Rock n Roll, Science, A Submarine, A Steamship, and more in Cleveland, Ohio!
Cleveland is one of those towns that you can always find something to do. But this is about the Downtown Shore Area. It can take a day or more to see all these things depending on your interest.
I took all day at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame but I listened to a lot of music. I would plan to spend two days doing all the things in this area.
Air Show Memorial
The Air Show Memorial is right at the Burke Lakefront Airport which is down the street from the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame. Start your day or end your day here! It is always open and the International Women’s Air and Space Museum is open at 8 am to 8 pm.
There is no parking at the airport but just down the way across the street is a great place to park for the day between the airport and the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame.
This is a great little place to look at the airplanes in the park. It also has lots of signs about the people that started the Cleveland Air Show.
Brief History
In 1920, Ralph Pulitzer sponsored a race for military airplanes in New York with a Pulitzer Trophy Race. The race helped push America and the world into faster and better designed for airplanes.
The races moved to Cleveland and/or was a stop during the races shortly after they started. By 1929, the races would run for 10 days and many of the long distance races concluded in Cleveland.
In 1929, the Women’s Air Derby, or Power Puff Derby, was started in Santa Monica, California to Cleveland, Ohio. The female pilots included Amelia Earhart.
The races would go on hiatus during WWII between 1940 to 1945 and again from 1950 to 1963, after a pilot lost control and crashed into a home killing himself and two other people inside the home during the 1949 race.
In 1964, The Cleveland National Air Show held it’s first annual event on Labor Day weekend and it still happens today. If you have a free Labor Day Weekend, this is a wonderful event to attend.
The Show has stunt airplanes, aircraft demonstrations, and the U.S. Navy’s Blue Angels on even years or the U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds odd years as they alternated each year.
International Women’s Air & Space Museum
The International Women’s Air & Space Museum is open 8 am to 8 pm. It is part of the airport and Free. After leaving the Air Show Memorial walk towards the Airport and the museum is just inside.
Start the day or end your day here because everything else opens later or closes earlier.
This is a great little place with lots of artifacts, photographs, outfits, and other stuff. My favorite was the Pretty Purple Puddy Tat which was a plane that was built by Tracy Pilurs, the Coke Cola machine for space, and Emelia Earhart stuff. It wonderful but only takes about a short time to go through.
But don’t forget to leave a donation as this is need to increase the artifacts that are disappearing into time since women’s museums get less money donated then other museums.
Brief History
Amelia Earhart was the first female aviator to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean and set many other records. She also wrote several books and organized the Ninety-Nines which was a female pilot organization.
The Ninety-Nines first meeting was after the the Women’s Air Derby in 1929. The organization provided moral support and helped women advance in aviation. Amelia would later become president and vigorously advocated for female pilots during her lifetime.
But the thing that she was most know for was going missing on her 1937 attempt to fly around the world with navigator Fred Noonan and disappearing over the Pacific Ocean.
Several theories have been laid out of what might have happen to her, Noonan, and her plane but as of now, none have been proved. As the initial search was the most costly and intensive in US History at the time.
The theories include that she crashed into the ocean and sank to the bottom, landing on an island with little or no fresh water or food, and landing on an island or ocean and being recovered by the Japanese.
Another was that she was asked to ditch her plane or land on a deserted island to wait recuse so the American’s could use it as an excuse to spy on Japan just prior to WWII.
The search goes on for Earhart and her disappearance as with the lost island of Atlantis or Anastasia, the Russian Princess. A mystery that may never be solved but it keeps her memory alive.
U.S.S . Cod Submarine Memorial
The U.S.S. Cod Submarine is docked next to the Airport and down the street from the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. It is only open from May 1st to September 30th from 10 am to 5 pm. During April, they are open on some Saturdays.
The cost is $12 for Adults, $10 seniors and veterans, $7 for K to 12th grade, and Free for active duty in uniform and children under Kindergarten.
Brief History
Check out the web site for videos about the USS COD. It has a great history part and show the sub in the past in black and white. It tells wonderful stories of the Captain’s Striped Pajamas, shows different parts of the submarine, how torpedoes work, and other items.
The USS Cod was a WWII Submarine. Credited with sinking over 12 enemy vessels and other ships that were helping the enemy, i.e. tankers, cargo ship, etc.
In 1945, the USS Cod was involved in a rescue mission of a Dutch submarine taking all the Dutch crew when the their submarine ran a ground. It is the only international sub to sub rescue.
Rock & Roll Hall of Fame
The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame is just incredible to me. I loved every moment that I was there. It was like taking a journey back in time through my life as I was always listening to the radio, watching MTV, American Band Stand, or seeing concerts.
Every song took me back to a place and time in my life. As much as I love learning about history and seeing the sites, this is the most important museum that I have ever been to as it was so personal.
I took all day in here looking and listening to all the exhibits and watching the movie, note this is on the level 2 and first come first seated.
They also have a “Play in the Garage” that allows you to play different instruments which I don’t play but it seemed like everyone was loving this area.
