In the wake of last weekend’s protests over the police killing of George Floyd – and the destruction that followed – many downtown Cleveland bar and restaurant owners from Public Square to Playhouse Square are picking up the pieces and assessing the damage.
While many of the owners and representatives to whom Scene spoke are supportive of the cause, they can’t help but also express desperation surrounding their current situation, which lands on their doorsteps just as business had begun to pick up after months of Covid-based inactivity.
Society Lounge on E. Fourth Street, closed since mid-March, had recently reopened as a “socially safe space” with nine tables spaced more than six feet apart. With a couple weeks of books to evaluate, owner Joey Fredrickson says that business, while not booming, was better than expected.
“Considering that there were no downtown events, we were very happy with it,” he reports. “It was surprisingly good.”
The reopening period did not last long, of course, cut short by protests that turned violent and emergency curfews that extend into this weekend. Society Lounge, like dozens of other downtown businesses, sustained extensive property damage, theft and loss. But that wasn’t the issue causing Fredrickson sleepless nights.
“It wasn’t that bad,” he states. “It was all things that I’m sure insurance will cover. And it all pales in comparison to the bigger issues. The hardest part was telling my team that they had to go back on unemployment. That was the only time that I crashed because they had just put so much work into getting us reopened.”
Yours Truly founder Larry Shibley operates restaurants throughout Northeast Ohio, but only recently opened a downtown location in Playhouse Square. He says that company projections predict that the city center location will outpace all of the suburban stores once the theaters and hotels are “clicking normally” again, but that’s certainly not the case as it currently stands.
“We had a pretty significant break-in and a looting of all the bar products,” Shibley explains.
Plywood already is up where the windows once stood and the landlord likely will dispatch contractors to install new panes. But the down time, ever-present uncertainly and safety of his staff are weighing heavy on the owner’s mind.
“With Covid recovery we’re going through, and to put this on top of it, and not knowing an end point,” he says. “We’ll be cleaning and assessing tomorrow and move from there. We can probably reopen within a week, but we have to know that it’s secure. I don’t want to put any employees at risk. But we have a duty to take care of the community there and we want to do it as soon as we can.”
Jennifer Seaman McGinty, whose husband operates the Clevelander Bar on W. 9th Street, posted a heartfelt response to the situation that she and owner Pat found themselves in Sunday morning. The bar was looted, she explained, but she expressed compassion for the cause.
“There is damage,” she wrote in a Facebook post. “It will cost money. It is fixable.”
She continued with, “I hope the injustices, oppression and racism we have subjected our black peers to for hundreds of years is fixable. I hope change is on the horizon.”
Cathy Greene, who owns Cathy’s Gourmet Ice Cream Sandwiches, was relieved to learn that her store on Euclid Avenue escaped without damage. But she quickly steered the conversation away from her and her business to the larger picture.
“I was pretty shocked, but very thankful that our store was not hit at all,” Greene explains. “But we don’t want to pull attention away from the major issue, which is bringing justice to what happened to George Floyd but also countless others who were wrongfully and horribly taken from this earth at the hands of police officers.”
On Saturday, Greene is planning a “Power of Our Dollar” event to benefit the George Floyd Family Go Fund Me Account as well as the Minnesota Freedom Fund.
Numerous downtown business owners are grappling with the agonizing decision of not when to reopen, but if they should reopen at all given a generationally unique climate that includes a pandemic, restrictive curfews and uncertainty as to when major events will return to town.
“I don’t know how long this will impact us,” Fredrickson notes. “Who knows when downtown will be back to where we are used to performing at.”
This article appears in May 27 – Jun 2, 2020.
So the scene staff participates in a destructive riot then prints an article about places to attack next riot then deletes it. They twisted the narrative and continue to smash our faces in shit telling us we deserve the destruction intermixed with articles about how men are toxic and whites are racist.
I hope stuff keeps getting busted up downtown until certain people who should have never been in Cleveland go back to Medina where they belong. Then maybe we will get Mike the Hatter, the Goldfish, and most importantly, the Ontario back up and running.
did they check the surveillance tapes to see if it was Allard or Grzegorek that smashed their windows? Its hard not to blame them when they were seen there and have advocated for acceptance of the destruction before and after the event. Don’t forget the scene office was in the riot zone and was left alone.
I wonder if the antifa units were using the scene office as a base of operations for the riot attack on saturday. Its just a hunch but since it is in the middle of the riot zone and was untouched, and was admittedly cleared out of inventory and belongings before the riot, and the whereabouts of scene writers during the riot is unknown though they were seen at the protest and quickly pushed blame of the damage on angry black youth…
These businesses should all be able to seek some damages from scene magazine, news5, fox8, channels, Wkyc, and clevelanddotcom since they promoted the event that led to the riot and continue to stoke unrest in their excuse of the outrageous destruction and violence and promotion and later distortion of these events. The city too should be held accountable for allowing the assault which began as soon as the march did with graffitii on city hall that was excused as well as putting “#georgefloyd” in all the light up street boxes.
That’s so sad that these business owners are excusing the looters. Pathetic, really. There is no excuse.
How can you idiots think Antifa is a real thing? It’s a made up bogeyman courtesy of the republican propaganda machines.
Just a way to strip more rights away than the patriot act, and make anyone they say is part of the imaginary group unprotected by any due process or any rights at all.
Make America great again by voting for Biden. He isn’t the best, but he is not trying to take us to the edge of civil war for profit.
And fuck Bobby George, too. It was laughable to hear him whining about how the city failed him. Boo fucking hoo. The curfew was extended to West 25th just to save Town Hall from all the people who hate his guts. Who says he doesn’t have some clout in this town?
This would have been a great time to trash the place, under the disguise of “protest”, and to kick his racist ass. And all the bros and posers and douchebags, and their gold-digging women, would have one less place to congregate and spread multiple viruses. Go back to Westlake, you POS..
antifa really,
Attend a protest if you dare. You will see antifa is very real and open about who they are. The local groups have Facebook accounts they use to communicate and set up actions. They literally wave an antifa flag. But yes, they are being used as a tool to further restrict our rights. That’s part of the reason why the city ALLOWED them to destroy the place in Saturday.
Who is restricting “our” rights, by ALLOWING businesses to be looted? Where did you get that good weed? Pass that pipe over here, bro.
so, my takeaway is everyone bitching about “antifa” therefore is pro-fascist? There is no middle ground. Either you support hatred and racism, or you take a stand against it.
Lots of antifa on Scene’s site. Just look at the downvotes when you make a comment about something that supposedly doesn’t exist.
There’s an Antifa handbook available for purchase, actually Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison has a picture of himself proudly holding one in a Tweet, feel free to Google that.
He’s also the AG of the State where a major city just stated that they plan to defund the Police,.eliminate them and bring in a “Community Policing Coalition.” I believe the charge was led by his very own son.
I’d be mighty pissed if my place was busted up.
Peaceful protest is ok; destructive protest is not.