Cleveland Area Casinos and Living in General
And more generally, how's the living in that area? I may relocate to Kent or somewhere between Kent and Cleveland for work. Crime? Culture? Weather (does every household have at least one all-wheel drive vehicle?)?
Any information would be appreciated (Wikipedia is so impersonal).
Thanks!
If you want to know about the border area of OH, WV and PA (Great BJ Rules, Meadows and Rivers nearby) then I'm your guy!
Quote: debitncreditI saw some threads on Horseshoe Cleveland and figured there are some people from Ohio in this forum. How are the casinos in the Cleveland area? I mainly play BJ
And more generally, how's the living in that area? I may relocate to Kent or somewhere between Kent and Cleveland for work. Crime? Culture? Weather (does every household have at least one all-wheel drive vehicle?)?
Any information would be appreciated (Wikipedia is so impersonal).
Thanks!
Probably like most larger cities, Cleveland has some nice suburbs and some crummy ones, but on the whole, I think it's a really nice place to live. The cost of living is very reasonable, and what many people are surprised at is the great restaurants in the city. As you're aware we have most of major sports franchises- except hockey- although at times you have to be somewhat of a masochist. AFA culture, a nice group of museums plus we get most major touring musicians. Traffic isn't maddening, nothing like Chicago for example. If you like roller coasters, Cedar Point is about an hour outside the city. AFA weather, a local saying is that if you don't like it, give it a few hours and it'll change: we have all four seasons and while there can be some harsh winters, last year there was actually very little snow. AFA gambling, hopefully I'll have this prototype up in the next few weeks to give a flavor for what I consider the local casinos:
https://wizardofvegas.com/forum/off-topic/general/11095-land-based-casino-directory-website-project/
But until that point, if you don't mind driving, there's at least what I think to be a great variety of gambling options in a three-hour radius: from Niagara Falls to Detroit/Windsor. I think the Detroit Casinos do a good job for the most part- as well as the Seneca Casinos in the NY area. Presque Isle is about 1.5 hours away, and as I understand it, has good black jack rules relative to most.
Hope that helps!
You could not pay me to live in East Cleveland (a city), or really any part of Cleveland other than the few populated areas near W 25th , W 6-12th or the area in and around E 4th.
The cities between Cleveland and Kent are many and vary greatly.
East and South of Kent you start to run into the hillbilly/redneck area of Portage and Stark counties. North of Kent is Streetsboro, also pretty redneck, but I used to live in the area and for the most part is fine.
Heading Northwest from Kent towards Cleveland you would probably follow I-480 from Streetsboro as the most direct route to downtown Cleveland. You pass Hudson, Twinsburg, Oakwood, Bedford, North Randall, Maple Hts, Garfield Hts, Valley View, Independence, Brookpark, Newburg Hts, to Cleveland’s outer ring to downtown.
Most of the cities near Cleveland that were heavily populated in the post WWII era are now not the best of neighborhoods, and house prices reflect it. Cities like Euclid, South Euclid, Maple Hts, Garfield Hts, Bedford, Bedford Hts, East Cleveland, are in general older generation who refuse to leave, and rental homes that have a large section 8 influence. There may be decent spots in these areas, but it would typically be near the border close to a “nicer” city to live in.
As to where to live it would really depend on what you want in where you live. If you are young and looking for easy, walkable nightlife, you probably will find little of it on the east side of Cleveland. (as a note, the east and west sides of Cleveland are divided by the Cuyahoga Valley, which is generally I-77.) The west side of Cleveland would be the better place for single “bar scene” living. Lakewood, Westlake, Rocky River, etc would be in my opinion the place to be.
Some would argue University Hts/Coventry would compete with the above Westside cities, but unless you work for one of the colleges there, I wouldn’t be a big fan. There are deals to be had on houses that way though if you end up liking the area and want to buy older more “charming” type houses.
But that puts you well over an hour from Kent. There are also many singles on the east side, but you would typically need to drive where you are going. The city of Kent, as a college town is actually reasonably walkable, and if you do end up there, and happen to like burritos, Taco Tantos on Water St is probably the best burrito you will eat this side of the Rio Grande. (maybe not literally, but they are delicious).
If you are looking for quality schools for kids, the scoring system Ohio uses, is not idea for an outsider to gain a proper perspective. You may hear a school is rated “excellent” but that means very little based on standardized tests. All it really shows is if a district can’t be ranked one of the top two rankings (I believe they are “excellent” and “excellent with distinction” ) then they are probably not very good at all. Around Kent has some excellent schools, although Kent itself would probably not be my first choice. If schools are important I would look into Aurora, Hudson, Stow areas as the higher end near Kent.
If you have questions about the city or its suburbs, feel free to ask.
After college I lived in downtown for a year, Independence for a year, Stow (which is just west of Kent) for a few years, and now live in the country on the east side. I have friends who live all over the area, name a city and I can probably tell you about it.
Note: I re-read this post and it kind of comes across like I am a realtor. I am not, nor would I ever want to be.
