Scene July 12, 2023

UPFRONT

AFTER ELECTRICAL FIRE AT EAST CLEVELAND APARTMENT DISPLACES HUNDREDS, TENANTS PUT BLAME ON BUILDING’S OWNER

HUNDREDS OF EAST

CLEVELANDER s were displaced the Monday afternoon before July 4th after an electrical fire ravaged the Terrace Towers Apartments. East Cleveland Fire Department officials confirmed Monday that the fire was sparked during electric maintenance.

Around 3 p.m., a day before fireworks covered the Cleveland skyline, nearly 300 Terrace Tower tenants were evacuated over a four-hour period, most with the clothes on their back and holding a smattering of personal items.

As of Wednesday, some 100 of them were housed at an emergency shelter organized by the Salvation Army, where displaced tenants had access to clean clothes, a cot, clean bathrooms and a few meals.

“They came out with no undergarments, soaps or anything,” Chaka Watch, the captain of the 15 American Red Cross officers assigned to the Salvation Army, told Scene as he gave orders. “So we

were able to provide some of those things, clothing, temporary clothing and all that stuff. We were able to do that.”

Many of tenants of Terrace, which housed low-income tenants on Section 8 and others with health complications, suggest that the cause of Monday’s fire could be traced back to mismanagement by the building’s owners and property managers.

According to tenants, RHM Real Estate, the current owners of the building, orchestrated a remodeling of Terrace that was finished in 2021, which included repainting and mass refurnishing of the building. Part of the cost of the remodeling was paid for, they said, by a housing grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

“They did not do what was supposed to be done with the money,” Breyana Porter, a former tenant and community activist, told Scene in a text message. Porter said that, from November 2019 to

February 2020, a section of Terrace was left without hot water. “The conditions the tenants were left living in during the remodel were deplorable.”

Ivan Lewis, 53, a caretaker who lived at Terrace for six years until Monday, sat on a cot surrounded by various items—his portable DVD player, his phone, a bag of lastminute clothing—while assisting a few of his neighbors, some of whom have mental health issues.

Like for most of his neighbors, Terrace was a place of refuge for Lewis, who sought shelter there after living homeless for years after his father died from lung cancer. Though he knows he’s lucky to have some shirts and jackets to show, Lewis said he’s trying to stay even despite being without a home again.

“I don’t feel like getting upset about something I have no control over,” Lewis said, sitting on his cot at the Salvation Army. “Being mad ain’t finna’ do nothing but give you health problems.”

As for RHM, Lewis took a similar stance as his neighbors: the electrical failure could have been prevented with the appropriate renovations.

“Everything’s unorganized there,” Lewis said. “It was all unorganized. Period.”

John Joyce and his son, John Joyce, Jr., owners at RHM Real Estate, have owned Terrace Towers since around 2012. A property manager, when contacted by Scene on Wednesday, refused to comment on fire or its causation. “You’ve reached the wrong department,” they said. “There’s nothing I can help you with.”

A call to the East Cleveland Fire Department was also unreturned. East Cleveland Police Chief Brian Gerhard declined to comment.

On Wednesday afternoon, as the Red Cross and Salvation Army prepared to usher the 100 tenants to a bigger space—with plentiful bathrooms—on Case Western’s campus, Ruth Lillard, Felicia Clark

Photo by Mark Oprea

and Tamara Nelson sat on their cots sending texts, making calls, as Red Cross employees attempted to calm the chaos.

Ruth Lillard, who had just called relative Breyana Porter for updates and advice, told Scene that she’s not surprised that Monday’s fire happened. In the past four years she had lived at Terrace, Lillard said she’d experienced a wide range of unpleasantries: elevators breaking down “every other week,” managers cycling in and out like servers at a restaurant.

As for the recent renovation: “Oh, they fixed it up,” Lillard said, with an air of sarcasm. “They put a piece of bubblegum on it.”

“They put a BandAid on it,” Nelson added.

“They half did it, and still [some of] it was never painted. They never hooked up some of the wires,” Lillard said.

For Nelson, 41, who lived on Terrace’s 11th floor for six years, her main questioning relates to the duration of Monday’s evacuation, especially, she said, minding that many tenants aren’t “able-bodied like me.” She recalled knocking on neighbors’ doors as smoke poured into the hallway.

Fire officials said Terrace will remain shut down until necessary repairs are finished, which will take,

they estimated, about two weeks. Despite the notion of returning home, Nelson said the trauma of Monday’s evacuation has left her with emotional scars.

“It’s really depressing, it’s really sad,” Nelson said, her voice cracking. “We didn’t have a holiday. Most of us lost everything.”

– Mark Oprea

PB Cle Delivers 10,500 Signatures for Participatory Budgeting Ballot Initiative

People’s Budget Cleveland (PB CLE) submitted more than 10,500 signatures to the Cleveland Clerk of Council in an effort to get the issue of participatory budgeting on November’s Ballot. The charter amendment would give Clevelanders a say in how two percent of the city’s budget — about $14 million — would be spent.

“We are here today not only to officially file these petitions, we are here to celebrate and acknowledge what it looks like for people to come together collectively to participate and the democratic experiment of keeping power with the people,” said PB CLE campaign manager Molly Martin.

If passed, the charter amendment would create an 11-member committee — five selected by city council, five by the mayor, and one hired as a city employee — who would gather ideas and organize voting, open to all residents older than 13, on what to use the funds for. The group says there’s no reason why the general fund would be greatly affected.

In order for the amendment to reach voters in November’s election, PB CLE needed about valid 6,000 signatures from residents registered to vote–roughly 10 percent of the number of voters from the last municipal election.

Since kicking off signature collections at the end of May, the group has been internally validating signatures and registering voters, as signatures are only eligible from city residents who are registered to vote. PB CLE registered nearly 900 voters in their collection drive, according to Martin.

“Now is a really important moment for people to come together,” Martin said. “Two of three Cleveland residents don’t vote. Ballot initiatives matter and it’s the route we’ll need to take to preserve majority rule in one person, one vote in Ohio.”

The signatures will now be sent to the Board of Elections which will

have 10 business days to validate the signatures. If the number of valid signatures is insufficient, PB CLE will have a 15-day cure period to collect more.

“The $14 million that PB is asking for is half of the $30 million that the Cavs are asking for for an escalator improvement despite having a recently renovated stadium,” said community organizer Moses Ngong. “It’s a fraction of the hundreds of millions of dollars that we’ve invested in sports stadiums in the last few decades and so, if the public can make an investment on an asset that no one will ever see a return on, they can certainly make an investment on democracy and the neighborhoods that make Cleveland such a special place to live.”

Most of city council is opposed to the effort and previously shot down efforts from Mayor Justin Bibb to create a pilot program using ARPA dollars. Council president Blaine Griffin has been on the record before but added this weekend in a tweet: “Adversity is Nothing More than an Opportunity to Organize and make you stronger. There continues to be citizen led initiatives to change are City Charter and can be harmful to City Services. Please learn about the issues this upcoming election. There are consequences.”

Organizers also spoke against Issue 1, which will be on the ballot in the August special election. PB CLE members encouraged voters to vote against the proposed constitutional amendment, which would make it harder to pass future constitutional amendments. “We understand that it is common sense legislation to say ‘no’ to Issue 1 August 8, and to say ‘yes’ to PB CLE in November,” said Erika Anthony, executive director of Cleveland VOTES. “Understanding this connection is critically important because at the end of the day it is about taking power away from people.”

– Maria Elena Scott

Cleveland Expands Voluntary Security Camera Sharing Program

Mayor Justin Bibb and the Cleveland Department of Public Safety are urging residents and businesses with security cameras to enroll in the city’s Smart Safe CLE camera registry.

“Sadly, we continue to see unprecedented levels of violence plaguing our community. We are doing everything we possibly can to reverse these trends; however, we cannot do it alone and

need help from everyone in our community,” said Bibb. “It’s our hope, by empowering residents and businesses to be part of the solution, that we’ll be able to save more lives together.”

The way Smart Safe CLE works is the locations of registered cameras are mapped so when an incident occurs “authorized city personnel” can determine if cameras in the vicinity have relevant footage. Personnel — meaning police, firefighters, emergency medical services and animal care and control — can then send electronic requests for the footage to camera owners. Upon receiving a request, camera owners will maintain final authorization for access to footage.

Camera owners that register can also opt to give Smart Safe CLE access to livestream capabilities.

“They can choose to just share only a live [feed], where there is no storage of it, or three days, where it would be stored and then it would just automatically be deleted and that is up to the person who signs the agreement with us,” said assistant safety director Nicole Carlton of the Department of Public Safety. “At any point they can cancel that if they want.”

Originally launched in March of 2021 as a pilot program when Cleveland hosted the NFL Draft, Smart Safe CLE started out with 350 cameras owned by the city, NFL, Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority and private partners. Today, nearly 2,000 cameras have been integrated into the program.

When the Cuyahoga County Prosecutor’s Office launched a similar program in 2016, the Cleveland ACLU said it had no issue with the program, so long as it remains voluntary.

The city will spend roughly $180,000 on the program annually, according to officials. “This program, along with the expansion of ShotSpotter and addition of crime analysts to each district, is part of the allencompassing technological approach to public safety we have embraced,” Bibb said. “We will continue to look for [innovative] ways to maximize technology to best ensure the safety of our residents. Doing so increases efficiency, decreases costs, and, most importantly, saves lives.”

– Maria Elena Scott

WELCOME GATE

GATES LEADING INTO MANY American Chinatowns have an unmistakable immediacy to them.

