Alhambra Theatre

The Alhambra was at 10403 Euclid at the corner East 105th Street. Built in just after the turn of the 20th century as a vaudeville house, legend has it the young Bob Hope was taken there by his parents when he was a boy. The young lad also hustled pool next door. In 1907 a church organ was installed, and they billed the place as "The House With the Organ." This was when the One-Oh-Five was called by some "Cleveland's Second Downtown."

As motion pictures took hold, the Alhambra became a movie palace. The place seated 1,100 in the mezzanine, with another 400 in the balcony.

The Hough and Glenville riots cemented the end of white Clevelanders relationship with the 105th Street district and it fell into steep economic decline. One black real estate developer, Winston E. Willis purchased a number of properties, opening small businesses to raise the level of opportunity in the neighborhood. However, the city took possession of property throughout the area by eminent domain to provide to the ever-expanding Cleveland Clinic.

1976

2011
Sources:
CinemaTreasures.org
Cleveland Historical.org
Cleveland Memory Project

The Alcazar Hotel

Located at the intersection of Surrey and Derbyshire Roads in the Cedar Hill neighborhood of Cleveland Heights, the "Moorish" styled and tiled Alcazar Hotel opened in 1923. The building is an irregular pentagon, has 175 rooms, and was inspired by the Hotel Ponce De Leon in St. Petersburg, Florida.

During the 1930s it was stylish hangout, where people could dine in the Patio Dining Room or have a cocktail in the Intimate Bar. You could take rooms by the evening or the month. During the Great Lakes Exposition, Johnny Weissmuller stayed here when he was performing in the Aquacade.

Was Cole Porter, in fact, inspired to write the lyrics to Night and Day when staying here in 1932? Who knows, I am just passing that along. But he, like Bob Hope, Mary Martin and George Gershwin did actually take rooms here, once upon a time.

And of course, William McDermott liked to drink here.

Alcazar means "home in a fortress."

Sources: cleveland.com
Alcazar website

Guardians of Traffic

The Lorain-Carnegie Bridge was completed in 1932, reaching 5,865 feet across the Cuyahoga River, connecting the east and west sides. It features fabulous art deco statues, carved from Berea sandstone, and designed by sculptor Henry Hering and architect Frank Walker, facing in both directions at either end of the bridge. Each of the "Guardians of Traffic" (so they are actually called - I have always mistakenly referred to them as guardians of transportation) hold some wheeled vehicle; a car, truck or wagon of some kind. They each specify the "spirit of progress through transportation," said the bridge designer, WIlbur Watson.

They evoke several different styles all at the same time, from the wings of an Assyrian bull, the winged helm of the Greek god Hermes, and the striking angular, art deco fashion that was demanded at the time. The funding was approved in 1927, before the economy soured, and a lowered level dedicated to commercial traffic was scrapped.

In the 1980s it was renamed the Hope Memorial Bridge, after the father of legendary funny man Bob Hope. William Henry Hope was Cleveland-area stonemason.


Sources:
20th Century Society of the North Carolina Mountains
Cleveland Magazine
Wikipedia

UPDATE 7/25/2021: The Cleveland MLB team is now officially the Cleveland Guardians!