Cleveland, My Hometown

I know you may not rank Cleveland high on your list of desired destinations. But don't be too hasty. Even if you are just driving through, allow a little time to discover why the old slogan, "If New York's the Big Apple, then Cleveland's a Plum" is in fact, true!

I recently read The Toothpaste Millionaire, aloud to my son. This gem of a chapter book by Jean Merrill has engagingly real boy and girl characters and touches on themes of math, invention, entrepreneurial business, character, womens' rights, and racial integration in the most honest and innocent way.

Having grown up in the East Side suburbs of Cleveland, I can readily picture the brick houses and tree lined streets of Shaker and Cleveland Heights where it takes place. They were conducive to riding bikes home from school in the bygone era in which Rufus and Kate embark on enterprising endeavors. Today, you can tour Cleveland in a couple of innovative ways. Jennifer Coleman has developed a podcast narrated tour, Cleveland CityProwl, of the urban neighborhoods she loves. Another fun tour if you'd rather ride is Lolly the Trolley with an informative narration.

I could go on and on about the traditional sights not to be missed in Cleveland but, you might better buy the book, Cleveland Family Fun by Jennifer Stoffel. My personal favorites are off the beaten track and would include Severance Hall, to which Rufus and Kate could have walked. It is home to the world famous Cleveland Orchestra and boasts regular children's concerts. Don't miss the Goodtime III boat tours on the Cuyahoga River. They chug under and through countless bridges of every known variety with intriguing names like the bobtail swing bridge. It never gets old for boys, photographers, and urban architecture fans! It is a true slice of rust belt history and lore. The Goodtime III was the Goodtime II when I was a kid; it has been a wedding venue and favorite fieldtrip since 1958.


The most obvious toothpaste factory to tour would be Tom's Toothpaste in Maine. Short of a road trip, while you're still in Cleveland you can tour The Plain Dealer, newspaper plant. It was here that Kate ran classified ads for toothpaste tubes. Their Tiedeman Production Plant is supposedly state-of-the-art and tours can be arranged. Highly educational and novel for kids, more factory tours are listed by state at Factory Tours USA. Karen Axelrod has researched and written a book, Watch It Made in the USA, about them. Of course several are in Cleveland including the Plain Dealer's newspaper plant which boasts that "its 10,000 acres stores 6,400 rolls of newsprint and its presses can print 21 newspapers a second!" Those are figures that would really jazz Rufus! Kids 8 years and older should tour it now before the newspaper industry, like Alaskan glaciers and American manufacturing are defunct.

Alternatively for the juvenile gourmand, Malley's Chocolates offers a tour. You'll need some Colgate-Palmolive or Crest after sampling the chocolate. If you take this option, do at least pick up The Plain Dealer and read the funnies over breakfast. Show your kids the classifieds lest they grow up knowing only e-bay and Craig's list as resources for used goods and services.

And when you get home be sure to re-read Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory to find out where Grandpa Joe worked when he was young. Long live factories!