Neighborhoods in Shaker Heights (Cleveland, Solon: rental, condos, high school)

[exit18b]

We just moved to the Fernway section of Shaker Heights from Metro Detroit. Ferway is right in the middle of Shaker with lots of younger families. Fernway does not have the "Wow" factor of the other Shaker neighborhoods and prices range from $195 - $305. We love that we can walk down to the Blue line and take the Rapid downtown!

[BelieveInCleve]

Originally Posted by exit18b

We just moved to the Fernway section of Shaker Heights from Metro Detroit. Ferway is right in the middle of Shaker with lots of younger families. Fernway does not have the "Wow" factor of the other Shaker neighborhoods and prices range from $195 - $305. We love that we can walk down to the Blue line and take the Rapid downtown!

Thats great. Shaker Hts is a very nice and unique area. I am considering moving closer to the city too, it would be great if I could take the rapid instead of driving everywhere.

[Clevelander17]

Originally Posted by miller2752

shaker has nice houses... yes i recommend private school system if you can afford them. Schools close would be hawken and gilmore, all girls-laurel and hathway brown and all guys would be university school. If you want a public school that has a good jewish population beachwood and orange would be your best bet.

Shaker Heights has good schools and still has a very large Jewish population, I'd venture to guess even larger than Orange (but less than Beachwood, which is more Jewish than any other suburb).

[Clevelander17]

Originally Posted by Cle440

Like I always say on here. If you are looking for a nice neighborhood in any of the inner ring suburbs the farther away you are from Cleveland/East Cleveland, the better. The neighborhoods closer to Cleveland seem to always have more crime and poverty. Most of Shaker Heights will be okay, theres nothing really bad going on there.

Originally Posted by complexsimplicity

Better yet, any area of Shaker that is close to the Cleveland Border.

This really isn't true for large portions of Cleveland Heights and Shaker Heights that border Cleveland. It may be true for most other inner-ring suburbs, but not all of the Heights area.

When I say that, think of the Fairmount/Roxboro area of Cleveland Heights, then south on Coventry into Shaker Heights right up to Shaker Boulevard. Think of the North Park, South Park, Shaker Lakes areas and all that are around it. Those are some of the nicest areas of both cities, with gigantic, beautiful old homes. These areas are closest in proximity to Cleveland than the rest of their respective suburbs.

Even western Cleveland Heights north to Mayfield Road is still pretty nice, as that area directly borders Little Italy, University Circle, and Case Western Reserve University, all of which act as sort of a buffer for Cleveland Heights. However, you're right, the areas of Cleveland Heights that border East Cleveland should be avoided for prospective home buyers, and the same can be said about southwest Shaker Heights bordering Cleveland.

[kerensa]

Solon is actually not far from downtown. It's has good freeway access, so it's about 20 minutes to downtown. The bad part of Shaker is that it's very inland and you would most likely take local roads or the rapid (train) into downtown so it take about the same amount of time as living in Solon.

I think Solon is relatively safer than Shaker and good schools, and not as dense as Beachwood, Shaker or University Heights. Plus the community center/gym/pool in Solon is very nice.

[TheProf]

But Solon has ZERO character which Shaker has in spades. Plus, though Solon may not be that far out, it seems isolated, spread out and cul de sac oriented. Not much neighborliness... And I'd say that, even though Shaker schools aren't what they were 10-20 years ago, they're still superior to Solon's...

... I'd take Shaker over Solon hands down...

[TheProf]

... and yes, having the Rapid w/in walking distance in Shaker is HUGE esp given the runaway gas prices. Solon only has 1 very limited bus line (I know, I have friends out there) which only serves/ends at Solon Square in the center of town (as in far away from most residence)... It's totally auto-oriented; one can hardly even walk to the store.
Housing, though nice in some areas, is rather cookie-cutter upper middle class cul de sac-y... Is this what you want?

[kerensa]

I know Shaker has rapid access, but it really depends on your job. I would really not feel comfortable walking home from the rapid station after dark, which is pretty early in the winter time (I may just be more skittish about this than most people though). I just don't think it's that safe, certainly not as safe as Solon.

Solon does not have the same lovely old houses, but as far as character goes, I think it's ok. There is a lot of stuff to do, especially if you have kids, and it is safe enough you can drop the kids off at the pool or bookstore or bowling alley for a few hours, if you like. I would have a hard time doing the same in Shaker or most of the eastern suburbs like Univ. Hts or Cleveland Hts.

There are actually a few buses that run to Solon and not just to Solon Square. Yes, it would be inconvenient to take the bus (although if you want to take the time, you could drive up to Beachwood/Shaker and take the rapid, I do know someone who works downtown and does this. It's not a time savings but it saves on gas).

[ahilmersen]

I am thinking of moving there as well and I am Jewish. I heard from some school principal after calling around Cleveland that there are more synagogues in the eastern suburbs like Beachwood, Pepper Pike and chagrin Falls. and that there are not as many jews on the Western side of the Cleveland but I am simply passing along what I heard. I think a good way to go is to find out where the big synagogues are and try to stay close. I do know there are 80,000 Jewish people in Cuyahoga County. Believe it or not I actually found out about Jewish cities by looking at the men on JDATE and seeing what cities they lived in! The school principal's assessment was pretty close the cities I saw on JDATE! the public schools in Beachwood and Pepper Pike get very good national scores. go to www.greatschools.com and you can search for schools in any area to see how they are doing. The highest score you can get is a 10 and not many schools get a 9/10. The schools in towns I mentioned all got 9's and 10's. I have my kids in private and it's so so very expensive. I'm hoping with a little extra home tutoring I can get the same quality education for my kids as the private school. It's not the curriculum only it's also the ratio. Private schools have as low as a 9:1 or 10:1 ratio so part of the quality comes simply from them getting more individual attention.

[AndyF667]

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Ive lived her for 8 years and love it. I assume you live on the 'other' side of Van Aken.
Enjoy Solon!