Cleveland PROPER - Best/Worst neighborhoods? (Lorain, Lakewood: best neighborhoods, apartments, rental)

[rpb3000]

Sorry for yet another "Where to live in Cleveland?" style thread. Here's the situation: Me and a couple friends are looking to go in together on a house or apartment in Cleveland. We're all students; I'm at Tri-C now and transferring to CSU in the fall, the second is starting at CSU in the fall, and the third is at Tri-C now and is looking at transferring to Virginia Marty College of Art & Design. We also have a fourth person who may or may not join us in the fall.

Where would you recommend looking for apartments? I'm currently staying at my uncle's in Lakewood near the Lakewood/Cleveland border and thusly we've been walking around the Cudell/Edgewater neighborhoods taking down numbers, but we havn't found anything large enough yet (most of the responses have been 1 or 2 bedroom units). We're looking for a house or part of a duplex, kinda leaning away from the managed buildings because they tend to be more expensive.

We did check out a house over in the Clark/Fulton area, but I don't know that area very well and I've heard some not-so-good rumors about it. Driving down the street (W 41) it seemed nice enough, well-maintained lawns and houses, no boarded up places and no vacant lots. But that doesn't say everything.

We want to be in Cleveland proper for voting reasons. So what are the best neighborhoods and what are the worst? Also, which ones have good access to public transportation? Which have easy access to useful things like restaurants and grocery stores? Which are more oriented towards pedestrians vs. those that are auto-centric?

I know the west side better than the east side, but I don't know either side overly well. Thanks.

[andrew61]

I think you're on the right track looking at the Edgewater neighborhood. It's got great amenities, excellent access to downtown via public transportation, and is generally pretty safe... although Cudell to the south is a little sketchier, IMHO.

If you're looking for a larger rental unit, many of those large homes on Clifton are side-by-side duplexes where the units have three bedrooms or more, if you can find one of those for rent. Walk around and check out "For Rent" signs. Also, there's a building on Lake (I want to say at West 112th...?) that has very large four-bedroom apartments, six units total and only two units per floor, if they have anything available... I've had a couple different friends who've lived in that building during various times and I can tell you, the apartments are HUGE!

You might also be able to find a single-family house for rent somewhere on the numbered streets just south of Clifton, but it might be somewhat pricey (like maybe $1000/mo plus utilities...?).

West Park is another very nice, relatively safe Cleveland neighborhood, but it's more geared towards homeowners. The nicest part of West Park is north of Lorain and west of Warren, but that's nearly all single-family homes.

I'd avoid Clark-Fulton. To the north of there, across the railroad tracks, is a very popular part of town called Ohio City. Lots of stunning turn-of-the-century homes, and some gentrification and cool bars and restaurants and such, but crime is still a problem.

To the south, Old Brooklyn (the area between the Cleveland Zoo and the southern Cleveland city limits at Brookpark Road) can be a nice area if you can find a house for rent. Well, some parts of Old Brooklyn are very nice and other parts are rather seedy... you have to be careful.

On the east side, Shaker Square is nice and even somewhat upscale, there's some shopping on the square proper, but most of the area is apartment buildings and condos. Although it borders beautiful Shaker Heights, the area also butts up against some very bad areas of Cleveland... so caution is recommended.

[LancasterNative]

Very good summary, andrew61! Those are precisely the areas I'd suggest, as well.

Shaker Square (east side) is well served with public transportation to Downtown; it's right on the RTA blue and green lines.

Edgewater (west side) is a nice neighborhood, and even has Cleveland (PROPER)'s only area of really upscale single-family homes. The apt's and condos in Edgewater are attractive and stylish.

[rpb3000]

That's the problem we're running into. The nicer areas that we've found all were priced just out of our price range. We'd probably be fine in the summer but when we have to switch to part-time work in the fall because of school we'd be hit hard and probably couldn't afford it. Just how sketchy is Clark-Fulton, particularly the area between, say, W 44th, Storer, Fulton, and Clark? Are there any neighborhoods that we should avoid at all costs? I've heard certain areas on the east side have the highest crime rates; how does everywhere compare as far as crime?

[LancasterNative]

Originally Posted by rpb3000

That's the problem we're running into. The nicer areas that we've found all were priced just out of our price range. We'd probably be fine in the summer but when we have to switch to part-time work in the fall because of school we'd be hit hard and probably couldn't afford it. Just how sketchy is Clark-Fulton, particularly the area between, say, W 44th, Storer, Fulton, and Clark? Are there any neighborhoods that we should avoid at all costs? I've heard certain areas on the east side have the highest crime rates; how does everywhere compare as far as crime?

East side ghettos are considerably worse than those on the west side. While the west side has some seedy areas, the east side has certain places you just don't go! Parts of it continue to exhibit staggering poverty, constant crime and ruthless gang violence. Kinsman, Fairfax, Central, Hough, Woodland Hills, St. Clair-Superior, Buckeye-Shaker...yikes!

As I recall, there's a little neighborhod of modest but well-maintained homes around Detroit & W. 65th that used to be a "Little Italy" centered on the church there (Our Lady of Mt. Carmel?). It is still a pretty decent area—and safe. I think the it's considered Detroit-Shoreway. Might be worth checking out, but still I'd advise caution in various other parts of Detroit-Shoreway that are closer into town.

Speaking of Little Italies, the main one east of CWRU (known as "Murray Hill") is great! I lived there many years ago. Rents were cheap compared to other areas. The food is incomparable! Plan to do lots of walking; otherwise you may gain weight from all that yummy pasta

Come to think of it, Murray Hill is the only neighborhood on the east side, city PROPER, that I'd feel safe in.

[MABCle]

Shaker Square - Larchmere is also a safe neighborhood in Cleveland and is on the East side. Shaker Square would be great because it has excellent transit access as it has community circulator routes, bus routes and rail lines serving it. Also North Collinwood and really Collinwood in general is also good. ALso there are large older upscale homes in the Rockefeller park-Glenville area, there are also some nice old highrise apartments there to. Since you all are in school the closest areas to CSU would be statler arms apartments. Right now there's not much around CSU that would serve you and I know this doesn't help you right now, but in the next 2-3 years there will be alot more housing options for you to choose from in the area. In the forums section on urbanohio.com you should post this as well I know for a fact there are quite a few CSU students on that board and could probably help you out more than I.

[LancasterNative]

Good point to reiterate about Shaker Square, even considering my post above (#3?) It's actually so nice, I forget sometimes that it's even in the city proper!

On the other hand, Shaker/Larchmere does abut some pretty scary ghetto places just down the hill. In a way, riding the RTA's green line all the way from Downtown out to Beachwood is a real lesson in economics and sociology.

[Clevelandnative]

Cleveland is a really racially divided city. The West is consider the best but only because its considered to have more whites. The East side gets slammed but there are very nice neighborhoods also, not just shaker hts. Beachwood, University Hts, Euclid, South Euclid,some parts of Cleveland hts, Richmond hts, Pepper Pike, lyndhurst, for example. And Only Italians feel safe in Murray Hill, because if your not you might as well be in the scary hoods some of the earlier people mention.

[BelieveInCleve]

This thread is from nearly 2 years ago, so I doubt that person is still looking for a place.