In Chicago, the 48-year-old gate, adorned in red, white and green, welcomes passersby (with a slightly communistic greeting — “The world belongs to the commonwealth.”) In Philadelphia, dozens of glimmering tiles from Tianjin, China, compose the 40foot Friendship Gate. And in San Francisco, there’s the dragon-topped gift from Taiwan in the 1960s, which grew into a symbol of restored Chinese business after the Korean War.

“Within its quarter, Chinatown serves every need and desire of the human being, from stomach to soul, from birth to burial,” Charles Leong, a notable Chinese-American journalist for the Chinese Press, wrote in an essay in 1963 urging San Francisco’s Dragon Gate. “Like eternal Rome, Chinatown is the

center of its world.”

In Cleveland, it’s not Chinatown, but Asiatown, the 25 or so blocks tucked in between St. Clair and Perkins Avenues. And yet, despite the efforts of councilpersons, a slew of nonprofits, three mayoral administrations, a handful of culturally-attuned individuals, no similar gate or archway has ever been erected here.

That may change.

Following the stifling impact of the pandemic on Asiatown’s 60 or so businesses — many who talked to Scene said the stigma of Covid proved a lingering and harmful double whammy not faced by others on top of pandemic protocols — two projects promising new cultural markers in the neighborhood could gain traction: One, a traditional Chinese-style archway, an imitation of Chicago’s, that would be installed

facing southward on East 21st and Rockwell. The other, a series of calligraphic aluminum columns designed by Cleveland Institute of Art architecture students, that double as “modern gates” and street lighting.

Both projects, still in their planning, design and funding stages, are both symbolic and practical fixes, their backers say, for Asiatown’s long deficiency as a unified, visually attractive enclave.

MidTown Cleveland, the CDC whose territory includes Asiatown, has been well aware of the issue over the years. Since 2019, when its own Asiatown initiative was created, there’s been a concerted effort to make those 25 blocks seem more visible to outside tourists, along with more of a livable place for its 3,000 residents.

But those two dozen or so blocks, with their 38 restaurants, five groceries, four hair salons, three

gift shops, three herbal doctors, two massage parlors, Tai Chi studios, Aikido dojo, karaoke bar and Latin dance studio may need more than pretty artwork around them to prosper in new ways.

“Overall, my goal is, ‘How can people identify with the neighborhood? How can people understand the story of their neighborhood?’” Rhea Doria, marketing coordinator at MidTown Cleveland, told Scene, sitting in a meeting room in their offices at the Agora. “How can people understand the story of the individuals and the buildings and the history for people to not only just see the face value of it, but the actual deep meaning and the beauty behind it? That’s my message.”

Doria, a 24-year-old native of New Jersey, was hired by MidTown last August in a bid to freshen up

The Asiatown Food Hall, set to open on Payne and East 30th St. in 2024.

With efforts to make Asiatown more visible, what’s the right way forward? And whose voice will come through?

BY MARK OPREA

Asiatown’s image on social media, while actualizing the goals outlined in 2021’s “Imagine Asiatown” study. The project was a culmination of three months of focus sessions, 200 survey respondents, in-person interviews with 38 residents and 10 businesses, and was, for Doria and team, a signifier on how to move forward.

The result was a slew of statements that could and should be true in the future: “Asiatown is a real community, not just a tourist destination.” “The road is level, the community is beautiful, the streets are well-lit.” “Green spaces have replaced concrete jungles.” “This is a vibrant neighborhood.” “People don’t have to buy or drive cars!”

Other than delving into public arts projects, like the CIA calligraphic one, Doria has spent the past year or so marketing Asiatown’s culture for the social media era. On their Instagram page, spotlights of Saturday square dancing sessions intermingle with restaurant adverts, Ward 7 flyers and various pop culture memes. (Cue Michael Scott’s “Everybody Dance Now,” used to advertise May’s Asian Festival.)

“I think we’re talking about a younger generation,” Doria said. “They were born here, so America is their home, but they inherited both Asian and American culture. So it’s a fusion.”

Naomi Jia, a business development manager who works on Doria’s team, is sort of the business liaison companion to Doria’s Instagram marketing. Jia spends her weeks putting the economic facet of the 2021 study into practice, helping dozens of local businesses apply for $1,000 micro grants, or helping them apply to the federal Storefront Renovation Program, which could bring a possible $50,000 boost for a stale facade. (“To make Asiatown a home,” Doria said.)

“Some of our Asian business is not visible,” Jia said. “Even walking past, you don’t see it. And that’s what Asiatown is, has been for so long. People driving past didn’t pay attention. The public placement wasn’t visible. But underneath, Asiatown has been ignored for so long. That’s one way to really help is to tell people. ‘Hey, here we are, here come to see it.’ And then you make your own judgment.”

Ray Hom, a retail tech executive who started the CIA project with public arts connoisseur Andrew Ratcliff in spring of 2022, thinks any streetscape art approved by the city should act as the visual locus for its residents.

Growing up the son and

grandson of restaurant owners — the Chinese Peacock in Van Aken, the Hong Kong in Chagrin, the Golden Dragon in Lyndhurst — Hom grew fascinated with his mother’s neighborhood in Asiatown after 16 years living in Singapore. In 2018, in order to live by her, Hom began staying part-time in Asiatown, flying in monthly from his home in Atlanta. “I had a new sense of pride,” Hom said. “I wanted to do something in Cleveland. I saw something that was missing.”

Last year, after meeting Ratcliff at a MidTown Cleveland event, Hom felt compelled to beautify the dull sidewalks and gray lots surrounding AsiaPlaza on Payne Ave. in a character reminiscent of bigger, denser Chinatowns. Attacks on Asian Americans — both fueled by and separate from Covid stigma — propelled Hom’s need to act. “We felt there was a need to bring more exposure. To combat that. To make the community feel proud.” He petitioned CIA a half year later. It was made into a semester-long project, with seven students crafting designs from Dragon Gate-inspired archways to shipping crate shopping centers.

“Philadelphia has some cool gates. Boston has cool gates, too. When I was in Seattle, I went to theirs all the time,” Hom said over a recent dinner of spring rolls at Siam Cafe off St. Clair. Hom, a fashionable man in his sixties with round glasses and silvering hair, pours tea, signaling to the CIA designs on his phone. He held it up for close examination.

“You come to our Chinatown, you go to come to Asiatown here. Now, what would your impression be now if you drove down Payne?” he said. Hom smiled. “Right?”

SHAO-JIA HUANG, BETTER known to restaurant heads and CDC chiefs by his honorific, has access to probably the most culturallyimportant, private Asian museum in the entire city. But few are privy to this. Few have seen the museum, historically called the On Leong Temple, or its contents — its Qing Dynasty urns, Beijing-made incense burners, wartime letters of support from Franklin Delano Roosevelt. But there, in an airy, third-story room above Mr. Huang’s Emperor’s Palace Chinese restaurant, there exists an archive of Asiatown’s historical identity.

That is, because Asiatown’s roots are inevitably Chinese. Long before the neighborhood grew as an enclave for other East Asians at the turn of the century, Cantonese railroad workers, fleeing West Coast

racism and political dissent, sought new lives in Cleveland in the 1860s and 1870s, centered in Cleveland’s first Chinatown, on Ontario between Lakeside and St. Clair. As that neighborhood changed, Chinatown became centered on Rockwell between East 21st and East 24th. The On Leong Temple, both a symbol and meeting hall, acted as its epicenter.

Today, it’s essentially Mr. Huang’s apartment. Like Hom and Ratcliff, Mr. Huang, a bald man in his sixties who sports open-buttoned Aeropostale polos, has a fixed idea of what a cultural homage should look like. As maybe he should. In 2006, the same year Mr. Huang relocated to Cleveland to apparently buy the Chinatown building on Rockwell Ave., he hired an architecture firm based in Guangzhou, China, to draft up a Chinese-style gateway in the spitting imitation of Chicago’s. One that, he said, would be erected on East 21st.

But, alas, 16 years later, the blueprints have resulted in absolutely nothing.

“He hasn’t shown it to me,” Joyce Pan Huang, Cleveland’s director of City Planning, and former director of MidTown Cleveland, said about the proposed gate on East 21st. “I am not familiar with it personally. But I also know that there’s probably a lot more that needs to happen with fundraising before it even gets to that point.”

Councilmember Stephanie Howse, whose Ward 7 includes Asiatown, told Scene she’s had preliminary discussions about the gate projects and is looking forward to those evolving.

“I’m really interested as far as community dialogue goes.”

To erect the same green, red, white and gray gate, with pillars, characters and dragons, Joyce Pan Huang (no relation) told Scene that Mr. Huang would have to get approval from Cleveland’s Division of Streets.

But, the question is, would a traditional Chinese gate, like Chicago’s, be fully appropriate? After all, the greater Asiatown sphere is not just Chinese, but Korean, Thai, Vietnamese, Japanese, etc.

“I think I have personal feelings about what Chinatown gates represent,” Joyce Huang said. As for Mr. Huang’s design: “If [he’s] behind it, we would support it.”

The purpose of a gate — a beacon for curious visitors and a signifier of homecoming — brings up an interesting, and sometimes tense, debate amongst Asiatown’s caretakers and chief stakeholders. In interviews with a dozen residents and changemakers, the how of reshaping Asiatown’s visual identity ultimately concerned the who spearheading it. One seems just as paramount as the other.

It’s impossible to talk about such a debate without bringing up both the legacy of Night Market and the Asian Festival.

