Looking to buy a house in Cleveland Suburbs (Cleveland Heights, Warren: top schools, university)

[reretarff]

Originally Posted by Urban Peasant

FYI, Shaker Historical Society and Shaker Heights Nature Center though not technically a museum because it is outdoors. I actually visited the former on my trip. You get to learn all about how the Van Sweringen Brothers bought that surrounding land from the Shakers and developed it into the streetcar suburban community you now see and paved the way for Terminal Tower to be built in Downtown Cleveland. Great to visit if you are a history buff or urban planning enthusiast like myself.

Cleveland Heights has no museums that I know of but it is so near University Circle that the point is moot.

To be fair, every city has a historical society. And University Circle may be close to Cleveland Heights, but it's like saying Eton Mall is in Beachwood, not Woodmere, or University Square is in Cleveland Heights, not University Heights, or Mayfield Heights and Mayfield Village are the same thing. You know?

[bjimmy24]

Originally Posted by reretarff

To be fair, every city has a historical society. And University Circle may be close to Cleveland Heights, but it's like saying Eton Mall is in Beachwood, not Woodmere, or University Square is in Cleveland Heights, not University Heights, or Mayfield Heights and Mayfield Village are the same thing. You know?

Cleveland Heights is the museum itself. Each area is interseting in some way or another. Not every city can say that, eg. Beachwood.

Drive down Fairmount Boulevard from Kingston to Coventry and tell me it's boring and bland. Walk around Coventry and talk to some people and tell me they are banal. Go to the Cedar-Lee theater for a movie. Cedar-Fairmount is walking distance to University Circle. Nothing in Beachwood is walking distance to anything. See a band at the Grog Shop (what's the Beachwood equivalent, by the way?). Or go to a concert at Cain Park. Go to an arts festival.

Beachwood has nothing on the Heights in terms of being intersting and fun. Nothing at all.

[Clevelander17]

Originally Posted by reretarff

People don't usually move to a neighborhood just because there's more unique houses there. It's a good quality for a city to have, but it isn't a main factor. My wife's parents have been living in the same 114 year old mansion near Cedar and Lee for over 40 years now and they like how old and unique the house is, but they don't like how unsafe the neighborhood is. Cleveland Heights isn't as safe as most would want it, especially near the East Cleveland and Buckeye-Shaker borders. Don't get me wrong, the Cedar Lee area is very safe and has great restaurants and has a large Orthodox Jewish population, but Cleveland Heights isn't as safe as somewhere further south or east. And the schools in Cleveland Heights aren't anywhere near decent, so that's a reason I wouldn't move there either.

Anyways, just because Beachwood doesn't have more or as many unique houses as Cleveland Heights, doesn't mean that it's a worse place to live. Most people care more about better safety, better schools, lower crime rate and transportation. (Beachwood doesn't have too many ranch houses, but has a lot of smaller 1950's 2 floor houses, built to somewhat mimic Forest Hills.) As for the 1990's houses, they are just like any other house in the suburbs, but that's the time we're living in. Back in the 1950's, building ranch houses was as mainstream as building these big 90's houses.

Whenever I drive down Fairmount on the Beachwood - Shaker Heights - University Heights border, I can never tell what city I'm in, unless I look at the street signs. The area has the same 1940's - 1950's Heights houses with tree lined streets in all 3 cities.

There are some big-time inaccuracies in this post, enough so that I have a hard time taking anything you say seriously. Here are a few:

1) I don't know of any mansions that exist in the Cedar-Lee area.

2) Cleveland Heights does not border Buckeye-Shaker.

3) If you want a unique house, you're not going to find it in Beachwood, so yes you better believe that some people choose the Heights because they want to live in neighborhoods with nicer, well-built older homes.

4) The Cleveland Heights schools are more than "decent," they're just as adequate as any district you might want to compare it to, as evidenced by the fact that each year dozens of Heights grads go on to elite colleges. The fact that there are a lot of students in the schools that don't take their education seriously does not mean that the schools themselves are bad.

5) Beachwood has more ranch houses than Cleveland Heights, Shaker Heights, and University Heights combined. That's saying a lot for a city of 12,000 residents compared to three cities with close to 90,000 residents.


Again, I don't know how you get off speaking for "most" people. When you make comments like much of what you've said above, you're really speaking only for a very specific subset of families.

[bjimmy24]

Not convinced reretarff has ever left Beachwood.

[reretarff]

Originally Posted by bjimmy24

Cleveland Heights is the museum itself. Each area is interseting in some way or another. Not every city can say that, eg. Beachwood.

Drive down Fairmount Boulevard from Kingston to Coventry and tell me it's boring and bland. Walk around Coventry and talk to some people and tell me they are banal. Go to the Cedar-Lee theater for a movie. Cedar-Fairmount is walking distance to University Circle. Nothing in Beachwood is walking distance to anything. See a band at the Grog Shop (what's the Beachwood equivalent, by the way?). Or go to a concert at Cain Park. Go to an arts festival.

Beachwood has nothing on the Heights in terms of being intersting and fun. Nothing at all.

