Category: Recreation and Popular Culture

OTTO MOSER'S, one of Cleveland's best known restaurants, was located for just over a century at 2044 E. 4th St. before moving to PLAYHOUSE SQUARE. According to the most reliable sources, the restaurant was founded by Otto F. Moser in 1893. At that date, E. 4th St.

The PALACE THEATER, located at Euclid Ave. and E. 17th St., represented the high point of development in PLAYHOUSE SQUARE when it opened 6 Nov. 1922. Originally named Keith's Palace Theater by owner/impresario Edward Albee in memorial to his business partner, B. F.

PARKER, ADELE von OHL (13 Dec. 1885 - 21 Jan.

PARKS. Not until the 1870s were public funds allocated to establish parks. Cleveland in its early years was surrounded by wilderness, and city leaders saw no urgency to secure parkland beyond the 9.5-acre PUBLIC SQUARE set aside as early as 1796.

PATRIOTIC SOCIETIES, organizations formed to honor early American settlers, their deeds, and their legacy, are composed of men or women whose ancestral lineage meets strict eligibility rules. The earliest in Cleveland was the New England Society of Cleveland & the Western Reserve, organized on 22 Dec.

The PHILOSOPHICAL CLUB OF CLEVELAND is an exclusive organization whose members convene biweekly for dinner and the reading and discussion of papers on a variety of personal interests but concentrating on the topics of sociology, business and economics, arts and humanities, government, and science.

POLKAS. American polka music evolved as a hybrid of folk songs and dances brought by European immigrants, with influences from other musical expressions. The term has come to encompass waltzes, schottisches, quicksteps, mazurkas, and other ethnic dances. Cleveland has been called "America's Polka Capital" and was identified with a particular style of polka music that has been widely copied.

PRICE, JOHN L., Jr., (29 May 1920 - 20 June 2012) was one of Cleveland's preeminent theatrical showmen in the decades following World War II.

The PROFESSIONAL MEN'S CLUB OF CLEVELAND, an invitational organization for men, was preceded by the Cleveland Chapter of the Intl. Assn. of Torch Clubs, Inc.

The PUERTO RICAN FRIENDLY DAY PARADE OF GREATER CLEVELAND first began in 1969.

PURITAS SPRINGS PARK, a popular west side amusement resort for 60 years, was built in 1898 by John E. Gooding of Painesville. It was located on the north side of Puritas Rd., overlooking the Rocky River Valley.

RABB, JOSEPH EDWARD (26 March 1914 - 28 Dec. 1996) created a romantic persona as an exponent of gypsy music. The son of Joseph and Esther Szücs Rabb was born in Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania, and brought to Cleveland as an infant. Raised in Cleveland's Hungarian community (see HUNGARIANS), he was a graduate of John Adams High School.

RECREATION AND LEISURE. Leisure being a relative luxury in a pioneer community such as early Cleveland, recreation was largely an impromptu, catch-as-catch-can activity. The average national workday of 11 hours no doubt was even higher for many in the frontier milieu of the WESTERN RESERVE.

The RECREATION LEAGUE OF CLEVELAND, a private, invitational organization representing many of Cleveland's "founding families," was formed in 1927 by a group of parents who wanted "to provide supervised recreation and wholesome entertainment" for their sons and daughters. A constitution was adopted, and FRANCES P. BOLTON (Mrs. Chester C.) was elected as first president.

REEDUS,  MAURICE JR.  "SAX MAN" (19 January 1953 – 16 April  2018), was a successful saxophone player whose popular performances enabled legislation permitting busking on the streets of Cleveland.

REINERT, FREDERICK "RICK" (14 Sep. 1925 – 5 Nov. 2018) was one of the most talented and imaginative artists/animators of his time. Born Frederick George Reinert, Jr. in Parma, he was one of three sons of Fred and Anita Reinert.

ROCK 'N' ROLL. Through a series of interesting personalities and promotions, rock 'n' roll had its main market birth in Cleveland in the early 1950s. In the late 1940s, LEO MINTZ, the owner of Record Rendezvous, saw the decrease in sales of big band records.

The ROCK AND ROLL HALL OF FAME AND MUSEUM, located at 1 Key Plaza on the lakefront, opened in Sept. 1995 after 9 years of planning, coordination, and construction. The Rock Hall became a local reality on 5 May 1986 when its parent organization, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Foundation (based in New York City), announced that Cleveland had been chosen as the site for the Hall of Fame.

ROCKEFELLER PARK covers approx. 200 acres on the city's east side, extending from GORDON PARK on the lakefront to SHAKER HTS. The northernmost and largest section, the Brookway Div., follows Doan Brook along Martin Luther King, Jr., Dr. (formerly Lower East Blvd., then Liberty Blvd.) for about 3 miles. In the middle, the Cedar Div.

The ROLLERCADE was a skating rink located at 6800 Denison Ave. It was housed in a building originally constructed in 1929 and known as the Equestrium. Built for the CLEVELAND UNION STOCKYARDS CO., livestock shows, polo matches, riding contests, and prize fights were held there.

The ROXY THEATER was the best-known burlesque house in Cleveland. Its roots date from 1906, when Truman M. Swetland leased the property, located at 1882 E. 9th St., from Levi E. Meachum for 99 years. In 1907 the Family Theater opened at that location. A movie house by 1909, it was renamed the Orpheum Theater in 1913 and, following a 2-yr. shutdown, the Roxy in 1931. By 1933, under new owner Geo.

The S. S. CANADIANA was a passenger steam ship which had a brief, but interesting connection to Cleveland.  It was designed by Frank E. Kirby and built by the Buffalo Dry Dock Company of Buffalo, New York in 1910.   It was the last commercial passenger ship to be built in Buffalo. The Canadiana measured 215 feet long and weighed in at 974 tons.

SAFE AND SANE FOURTH OF JULY was a movement started in Cleveland in 1908 to prevent the annual holiday injuries and deaths from fireworks. Earlier, in 1903, an explosion at the Thor Mfg. Co., a maker of fireworks located on Orange Ave., had demolished 12 buildings and killed 3 people.