In May of 2015, after being hired by St. Clair Superior Development, then the CDC whose territory included Asiatown, Brendan Trewella and Josh Maxwell, cofounders of a design firm called Small Organizing Solutions, created an evening-time showcase of the neighborhood’s oft-undiscovered culinary talent in the parking lots across from the Chinatown complex on Rockwell.

With Mr. Huang’s full backing, Trewella and Maxwell rallied together some 30 or so vendors selling everything from ceramics to mackerel off the grill, along with Chinese folk dancers.

They had anticipated 500 attendees. By their June event, nearly 8,500 showed. (Including, at one, Tom Hanks.)

“One of the most shocking things that we discovered was most people didn’t know Asiatown existed,” Trewella said recently, dining on a bowl of tonkotsu at Alpha Ramen on Payne and East 38th. “If you go outside of this little pocket, even they know maybe we have one, but they certainly don’t know that it’s dozens and dozens of restaurants and, like, whole blocks of our city.”

Although Covid-19 would effectively kill Night Market’s fouryear stint come 2020, its legacy

Rhea Doria, marketing coordinator at MidTown. MARK OPREA

still leaves a slight sour taste on the tongues of those involved.

One of those is Johnny Wu, a local filmmaker who sat on the St. Clair Superior board in Night Market’s early days and yearly co-producer, with Lisa Wong, of the Asian Festival. In an interview, Wu, who lived near East 32nd and Superior Ave. in the 1980s, told Scene that Night Market, though a cultural moment in pre-pandemic Cleveland, was not as profitable for the neighborhood as its image suggests. And that its arrangement with St. Clair Superior was rocky.

“So, what happened was that Night Market was created by two white guys,” Wu said in a phone call. “They came to Asiatown. They wanted to make a living by doing an event in an Asian home.” He suggests that though Trewella and crew had good intentions, they fumbled Night Market’s coexistence with Asiatown’s more traditional culture showcase. “They completely disregarded what the Asian Festival had already done.”

At Alpha Ramen, Trewella owns up to some initial planning gaffes as he chopsticks noodles. “There’s tension,” he said, with the Asian Festival heads, Lisa Wong and Wu. “There’s probably at this point what I would describe as some unresolved components of it, because we’ve not ever really sat down and had the full out conversation where everything got back in alignment.”

But could Night Market happen again? Trewella is iffy in his response: Night Market could happen, of course. But whether, in his view, it’s needed — especially with MidTown’s steering — is up for debate.

“Night Market really was a tool for community development,” Trewella said. “It wasn’t supposed to be just an event. It was supposed to do things. It was supposed to get businesses into Rockwell Avenue. It was supposed to get new businesses started in Asiatown.” Trewella paused. “And it did that.”

IN THE MIDDLE OF JUNE, AFTER lunching on six plates of dim sum, including chicken feet and barbecue pork buns, Mr. Huang brought Scene up to his apartment, to see the private museum-temple few eyes have apparently seen. Mr. Huang, who spoke through his friend and restaurateur Thomas Mei, swung in a pendulum between the joys of privatizing, and fears of publicizing, his gem of local history.

“He’s low profile, very private,” Mei said about Mr. Huang, as the two sipped black tea. “He doesn’t want

to put himself out. He doesn’t want people to know him.”

On the walk up to the temple, past all of the glittering, China-imported chandeliers and the servers pushing dim sum carts, Mr. Huang and Mei cut to the point of the East 21st gate: to keep an area’s history from moving — just as it did after the I-90 highway construction pushed it eastward. To say, This here is Chinatown. For good.

“It comes from my personality,” Mr. Huang said through Mei. “I just want one Chinatown. I don’t want to be like Midtown, Downtown or Asiatown. There’s one name, so you don’t want to break it up.”

In Mr. Huang’s museum, which contains hundreds of items originally collected by the On Leong, Mr. Huang and Mei walk around observing the dusty erhu and pipa musical instruments, the offering oranges in front of a golden Buddha, the magnificent seven-foot-tall thread works of the China countryside.

Mei walked to the enormous table in the center of the temple, and took out a thick binder. He licked his finger, and turned to the architectural drawing on everyone’s mind. There it is, just like Chicago’s, in red, white, green and gray. “And I have all the materials ready,” Mr. Huang said. “All from China.”

Mei’s attention turned to the whole museum. “Sooner or later, we’re going to open to the public,” Mei said. “You have to push it out slowly. We will open for the public.”

Mr. Huang nodded. “One day,” he said.

AFTER FREQUENTING ASIATOWN for nearly seven years under the hat of health inspector, Brian Ng figured it was time to finally open up his own restaurant.

But Ng’s concept was different than the restaurants he inspected. The third sibling in a ChineseAmerican family, Ng and his brother Andy had been growing a food stand business called Ice or Rice, along with a companion, instructional YouTube channel growing in popularity. (They have 45,200 subscribers today.) The premise was a sort of roundup of the Ngs’ cumulative food tours of East Asia: A food stand specializing in snack foods — onigiri (rice balls), bing su (green shaved ice), oko hot dogs topped with seaweed or dried fish flakes.

“In the case of Japanese food, you typically only find sushi restaurants around here,” Andy Ng says in a three-minute YouTube video entitled “Why We Do What We Do.” “And of course we know that Japanese food

is more than just sushi.”

Such mentality stretches to brother Brian Ng, who, after a long pandemicrelated delay, opened up the brick and mortar arm of Ice or Rice in March in an abandoned liquor store across from Payne Commons. He and his wife, Rachel, a former sushi chef for Heinen’s, helped in structuring the menu now lathered with Japanese snack food — Thai-style chili hot dogs, Spam-stuffed musubi (rice cake), pickled plum onigiri (a triangular rice snack).

“I think the closest place you could get this kind of food is in Chicago,” Brian told Scene, sitting at one of his tables in May. “There’s so many sushi restaurants, so many hibachi restaurants. We wanted fun food, like more interesting food.”

The Ngs’ pursuit of uniqueness is sort of the culinary equivalent of MidTown’s attempt to prettify Asiatown’s overwhelming hardscape. Moreover, these new eateries symbolize a convergence of what might be dubbed Asiatown’s new era: a varied mix of contemporary, thoughtfully-designed spaces geared to bring in a younger, more globalized generation.

Ice or Rice’s line-out-the-door opening in March trails a series of likeminded eateries, those that take imported, modernized concepts past the immigrant mainstays of the 1980s and 1990s, those that have opened up in the past two, three years: Mango Mango, a hyper chic Asian dessert bar; LJ Shanghai, a no-frills restaurant selling cuisine from China’s largest city; Ball Ball, a street food-style waffle café; Alpha Ramen, a fast-casual, bubble tea and ramen joint decorated like an white-and-black anime scene; Mei’s Pho Sunshine, his first restaurant in Asiatown.

The onus may be on MidTown, and the city, to see if they can keep up. So far, there’s the soon-to-breakground Superior Avenue Midway, the two-way central bike lane that will cut through Asiatown’s north end, and a slew of tiny beautification projects in the works, including repainting stale crosswalks in Chinese colors; 12 murals, new blade signs, bike racks, streetlamps; assigning volunteers to color the Payne Ave. Bridge; hosting the Cleveland Public Library’s Artbox, a former shipping crate-turned-book nook situated in Asiatown’s pop-up park. (That is, a vacant parking lot made free after Dave’s Market fled the neighborhood in 2018.)

“Bringing color to a neighborhood really makes it so much more friendly and more approachable,” Chi-Irena Wong, the 25-year-old

muralist who designed the Artbox, said sitting on the bench of a piano she painted for AsiaTown Center. “Versus a lot of the buildings we have here are, like, brick buildings or brown, or just really white, beige. It’s very muted.”

While shown the series of designs from CIA students, Wong’s mind drifted to her childhood. She recalled moments as a kid, walking through her grandparents’ busy block in Manhattan’s Chinatown, an experience she’d draw on for the “compactness” of her own art.

“I can see there might be a bit of pushback,” Wong admitted, her finger stopped on the Chinese archway design. “Yeah, Asiatown is small, but it’s not just Chinese. There’s a whole ton of diversity.”

But can Asiatown, despite its wide streets and beige exterior, actually find and fund its hipness?

“We have to make do with what we have right now, presently. And not just for the way it looks,” Doria told Scene. “I know we have an intention to bring community, an intention to just do whatever what’s best for people. And that’s the overall intention with Asiatown and our social media, whether it be for businesses, for residents, for visitors, and much, much more.”

She added, with emphasis: “We’re just trying our best.”

On a recent visit to Asiatown, en route from Atlanta, Hom returned to the Siam Cafe, one of the several restaurants here he likes to frequent. As he sipped tea, Hom’s mind drifted to his 88-year-old mother, who was expected to call after her Mahjong date with friends had wrapped up at the nearby Evergreen senior facility. Thirty minutes had passed since her wrap-up time; Hom was noticeably anxious.

The conversation about the CIA designs veers into his mom’s well-being. How Asiatown, the neighborhood May Hom had returned to in 2007 to be closer to friends, has long been without sufficient senior care facilities, a green space to gossip in, or a hall to square dance in. “They actually go to Asia Plaza,” Hom lamented, “and dance in the middle of a mall.”

As for the promise of Asiatown seeing its first ever cultural marker at scale, Hom said his mom, and her octogenarian friends, is eager to see those plans actualized.

