Fanciest Foot Locker Ever

Didn't realize that I hadn't posted this from early April.  I spent a lot of time at Tower City for the film festival in late March.  What amazes me about Tower City is that there are contemporary retailers in these old-school shops.  This Foot Locker has to be the most elaborate and fancy in their whole chain.  It has brass all over the storefront and doors. 

I had time the last morning of the film festival to sketch this.  I'd gone in around 8am for the volunteers' breakfast and special movie screening.  The little sign above the theater of the volunteer screening, instead of the movie title, simply said, "Volun-Tears."  Very funny :-)

Hard Rock Cafe Cleveland

This was one of those days where it took a lot to get me started on a drawing. I sat in the food court for a while, trying to draw a ship out on the river, but I just couldn't get it right. I erased the whole thing several times before I decided to move. I moved up two levels to draw the Hard Rock Cafe sign outside on Huron Rd. This clicked a little more.

I had dropped my Little Sister (from BigBro/BigSis) at the offices of the Cleveland International Film Festival, and even though I had more than enough time to go home and come back, I thought this was a good opportunity to draw in Tower City. I also took a break for lunch and to browse 2 shops on East 4th.

Mr. Kringles Inventionasium

I took my lil sis (my little sister through BigBro/BigSis) to the Mr. Kringle's Inventionasium. We went on the last night that it was open. I'm not sure I conveyed how fun it looked inside, and the floor certainly wasn't as sloopy as it appears in the picture (though it did have a weird feeling under your feet).

The characters were a lot of fun, and there were a lot of colorfully decorated Christmas trees to look at.

It was too young for her, but she will definitely try anything (except for a haunted house, which I leared the hard way in October). And, we got to shop a little in their gift shop, which she's always game for.

This set-up is at Tower City, which is the building you see at the opening of A Christmas Story, and you see when Ralphie is staring into the window at all of the toys. It's nice that there's still something Christmasy in there, though I'm not sure what will happen to this attraction when the casino opens next year.

When I took my father to see Tower City a few years ago, he said that the people who had the old Higbee's window should permanently set up the window display from the movie. I totally agree. It would be awful fun to see that all year long.

Tower City

Tower City Center

Joined the Cleveland Sketchcrawl this morning. I started to draw the arches, and I'd meant to draw the 3 lower levels, but somehow, it turned into the upper level and windows. Maybe I'll go back later this week and try again. It was good to see Noreen and Mina again, plus met a couple of new people.

Tower City

You can click on the picture to read more about what I drew. I'm a little surprised at the slope of the foreground parking garage, but it was angled, and it wasn't actually straight to begin with.