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Anthony Bourdain is dead at the age of 61 from an apparent suicide. The celebrated author and TV star was found in his hotel room in France, where he was filming a new episode for his CNN show.
What’s striking this morning, even in the few hours since the news of his death, is the universal outpouring from around the world of people referencing interviews or episodes about their locale and saying, “He got us. He nailed it.” That’s a stunning accomplishment and legacy, one more impressive on a human than professional level, and it doesn’t come without a genuine curiosity of and compassion for your fellow man, no matter where he lives. For Bourdain, they were all his fellow men and women.
Cleveland is no different. Here’s how Bourdain remembered Harvey Pekar, who appeared on the Cleveland episode of No Reservations in 2007, after the local legend’s death.
His continuing compulsion to wonder what’s wrong with everybody else was both source of entertainment and the only position of conscience a man could take.
After all, Cleveland, the city he lived in and loved, had, he reminded us, lost half its population since the 1950s. A place whose great buildings and bridges and factories had once exemplified 20th century optimism needed its Harvey Pekar.
“What went wrong here?” is an unpopular question with the type of city fathers and civic boosters for whom convention centers and pedestrian malls are the answers to all society’s ills but Harvey captured and chronicled every day what was—and will always be—beautiful about Cleveland: the still majestic gorgeousness of what once was—the uniquely quirky charm of what remains, the delightfully offbeat attitude of those who struggle to go on in a city they love and would never dream of leaving.
What a two minute overview might depict as a dying, post-industrial town, Harvey celebrated as a living, breathing, richly textured society.
A place so incongruously and uniquely…seductive that I often fantasize about making my home there. Though I’ve made television all over the world, often in faraway and “exotic” places, it’s the Cleveland episode that is my favorite—and one about which I am most proud.
If he’s said or written similar things about other cities, maybe every other city, it wouldn’t be a surprise. It would actually be more surprising if he didn’t.
This article appears in Jun 6-12, 2018.
Anthony Bourdain and Cleveland Changed My Life:
As a Pittsburgher who bleeds #BlackAndGold, I was taught to hate Cleveland. It was devil’s bargain I made with the Steel City when I moved there to attend PITT (#H2MFP):
1)Pledge Allegiance to Donny Iris
2)learn to love Chipped Ham, Jumbo, Pierogies, Haluski, Kluski, & Iron City
3)Worship at the hallowed ground of Forbes Field and PITT Stadium
4) HATE CLEVELAND
But in 2007, something changed. I caught a very special episode of No Reservations. Had Anthony Bourdain not visited the North Coast, and had famed cook book author Michael Ruhlman (A True Advocate for Cleveland, who I shared this story with with at Market Garden one night in 2014) shown him the true character of the Forest City, going to Sokolowski’s, meeting the Bard of Cleveland Harvey Pekar, sharing the joy that is a Hot Sauce Williams’ Polish Boy, my impression of Cleveland would have stayed negative.
Instead of staying prejudice against what I then referred to as the Mistake on the Lake, I realized that there might be some unique aspects of Cleveland that I should explore and give the Western Reserve a chance. And wouldn’t you know it, I found #CLE to be a quaint a charming Great Lakes City that reminded me of Pittsburgh, only with less challenging topography and fewer bridges. I literally began vacationing in Cleveland because of the great Marriott deals at Key Center I kept finding.
Learning about the difference between the East and West Side, discovering Mr. Brisket, eating my weight in Mitchell’s, Slyman’s, and Corky&Lenny’s, embracing the majesty of the West Side Market, falling in love with the best brunch in town at Lucky’s, Cleveland became my home for spell.
Because of Tony and Michael, I saw Cleveland as a legitimate option to start my career and landed my first post-grad school gig in Believeland. While my tenure with that first job didn’t last as long as I hoped it would, I spent a magical 18 months in Cleveland that I would never forget.
I often felt alone in Cleveland, sadly lacking the deep network like I made for myself in Pittsburgh. But in retrospect, it turns out my time on the shores of Lake Erie were filled with strong friendship and professional connections I cherish to this day.
Had I not watched that one episode of No Reservations, I would not know so many wonderful people or enjoy so many wonderful things Cleveland has to offer. So thank you Anthony Bourdain, for changing my life for the better. Your presence in this world will truly be missed. Vaya Con Dios, hombre.