Veterans Memorial Bridge and subway tour

Saturday I stopped by the Veterans Memorial Bridge and subway tour. Three times a year, the Saturdays before Memorial Day, Independence Day, and Labor Day, the county engineer opens up the lower level of the Detroit-Superior bridge, where streetcars used to cross the Cuyahoga River, and the underground streetcar station under W. 25th St. and Detroit Ave.

If you're interested in Cleveland history or architecture, it's a must-see.

A beautiful film of Cleveland streetcars was playing in one alcove. More on this later...

'Torso' filming in Cleveland?

More news for all you torso enthusiasts! Cleveland.com reports progress toward shooting Torso, a feature film about Cleveland's infamous serial killer. I'm excited, but skeptical.

Here's the backstory. In January 2006, Fight Club director David Fincher announced he wanted to adapt the graphic novel Torso into a film, dramatizing Eliot Ness' attempts to solve our town's grisly 1930s dismemberment-murders. Then 2 1/2 years went by with few updates.

Until this week, when the Plain Dealer quoted Bill Mechanic, a co-producer on the project, saying Paramount Studios wants to start shooting in early 2009. The filmmakers want to shoot it all in Cleveland, Mechanic says, but they may have to do only street scenes here, and the rest in Detroit, because Michigan has new tax breaks for filmmaking that Ohio doesn't.

Well. A few thoughts. Of course Cleveland movies ought to be filmed in Cleveland. And of course Ness' Cleveland years were filled with cinematic drama. I can't wait to see the scene of Ness, on his first day as safety director, walking out of the old Payne Avenue police headquarters, promising action. And even though Detroit's gorgeous 1920s architecture could easily stand in for Cleveland's, Ohio should look to Michigan's new law for ideas on attracting film projects.

But a close read shows reasons not to dust off your head shots, in hopes of becoming a fedora-topped or post-flapper-bobbed extra, just yet. The PD, citing Mechanic, says "Paramount executives are putting together the movie's budget and a critical piece of that involves receiving tax breaks." In other words, the funding isn't nailed down yet. Also, the PD says the film "will star Matt Damon as Eliot Ness," but Damon's not listed on Torso's page on IMDBPro (subscription only). I think the PD is going off vague 2006 reports that the filmmakers were talking to Damon about the role. An anonymous poster to Cleveland.com who says he's in the film industry is skeptical too.

Torso could be a great movie if Fincher can see his ambitions through. He says he wants to make it the Citizen Kane of cop movies -- and demythologize Eliot Ness. A worthy goal, but given his source material, I wonder. The graphic novel Torso, while closer to the historic Ness than the Untouchables film and TV series, takes plenty of fictional leaps. To create an effective climax, Ness catches the killer. The real torso murderer was never caught.

Overheard in Southern Ohio

A report from the road by an out-of-state friend driving to Cleveland:

The fry cook says to the manager, "He picked a woman."

The manager responds: "Do I want a woman as a vice president or a black man as president? I think I want a black man."

"Not to mention I don't want McCain."

"Not to mention she was mayor of a small town a few years ago."

"Not to mention I don't want four more years of Bush."

Then the cashier turns to the lone customer and says "Not to mention, I forgot to give you your 63 cents change."

This is at a McDonalds in Warren County.

My friend's conclusion: Ohio really is a swing state. (By the way, check out this month's feature on the election to see how we might do as a swing state.)

The big reveal

We've revealed the identities of our first two subjects in the new First Impressions blog.

We asked people to submit a photo. We posted it and asked our readers to give their first impressions, make up a back story and tell us about that person. It goes along with our September story, which you can read by clicking here.

To give you a preview, here is one of our subjects:



And here are a few of the comments our readers made:

"He's married with a kid and kind of a douche bag, but a good dad. clinging desperately to his hair. He is an elitist and makes bad drinks at over rated bars. Listens to Arctic Monkeys and Steve Aoki. None of the real messengers accept him thus he is forced between west 6th and the garage."

"I agree; definitely unmarried. He's got a live-in girlfriend, though, but his mom doesn't like her. I don't think he works in a casual environment, though; these are his "off-duty" clothes, loud because he's making up for lost time at the office. He's confident, maybe even comes off cocky (at least to women), but that's because he was a nerd in high school and is "cool" now--that kind of fits with the younger crowd theory! He'd be entertaining to hang out with, but as far as meaningful dialogue...maybe we wouldn't be great friends."

Join in the fun over at clevelandfirstimpressions.blogspot.com. Upload your own picture. And tell your friends.

