‘What are you doing here?’ Cleveland transplants say why they stay in Northeast Ohio

On Felton Thomas Jr.’s first day of work at the Cleveland Public Library, the temperature was eight degrees below zero. 

“I walked down here in my Las Vegas coat,” Thomas recalls, “and everybody waiting for me said, ‘Oh, this is a normal winter day.’”

The library’s new leader was relieved to learn that his colleagues were kidding, sort of. And he’s become one of Cleveland’s many converts: people who come, stay and praise a town that many lifers pan.

So, over his 17 years here, has Thomas acclimated? “Acclimated? That’s not a word in my vocabulary,” he retorts. “When we have those super-cold days, I’m ‘Omigod!’ And three months of no sunshine drives me crazy.”

And he still hasn’t adjusted to Cleveland’s hours, either. “In Vegas, all the supermarkets are open 24 hours.”

So why has Thomas stuck around? Because of our library, of course, and lots more. “I love Las Vegas, but there’s an inauthenticity to the people. Here, people are who they are.”

And most have roots here. In Vegas, “Everybody came from somewhere else. Here, everyone wanted to know what high school I’d gone to.”

When they find out, they marvel that Thomas has come and stayed. He replies by extolling the library, the Rock Hall and the Cleveland Museum of Art, where he’s on the board. He also tells them that Superior Pho beats every restaurant he’s tried in Vietnam. 

But some locals still don’t understand. “A lot of times,” he says, “folks don’t want to talk about the good things in the city of Cleveland.”

Love that Cleveland climate

It might surprise locals, especially this time of year, but President David Sharkey of Progressive Urban Real Estate says that plenty of people move to Cleveland for the weather. “People like the seasons. A young guy moved here from San Diego because he couldn’t stand the sun anymore. And I get quite a bit of people who love seeing storms come over the lake.”

Jen Ferger from Illinois finds our weather at least interesting. She’s a meteorologist who studies weather risks for insurers. “I love watching the radar here. It’s so true that the East Side gets more lake effect than the West Side, like six inches versus a dusting. That’s fascinating to me.”

She also calls Cleveland “ a mini-Chicago” without the traffic or prices. She lives near our lake and says she could never afford to live near Chicago’s coast. 

From Down Under to Up Over 

Most Cleveland newbies echo Thomas about being welcomed with wonder by natives. Craig Hassall, a native Australian who leads Playhouse Square, says, “I get that all the time from locals, not from other transplants: ‘What on earth are you doing here?’”

Not surprisingly, Hassall replies by praising our arts. “Cleveland punches above its weight in its presentation and consumption of culture.” He also talks up the West Side Market, Wade Chapel at Lake View Cemetery, and the Cleveland Metroparks. “I walk every day to Edgewater Park.”

Any complaints about Cleveland? “I don’t understand why Cleveland hasn’t leveraged the asset that is Lake Erie. I went out to Sandusky and took a boat out onto the lake. There were almost no boats on the water. In Sidney or Vancouver, you’d be cheek to jowl with other watercraft.” 

From transplant to ambassador

Allison Newsome from Montgomery, Ala., came here to study law at Case Western Reserve University. “A lot of people who grew up in Cleveland have constantly heard it put down,” she says. “So everybody kind of had a tour guide hat on and told me lists of fun activities.”

Newsome was happily surprised by Cleveland’s green spaces, Cultural Gardens and Playhouse Square. She also found that “it was easy to make friends. People were very inviting.”

She likes it here so much, she volunteers as a resident ambassador for the Cleveland Talent Alliance, advising prospective and recent arrivals.

Ties of love

Bob Kimmelfield from suburban New York City followed a girlfriend to her native Cleveland. They broke up, but he stayed, married another woman and fell hard for the town. Now he plays in a band at local contra dances and leads jaunts for the Cleveland Hiking Club on our streets and our “incredible park system.”