The only issue I had was that so few females are in the Fall of Fame but that has a lot to do with the industry and women leaving the business as they got married, had issues with ex, or other reasons.
Check for hours because on Wednesdays they stay open until 9 pm but most days close at 5:30 pm. They open at 10 am.
Discounts
Check out the web site for discounts for hotels, combo tickets, and other items. Also for different events that they will be having when your in town.
I used the combo and got tickets for both the Hall of Fame and the Great Lakes Science Center which is just across the way from the Hall of Fame.
Brief History
In 1983, the Foundation started and in 1986, Cleveland was choose to build the Hall of Fame. It was opened in 1995, with seven levels on the Shore of Lake Erie directly from downtown Cleveland.
The exhibits change each year so you can always go back and have a completely new experience. Every year, an artist is picked to have a main exhibit. Each year, inductees are inducted to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. The nomination committees include 500 experts.
The Hall of Fame is still in the early years but they have the world’s largest archives of materials related to the history of Rock and Roll. The Library and Archives is located away from the Hall of Fame in Cleveland.
The Library and Archives is open to people, historian, journalist, and scholars under the supervision of the staff with books, academic dissertations, records, magazines, videos, and other items.
Other items also include business records from executives, managers, stage designers and lighting experts, and individual items from artist such as letters, handwritten “working” Lyrics, and other items.
Great Lakes Science Center
The Great Lakes Science Center is one of the best places in Cleveland to take the children and adults with a children like attitude. The second floor is just a wonderful place with interactive activities to play with.
My favorite area was the NASA Glenn Visitor Center area which has the Apollo Command Module, the ability to video land the Shuttle, and lots of outfits, space gear, and other space items like a real moon rock.
The Center is open 10 am to 5 pm Monday to Saturday and noon to 5 pm on Sundays during the Summer. But during the Fall and Winter, the Center is closed Mondays.
Check your calendars because I missed that and had to reorganize my trip due to it being closed.
Discounts
Check out the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame for ticket discounts for both the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the Science Center. It is not offered on the Science Centers web site.
Brief History
John Herschel Glenn Jr was the first American to orbit the Earth in 1962, served as a Senator from Ohio for 24 years, and was again flew into space at age 77.
Born in 1921, in Cambridge, Ohio, John Glenn serviced in World War II, the Korean War, and as a test pilot. When NASA was asking military service member to help with a mockup of a spacecraft, he participated and serviced as an adviser to the board. This helped him become part of the Space Program.
Glenn was the oldest member of the astronaut corps and would be unlikely to be selected for the Apollo mission. Therefore, he requested retirement from NASA and with a suggestion from Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy, he ran for the Democratic Party for the U.S. Senate.
Only to have an accident that effected his ability campaigned, so he dropped out and withdrew his retirement papers.
In 1968, Glenn was campaigning for Robert F. Kennedy in California and choose to stay in the hotel suite while Kennedy was assassinated. He and his wife would take the Kennedy children home. Glenn was one of the pallbearer for Kennedy.
Two years later, Glenn again campaigned for the U.S. Senate but lost. But four years later in 1974, he won the seat in the U.S. Senate and kept it until his retirement in 1999.
John Glenn was a Freemason and a member of the Concord Lodge #688 in New Concord, Ohio and an ordained elder for the Presbyterian Church. He also married for 73 year to Annie. He died at the age of 95 years old.
Steamship William G Mather
The Steamship William G. Mather is directly behind the Great Lake Science Center and the Rock and Rock Hall of Fame.
Check with the Great Lake Science Center for hours as the Ship is only open May to October. May, September, and October it is only open weekends but June to August it is open every day but Monday. The hours are 11 am to 5 pm every day but Sunday which it opens at noon.
This is a great walk about a great big boat. You start in the haul and it has some great activities and items to look at.
Then you get to move on to the top of the ship. The top of the ship tour includes stateroom, bedrooms, the wheelhouse, the kitchen, dinning room, and the engine room. As while as walking on the deck of the ship.
It was a bit rainy the day that I went so a bit slick. It was also cold and a bit windy up at the top. Wear good shoes as your going to go up and down ladders and it is larger then a football field. This was my second favorite thing to do behind the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
Brief History
The William G. Mather is a restored historic ship that once worked on the Great Lakes as a freighter. Built in 1925, she worked until 1980’s. During her life, she would be on of the first ships on the Great Lakes to have radar installed and be the first American vessel to have an automated boiler system.
In 1941, she was featured in Life magazine after leading a convoy of freighters through ice choked lakes to Duluth, Minnesota with steel for the WWII effort.
Voinovich Bicentennial Park
The Voinovich Bicentennial Park is right behind the Rock and Rock Hall of Fame. It is just a nice little park that has an outdoor festival stage and views on Lake Erie.
But it has a the place to get your photo taken with the Cleveland Sign with the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, the Steamship William G. Mather, The Great Lakes Science Center, and Downtown Cleveland.
Cleveland is great with having several of these around town. But this is the one that I found and it has a great background.