He laughed. “They’re skeptical about how we’re going to get the money,” he said. “She’s always worried about money.”

scene@clevescene.com

t@clevelandscene

GET OUT Everything to do in Cleveland for the next two weeks

WED 07/12

Wade Oval Wednesdays

A summer tradition continues tonight from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. at Wade Oval in University Circle. It’s Wade Oval Wednesday, and there will be local food vendors, a beer and wine tent, a farmers market and free kids’ activities — all laid out on the Wade Oval lawn, adjacent to Cleveland Botanical Garden, the Cleveland Art Museum, and the Cleveland Natural History Museum. Some museums will stay open late too. Details are on the website. universitycircle.org.

THU 07/13

Jeff Arcuri

This comedian who’s appeared on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, Comedy Central’s Roast Battle, Laughs! on Fox and SiriusXM performs regularly at the storied Comedy Cellar in New York. He brings his matter-of-fact humor to Hilarities tonight at 7.

2035 East Fourth St., 216-241-7425, pickwickandfrolic.com.

FRI 07/14

Celebrating Our Past, Creating Our Future Beck Center for the Arts’ annual spotlight gala looks back at Beck Center’s 90-year history of creating arts experiences with an evening of “fun and entertainment as well as a celebration of the critical impact of the arts in our lives.” Beck Center is posthumously honoring Richard Kay, the first director of the Lakewood Little Theatre, which later evolved into Beck Center for the Arts. The benefit takes place at 6 p.m. at Gordon Green. 5400 Detroit Ave., 216-406-2461, beckcenter.org.

Groundworks Dance Theatre

GroundWorks DanceTheater ushers in its 25th anniversary season tonight at 8 at Cain Park with a program of new contemporary dance works by former Nederlands Dans Theater dancer Spenser Theberge and GroundWorks Executive Artistic Director David Shimotakahara. Performances continue through Sunday. Consult the Cain Park website for more info.

14591 Superior Rd., Cleveland

Heights, 216-371-3000, cainpark. com.

SAT 07/15

Beachland Flea

A good number of local vendors will exhibit both inside and outside the Beachland Ballroom today to sell vinyl records, vintage clothing, unique artwork, music memorabilia and more. The sale runs from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. The Beachland Flea Market adds to the rejuvenated Waterloo Arts District. Many businesses have popped up or expanded in the last couple of years, and the Beachland’s flea puts an exclamation mark on the improvements. Admission is free. 15711 Waterloo Rd., 216-383-1124, beachlandballroom.com.

Cleveland Ale Fest

Benefiting A Special Wish Foundation, the 12th annual Cleveland Ale Fest is back for another round today, and organizers promise that it is “bigger, bolder, and beerier than ever before.” The city’s original ale fest takes place from noon to 6:30 p.m. today at Lincoln Park. Patrons can sample from 100+ craft and premium beers. There will be food from local restaurants, games, multiple DJ stages and vendors. The Cleveland Ale Fest is for guests ages 21+ and will happen rain or shine.

Starkweather Avenue and West 14th St., 877-280-1646, scenealefestival. com.

Lakewood Summer Meltdown

This annual block party takes place on Detroit Avenue between Marlowe and Arthur Avenues. The festival features a 5K race and 1-mile family fun run and walk. It also features games, food vendors, a beer garden and live music. lakewoodalive.org.

Romantic Rachmaninoff

Tonight at 7 at Blossom, the Cleveland Orchestra takes on Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 3 — called “Rach 3” by fans. It’s one of the “most demanding and daunting concertos ever written,” as it’s put in press materials for this performance.

1145 W. Steels Corners Rd., Cuyahoga Falls, 216-231-1111, clevelandorchestra.com.

SUN 07/16

Reggae Sundays

This special Reggae Sunday Happy Hour Concert series at the Music Box Supper Club takes place rain or shine with live music from 4 to 7:30 p.m. Music Box will also offer food and drink specials exclusive to the series and will serve up island cocktails at its outdoor Tiki bar. Continues through Sept. 3. 1148 Main Ave., 216-242-1250, musicboxcle.com.

She’s Got Soul

Capathia Jenkins joins the Cleveland Orchestra tonight at 7 as it takes on soulful hits by Adele, Toni Braxton, the Jackson 5, Earth, Wind and Fire, Chaka Khan and Stevie Wonder. 1145 W. Steels Corners Rd., Cuyahoga Falls, 216-231-1111, clevelandorchestra.com.

MON 07/17

Memorial Monday

Every Monday through Sept. 25, Fort Huntington Park, hosts food tracks and live music between 11:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. for this special event. Admission is free, but the food will cost you. West 3rd St. and West Lakeside Ave., downtowncleveland.com.

TUE 07/18

Hot Goss: The Improvised Musical Tonight at 7:30 at the Grog Shop,

a troupe of improvisers from the Cleveland comedy scene will perform an improvised musical with live piano and guitar accompaniment based on audience interviews about gossip in their lives. Hosted by Sam Dee from Casually Late Stampede, Amsterdang and Mass Hysteria Comedy Fest, the show features members of Imposters Theater and Cam Godfrey, recent winner of “Rookie of the Year” at the Cleveland Comedy Awards 2023. 2785 Euclid Heights Blvd., Cleveland Heights, 216-321-5588, grogshop.gs.

WED 07/19

Meridian Brothers

This five-piece Colombian band focuses on reinterpreting Latin tropical styles with a psychedelic and experimental sensibility. The group’s music uses popular Latin American rhythms via sampling techniques, elaborate effect processing, and frontman Eblis Álvarez’s theatrical vocals. The group performs tonight at 7:30 at the Transformer Station. 1460 West 29th St., 216-938-5429, transformerstation.org.

THU 07/20

Kyle Kinane

After his 2010 debut album, Death of the Party, received rave reviews, comedian Kyle Kinane found himself on the fast track. In the wake of that release, he’s performed on Last Call with Carson Daly, Live at

Meridian Brothers perform at the Transformer Station. See: Wednesday, July 19. | Mariana Reyes

Gotham, Conan and The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, and he’s opened for comedians Patton Oswalt and Daniel Tosh. Kinane likes to say that he steers clear of political topics, but he does routinely joke about white privilege and sexual harassment. He performs tonight at 7 at Hilarities, where he has shows scheduled through Saturday. 2035 East Fourth St., 216-241-7425, pickwickandfrolic.com.

FRI 07/21

Guardians vs. Philadelphia Phillies

The Philadelphia Phillies, a team that made it all the way to the World Series last year, comes to Progressive Field to take on the Guardians for the first time this season. Tonight’s first pitch is at 7:10. Tomorrow’s game, which features a Steven Kwan bobblehead giveaway, is at 7:10 p.m. and Sunday’s game begins at 1:40 p.m. 2401 Ontario St., 216-420-4487, mlb.com/guardians.

Ali Siddiq

“Prison is an odd place because you don’t know the rules,” jokes comedian Ali Sadiiq as he relays the story of how he found himself caught up in a riot one day. The funny bit, which Siddiq presents as a narrative, shows just how well the comic can bring a story to life, as he imitates others and recreates conversations he’s had. He performs tonight at 7:30 and 10 and tomorrow night at 6:30 and 9 at the Improv.

1148 Main Ave., 216-696-IMPROV, clevelandimprov.com.

SAT 07/22

Debussy’s La Mer

Kahchun Wong directs the Cleveland Orchestra tonight at Blossom as it takes on Debussy’s La Mer. Zlatomir Fung guests on cello. The concert begins at 7.

1145 W. Steels Corners Rd., Cuyahoga Falls, 216-231-1111, clevelandorchestra.com.

Please Don’t Destroy Live Saturday Night Live’s Ben Marshall, John Higgins and Martin Herlihy bring their live show to the Ohio Theatre stage tonight at 7. Expect sketch comedy with a heavy dose of satire from this group of comedians who’ve performed together at comedy clubs and festivals for years. 1501 Euclid Ave., 216-241-6000, playhousesquare.org.

SUN 07/23

Concerts at Lake View Cemetery

Concerts at Lake View Cemetery series offers locals yet another great opportunity to catch a free outdoor concert this summer. The threeconcert series takes place on the Garfield Monument lawn, making it one of the most unique settings in the city; each concert showcases some of the city’s best jazz acts. Hours are 4 to 6 p.m. Admission is free. And if it rains, the fun will be delayed by a week.

12316 Euclid Ave., 216-421-2665, lakeviewcemetery.com.

Two Pianos: Who Could Ask for Anything More?

Celebrated pianists Jean-Yves Thibaudet and Michael Feinstein join forces for the first time for this concert at Blossom. This innovative program for two pianos celebrates George Gershwin, “Feinstein, a renowned vocalist/pianist/conductor, offers his expertise as the leading authority on the Great American Songbook, while Cleveland favorite Thibaudet brings his sparkling virtuosity as one of today’s finest pianists,” reads a press release. The concert begins at 7 p.m.

1145 W. Steels Corners Rd., Cuyahoga Falls, 216-231-1111, clevelandorchestra.com.

MON 07/24

Guardians vs. Kansas City Royals

The Guardians take on the lowly Kansas City Royals, one of MLB’s worst teams, in a three-game series that begins today. First pitch is at 7:10 and the series continues through Wednesday.

2401 Ontario St., 216-420-4487, mlb. com/guardians.

TUE 07/25

Lyrical Rhythms Open Mic and Chill

This long-running open mic night at the B Side allows some of the city’s best rappers and poets to strut their stuff. The event begins at 8 with a comedy session dubbed 2 Drinks & a Joke with host Ant Morrow. The open mic performances begin at 10 p.m. Tickets cost $5 in advance, $10 at the door.