Ivan Muzyka came from Ukraine with his mother to join relatives here. “It was lucky to move to a city with a big, strong Ukrainian community,” he says. “I was lucky to find a Ukrainian boyfriend.”

Some people want to be near family but not too near. Marjorie Preston likes being two hours away from relatives back home in Bowling Green. She chose Cleveland partly because it’s Democratic but regrets its grip by state and federal Republicans.

Boomeranging

Many locals boomerang. They go off to see the world, then come back, often with spouses from elsewhere.

Jerome Sheriff from Chicago followed his wife to her native Cleveland. He loves downtown’s wealth of parking spaces, mostly free on weekends. He just wishes our drivers wouldn’t stop and rubberneck so much.

Jay Dumaswala from Cincinnati also followed his wife to her native Cleveland. Now he’s another Talent Alliance ambassador. “I love the Cavs,” he says. “I love the Guardians. The Browns? I don’t understand a team that abuses its fans, and people still show up.”

Louis Gideon, an ambassador too, brought his pregnant wife from New York City to his native Cleveland, partly so his family could help with the baby. Now the couple pays less rent for a place 10 times bigger in Westlake than their apartment in New York. 

Gideon likes Cleveland’s few degrees of separation. He met someone downtown who turned out to live a few doors away from him in Westlake, with kids of similar ages. “We are close friends now.”

Coming without connections

Many people move for work, school or family. But Cat Mohar and her husband moved to escape the buzzing mosquitoes and soaring home prices of Durham, N.C. After reading about Cleveland and scoping it out, they settled in Lakewood. “It’s like stuck in a 90s movie about Halloween,” she says, “where kids run freely trick-or-treating.”

Kate Smith and her future husband came here in 2018 from Truth or Consequences, N.M., with no ties. “We fell in love with the city long-distance,” she says. “The more businesses and arts organizations I began to follow, the more we began to see how unique and scrappy and proud the Cleveland vibe is.” 

Since moving, “We have felt so welcome. The first Easter, neighbors invited us over who’d fostered over 50 kids.”

She also loves the zoo. “My husband proposed to me on the carousel.”

Stefanie and Mike English came from Albuquerque to Cleveland without connections. “We were a little tired of the desert,” she says. They chose Cleveland for its culture, lake and opportunities. They rehab homes and love our architecture. They’ve had trouble, though, finding good contractors and getting loans for properties in struggling neighborhoods.

Stephanie loves our many festivals. She loves our schnitzel. But “I don’t understand pierogies.”

Gain some, lose some

Of course, Cleveland has plenty of outflow as well as influx. 

Rick Putka left his native Cleveland for Europe this year to flee what he sees as America’s fading economy and democracy. Michael Baron moved to New York City to enjoy its progressive politics, its energy, its diversity and his grandchildren.

Ronald Stubblefield from Baltimore came and went twice. He liked the area’s affordability, culture and strong neighborhoods. But he says, “Cleveland kept looking backward.” He saw institutions competing instead of cooperating. And “Cleveland struggles to retain ambitious Black talent that other regions readily embrace.”

Some departees still tout the town they gave up. Debbie Stone moved to California for her late husband’s career in tech law, but misses Cleveland’s art museum, orchestra and more. “I even miss the roaming deer.”

Many celebrities from Cleveland talk it up from afar. Drew Carey popularized “Cleveland Rocks.” Tom Hanks shouted “Go Tribe!” during “Saturday Night Live.” Filmmaker Joe Russo told cleveland.com that he “grew up with a real work ethic and that kind of tough-nosed Cleveland attitude… that stick-to-itiveness.”

In Juneau, Alaska, Jeff Smith runs one of the world’s many chapters of Browns Backers. He says, “I miss the restaurants in Cleveland, live music and sports, and some of my favorite places like the West Side Market, Lake View Cemetery, etc. [But] one thing I don’t miss about Cleveland is how much people complain about the weather in winter. In Alaska, people look forward to each new season.”