walk or ride my bike to anything, only 8 miles from downtown, 13 minutes to the airport, and 2 minutes to golfing. Town is mostly married couples 30+, families and empty nesters.

If you don't like the older apartments of Lakewood or not looking to buy a home in River than the next town west is Westlake with lots of brand new apartment developments and pretty happening with young professionals as well. The main hub has become Crocker Park, a live/work community with apartments upstairs and shopping/dinning downstairs. The apartments all around this area are great. My wife lived in Sturbridge Square for a couple years after college and loved it. They take really good care of the grounds and have socials every month where everyone gets together and has a pool party (in the summer) and free beer! This gets you about 20 minutes out from your husbands work though, but easy drive, 90 has the best commute into the city. Crowd is more 26-35 single/married.

Keep in mind Cleveland by nature is very segregated and has diversity clusters like most north and east cities due that experienced "white flight" in the 1970's. This is unfortunate but a reality. I will just state that the farther west you go the less diverse it is and the east is much more diverse until you hit 271 then it's just boring. Each town has it's own feel to it so spend a lot of time walking around and asking questions. People in Cleveland will tell you how it is, and everyone has their own opinion.

2 things I have heard the hit home with me about the NW side of Cleveland is when my wife first moved here after spending 4 years in Little Italy going to school at Case was that people actually smile, make eye contact and say “hello” on the NW side and generally seem happier. East side is more attitude and you don’t see that friendliness. Also they dress up way too much to go to Beachwood Mall. My sister lived in Lakewood a couple years after college and then moved to North Royalton and hates it. She says that people are just a lot different on the NW side than most parts of Cleveland. We may not be that diverse or have all the culture activities but people are happy to live here and there is lots to do and easy to get around with

[jam40jeff]

I would suggest either University Circle/Little Italy, Cleveland Heights, or downtown, based upon what you're looking for. UC/LI will have more apartments and a more college atmosphere. You will be able to walk for most of your daily necessities and are near to a wealth of greatg restaurants and nightlife spots. The same goes for downtown, as the residential population is booming, except that there are probably more places to buy whereas in UC and LI it will most likely be easier to rent than buy (although some new condos are coming on the market). The south and west ends Cleveland Heights are close to UC and also have some great neighborhoods. You will be a little more dependent on your car, but you can buy a nice house for a great price and there are plenty of rental options, especially around Cedar/Fairmount. The commute should not be too hard from either UC/LI/CH (right up MLK) or from downtown (reverse rush commute on I-90 which is only about 3 or 4 miles).

As far as the attitude of people, I have found both the west and east side people to be similarly friendly as long as you aren't in a completely poverty-stricken neighborhood, but west side people for some reason are very into degrading their east-side neighbors, so I actually find the east-siders to be much more tolerant and easy to get along with (Lakewood may be an exception, that's a pretty down-to-earth, open-minded place).

And as far as the bigoted "gay/lesbian" comments, both Lakewood and Cleveland Heights have large homosexual populations, but you will be perfectly comfortable regardless of your sexual orientation and not feel imposed upon or threatened (and probably not even notice) those which are of the other orientation than you. The only people that seem to have a problem are the bigots that go looking for one, and thankfully most of those people shy away from these areas.

[Pgserge27]

Yeah that tremont gay comment was a little ridiculous. The same with Ohio City, there are tons of families that fix these houses up also. I happen to live near here and am not gay. Great place to live though.

[AndyF667]

Originally Posted by rockyriver

Stay out if the city of Cleveland. Shaker Heights has it's nice parts but there is a lot of crime one block from shaker square. Shaker is more blue blood that refuse to leave as the ghetto slowly swallows the city. Shaker has some pretty scary parts in my opinion and hard to get anywhere with no freeway access.

This is a pretty ridiculous statement. I assume you must be fairly retarded. If this person is working in Bratenhal (I have no idea what kind of business' exist there, I thought it was all residential), they would zoom thru University Cirlce, up MLK under I90 and boom, they are in Bratenhal.
Please show me how the ghetto is swalling up Onaway, Fernway, Mercer, South Park North Park, etc. Stupid.

[jam40jeff]

Haha, pretty funny Andy, and maybe harsh, but pretty true. I am so tired of people saying how Cleveland Heights, Shaker Heights, and University Circle are "hard to get to" because they're not right on a freeway. You are less than 15 minutes to downtown, Bratenahl, and Beachwood. And the best part is that you don't need the freeway to get to any of them! That means less gas (about 4 miles to each rather than 15 miles or more) and even better it means that when there is an accident or when there is a bnch of snow on the ground and you have to go 25 instead of 35, that 15 minutes turns into about 20, whereas the 15 minute freeway commute becomes about an hour, due to traffic moving 25 (or less) instead of the usual 65. So many people are used to their exurban lifestyle that they forget that there are plenty of useful arterial roads that are not freeways.

Another reason Shaker Heights is not "hard to get to" is that you are right on one of 2 rapid transit lines running through the city, which is ideal for going to a Cavs, Indians, or Browns game and not having to worry about paying for parking or driving home after having more than a few drinks (something I know many suburbanites do constantly without regard for how unsafe it is to themselves and others).

And most of Shaker Heights is still considered to be amongst some of the nicest residential areas in the ENTIRE COUNTRY. Take a drive down South Park Blvd., or Parkside, or Cortland, or S. Woodland, etc. and you'll see what I mean.

And although I think Shaker Square is a very cool area, how many times to people need it drilled into their head that Shake Square is actually a neighborhood in Cleveland, not part of the city of Shaker Heights.