2785 Euclid Heights Blvd., Cleveland Heights, 216-932-1966, bsideliquorlounge.com

scene@clevescene.com

t@clevelandscene

Karaoke on our patio every Friday night

Sun. 7/16

Fri. 7/21

Sun. 7/23

Sat. 7/29

Sun. 7/30

Juneau Juice

Kolsch

White Ale

Regal Beagle

Rocktoberfest

Garage Beer

Elvis Juice

Jai Alai IPA

Tropical Bodhi

Black Bird

Accidental Anderson

Blueberry Kolsch

Butter Pecan Porter

Space Dust

Mango Cart

312 Urban Wheat

Hazy Beer Hug

Orginal

Brewing Company

Crooked Pecker Brewing Company

Double Wing Brewing Co.

Double Wing Brewing Co.

Elysian

Founders Brewing Company

Founders Brewing Company

Golden Road

Goose Island

Goose Island

Goose Island

Great Lakes Brewing Company

Great Lakes Brewing Company

Great Lakes Brewing Company

Green Flash Brewing Company

Kona

MadTree Brewing Co

MadTree Brewing Co

Market Garden Brewery

Market Garden Brewery

Masthead Brewing Company

Masthead Brewing Company

Masthead Brewing Company

Maumee Bay Brewing Co.

Maumee Bay Brewing Co

Maumee Bay Brewing Co.

Ohio Brewing Company

Ohio Brewing Company

Wheat Beer - Am.Pale Wheat

Hazy IPA Kölsch Witbier

NAME

Better than Ezra

Studpunch

Hazy Blues

Blood Orange Golf Cart

Gravel Donuts

Kings To You

Breezy Session Sour

Canalway IPA

Haze Jude

El Capoccino

Funky Wit

Medusa

Tropical Thunder

Juicy Truth

Lawnchair Hotrod

Morelos Mexican Style Lager

Sabro Express Hazy IPA w/ Pineapple

Juice Bigalow

Nitro Orange Whip Milkshake IPA

Rockester Mills Milkshake Blonde

Don’t Stop Wit It

Juicy ASAP

Thirst Trap

Humulus Nimbus

Kitty Paw Paloma

Desert Mirage

Shiner Hill Country Peach Wheat Ale

Sea Salt & Lime

Augusta Peach Wheat

Mosaic and.....

Summer Berry Gose

Swing State

Sierra Nevada Summerfest

Blanc

Voss

You Betcha!

Southern Tier 2XMAS

Juice Jolt

Irish Gold

Maltings Irish Red

SweetWater Blue

(614) Lager

Clear Sky Horchata

BREWER

STYLE

West Coast IPA

Hazy IPA

Hazy IPA

Golden Ale

Outerbelt

IPA

Hefeweizen

Session Sour Ale

IPA

Hazy IPA

Coffee & Vanilla Blone Ale

Pulpo Beer Co.

Pulpo Beer Co.

Pulpo

Witbier

Hazy Pale Ale

Piña-Colada IPA

Hazy IPA

Tropical Lager

Mexican Style Lager

Rhinegeist

Rochester Mills Beer Co. Rochester Mills Beer Co.

Rochester Mills Beer Co.

SAUCY BREW WORKS

SAUCY BREW WORKS

SAUCY BREW WORKS

Seventh Son Brewing Co.

Seventh Son Brewing Co.

Shiner

Shiner

Shiner

Sibling Revelry Brewing

Sibling Revelry Brewing

Sibling Revelry Brewing

Sibling Revelry Brewing

Sierra Nevada Brewing Co.

Sonder Brewing

Sonder Brewing

Sonder Brewing

Southern Tier Brewing Co.

Southern Tier Brewing Co.

Sullivan’s Brewing Company

Sullivan’s Brewing Company

SweetWater Brewery

Wolf’s Ridge

Wolf’s Ridge

Wolf’s Ridge

Wolf’s Ridge

Wolf’s Ridge

Wolf’s Ridge

Yuengling

Yuengling

Yuengling

Hazy IPA

Hazy IPA

Milkshake IPA

Blonde Ale

Witbier w/Tangerine

American IPA

Hazy Imperial IPA

American Pale Ale

Hard Seltzer

Hazy IPA

Witbier

American Lager

Wheat Beer

IPA

Gose

Pale Ale

American Lager White Ale

Kölsch

New England IPA

Double IPA

Hazy IPA

Golden Ale

Red Ale

Wheat Beer - American

Cream Ale

Coffee Vanilla Cream Ale

Bavarian-style Weissbier

Mexican Lager

American IPA

American Lager

Light Lager

American Amber Lager

VIP GUESTS WILL RECEIVE

• 12 PM Early Entry

• Access to shaded VIP Zone with exclusive beer

• Food tickets

• Commemorative VIP t-shirt

• Dedicated VIP restrooms

• Sampling card with (12) 2oz samples with access to 400+ beers – purchase 12 more samples for only $5

• Access to festival grounds with 100+ breweries, music stage, food trucks, curated local vendors, and more!

MOVIES

ALONG FOR THE RIDE

In Joy Ride, a trio of Asian American women brings a fresh perspective to raunchy comedy, with mixed results

By Kayla McCulloch

CONCERNED MOVIEGOERS

HAVE been mourning the death of the R-rated studio comedy for far too long now. This lingering concern for the current state of raunchy Hollywood productions was no doubt borne from the phasing out of the Frat Pack: Will Ferrell, Ben Stiller, Owen and Luke Wilson, Paul Rudd, Steve Carell, and all the other guys who used to crack you up but now front Marvel projects or dramas for streaming services. The thing is, the R-rated studio comedy never really went anywhere. Sure, your Judd Apatows, Todd Phillipses, and Adam McKays aren’t nearly as prominent (or as prolific) as they once were, but the subgenre didn’t die. It simply changed hands. Producing team Evan Goldberg and Seth Rogen (in essence, protégés of the Frat Pack) and their latest co-production, Joy Ride, are proof enough that the R-rated Hollywood comedy is alive, even if not always well.

Audrey (Ashley Park) and Lolo (Sherry Cola) have been best friends ever since they first met on the playground as kids. Audrey’s Caucasian adoptive parents walked up to Lolo’s Chinese parents and introduced the girls, and the rest was history. Growing up as the only two Asians in a primarily white suburb, Audrey and Lolo’s friendship was practically predestined. Strong together all through their K-12 years, they now find themselves in their late 20s on wildly separate paths. Audrey’s a lawyer on partnership track, while Lolo is a starving artist living in Audrey’s garage making works not-sosubtly depicting genitalia. When an opportunity presents itself for Audrey to travel to China to seal a deal for her firm, she extends an invitation to Lolo. However, both are hiding a secret: Lolo’s cousin Deadeye (Sabrina Wu) and Audrey’s college roommate-turned-famous actress Kat (Stephanie Hsu) will also be tagging along.

The film arrives hot on the heels of No Hard Feelings, another dirty farce seemingly transported straight from the 2000s. But instead of following the sex comedy formula

WRITTEN

JOY RIDE

DIRECTED BY ADELE LIM.

like the aforementioned Jennifer Lawrence comeback vehicle, Joy Ride sticks to a different triedand-true recipe: the trusty girlstrip-gone-wrong. Scribes Cherry Chevapravatdumrong, a frequent Seth MacFarlane collaborator, and Teresa Hsiao, co-creator of the oddly titled (and ongoing) Comedy Central show Awkwafina Is Nora from Queens, throw every to-be-expected trope and story beat into the pot. There’s the spontaneous drug trip, the lost luggage meltdown, the run-in with the cops, the gross-out over local cuisine, and all those obligatory miscommunications that push long-gestating tensions to the surface. If you’ve seen any previous road trip comedy, you’re likely to recognize quite a few of these setups throughout.

Joy Ride recycles more than just bits. Every one of its character arcs should feel familiar, too. Audrey’s searching for the meaning of family. Lolo’s trying to balance her lofty dreams with the harsh reality of

getting older. Deadeye’s a socially awkward introvert looking for true friendship. Kat’s struggling to have it all while remaining authentic to herself. I could be describing the basic personalities of the characters from Girls Trip, Sex and the City, a Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants film, or even Book Club: The Next Chapter Looking past the unquestionably groundbreaking nature of a predominantly Asian cast and crew by Hollywood’s standards, Joy Ride is disappointingly risk-averse. For a movie rooted so strongly in identity, this is undoubtedly a serious problem.

Conventional plot and stock characters aside, does Joy Ride at least deliver laughs? Sure. For the most part. Even when a joke didn’t land for me personally, I understood why someone somewhere in the auditorium was laughing hysterically at the punchline. Chevapravatdumrong spent more than 15 years in the writer’s room on Family Guy. Hsiao devoted nearly

a decade to an array of MacFarlane joints as well. As these resumes suggest, Joy Ride’s sense of humor is the same brand of broadly accessible raunchiness that has kept MacFarlane’s animated sitcoms on the air for much of the 21st century. I might not have been laughing for 90 minutes straight, but I could recognize the cadence of a joke more often than not — an exceedingly rare thing in a time when topical references are passed off as finely crafted gags.

Though it might not sound like the kind of project Crazy Rich Asians co-writer Adele Lim would choose for her directorial debut, Joy Ride nevertheless fits squarely in line with her film career thus far. After lending her talents to the box office-breaking book adaptation, as well as Disney’s Raya and the Last Dragon, Lim’s decidedly less familyfriendly endeavor is still concerned with many of the same themes at the center of her previous credits. The nuances of Asian identity, embracing cultural heritage, navigating the complex web of class and race … all permeate Lim’s work, but are especially prevalent in Joy Ride Beyond its outrageous jokes or its female-focused talent in front and behind the camera, this unabashed embrace of Asian customs and culture is what’s most surprising — and welcome — to see from a midbudget American production.

