"From world-class museums and popular sports teams to peaceful parks and charming neighborhoods, Cleveland has a lot to offer. But it has a wilder, darker side. Along the one-block passageway called Short Vincent, tourists and celebrities mixed with bookies and mobsters for drinks and dinner, underworld gossip, and all kinds of "entertainment." In 1969, Ted Conrad disappeared with $215,000 in stolen cash. An obituary more than fifty years later finally...

Join local history preservationist Christopher Busta-Peck and unearth aspects of Cleveland's past that dangle too near extinction from city memory. Too often, we think of history as something that happens elsewhere. But it's not. Travel down East 100th Street to the home where Jesse Owens lived when he shocked the world at the 1936 Olympics. Ascend the stairs to Langston Hughes's attic apartment on East 86th, where the influential writer lived alone...

"Though removed from the frontlines, Cleveland played an active role in national events before, during, and after the Civil War. President Lincoln visited this abolitionist hotbed after his 1860 election. Following his assassination five years later, his funeral train made a stop there. Cleveland and Cuyahoga County sent over 9,000 troops to war. More than 1,700 never returned. Born just outside Cleveland, James Garfield emerged from the war to become...

Private eye Benjamin Gold investigates the background of a leading member of his congregation after the man is accused of collaborating with the Nazis, but quickly finds that powerful people have an interest in keeping the past buried.

"Cities around the globe, whether large or small, have characteristics that create a particular identity. So what about Cleveland? What are its nuances, its images? In addressing that question, Cleveland A to Z is not a typical city guide. Rather than concentrating solely on the usual topics-landmarks, restaurants, shopping, and notable facts-this guide touches on deeper themes related to Cleveland's people, places, stories, and events. These 72 short...

"Cleveland's Colorful Characters tells many interesting and unknown stories about Cleveland and some of its more interesting citizens. Many of these citizens helped create some of Cleveland's and the country's finest institutions. Unfortunately, many of these stories are unknown to those living in the Cleveland area, and even fewer outside the area. With insights on how Clevelanders were the basis for the book, The Great Gatsby, having the first municipal...