We spent last weekend visiting in Cleveland. There was a wedding shower for Chassie (and Dave) on Saturday at the Stone Mad Pub — a pretty cool place, I’ve decided. Sunday we attended a Stracensky Family Picnic that seems to be becoming an annual thing thanks to Chris and John.
The Stone Mad Pub is located on West 65th Street. The building was constructed as a tavern and store house by the Leisy Brewing Company in 1912. At the turn of the century, Leisy was Cleveland’s largest brewery and owned multiple taverns throughout the city. The location on West 65th was probably chosen due to the rapidly growing immigrant population in the neighborhood — mostly Irish, Italian and Romanian.
Production at Leisy Brewing Company peaked in 1918, but Prohibition (1920 – 1930) resulted in the brewery’s downfall. The bar, however, continued its operation and was a popular speakeasy for a while. With the disappearance of commerce, industry and people from the area, the neighborhood began to deteriorate. Although the surrounding neighborhoods remain in pretty sad shape, the area around the pub has witnessed revitalization.
When you pull in you get a sense you’re somewhere in Europe — there’s a cobblestone drive and with a little imagination, the pub has a castle like appearance. The bar and the restaurant are located in separate rooms, but the best thing about the place is the outdoor area – it would be wrong to call it a patio – entirely made of stone — the surface, tables, benches — everything. In the middle of the area are multiple fireplaces with big stone chimneys. Looks like a great place to sit on a fall evening. Unfortunately, it rained the day we were there. The close second best thing about the place was the bathrooms — yep, the bathrooms are completely covered with antique tiling that had to be laid by hand by someone with amazing skill…
Although I didn’t attend, I’m told that the shower activities went well and everyone was happy to get to know the newest member of the family a little better.
The picnic was just as great as always and we carried on with our tradition of touring Cleveland on the way there.
All in all, a great weekend on the North Shore.
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