So: Is the R-rated studio comedy dead? If yes, what comes next? If not, who are we supposed to believe is picking up the torch? Instead of hand-wringing over such questions, I’m choosing to look at Joy Ride as one of many potential paths forward. As streaming services continue to falter and tentpoles struggle to stand against the weight of toxic fandoms and the impossible standards of nostalgia, could we see a return to the halcyon days of unabashedly silly, emphatically middling theatrical outputs such as Joy Ride? It wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world.

BY CHERRY CHEVAPRAVATDUMRONG, TERESA HSIAO AND ADELE LIM. OPENS JULY 7

Sabrina Wu, Sherry Cola, Stephanie Hsu and Ashley Park fill roles you may remember from Sex and the City or Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants. | ED ARAQUEL

SAMMYTOWN

Eight years in, Herb’ n Twine is serving up the most coveted sandwiches on the west side and still doing it their way

By Douglas Trattner

THE PHONE LINES OPEN AT

11 a.m. sharp. If you’re lucky, you’ll get right through, but odds are better that callers will be met with a busy signal, be sent straight to voicemail, or have the call answered by a human being who immediately places you on hold. If and when you do make it through to the ordering phase, you might be added to a lengthy queue, or worse, receive the dreaded “sold out” reply.

If you think ordering concert tickets is an angst-ridden process, try securing a smoked turkey club from Herb’n Twine. Unlike most modern-day food businesses, which utilize online ordering and third-party apps, this eight-yearold Ohio City hoagie shop strongly encourages customers to place orders over the phone in advance. Sure, one can walk in unannounced, but you place your fate in your hands.

Herb’n Twine wasn’t always this busy. When Brendan Messina opened the shop in 2015, he was years ahead of neighbors like The Plum, Xinji Noodle Bar, Ohio City Provisions and Cent’s. Back then, it was just him, Jack Flaps and Platform holding down the fort on the wild western edge of Ohio City. Messina would have opened even earlier had he not spent nearly a year carving a quaint sandwich café out of the former Speak in Tongues space.

Messina describes those early years as a slow burn, when the shop was kept aloft by word-of-mouth endorsements for its chef-driven sandwiches. The smoked turkey club ($12) – a best-seller from day one – hooked customers thanks to its near-perfect merger of housesmoked turkey, smokey gouda, bacon, spinach, marinated onions and sun-dried tomato mayo. Next in line is the Italian ($12.25), a timeless stack of thin-sliced deli meats, provolone, tomatoes, pickled peppers, shredded lettuce and roasted garlic mayo.

When he opened, Messina would bring in buns from Blackbird Baking in Lakewood. But when that bakeshop took its annual holiday

break, the chef decided to start baking his own in-house. The daily process begins at 7 a.m. and results in 250 fresh-baked French rolls. They are soft yet sturdy enough to support the hefty fillings. When you hear or see the dreaded “sold out” notice it’s because all of the buns have left the building.

When Covid hit, Messina entertained the idea of selling the shop. He had an impossible time

finding and keeping help and was no longer enjoying the work. After the mandatory shutdown, Herb’n Twine reopened as a carryout-only operation, eliminating the dozen or so seats in the small dining area. To Messina’s surprise, it was then that the shop began its meteoric rise to acclaim which has yet to subside.

“The pandemic, as much as it sucked, helped us a lot,” he

explains. “We were one of only two spots open in this neighborhood for almost a year. We kind of blew up during that time.”

Those tables and stools are back, but not for dine-in use. The former dining area is now used exclusively as a waiting area for carryout customers.

In addition to the smoked turkey club and Italian, there are always chicken, beef, pork and veggie options. The shaved prime rib ($13) features warm, thinsliced beef, caramelized onion and melty provolone, all doused with a delectable horseradish-laced sauce. Fried chicken fans can sink their teeth into the crispy chicken ($12), boneless schnitzels topped with slaw, shallot mayo and hot sauce. Regulars know to scope social media for specials like Italian beef, fried bologna and curried chicken salad, which run Thursdays through Saturdays.

Meals here are rounded out with cups of tomato bisque ($4) and a trio of fresh salads, like the chopped kale ($6) with tomato, red onion croutons and long shavings of good parm. Thick, creamy and garlicky Caesar dressing comes on the side. Dessert specials like chocolate chip cookies, chocolatedipped pretzels and s’mores bars join bagged chips and sodas.

Messina says that he has been approached countless times by people hoping he’ll open additional Herb’n Twine shops in other neighborhoods. The chef, who previously worked at places like Saucy Bistro and Rockefeller’s, says that he does have aspirations of opening another restaurant, but it wouldn’t likely be a sandwich shop.

“I don’t think I’ll do another Herb’n Twine,” he says. “My original plan was to do this and then open a restaurant/bar, but this kind of took over everything. But I have been scouting locations for an actual bar and restaurant for the past year.”

Credit: Courtesy Herb’ n Twine

BITES

Now open: Edison’s Next Door Pizza in Tremont

By Douglas Trattner

SINCE OPENING EDISON’S

Pub (2373 Professor Ave., 216-5220006) back in 1989, owner Mark LaGrange has shared a wall with a handful of food businesses. The last one, Edison’s Pizza Kitchen, closed back in March after 15 years. Last week, a new restaurant has opened in the same space. It’s called Edison’s Next Door Pizza (2365 Professor Ave.) and it is run by Mark’s son Pete and his wife Jessica.

After years living in North Carolina, Colorado and Idaho, Pete returned to his hometown of Tremont specifically to undertake the venture.

“I was really excited for the opportunity to work with my dad, to help him renovate a space that hasn’t been touched in a long time and that needed a lot of love,” LaGrange explains.

After months of interior and exterior improvements, Edison’s Next Door Pizza opened this week with a new look, a new menu and more modern approach to food service. For the first time, pub patrons next door will be able to scan a QR code from the bar to order food. They will be notified via text when it’s ready for pickup at the newly reopened pick-up window.

“We’re bringing the ordering into the 21st century,” says LaGrange.

New double-deck gas ovens will speed the baking portion of the now cashless operation.

As for the pies, the LaGranges are charting a new course as well.

“We’re differentiating ourselves, trying to stand out with fresher ingredients,” he says. “It has more of an artisan feel. We are hand-tossing the dough. You can see us making the pizzas from two sides of the street.”

Available by the slice or whole, the pizzas are similar to New Yorkstyle but with a crispier crust.

The menu offers a handful of shareables like giant Bavarian soft pretzels with dipping cheese and mustard and baked meatballs with mozzarella and marinara. A trio of salads joins desserts like Belgian

waffles with whipped cream, caramel and chocolate, and salted caramel brownies with a pretzel crust.

For now, Edison’s Next Door Pizza is dinner only, but LaGrange says that he intends to add lunch hours down the road.

Plans for the former operator to open elsewhere in the neighborhood, as previously announced, are up in the air.

Fresh Garden Café to Open in Former Dynomite Burgers Kiosk on U.S. Bank Plaza

After nearly three years of sitting idle since the closure of Dynomite Burgers, the tiny restaurant kiosk on the west end of U.S. Bank Plaza is getting a new tenant.

Starting sometime in July, the kiosk will welcome entrepreneur Erdem Bingul’s Fresh Garden Café, a casual American eatery serving fast-serve food such as burgers, pizza, sandwiches and salads. The kiosk will have both a lunch menu and dinner menu, and will stay open until around 9 p.m.

Nate Kelly, the president of Cushman & Wakefield/CRESCO, the commercial real estate broker involved in the sale, told Scene that filling the spot continues the momentum of downtown Cleveland.

Kelly himself decided to move his real estate firm to the former Ohio Republican Party headquarters in the Halle Building in May. (Kelly said they plan to move in fully later this year.)

“It’s a small, but important space,” Kelly told Scene in an email. “Reviving that location is an important bellwether for both the 15-hour city and the slow-but-steady post-pandemic return.”

The plaza has long been a talking point for downtowners who feel it could be more active, and activated.

dtrattner@clevescene.com

t@dougtrattner

Courtesy Photo

SCRATCH HAPPY

Turntablist Kid Koala talks about his latest innovative album

By Jeff Niesel

CENTERED ON A CAST OF creatures who band together to save their community from destruction, Creatures of the Late Afternoon, the latest album/game from innovative DJ and author Kid Koala (Eric San) yet again reflects San’s multifaceted multimedia imagination and creativity.

“It sounds very fantastical, but it’s a inspired by things I noticed in either real life or things I learned in nature documentaries,” says San when asked about the album’s genesis via phone from his Montreal home. He performs with Lealani on Wednesday, July 26, at the Beachland Ballroom. “During the pandemic, I was watching a lot of nature documentaries with my daughter. We learned about all these creatures from every area of the planet. We realized at the end of every episode, there would be this warning that they were the last of the creatures on earth — no matter how beautiful and inspiring that episode was. The idea was if their time on earth was a whole day, they might be in the late afternoon of their existence. That was one of the catalysts for the concept.”

San says his daughter also began painting the creatures, and after every episode, she wanted to paint the animals she learned about. He was painting alongside her. His paintings, however, depicted creatures that were playing musical instruments.

“In the workshop area in my house, there were probably a dozen canvases,” he says. “I was noodling around on the keyboard or guitar or cutting up some stuff on the turntable and staring at these creatures. They became muses, and I thought about what kind of beat a frog would play, for example. It opened up after that and became a fun sandbox. After a-year-and-ahalf, it congealed into this whole narrative that you may or may not be able to follow. It’s a double album because it has these genres,

8:30

and the songs became music cues for this stage production, and I started drawing storyboards based on the musical cues. The idea is to eventually do a live film with puppets and live scoring and a string quartet.”

