Who doesn’t love and remember Christmastime in Cleveland as a kid, that magical season when schools would close, city streets would light up, and decorated trees would adorn nearly every park or plaza? With the help of these nostalgic photos, collected from Cleveland Memory Project and Cleveland Press, take a walk down memory lane to time when holiday consumerism meant shopping at the local department store and Google wasn’t around to tell your 7-year-old that Santa Claus doesn’t exist. What’s your favorite Cleveland holiday memory?
Cheery lights greet drivers in downtown Cleveland, 1980.Cleveland State University Christmas tree display, 1972.Public Square decorated for Christmas, 1977.Christmas tree at Playhouse Square in 1934.Christmas tree at Public Square, 1973.Christmas shoppers on Ontario Street, 1971.Santa Claus at Public Square, 1956.Evening Christmas shoppers downtown on Euclid Avenue, 1967.Christmas decorations at Public Square, 1956.Elephant and floats in Cleveland Christmas parade, 1963.Crowd watching Christmas parade, 1955.Family watching the parade, 1953.Public Square decorated for Christmas, 1957.Public Square decorated for Christmas, 1952.Public Square decorated for Christmas, 1963.Shoppers at Higbee’s, 1973.Shoppers at Christmas clearance sale, May Co., 1967.Balcony view of the Christmas decorations at Halle’s, 1963.Christmas tree in the old Arcade, 1978.Christmas decorations downtown Public Square, 1952.Christmas decorations at the Illuminating Co., 1959.Christmastime nativity scene at Public Square, 1963.Higbee’s Santa, 1955.Man and woman shopping in clothing department, May Co., 1966.Photo with Santa, 1955.Christmas gathering at Public Square, 1962.Decorated buildings at Public Square, 1953.