Cleveland Heights is a nice place, but it isn't exactly unique. The buildings along Cedar and Lee are similar to the ones in the city of Cleveland. The ones that haven't been razed yet. Cleveland Heights does have more restaurants than Beachwood, yes. I never said that Beachwood has more things to do than Cleveland Heights. I'm saying that Beachwood has lots of things to do, and is a prime location for bars and restaurants due to easy access from either the freeway or from any streets. Most people in the southeast side usually go to Beachwood when they are going out. Cleveland Heights is a 30 something minute drive from a place like Solon, while Beachwood is a 5-15 minute drive. I go to Cleveland Heights a couple times a month to go out to a restaurant. I do think that Cleveland Heights has better choices and better restaurants than Beachwood does, but you're making it sound like Beachwood is an absolute wasteland. There is almost no redevelopment going on in Cleveland Heights, but there's plenty in Beachwood. Beachwood is the brand new, mainstream place of nightlife, while Cleveland Heights is the long but worth it drive to a hidden gem.

[reretarff]

Originally Posted by bjimmy24

Not convinced reretarff has ever left Beachwood.

You can assume whatever you want. You probably don't come to Cleveland more than once or twice a year for holidays, so I can't imagine how you can see everything in Cleveland. Would I prefer downtown over Beachwood? Yes. Would I prefer Cleveland Heights over Beachwood? Yes. Would I prefer Tremont over Beachwood? Yes. But you have to understand that for a family in the southeast suburbs, going all the way to a place like that isn't easy. Beachwood has more family friendly restaurants and events than downtown or Cleveland Heights. Cleveland Heights and downtown do have a lot more restaurants, most are very expensive, but for a working man with a wife and 2 kids, a night out in Cleveland Heights or downtown is a once a month type thing. Going to Beachwood is a lot easier for a family because of how close it is, the things to do there, and the nice restaurants. Legacy Village is a good place to go for music and restaurants. Beachwood Place is a good place to buy clothes. I know people in Richmond Heights who go to Beachwood Place rather than Richmond Square, because it's safer and there's better stores. By safer, I mean a lot of teenage thugs hang out in Richmond Square. Chagrin Boulevard and Cedar Road have some of the best restaurants on the southeast side. And best of all, Beachwood is right next to Cleveland Heights, Shaker Heights and University Heights. (Keep in mind you have to drive through Beachwood to get to Cleveland Heights, Shaker Heights ans University Heights.)

To recap, Cleveland Heights, Shaker Heights and University Heights have more high class expensive bars and restaurants, and Beachwood has more family friendly, and couples bars and restaurants, a high class mall, and an expensive restaurant and shopping plaza across from the mall.

[bjimmy24]

Originally Posted by reretarff

You can assume whatever you want. You probably don't come to Cleveland more than once or twice a year for holidays, so I can't imagine how you can see everything in Cleveland. Would I prefer downtown over Beachwood? Yes. Would I prefer Cleveland Heights over Beachwood? Yes. Would I prefer Tremont over Beachwood? Yes. But you have to understand that for a family in the southeast suburbs, going all the way to a place like that isn't easy. Beachwood has more family friendly restaurants and events than downtown or Cleveland Heights. Cleveland Heights and downtown do have a lot more restaurants, most are very expensive, but for a working man with a wife and 2 kids, a night out in Cleveland Heights or downtown is a once a month type thing. Going to Beachwood is a lot easier for a family because of how close it is, the things to do there, and the nice restaurants. Legacy Village is a good place to go for music and restaurants. Beachwood Place is a good place to buy clothes. I know people in Richmond Heights who go to Beachwood Place rather than Richmond Square, because it's safer and there's better stores. By safer, I mean a lot of teenage thugs hang out in Richmond Square. Chagrin Boulevard and Cedar Road have some of the best restaurants on the southeast side. And best of all, Beachwood is right next to Cleveland Heights, Shaker Heights and University Heights. (Keep in mind you have to drive through Beachwood to get to Cleveland Heights, Shaker Heights ans University Heights.)

To recap, Cleveland Heights, Shaker Heights and University Heights have more high class expensive bars and restaurants, and Beachwood has more family friendly, and couples bars and restaurants, a high class mall, and an expensive restaurant and shopping plaza across from the mall.

I spend more time in Cleveland than you per year. I moved away less than 2 years ago.

Cleveland Heights is not expensive. High class? Have you ever been to Cleveland Heights? You make it sound like Manhattan.

You don't have to drive through Beachwood to get anywhere. What in the world are you talking about?

[bjimmy24]

Originally Posted by reretarff

Beachwood is the brand new, mainstream place of nightlife, while Cleveland Heights is the long but worth it drive to a hidden gem.

This is absolutely hilarious.

[L2DB]

Just agree to disagree. The truth is somewhere in the middle anyways.

Beachwood has less interesting places than CH/SH, but there are some and the less crime and better schools, plus the fact that we can drive pretty easily to the places in CH/SH make Beachwood a better option for us.

And driving down Fairmount, you can tell where Beachwood starts by the change in the tree lawn. If you go up the hill near Beachwood High School and look back, it's fairly dramatic in terms of trees.

[Clevelander17]

Originally Posted by L2DB

Just agree to disagree. The truth is somewhere in the middle anyways.

Beachwood has less interesting places than CH/SH, but there are some and the less crime and better schools, plus the fact that we can drive pretty easily to the places in CH/SH make Beachwood a better option for us.

And driving down Fairmount, you can tell where Beachwood starts by the change in the tree lawn. If you go up the hill near Beachwood High School and look back, it's fairly dramatic in terms of trees.

Beachwood doesn't have better schools, only better students. There are a lot of programs that are not available in the Beachwood schools because of their smaller size that are available in the Heights and Shaker schools.