San’s career began inconspicuously enough in the 1990s when he made a cassette mixtape that circulated at McGill University in Montreal, where he was a student, and then found its way to the folks at the cutting-edge Ninjatune imprint. They reissued it, and San’s innovative approach to matching beats and using samples from things like the Charlie Brown Halloween special caught on.

San has continued to experiment and innovate, and Creatures, which includes a built-in board game, eight vinyl-only board game tracks, inserts with game pieces, dice and 150 game cards, follows immersive visual projects like Nufonia Must Fall and The Storyville Mosquito as well as San’s graphic novel Space Cadet and the breakdance video game Floor Kids

Featuring the stuttering vocals of guest singer Coelacanth, the lurching “1000 Towns,” one of many album highlights, finds San scratching over an aggressive piano

melody that stops and starts.

“It came out first as an instrumental that was this walloping, strutting song,” San says of the track. “When it came time to recording it, I was staring at one of the characters that was a Coelacanth, and I realized that Coelacanth had to do the vocals. That’s my voice on the track. I recorded it and cut it to vinyl. I scratched it in live. I was making my own lost vocal dub plates. It’s like Jim Henson and those old Muppet movies and things like that. Those were some of my favorite parts were those moments when you’d be singing with Kermit the Frog.”

The exhilarating and funky “Things Are Gonna Change” features guest vocals courtesy of indie singer-songwriter Lealani, and “When U Say Love” effectively mixes old-time R&B with contemporary hip-hop.

“I played bass and drums and would process stuff and throw stuff to tape and back just to get the grit,” San says when asked about “Things Are Gonna Change.” “There are samples of symphonies and horns and sometimes it’s just a sine wave on a vinyl record, and I would pitch it up so it would sound like a backing choir harmony. I was

just having fun in the studio. The goalposts were to make a jukebox jam reminiscent of the ‘50s and ‘60s but through turntables. I would have a snare drum and use era-specific spring reverb to see what it would sound like. As it started to congeal, the track would tell me which direction it wanted to go.”

After performing at theaters and other spaces suited to his immersive concerts, San says he’s excited to return to the rock club circuit and play places like the Beachland Ballroom.

“The Cleveland show is actually me getting back into the rock club and seeing what Lealani is capable of musically as just as one person,” he says. “She’s a master of the Akai MPC and will play stuff with no safety net and with every sound assigned to a different drum pad. It’s like she’s typing or throwing gang signs. She can do every layer of the tracks. It’s crazy. For me, I thought it could be a cool combination in the tradition of the Black Keys or White Stripes and the duo bands that make this amazing noise. She will have her MPC, and I will have three turntables. She also has her own all-girl punk band the Pezheads, and I will accompany them on the turntables. It’s a raucous, high-energy party set.”

KID KOALA X LEALANI, FACTUAL BRAINS, TRAVELOGUE

P.M. WEDNESDAY, JULY 26, BEACHLAND BALLROOM, 15711 WATERLOO RD., 216-383-1124. TICKETS: $18 ADV, $20 DOS, BEACHLANDBALLROOM.COM.

Kid Koala. | Corinne Merrell

LIVEWIRE Real music in the real world

THU 07/20

Jason Aldean: Highway Desperado Tour 2023

This country superstar released his 10th studio album, Macon, Georgia, last year. Featuring 20 new songs and an additional 10 live tracks, the album delivered Aldean his 27th No. 1 single in “Trouble with a Heartbreak,” a heavily produced tune that finds Aldean virtually talking his way through the pop/rock anthem. Expect to hear it when Aldean returns to Blossom tonight at 7:30. 1145 W. Steels Corners Rd., Cuyahoga Falls, 216-231-1111, livenation.com.

Boney James & Lalah Hathaway

At age 10, Boney James picked up the sax after two years on the clarinet and never looked back. He subsequently became an in-demand touring sax and keyboard player for Morris Day,

the Isley Brothers, Teena Marie, Bobby Caldwell, Randy Crawford and many others. Lalah Hathaway is a Grammy-winning singersongwriter and producer and 10-time nominee. An undeniable music royalty and a 30-year music industry veteran, co-headliner Lalah Hathaway has collaborated with acts such as Pharrell Williams, Kendrick Lamar, Dr. Dre, Anderson. Paak, Robert Glasper, Rapsody, Snoop Dogg and Esperanza Spalding. Their concert begins tonight at 8 at Cain Park. 14591 Superior Rd., Cleveland Heights, 216-371-3000, cainpark. com.

FRI 07/21

Barenaked Ladies: Last Summer on Earth 2023

Over the course of 35 years, this Toronto-based quartet, a Cleveland favorite, has sold 15 million records worldwide

thanks to hits such as “If I Had $1,000,000,” “One Week,” “Pinch Me” and “The Big Bang Theory Theme.” During that time, the band has hosted a cruise, had its own ice cream flavor, won eight JUNO Awards and been inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame. The Canadian alt-rock act brings its annual summer trek to Blossom tonight at 7. 1145 W. Steels Corners Rd., Cuyahoga Falls, 216-231-1111, livenation.com.

Anne Cochran

Best known for her musical partnership with Jim Brickman, this singer has performed with Stars on Ice at Madison Square Garden and Rocket Mortgage Field House, on NBC’s A Golden Moment and with numerous symphony and pop orchestras. She performs tonight at 8 at Cain Park.

14591 Superior Rd., Cleveland Heights, 216-371-3000, cainpark. com.

Carl Palmer

As the sole surviving member of the prog rock group Emerson Lake & Palmer, drummer Carl Palmer has felt compelled to keep the band’s legacy alive. With that in mind, he’s put together a tribute show of sorts that he’s dubbed Welcome Back My Friends — The Return of Emerson Lake & Palmer. It features live footage of the late Keith Emerson and Greg Lake on massive video walls alongside Palmer and his band as they play live. Palmer and Co. perform tonight at 8 at the Robins Theatre in Warren.

160 E Market St., Warren, 234-4376246, robinstheatre.com.

The Soul Rebels

This high-energy New Orleansbased band has collaborated with acts such as the likes of Katy Perry, Nas, G-Eazy, DMX, Robin Thicke, Macy Gray, Portugal. The Man, Robert Glasper, Pretty Lights, Macklemore & Ryan Lewis, and Matisyahu. The group comes to the

Barenaked Ladies bring their annual summer tour to Blossom. See: Friday, July 21. | Matt Barnes

Grog Shop in Cleveland Heights tonight at 9 on a tour in support of its new album, Poetry in Motion. Red Rose Panic and DJ Teddy Eisenberg open the show.

2785 Euclid Heights Blvd., Cleveland Heights, 216-321-5588, grogshop.gs.

SAT 07/22

Pat Benatar & Neil Giraldo

Last year proved to be an eventful year for Pat Benatar & Neil Giraldo. They were inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. They also celebrated the premiere of their critically acclaimed musical at the Wallis in Los Angeles. The play weaves Pat Benatar & Neil Giraldo’s catalog and inspired new songs throughout a reimagining of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. The pair performed the musical version of “Heartbreaker” with leading cast members Khamary Rose and Kay Sibal on CBS’s The Late Late Show with James Corden Benatar and Giraldo come to MGM Northfield Park Center Stage tonight. Singer-songwriter Chris Trapper opens the show. The concert begins at 8. 10705 Northfield Rd., Northfield, 330-908-7793, mgmnorthfieldpark. mgmresorts.com/en.html.

SUN 07/23

Rema — Rave & Roses North American Tour II

On tour to support the hit single “Calm Down” and his acclaimed debut album, Rave & Roses, and its deluxe edition, Rema rolls into town with a certain amount of anticipation. Championed by Rihanna, Drake, Skepta and the late Virgil Abloh, he’s embarked on a mission of taking Afrobeat around the globe. See if he can pull it off tonight at 7 at House of Blues. 308 Euclid Ave., 216-523-2583, houseofblues.com.

MON 07/24

Foreigner: The Historic Farewell Tour

This show at Blossom will mark Foreigner’s penultimate summer tour as the veteran hard rock band will disband at the end of 2024, capping off a nearly 50-year career. The Nordonia High School choir from Macedonia will open with an a cappella set of various classic rock songs. The concert begins at 6:30. 1145 W. Steels Corners Rd., Cuyahoga Falls, 216-231-1111 livenation.com.

TUE 07/25

Declan McKenna

Since finishing a lengthy 2022 tour, singer-songwriter Declan McKenna has been working with producer Gianluca Buccellati in L.A. and in his hometown of Brighton, UK on the follow-up to his latest album, Zeros. In advance of the summer tour that brings him to the Agora Theatre tonight, McKenna recently released the somber pop tune “My House,” which features vocals from Rostam and was co-produced by McKenna and Neil Comber (whose credits include MIA, Charlie XCX, and Florence + The Machine). Expect to hear it when McKenna performs at 7.

5000 Euclid Ave., 216-881-2221, agoracleveland.com.

SAT 07/29

Gogol Bordello

When Ukrainian-born singer Eugene Hütz came to New York in the late ’90s, he had a batch of songs that encapsulated the “traumas” of his experience as an immigrant. He would eventually form the gypsy punk band Gogol Bordello and record some of those tunes, which marked a departure from the noisy punk rock he played in previous bands. Gogol Bordello brings its distinctive brand of gypsy punk rock back to House of Blues tonight at 7.

