East Cleveland Remembrances

Mary Jo Meloy has fond memories of growing up in East Cleveland, Ohio. Her childhood reminiscences undoubtedly resonate with other baby boomers.

I’m a baby boomer who lived and grew up on Noble Road in East Cleveland, Ohio. The homes were “doubles” or up and downstairs units with separate entrances. Many families had relatives living in the connected dwelling. At one point my grandfather lived upstairs, then later my dad’s deaf aunt. It was not considered an affluent neighborhood, but it was super safe and we seldom locked our doors or closed our garage. We knew everyone and everyone was friendly and looked out for one another.

My sister and I have known our next-door besties since Day 1, along with all their family members, and vice versa. We attended 12 years of school together and became a family of four sisters. Barb and I were born a day apart in one of the worst blizzards in Cleveland’s history. The 1950 infamous snowstorm besieged the city, halting travel, and the National Guard was called to mobilize snow removal equipment to clear all the snow accumulation, but the sizable snow drifts and ten thousand abandoned cars blocked the efforts. My grandmother’s funeral director friend arranged to have my pregnant mother transported to the hospital, thus my first ride was in a hearse.

With our friends, we walked to school every day, rain or shine or snow. Davy Crockett coonskin caps were a big hit in the early ’50s, but against my mother’s advice, I wore mine to school, which proved to be a devastating mistake. A huge fashion faux pas for a kindergartener to learn.

On school days, Officer MacDonald, known by “Mac,” ensured that children crossed Euclid Avenue every day safely. He was fun and appeared very handsome to me as a young school girl. Sort of a knight in shining armor with his police uniform and cap displaying his badge. He once showed us a class photo pointing out one of his celebrity classmates. Mac’s classmate, Ernie Anderson, became Ghoulardi, Cleveland’s Horror Host.

Our house had a milk chute and a milkman delivered weekly. Every once in a while there would be a surprise glass bottle of chocolate milk alongside the white whole milk. The milkmen, mailmen and policemen all wore uniforms with hats, and the milkman even sported a bow tie. One time I hitched a ride on the back of the milk delivery truck without the driver knowing. I jumped off while the truck was in motion and rolled into the street. Tomboy mischief and childhood shenanigans seemed less reckless and more invincible at that age.

Childhood pastimes

The neighborhood kids collected and traded baseball cards, and we often played baseball in the street, stopping our sport repeatedly to yell “Car!” There was also an empty field which served as a much better place for a baseball game without the traffic interruption. My dad, an Indians baseball fan, tuned into the broadcast games on the radio. One year, grade school students who received straight A’s on report cards were awarded free season tickets to the Cleveland Indians games. Being a baseball enthusiast, I managed to get straight A’s, guaranteeing our stadium attendance that summer.

Summertime also produced neighborhood plays under the direction of the “Big Kids.” A back porch doubled as the performance stage with a full evening audience of the neighborhood parents. One June afternoon, we had a spur-of-the-moment wedding ceremony in our backyard. Thank goodness the wedding did not require practices like the plays did. The Cleveland Press captured the marriage moment and photos were published in their newspaper featuring the six East Cleveland youngsters. Being the tomboy, I played the role of groom since the wedding party consisted of all girls, except for a 4-year-old boy, who was designated as the minister.

Every sunny day of summer was spent at Shaw Pool and its playground, from morning until dinner time. The Noble Road gang would ride their bikes and swim all day long. Our bike trip would include a stop at a corner store, and for a few coins we would leave with a slew of penny candy. Sometimes along the journey we would find empty glass soda bottles and return them for extra candy spending money. On Saturdays we would attend the matinees at Shaw Hayden Theater, and 50 cents got you into the matinee, plus pop and popcorn.

Besides riding our bikes in packs, we also did lots of walking, roaming and running. Within walking distance there was also a Royal Castle, where you sat at the counter with a birch beer, and Manners Big Boy. Directly at the top of our street on Euclid Avenue sat a Tastee-Freez type joint where cones were 10 cents. Euclid Avenue was very walkable. A stretch of Euclid Avenue had beautiful turn-of-the-century architecture, and many of the older stately homes had become rooming houses. At one time Euclid Avenue was considered one of the most stunning places in the world. Every year Euclid Avenue was home to Memorial Day parades, and our dad was always the first on our street to fly the flag on our porch. It had 48 stars and metal grommets and hung vertically, not on a flagpole.

A variety of four or five small shops could be found on Euclid Avenue between Noble Road and Rosedale. The beauty parlor was one of the shops where our mom was a regular customer. The owner-beautician lived above the salon and would share advice to the point my dad referred to her as “The Oracle.” In the same little strip was a mini-mart type store referred to as the “Little Store.” Our family Boston terrier, Kerry, and I made umpteenth trips to the little store. Kerry would walk alongside me unleashed and wait patiently outside at the store’s screen door. I would purchase cigarettes for our parents with a note signed by our mother. Later I learned to forge notes and purchased my own cigs at an early age.

Expanding horizons from East Cleveland

At 16 years old, my first job was with the Fred Harvey Company in the Terminal Tower, the skyscraper on Public Square in downtown Cleveland. I walked up to Euclid Avenue to catch a bus, then bused to Windermere Station to catch the Rapid Transit, which went directly to the Terminal Tower. I was employed in the gift shop, but worked at the food counter, which made me one of the famous “Harvey Girls.”

Lake View Cemetery, the final resting place to President James A. Garfield, John D. Rockefeller, and Eliot Ness, is where our mother taught us to drive and get us comfortable in the driver’s seat. The cemetery roads had less distractions, minus the assassinated president’s memorial, mausoleums, monuments and all the headstones. Our driving practice was safer within the cemetery acres than beginners braving the byways. We learned to drive in a cemetery to avoid a cemetery, but respected it as a sacred place.

Nela Park was located about five blocks north on Noble Road. One cannot mention life in East Cleveland without remembering the annual tradition of driving through Nela Park, the “World’s First Industrial Park,” to see the breathtaking light displays at Christmas time. General Electric made Cleveland‘s holidays sparkle and dazzle for decades.

Nor can one forget Euclid Beach on Lake Shore Boulevard. I loved Euclid Beach with The Thriller, The Flying Turns, Over the Falls, the force-of-friction ride The Rotor, and Laugh in the Dark with scary Laffing Sal. And of course, worth the trip to the amusement park alone was the Humphrey legendary popcorn balls. My sister, best friends and I saw Gary Lewis and the Playboys perform at Euclid Beach Park in the early 1960s.

My husband was in the Air Force, so as a military family, we lived all over the United States. With a long list of various residences in diverse states, Cleveland evokes very positive memories of neighbors, environment, and experiences. I cherish the friendships of those lifelong friends who blessed my life. And the childhood memories of growing up a boomer in East Cleveland will always hold a special place in my heart.

Mary Jo Meloy is married with three children and a granddaughter. She is originally from Cleveland, Ohio, and holds a B.A. from Kent State University. She has lived all over the United States and has traveled thousands of miles with her husband via motorcycle. After working over 32 years at various universities and colleges, she retired from Tarrant County College and currently resides in Fort Worth, Texas. 

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