Thanks Lily for your concern--I can live in fear or I can live La Vida Loca on Planet Cleveland.  I prefer my reality.  I am hoping for justice in all matters evil.  Meanwhile, the kids are ALRIGHT :)

On my way to swim today--I took a detour off of Wildlife Way, the winding road that cuts through the Metroparks Zoo.  There are several deep, wooded ravines and approximately four acres of woodland just south of the formal zoo grounds. 

If you venture to this forgotten world, you will find yourself spooked by the erie beauty of the terrain.  And, you will feel eyes upon you.  The lost boys live here.

I am old enough to remember the POOL that used to be on the zoo grounds.  Brookside Park is still a gem.  Generations grow up in Brookside Park. I worked at the zoo during my teenage years.

My mother spent her teenage years riding her bike from Clifton Blvd to play tennis in Brookside Park during the summer, and even when our family moved out of the city to the suburbs...my younger sister and her friends returned, and  "recreated" in the park by cruising on Nagy Blvd and engaged in other forms of recreation and socializing under the bridges...

Some things never change :)

Who remembers the old steam train and coal car that we played on right by the Big Creek pedestrian bridge?  Who remembers when the Cuyahoga Valley Rail line ended in the parking lot  below that old train, smack in the middle of Brookside Park?  The public restroom at the top of the twisty road at Denison and Fulton?  With the public water fountain in front?  How about the ice cream joint on Denison right by the Brookside bar?  How about the MASSIVE concrete grandstands built into the hillside in the bowl above Diamond No. 1.?  Did you know how to turn on the lights for No. 1?  We did..and did.   Such delinquency!  And now???  Right. 

Wow, I sure remember those places....how we forget! Smiles... Wow, we had great trips to Brookside park for all those sports games when I was little... and even enjoyed a few trips under the fenceline into the zoo....

Always Appreciative, "ANGELnWard14"

Or the farmer's market on Robert & Fulton? 

Or the Flower Shop on West 44th St. & Hyde? 

Or the Doll House Store on Fulton near Carlyle? 

Or Ricardo's Fine Italian Restaurant on Sackett & Fulton? 

Or the Villa Bar on Fulton & Roehl? 

Or Banana Slip N Slides in the backyard (when low income families could afford the water!)

Or Walking to the Corner Store without adult supervision? 

Or jumping in the water puddles during a rain storm? 

Or riding mini bikes & go carts up n down the neighborhood streets? 

Or having slumber parties with seances? 

Or having tea parties with your girlfriends? 

Or going to see the Harlem Globetrotters at the old Coliseum in Richfield? 

Or going to Quigley to watch the Hot Rods & Motorcycles race in the wee hours of the night? 

Or catching RiTA all over town for scenic trips to Parma Town, Terminal Tower or whereever you needed to go, particularly school.

Or going Ice Skating at Brooklyn Recreational Center? 

Or swimming at Michael J. Zone Rec Center with Mom and going to the "steam rooms" when they were still "family friendly places"? 

Or playing sports and going on camping trips with Clark Recreation Center?

Or being able to visit countless relatives without ever using a car (Until they all moved out of the city limits!)? 

....Or riding your bicycle all over the neighborhoods until your parents had to go to that bicycle guy on West 52nd who sold used bikes out of his garage and had such a variety that you could only hope to get your next second hand bike there? 

Or playing baby dolls with the girl next door? 

Or watching your mom and several other mothers sit on the front porch swings sipping coffee while all the kids in the neighborhood played innocently on that street.

Or eating crab apples and pears off your fruit trees in the backyard....

Or building igloos with all the neighborhood kids in your backyard...

Or putting up tents in your backyard and having campout sleep overs...

Or building "Club Houses" in the backyards....

Or running up and down fire escapes at Sackett Elementary School....

Ah...memories...sweet childhood! 

Always Appreciative, "ANGELnWard14"

Have always been a questionable and mysterious place: 

     .....alongside the train rails in our very own backyards. They creep up into the neighborhoods in the wee hours of the night and do wierd things including stealing necessary items for their new "CAMPS" alongside brookside hill. I had some put up a tent that they had stolen from down the way in my back yard one time. I was totally freaked out and feared going near it. The police said it was something that's been going on for generations.

Whether kid or adult, you must be leary throughout that area.....because people and wild animals DO Lurk there! (Good and bad)... but that is life anywhere i suppose.

Kids used to runaway and think that they could hop on those trains to God Only knows where? I recall one of my childhood friends doing just that... I was so worried about her that I told my folks and sure enough, they found the pre teen runaway kids down by Quigley trying to catch trains....She was so mad at me when she got home....but by the grace of God, we are friends to this day! 

Always Appreciative, "ANGELnWard14"

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