308 Euclid Ave., 216-523-2583, houseofblues.com.

TUE 08/01

Cavetown

Uniting Cavetown collaborators and friends, this 12-date tour is a such a special one for his rabid, cult-like fanbase made up mostly of teens, that fans reportedly line up for hours outside venues. One dollar from every ticket sold benefiting his newly-formed LGBTQ+ youth organization, and at each show, a This Is Home tent will welcome local LGBTQ+ youth organizations to connect with fans. MXMTOON, Ricky Montgomery and Grent Perez share the bill. Doors open at 4:30 p.m. at Jacobs Pavilion at Nautica.

2014 Sycamore St., 216-861-4080, jacobspavilion.com.

scene@clevescene.com

t@clevelandscene

SAVAGE LOVE

FIRST TRAP

By Dan Savage

Hey Dan: I’m a 25-year-old woman who has never been in a relationship. As a consequence, I’ve never kissed anyone and obviously never had sex. I’m not from a conservative family and sex has never been a taboo for me, however as a teenager I disliked my body and I’ve always been shy and introverted, and I felt awkward interacting with the opposite sex. At 22, when I finally felt ready to date, the pandemic started. Now, it has been three years and my life isn’t going the way I was expected it to when I was younger. I’m dealing with mental health issues, and I lost whatever confidence I had in my early 20s.

As I’m getting and feeling older, I’m anxious and desperate about this situation. Irrationally, I think that I’m the only 25-year-old in the world who’s still a virgin and I’m extremely ashamed of this. I’m worried that I’m missing a lot of opportunities and that later on I’m going to regret this. At this point, I don’t mind the idea of meeting someone through a dating app and having disinterested sex (I’m not looking for a serious relationship), but I’m worried that my potential partner might notice that I’m completely inexperienced. At this point I feel like that I will never have the chance to be intimate with someone.

My questions:

1. Should I tell them?

2. Should I look for someone older and more sympathetic of my situation?

3. Are dating apps the only solution?

4. I generally feel more attracted to men once I get to know them. How long can I reasonably ask someone who is looking for something casual to wait?

5. Anything else I should know? This Desperate Girl

My answers:

1. Yes, you should tell them. I know, I know: the thought of telling someone you’re inexperienced before having sex for the first time fills you with anxiety. But you know what will cause you more anxiety? Worrying that someone — your first someone — is going to realize you’re inexperienced before he can fill you with his dick. Now, you’re still going to feel anxious when you have sex for the first time; a lot of people feel anxious about sex the hundredth time. But pretending

you’re someone or something you’re not — pretending you’ve done this a hundred times already — is going to make you feel more anxious in the moment than you need to or should. Also, being honest about your inexperience will simultaneously decrease your chances of winding up in bed with someone who wouldn’t want to be with an inexperienced partner and increase your chances of winding up in bed with someone who will be patient and understanding.

2. The right person, i.e., the more sympathetic person, might be older (by a little or a lot), he might be younger (by a little or a lot), or he might be close to your own age (by hours or days or weeks). You’re not looking for the right number, TDG, you’re looking for the right guy. Someone you feel comfortable being honest with, someone who’s willing to invest a little time getting to know you, and, most importantly, someone who regards your inexperience as a responsibility. Not a burden, not an opportunity, but a responsibility. Some guys won’t want that responsibility; they’re the wrong guys for you. Some guys won’t be willing to get to know you; they’re the wrong guys for you. Don’t think of guys who pass or even ghost as having rejected you, TDG, think of them as having done you a favor. If the wrong guys get out of your way, TDG, the right guy (or guys) will get your attention.

3. Most people — mildly experienced, moderately inexperienced, severely experienced — meet on dating apps these days. According to the Pew Research Center, one-in-five partnered adults under the age of 30 met their partners or spouses online. Pew doesn’t have a stat for people who met their last hookup online, but if one-in-five people your own age met their committed romantic partners online — and onein-10 of all partnered adults met their committed romantic partners online (according to the same study) — then we can safely say that one-in-way-morethan-five people your age met their last (or first!) hookup online. Get on the dating apps.

4. We’re in the midst of a sex recession. According to a study conducted by Indiana University — a study conducted just before to the pandemic — one-in-three men between the ages of 18 and 24 hasn’t had sex in the past year; according to a study conducted by New York University in 2022, 34% of young women are single and 63% of young men are single. Now, some of those single men are unfuckable hate nerds, as comedian Marc Maron famously described them (think guys sitting in front of their computers all day, watching porn, playing video games, and attacking women), but they’re not all unfuckable hate nerds.

Some of these guys have histories similar to your own: they were shy, slow to launch, and then the pandemic hit. Which means there are lots of men out there, including millions of men close to your own age, who are just as inexperienced as you are. So, instead of being something that complicates your ability to connect with the right guy (or guys), TDG, your inexperience could be something that helps you connect. Don’t put “inexperienced and terrified!” in your profile — don’t lead with it — because that could attract the attention of guys seeking to leverage your inexperience against you. No, this is something you’ll want to share with a guy you’ve been texting with for a bit and have a good feeling about. Meet up for a quick coffee in a public place, TDG, and have non-cancellable plans immediately after your date. If the guy passes the vibe check — if he doesn’t come across like an unfuckable hate nerd, if he resembles his photos, and if he doesn’t try to pressure you to cancel the plans you made for after your coffee date — tell him you’re interested in seeing him again and that you’re a pandemic virgin. There’s a pretty good chance he’ll be one too.

5. You’re telling these guys one thing they need to know about you — you’re inexperienced — but their reaction will tell you everything you need to know about them.

Hey Dan: Can something count as an affair if you never do anything physical with the other person? I reconnected with an old friend, who is married. At first, it was fairly innocent. We had hooked up a long time ago, but it was kissing only. Years passed, and then we reconnected during the pandemic and began texting. And then the floodgates opened. He confessed he loved me then and loves me still. And he started describing all the things he wanted to do to me. Then we started describing them together. This has all been via text, but it’s not like sexting. Nothing porn-y. No genital pics. Nothing crude. It’s poetic, it’s erotic, it’s passionate. It’s like the perfect blend of love and sex, and there’s a huge amount of trust, support, friendship, everything you’d ever want in a partner. It feels like it’s love. It feels like I’ve found the person I was supposed to be with, if such a thing exists.

But there are obstacles. First and foremost, as mentioned, he’s married, even though he and his wife — from the way he describes it — married so she could get a green card. Things are tense with her now. Not because of “us.” She doesn’t know about “us,” and they had issues before there was an “us.” She has anger issues, he says, and is emotionally abusive, but he has no plans to divorce her. He is thinking about buying her a separate place, so they can live apart.

I know it’s a cliché: the married man complaining about his marriage to get some on the side. But he’s never made a move to have sex with me in person, which makes him seem more credible. Additional complications: I also have a partner, although we haven’t had a sexual relationship in ages.

My “affair,” if that’s what it is, has been going on for months, but I put the sexting is on pause as I felt guilty. But the love part didn’t stop. I want to resume the sexting, even if it’s only talk, but I want to understand what we’re doing and how we might be able to really be together without hurting other people.

Sexless In Nearby Seattle

There’s no “being together,” assuming that’s even something he wants, without leaving your current partners, SINS, and there’s no leaving your current partners without hurting other people — namely, his wife and your partner.

Zooming out for second: what you describe sounds like a pretty unambiguous example of an emotional affair. And here’s the thing about emotional affairs… they take up a lot of space. They eat up a lot of emotional and erotic energy that might otherwise get plowed into an existing marriage or relationship. If you weren’t taking up so much of his time and meeting some important needs, he might be motivated to work on his marriage; if he weren’t taking up so much of your time and meeting some important needs, you might be motivated to work on your relationship. But if two people can honestly say that nothing they do or say will make their existing commitments any better (maybe you’ve tried and tried and nothing has worked) and you don’t have it in you to join hands and jump together (you’re not willing to go through the conflict and chaos of a pair of breakups for something that might not work out)… well, then no one who isn’t married to you would blame you for doing what you need to do to feel alive.

But if his marriage is as awful as he says it is… and your relationship is as sexually unsatisfying as you make it sound… the two people you’re cheating most are yourselves. By staying, you’re cheating yourself out of the chance and it’s only a chance — that you could have everything you wanted (or come close to having everything you wanted) with one person. Passionate sex, loving words, someone living with and for you, for as long as it lasts.

It’s a difficult choice and there is no easy or obvious answer.

Insurance

CAR INSURANCE

BEST PRICES

SR22 INSURANCE ALSO Call David Young (440)779-9800

Phone Lines EXPLICIT CHAT WITH SEXY LOCALS

Get your FREE TRIAL! 18+ CALL The Night Exchange NOW! 216.502.4388 / 440.499.6400 www.nightexchange.com

HOT LOCAL URBAN SINGLES!

Are looking to hook up now! Try it FREE! 18+ 216.367.1010 / 440.424.0303 www.metrovibechatline.com

Phone

CALL

Massage - Certified

CARING MASSAGE

Days & Evenings, weekends. Warm candlelight atmosphere. Lakewood/West Suburbs Linda 216-221-5935

Massage - Certified SENIOR MASSAGE SPECIALS by experienced, certified, married male,or together with wife for four handmassage. Understanding your needs for pain relief, stress relief and conversation. Instruction to massage your mate. Reverse massage available. No draping required. 330-741-0001

Massage - Certified BEST PROFESSIONAL MASSAGE IN TOWN (Lakewood)