The Observation Deck

I'm sorry to say that I'm moving out of Lakewood. No, it's not because I don't like, I actually love Lakewood, I grew up here. But because I'm moving closer to work.

Willoughby Hills will be my new home as of Friday. I'll certainly miss Lakewood quite a bit. Who knows, maybe I'll be back in a year after my east side experiment. I can say I'm not too thrilled about leaving, but being 5 minutes from work instead of 40 and getting a great deal on an awesome apartment made me feel the need to try it out.

Of course having family here and a regular "Sunday family dinner" will keep me coming back each week and I look forward to visiting all my favorite places when I do.

Bryan:

I'll miss you, dude. You've been a bright, attentive participant on the home front. You've helped keep me sharp with ideas for the library, too. I certainly appreciate the need to save time on your commute. I know you are a high tech cat, with virtual reach. So I am sure you will make sense of your new chapter and find the sweet spots in WH. Let us know what civic life and amenities are like in WH. If you find something exquisite, let us know and maybe an LO safari to WH could be arranged.

Happy trails,

Kenneth Warren

Bryan Schwegler wrote: Who knows, maybe I'll be back in a year after my east side experiment.

Bryan

I wish for your hapiness and success. If that brings you back to Lakewood than you know you are always welcomed. We are your homies.

Keep in touch and like dustin James, Ryan Costa, Bob Buckeye, and Joe Mclain, you can be our eye from afar.

peace/good luck/you will be missed.


.

But for missed face-to-face, we all "live" here.

Great happiness in the new crib.

Bryan-- I've enjoyed your tech posts. They have always been informative.

As for me, I don't think I've ever met a Willoughbian. When you get a chance, send us a report, you know, with basic descriptions, habits, etc.

Stan Austin

Will do guys, thanks for all the kind words. I'll still be hanging around here a bit as well.

Even if I'm not living here, I'm still a Lakewoodite at heart. I'll be picking up my copy of the Observer from the Library on Sundays. I know I can read it online but there's just something like holding paper in your hand that's just better even for a high-tech guy like me

Good luck on the East Side ... I was born and raised over there in Mentor, and Willoughby's not a bad place. Downtown Willoughby is actually quite charming and compact. A number of restaurants, coffeeshops and other "third places" have opened up there, and have really made an outer-ring suburb feel intimate and neighborly. There's some good restaurants over there, and the Willoughby Brewing Company has good beer.

And if you feel homesick for the west side, particularly the area around Great Northern, head east on US 20 (Euclid/Mentor Avenue), and you'll be in the retail hell that my old stomping grounds have turned out to be.

You'll also find that traffic on the east side generally sucks. That's one thing I like about the 'Wood, very little traffic congestion, and endless shortcuts. Not so in Willoughby or Mentor.

Ha, yes. Mentor should convert itself into one giant mall. I've actually worked out in either Mentor or Mayfield Village for the last 6 years so I know the area pretty well.

WBC is great, Burgers and Beer in downtown Willoughby is good. Corks Wine Bar is also another favorite.

Downtown Willoughby is probably the closest thing to Lakewood out that way.

You're absolutely right ... heck, it's the only suburb out there with a real "downtown" other than Painesville. Willoughby's a nice place, the city's worked hard to improve it and make it more liveable.

Of course, when you move out there, people will look at you like you're from a foreign land when you tell them you're from the West Side. Most people out there rarely stray from their zip code, everything they could want or need is within Lake County, and they only come into Cleveland for a Browns game or Indians game, and then flee back to the far east side before they see someone of a different ethnicity or social strata. I'm sad to say when I lived over there, I knew my way around Pittsburgh, Washington, Chicago, Toronto, and even Moscow BETTER than I knew my way around the West Side!