Lakewood Renaissance

1978….

Mayor Sinagra has set into motion a Community Development Program that included the “Storefront Renovation Program” with the idea of improving the exterior street image of Lakewood’s commercial roads.

As an Architect….I am asked to be a member of Lakewood’s very first Architectural Review Board….Our focus was to look at rediscovering Lakewood’s “original architecture”….removing overlaid materials from the great  building facades….and designing signage solutions in concert with that original architecture. 

As I was considering just how to help create this “renaissance moment” for Lakewood……I observed that the “entry signs” were just rectangular white panels with words to announce events (PTA meeting, Jan 6/Food Drive/etc)….there was no actual entry sign.

I wanted the residents and guests to our community to “feel the pride” as they entered our home.

So…..I started sketching out some ideas that would represent both some traditional roots  (using a serif type letter) and some letter movement (the word “Lakewood” seeming to drift lazily upon the water) …. a strong “wave” comes in from the left side… then softens to 3 smaller waves  as it goes over the word “City”……and finally  spills out on the shore of the north coast of “Ohio”.

“Everyone should be able to benefit from receiving an objective blueprint of their self and of those they care about,” (37) writes Lakewood graphologist Betty Rozakis in Coffee with the Subconscious (2011), a hybrid account of personality stories bound to wisdom codes used to analyze personality and psychic health for over two thousand years. From Hippocratic humorology to Jungian typology, from enneagram to graphology, Rozakis has done her homework across esoteric systems of human personalities to make Coffee with the Subconscious a functional fiction of archetypal modalities. Intelligently probing elemental vocabularies for structural insights into human process, Rozakis fashions a charming prose-poem of life experience, mystery, romance, and self-confrontation within the conceit of “an objective blueprint” (37). 

If you are looking for a unique, local gift store that offers a wide variety of hand-painted items and other gift-giving essentials, look no further than Tess' Tender Touch.

Its owner and founder, Theresa Ferline-Carr, a life-long Lakewood resident and part-time Lakewood Hospital employee, knowing how much customers love hand-made items, developed an interest in starting a gift shop.

“A unique thing about the store is the hand-painted bottles from recycled glass,” said Theresa. The store also offers painted wine bottles and the increasingly popular plant feeders, which provide plant lovers a colorful and decorative way to care for their plants. Additionally, Tess’ Tender Touch supplies other gift-giving essentials, like candles and candleholders, as well as cards and jewelry. 

“I have a jeweler, Denise Gill, who uses semi-precious stones, sterling silver and Swarovski crystals,” said Theresa about her efforts to make her store a one-stop shop, adding that all items leave the store in a gift bag. “I also have a card-maker, Beth Taylor, who does greeting cards, gift tags, notepads, gift boxes, and CD clocks. Pat Loose also makes walker bags.”

Nestled amidst the eclectic shops on Madison Avenue is a little salon whose comely appearance stands as a testament to the success story of its owner, Carol Lynn Congeni. 

When it comes to the arts in Lakewood, there really is strength in numbers.

At least that is the general idea that the members of Lakewood Is Art (LIA) believe. They feel that collaboration is the way to get things done.

“We're a small group of art-minded enthusiasts who get together to promote art events,” said Ruth Koenigsmark, one of the founding members and current head of LIA, an organization that is known to work together with other like minded groups to push for more art in the community...

Lakewood Earth and Food (or LEAF) is, in the literal sense of the word, a grass-roots organization. In fact, this year’s slogan says it all: “Planting the seeds that change a city into a community.”

And while many Lakewoodites have most likely heard the name, read something about them, or seen them march in the 4th of July parade, LEAF is actually a great deal more complex than its most publicized Community Garden project. In addition to Community Gardening, LEAF supplies affordable produce on a weekly basis, brings in vendors who sell bulk, and tries to reuse waste materials...