Horseshoe Cleveland in downtown
Mountaineer Casino in WV which is the next closest to Kent, probably a little over an hour away depending on how far away you are from I-76.
Presque Isle in Erie PA is a little less than 2 hours from downtown Cleveland and the BJ rules are S17 with surrender.
Hollywood Toledo is a probably two hours away and is also new, I have not been there yet.
The Detroit casinos are a little over 3 hours away from downtown. I have been to Greektown and MGM once each in the past couple years, but it was work related, not a fun drive to go gamble from Cleveland.
Seneca is probably the same distance as Detroit, although in the complete opposite direction. I have not been there since 2008, but the hotel was classy and the casino was small back then.
Casino Niagara is maybe 5 hrs? Been there once after looking at the Falls with a girl, it was okay, there is a single zero roulette wheel in HL if you are interested. (at least as of a couple years ago)
Columbus will be getting a Hollywood casino I think in about a year and Cincinnati’s casino is due to open sometime relatively soon I think.
The city is definitely surpassing the suburbs in livability these days, but that's a national trend.
Quote: Maverick17Cleveland proper and its suburbs cannot be placed into one bucket and called the same.
You could not pay me to live in East Cleveland (a city), or really any part of Cleveland other than the few populated areas near W 25th , W 6-12th or the area in and around E 4th.
The cities between Cleveland and Kent are many and vary greatly.
East and South of Kent you start to run into the hillbilly/redneck area of Portage and Stark counties. North of Kent is Streetsboro, also pretty redneck, but I used to live in the area and for the most part is fine.
Heading Northwest from Kent towards Cleveland you would probably follow I-480 from Streetsboro as the most direct route to downtown Cleveland. You pass Hudson, Twinsburg, Oakwood, Bedford, North Randall, Maple Hts, Garfield Hts, Valley View, Independence, Brookpark, Newburg Hts, to Cleveland’s outer ring to downtown.
Most of the cities near Cleveland that were heavily populated in the post WWII era are now not the best of neighborhoods, and house prices reflect it. Cities like Euclid, South Euclid, Maple Hts, Garfield Hts, Bedford, Bedford Hts, East Cleveland, are in general older generation who refuse to leave, and rental homes that have a large section 8 influence. There may be decent spots in these areas, but it would typically be near the border close to a “nicer” city to live in.
As to where to live it would really depend on what you want in where you live. If you are young and looking for easy, walkable nightlife, you probably will find little of it on the east side of Cleveland. (as a note, the east and west sides of Cleveland are divided by the Cuyahoga Valley, which is generally I-77.) The west side of Cleveland would be the better place for single “bar scene” living. Lakewood, Westlake, Rocky River, etc would be in my opinion the place to be.
Some would argue University Hts/Coventry would compete with the above Westside cities, but unless you work for one of the colleges there, I wouldn’t be a big fan. There are deals to be had on houses that way though if you end up liking the area and want to buy older more “charming” type houses.
But that puts you well over an hour from Kent. There are also many singles on the east side, but you would typically need to drive where you are going. The city of Kent, as a college town is actually reasonably walkable, and if you do end up there, and happen to like burritos, Taco Tantos on Water St is probably the best burrito you will eat this side of the Rio Grande. (maybe not literally, but they are delicious).
If you are looking for quality schools for kids, the scoring system Ohio uses, is not idea for an outsider to gain a proper perspective. You may hear a school is rated “excellent” but that means very little based on standardized tests. All it really shows is if a district can’t be ranked one of the top two rankings (I believe they are “excellent” and “excellent with distinction” ) then they are probably not very good at all. Around Kent has some excellent schools, although Kent itself would probably not be my first choice. If schools are important I would look into Aurora, Hudson, Stow areas as the higher end near Kent.
If you have questions about the city or its suburbs, feel free to ask.
After college I lived in downtown for a year, Independence for a year, Stow (which is just west of Kent) for a few years, and now live in the country on the east side. I have friends who live all over the area, name a city and I can probably tell you about it.
Note: I re-read this post and it kind of comes across like I am a realtor. I am not, nor would I ever want to be.
This.
I just moved out of Kent two weeks ago. It's a great place to live, generally. And fairly reasonable. I had a GREAT two bedroom townhouse with a full basement for $700/month.
It's typical east coast weather here. Very cold in January and February and you should know how to drive in the snow. Crime is not much of a problem in Kent, although it is a college town and you will have the usual college shenanigans. About half the population of the town leaves in the summer, which is great for us 'townies.' Currently the city and the University are developing downtown, renovating an old hotel, and putting in a number of new restaurants and stores. Even without these it is a quaint little place. As Maverick stated, Taco Tantos is very, very good and you can order it and pick it up from the patio of a trendy bar called the Zephyr.
Also there is a $5 bus from Kent State to Tower City/the Horseshoe in Cleveland, with only a few stops. It made it very convenient for me to go up there as long as I had a place to stay overnight in Cleveland. (It only runs at 7am and 4pm) If you have any more specific questions about Kent, I can probably answer some of them. Maverick knows much more about the rest of Northeast Ohio than I do.
