Too Close to Ask,
“Are We There Yet?”
Onaway resident Jen Deshpande remembers when she and her husband, Aneet, moved to Shaker Heights from Chicago with their eldest two
children, Ajay and Nina, then just preschoolers.
“We wanted something close to the city so that we could use and access all the things in the city,” she says. Eight years and one child later,
Deshpande still takes advantage of Shaker’s proximity to University Circle for all of her kids, but especially for her youngest, Hannah, who is
two. The family enjoys trips to the Museum of Natural History, The Cleveland Museum of Art, and Cleveland Botanical Garden. “If
we lived farther out, I wouldn’t be taking our kids to the art museum at ten o’clock on a Saturday morning. Everything is so close that we do it
more often.”
Also in University Circle is the popular Children’s Museum of Cleveland, which is open until this summer, when it closes to begin its
transition to a new location at the former Stager-Beckwith Mansion on Euclid Avenue.
Then go north on Martin Luther King, Jr. Drive and follow East 88th Street up the hill. At the top you’ll find the anchor of the Cleveland
Cultural Gardens: Rockefeller Park Greenhouse, 750 East 88th Street. The greenhouse is open daily from 10-4 (holidays included) and is
perfect for young ones, especially when temperatures take a dive. Spend 15 minutes or an hour walking the greenhouse paths to see cacti and
other warm-weather plants. Parking and admission are free.
Just up Mayfield Road from University Circle, give preschoolers one of the best Eastside views of Cleveland and introduce a bit of U.S.
history at the Lake View Cemetery Garfield Memorial, 12316 Euclid Avenue. Take the curved staircase to the castle-like memorial’s
overlook and enjoy the quiet view of Lake Erie and downtown. Brave youngsters won’t want to miss out on walking down to the crypt, where
President James A. Garfield and his wife are laid side-by-side in their caskets.
Straddling the border of Shaker Heights and Cleveland is Larchmere, a popular destination year-round for adults, but for kids, too.
Loganberry Books, 13015 Larchmere Boulevard, offers a terrific selection of contemporary children’s books as well as used, well-maintained
classics. It’s not uncommon to find youngsters browsing the shelves for their favorites while grown-ups reminiscence over some of the beloved
titles from their own childhoods. On-street and side street parking is available just outside the store.
Each Thanksgiving, the Larchmere Holiday Stroll attracts adults with its eclectic mix of retailers and antique dealers, and youngsters
with the promise of hot cocoa, face painting, balloons, and horse and buggy rides. In June, Larchmere Porchfest is the perfect way to enjoy
the summer weather with children while listening and dancing to the music of 30 local musicians and bands.
34 SHAKERONLINE.COM | SPRING 2015