Cleveland Vintage Blog

Did you know a boxing match at the Richfield Coliseum in March of 1975 served as inspiration for Rocky? The match in question was actually Muhammad Ali’s first title defense after reclaiming the heavyweight boxing title from George Foreman for the third time in “The Rumble in the Jungle." when he squared off with “The Bayonne Bleeder” Chuck Wepner at the Richfield Coliseum, March 24th 1975. There are so many twists and turns to this tale, including the fact that as a 16-year-old busboy at the Holiday Inn in North Randall, I actually had the honor of meeting Mr. Wepner as...

Cleveland's Dead Man's Curve: Unfortunate Nickname or Accurate Warning? So what could possibly go wrong with a sharp, almost 90-degree highway turn with a speed limit of 50 mph (when it opened to the public)? Well, the designers of Dead Man's Curve found out almost right away, and tales - some accurate, others a bit embellished - have been told ever since the first Cleveland drivers tried it out in 1962. The idea was simple: build a “go-around” stretch to ease some of the downtown traffic. Conventional wisdom would seem to be that drivers just were not familiar with such an oddly...

"There's something about Kenny King's you’ll love." If you grew up or lived in Northeast Ohio from the '50s through the '90s, you were familiar with the jingle of the restaurant chain that provided workers something different for lunch and moms a break from the kitchen while not sacrificing quality when it came to feeding their families. Kenny King’s first area location in 1950 was a drive-in in the West Park neighborhood, and once King purchased the rights to the Kentucky Fried Chicken recipe from Harlan Sanders, Kenny King's branched out into the family-style concept that made them a staple...

To say that Greek immigrant Jim Swingos had a vision for an otherwise desolate downtown Cleveland in the late '60s would be a gross understatement. Swingos did not at first gravitate to the restaurant business which would make him a household name and an ongoing Cleveland legend. After graduating from Ohio State, he at first pursued a career in criminology before deciding on joining his father in the more exciting world of the bar business. It would be easy to focus on what became his successful run that began in 1968 when he purchased the Downtowner restaurant at the corner...

Whatever you think you know about native Clevelander Bob Hope, I am willing to bet that most of you, even native Clevelanders yourselves, probably didn’t know that Hope was at one time a minority owner of the Cleveland Indians. You may not have even known that although Hope was born in England, he was raised in Cleveland beginning at age five through his early 20s. During this time, he developed a love for the local professional baseball team, the Cleveland Indians. In the 1940s, Hope’s Road to movies with Bing Crosby were a huge success and in 1946 while Crosby...