From polka bands to popcorn balls, the more recently bumbling Browns to
the thankfully no- longer- burning river, Michael Murphy shares his
Cleveland. Raised in The Land, Murphy returns to see that the quirky
character of his hometown is no longer mocked, but celebrated (mostly).
The city, where high cuisine used to be Manners Big Boy or the
Woolworth's lunch counter, has turned into a culinary hub with multiple
James Beard Award- winning chefs. There are now boating festivals and
kayaking clubs on the once polluted Cuyahoga River. Cleveland has become
a place that people actually intend to visit, not just get stuck in when
the airport is snowed in.
Cleveland's Catalog of Cool mixes contemporary with vintage stories
and profiles of essential Clevelanders, past and present, like the well-
known like Jimmy Brown and Chef Michael Symon, the late Harvey Pekar,
and, of course, the most quintessential of all Clevelanders, Ghoulardi.