Prior to the mid-November end to the US government shutdown, Catholic Charities Diocese of Cleveland (CCDC) received a generous donation to be distributed to Northeast Ohio SNAP families. The donation was distributed in the form of gift cards to CCDC’s network of sites, and promoted throughout local SNAP networks.
Responding SNAP program beneficiaries (who had not received benefits since the beginning of the month) overwhelmed Tremont’s St. Augustine Hunger Center on November 7th, leaving a long, unmoving line of neighbors and their children in 47° temps and sometimes driving rain. The line extended from the door of the hunger center to Howard Ave, then continued far down W. 14th St.
Tim Herron and participant Duane Dickson spoke with The Tremonster when we stopped in on The Pretentious Cleveland Portrait Artists for their 20th anniversary during a regularly scheduled portrait artist and model break.
by Timothy Herron and Brian Pierce
In June/July we will be our 20th year, beginning in 2005 in the back of a small bar in the Tremont area of Cleveland called the Literary Café, which was run by Andy Timithy and Linda Baldizzi. Brian Pierce and I just wanted steady practice drawing portraits and offered the patrons our drawings in exchange for posing in order to save some money and not toss the drawing in the basement or closet. Overhearing a fellow patron explain to his friend in a private conversation that Tremont was filled with pretentious artists provided us with a name for our drawing group.
Roosevelt Post 58 has a new home in the American Legion (Post 627, 3935 E. 42nd St.), Newburgh Heights.
The longtime Tremont institution, the Polish Legion of American Veterans Roosevelt Post 58, sold its Tremont building and closed its doors in December of 2022.
“Ever since we sold that building two years ago, we’ve been looking for a place we could call ‘home.’ We finally found it,” said Terry Zacharyj, Post 58 Commander.
Keri November held a reunion of friends and students from her ongoing 8-week American Sign Language class, held at the Cleveland Public Library (CPL) Jefferson Branch semi-annually.
Below is a 2022 article submission to The Tremonster from Keri November describing the class and her own journey as a deaf person, finding her way to Tremont, and her American Sign Language class offering.
On an 80° day in Cleveland, Ohio, Mayor Justin Bibb took a walk down Professor Street in Tremont, asked questions of community members, and listened to their answers. Tremont’s neighborhood newspaper, The Tremonster, tagged along to document Mayor Bibb’s unique approach to connecting with our residents and businesses directly—by walking through our neighborhood, himself.
Vernice Simmons and Vera Elridge at Hooper Farm Kite Day
by Bruce Checefsky
Erich Hooper has been farming since 1993. Hooper Farm in Tremont (2835 West 11th Street), the original Cleveland urban farm, is cultivated on a 1-acre parcel at 2702-2880 W 11th Street, just a few blocks from A Christmas Story House and Lincoln Park. Erich works with the youth, elderly, ex-convicts, and others on the farm, giving them real-life skills and opportunities they can use to support themselves. Hooper grows lettuce, carrots, tomatoes, sage, onions, potatoes, and other crops, with enough produce for restaurants, many of them in the Tremont neighborhood. Hooper Farm Kite Day at Clark Field took place last month.
2023 Tremont West Membership Meeting and Board Elections May 18
This year’s meeting will be held Thursday,May 18th 2023 at Scranton Road Bible Church (3095 Scranton Road) at 6 pm. Please join us for a light dinner followed by the Annual Meeting. If you cannot join us we will be streaming the meeting at facebook.com/tremontwest. Additionally, in order to get an accurate count of who will be attending the meeting, if possible, please register for the meeting at the following: https://bit.ly/2023twdc.
Per a change to the Code of Regulations in 2021, Tremont West is now able to have early voting. Early voting is available Monday May 8th (9 am) through Thursday May 18th, 2023 (2 pm) at the offices of Tremont West Development Corporation, 2406 Professor Avenue.
Henry Senyak, avid beer can collector (photo by Bruce Checefsky).
Bruce Checefsky
Henry Senyak is a retired communications and electrical contractor and lifelong resident of Cleveland. He served as past President and Board officer with the Tremont West Development Corporation, and continues his community engagement in the Tremont and Near West Side neighborhoods. He is currently Chairperson of Lincoln Heights Block Club. He’s also an avid beer can collector.
Bruce: When did you start collecting beer cans?
Henry: I started collecting when I was 10 years old. My dad and uncles would get me beer cans when we went on road trips. We’d check the dumpsters at rest areas for empty beer cans. I stopped collecting when I turned 18 and went back to collecting in1996. I bought an inventory of beer cans from a dealer in Fairlawn who lived in a small little bungalow house with his wife. She wanted him to sell his entire inventory. He owned a business called B&B Sales, one of the biggest beer can selling outfits in the country back in the 70’s and 80’s. I ran into him at the Hartville Flea Market. I started to buy his inventory in 1998 then he passed away a year later. It took me about forty-five trips with my van to go to Fairlawn and bring his inventory back to Cleveland. I’ve sold a lot of it since then on eBay in early 2000. I supplement my personal collection by buying and trading with other collectors across the country.
Bruce: How many cans were in his inventory?
Henry: Over 50,000 beer cans. I paid about $2,600. A lot of people might say, ‘you got a bunch of junk here’ which collectors might agree with but everybody has junk. If they only knew that I sold and traded some from his inventory to build my personal collection, they’d understand. My personal collection is now more than 45,000 cans and I still have about 40,000 duplicates from his inventory available to trade.