Tremont's Sweet Spot

I just met Lilly, aka Amanda Montague, Cleveland’s own Cocoa Queen, the Czarina of Confectionary, the Duchess of Decadent Delights. And she has hot pink hair. It matches the walls of her new Tremont shop on Starkweather, where she sells her own handmade chocolates. The place is without a doubt, a grown-up Candy Land. That’s because Mis Lil likes to spike her sweet creations with spirits and adult flavors. There’s the Redhead made with vintage port and dark chocolate; the Southern Gentleman that pairs Makers Mark bourbon with buttered pecans and milk chocolate; and a little oh-my-god good round of dark chocolate filled with cherries soaked in kirsch brandy she calls BoozieSuzies. “I’m not shy,” she tells me, “and neither is my chocolate.” She also stocks a selection of wine, beer, and bubbly that complement it.

The self taught chocolatier uses espresso ganache in a confection she christened Breakfast (I love the concept of a start the day chocolate); black mission figs in the Chomp Monster, and masala chai tea in the Raja. The girl has a way with words as well as roasted hazelnuts and caramel. How can you not want a treat called Sweet Cheeks? A real neighborhood booster she's named some things after local culinary achievers: the Rocco, for Fahrenheit’s big man, features black truffle infused honey; the Heather, in honor of her neighbor next door at Lucky’s Café, is spiked with cayenne; and the Mike, a Symon spectacular that combines milk chocolate and bacon. Her stuff is pretty too, coated with gold specks and lavender dust, or topped with colorful designs and intricate transfer patterns.

I spent five minutes with the woman and realized she’s got a seriously playful streak. So I wasn’t surprised when Lilly told me she’s hosting a reservations only Pajama Party at the store this Saturday, Aug 30, from7:30-9:30 pm. Appropriate dress required if you want to attend and sample her version Rolos, Poprocks, and Chunkies.

761 Starkweather, 216.771.3333 www.lillytremont.com

*Cleveland Magazine food writer Laura Taxel blogs here every Wednesday.

Not Even the Worst

So Forbes.com released a list of the top 10 worst cities to be a sports fan. We thought for sure we could win this one. But to our surprise, cities such as Miami (No. 1), San Diego (No. 2) and Indianapolis (No. 3) have taken the title from our cursed city. Umm ... didn't the Colts just win a Super Bowl? Isn't our history a little worse than New York (No. 4), whose Yankees have more champion rings than we do fingers? If you look into it, its just not about games won or lost overall (it's just over the past year), its also about ticket prices and yada-yada ... but hey, at least we still beat Pittsburgh.

Also, see Forbes.com's list of the top 10 most miserable sports cities, too. In true Cleveland style, we did not win that either.
Photo courtesy Imagine24

Haunted Cleveland torso murders tour

This weekend, I went on Cleveland's most macabre tour, which includes no haunted houses or ghost tales, just actual killings. Haunted Cleveland's Torso Murders tour tells the homicide-curious the story of the never-identified serial killer who decapitated and dismembered 13 victims in Cleveland between 1935 and 1938.

I've read the two main books on the murders, Steven Nickel's Torso and James Jessen Badal's In the Wake of the Butcher, so I figured I was prepared. Anyone who'd pay $50 for this tour likely has a strong stomach and an appreciation of dark horror. But my friend and I were still caught off guard -- we did not expect such an uncensored trip through the county coroner's office, including the sight of bodies under sheets, their toe-tagged feet sticking out. By comparison, the bus ride through Lake View Cemetery was downright sunny. Our destination was Eliot Ness' gravestone. The legendary Treasury agent and Cleveland safety director investigated the torso murders but could not solve them -- a failure many torso enthusiasts blame, inaccurately, for his career's decline.

Buddy Kovacic, a retired Cleveland homicide detective, narrated the tour. As the sun set and the tour followed Kinsgbury Run, where many victims were discovered, Kovacic explained historians' leading theory about the murders. Their research points to deranged surgeon Francis Sweeney, whom Ness secretly interrogated for days, and who sent Ness disturbing, taunting postcards for decades afterward. (Click here and scroll down to read James Jessen Badal's 2006 Cleveland Magazine article about Sweeney.)

Last stop was the Cleveland Police Museum, which has a torso murder exhibit that includes the death masks of some victims (pictured). Badal, the torso-book author, took questions about the murders and revealed he is working on a second book about them. It will focus on suspect Frank Dolezal, who died in jail after his arrest for one of the murders, and Sweeney, the secret suspect.

Haunted Cleveland may run the torso tour once more this year, but its focus this fall is on its Halloween-season Burning River Ghost Tour.