Lakewood, Ohio, United States

🇺🇸 Lakewood is a city in Cuyahoga County, Ohio, United States, on the southern shore of Lake Erie. Established in 1889, it is one of Cleveland's historical streetcar suburbs and part of the Greater Cleveland Metropolitan Area. It is the third largest city in Cuyahoga County, behind Cleveland and Parma. Lakewood is home to a young and diverse population, including a significant number of immigrants. Its population density is the highest of any city in Ohio and is roughly comparable to that of Los Angeles.

The Rocky River Railroad was organised in 1869 by speculators as an excursion line to bring Clevelanders to the resort area they developed at the mouth of the Rocky River. Financially unsuccessful as a pleasure and amusement venture, the line was sold to the Nickel Plate Railroad in 1881. The railroad line still exists today, running in an east–west direction north of Detroit Avenue.

Downtown In 2012, the City of Lakewood supported a program to brand the Detroit Avenue business district as "Downtown Lakewood". Downtown Lakewood spans from Bunts Avenue to the east and Arthur Avenue to the west along Detroit Avenue.

Development • The Lakewood Library's 2008 expansion (its first in over 20 years) increased the main library to 93,000 square feet; the collection then grew to over 474,000 items by 2015. The Lakewood Library also celebrated its centennial in 2016. • Rockport Square, a new residential project by Forest City Enterprises, began being developed on the eastern end of the city in 2004 and is incorporating mixed-use all along Detroit Avenue. The project includes three phases, with the first one complete and the second one underway. The phase will include two six-story loft buildings and several adjacent mixed-use buildings. • The Cleveland Clinic completed construction of a new one-story facility on Detroit Avenue in 2005, adjacent to Rockport Square. • The Lakewood YMCA finished construction of its new facility on Detroit Avenue in 2004. The two-story gymnasium features state-of-the-art exercise equipment, an indoor swimming pool, yoga lessons, and an extended babysitting service. • The Cleveland Clinic began demolition in 2016 of a professional office building and garage in preparation for the construction of a new $34 million, 62,000 square foot family health building, which will serve as a replacement, in part, for Lakewood Hospital. The hospital's emergency department remains open through the construction, which is scheduled to be completed in 2018. • The highways that go through Lakewood are U.S. Route 20, U.S. Route 6 Alternate, and Ohio State Route 237. In the south of the city, Interstate 90 enters the city limits.

Awards • Travel + Leisure Magazine - Top 10 Suburbs in the USA • Business Week - Best Place to Raise Your Kids: 2010 • The City of Lakewood Department of Planning & Development won an award for Economic Development from Inside Business Magazine in 2009. • In 2009, the American Institute of Architects and the Cleveland Restoration Society honored the City of Lakewood Department of Planning & Development and LakewoodAlive with an award for Creative & Effective Preservation Advocacy in 2009. • This Old House Magazine chose Lakewood as one of thirteen of the "Best Places in the Midwest to Buy an Old House". • The City of Lakewood was accepted into the nationally renowned Ohio Main Street Program in 2005.

Attractions • Lakewood Park is one of the largest lakefront parks in Ohio and features a live concert stage, outdoor swimming pool, picnic pavilions, 4-season public pavilion, kids' playground, baseball, volleyball, and a skate park, which opened in 2004. Lakewood has more than 150 acres (0.61 km2) of greenspace citywide. The park's million dollar lakefront promenade opened in 2006 and offers an excellent panorama of Downtown Cleveland and the presence of viewing telescopes enhances the viewing experience of Downtown Cleveland. An all-purpose trail that circles the park was built in 2006. On October 30, 2015, Lakewood opened its "Solstice Steps" in the north-west corner of the park. The steps are aligned in the direction of sunset on the summer solstice. They are constructed of white concrete blocks in five tiers; each tier has four steps separated by green grass strips. • The Rocky River Reservation of the Cleveland Metroparks System forms part of the city's western border. The Lakewood Dog Park, built in 2004, is located next to the Metroparks, in the Rocky River valley. • Lakewood Public Library has won numerous awards and has two branches: the main branch on Detroit Avenue and a smaller branch on Madison Avenue. The Lakewood Library is normally ranked one of the top 5 libraries in the US for its size on a regular basis, and was awarded "Best Place to Hang Out if You're Broke" by Scene Magazine in 2009. • The Lakewood Civic Auditorium, a 2,000-seat performing arts venue located on the campus of Lakewood High School, opened in 1955. The auditorium hosted the Great Lakes Shakespeare Festival from 1962 to 1981. The facade of the auditorium features the world's largest free-standing ceramic sculpture, Early Settler, created by Viktor Schreckengost. The sculpture is commonly known as "Johnny Appleseed" who was the subject of Schreckengost's design. • The Beck Center for the Arts is the largest cultural arts centre on Cleveland's west shore. • Geiger's, a retailer of clothing and ski equipment and accessories, was founded in downtown Lakewood in 1932. The company, now run by the third generation of the Geiger family, moved to its present location in 1936. • The home of Malley's Chocolates is in Lakewood. • Aladdin's Eatery, a national restaurant brand, is based in Lakewood. Their first restaurant was founded in Lakewood by Fady and Sally Chamoun in 1994. Aladdin's Lakewood Headquarters was expanded in 2007.