My first 24 hours in Cleveland Ohio

This entry relates my personal experience during the first ~24 hours of my arrival in Cleveland, Ohio.  This happened in mid-August of 1983.  I believe it was August 13, 1983, but it might have been the following weekend.

 

First, a bit of background about this event.  I came to Cleveland to go to graduate school at Case Western Reserve University(CWRU).  I had a research position that started at the beginning of September.  For various reasons, I never visited the campus prior to coming out for the start of school.  I came in mid-August so I could find a place to live and get settled before classes started.  I was 22 years old, having just finished my bachelor's degree at the University of Iowa.

 

At that point in my life, I was a true country kid.  I grew up in rural Oregon in the middle of a 200-acre cow pasture.  Our nearest neighbor was a half mile away.  The nearest "big" town was a half hour’s drive away, and that was a town of about 100,000 (at the time).  Then I went to the U of Iowa, which is in Iowa City, Iowa, a town of about 50 to 60 thousand with corn fields all around.  So I’d never lived in a big city.  I was naïve you might say.  For example, I didn't understand the concept of a suburb.  I was confused as to what the "boundaries" of a city were.  I thought there was the city and then there was the country (what you would call "rural") and I didn't have any concept of anything in between.  I had never been further east in the US than Chicago and I didn't know a single person who lived within 1000 miles of Cleveland.  I was, truly, on my own!

 

I had worked over the summer of 1983 in northwest Washington (yes, the state) where I (literally) dug ditches for a retired guy.  All total, I had saved up $500 after paying for my bus trip to Cleveland.  I figured I could pay the first month’s rent, and make it through the first month until I got paid at the end of September.  I’d have just enough money to eat, and that was about all I needed (wasn't it??). 

 

I took the Greyhound bus to Cleveland from Oregon – that’s about 52 hours on the bus.  Ugh.  I arrived in Cleveland early in the morning at the Greyhound bus station.  The bus station is downtown – about E14th and St. Clair.  It must have been 5 or 6 in the morning and it was the weekend - Saturday I think.  I had looked at a map prior to coming to Cleveland, and I saw there was a bus called the “rapid” that you could take from downtown to near CWRU, so I planned on taking that to get to campus. 

 

I had two items of luggage.  One was a big box with my bicycle in it (partially disassembled) and the other was a large light blue suitcase.  When I arrived in Cleveland, I didn’t claim the bicycle from the bus – I figured I could come back and pick it up later (a common practice).  I took my light blue suitcase (no wheels in those days, just a handle) and started walking around downtown Cleveland, looking for the "rapid bus".  I didn’t know that the "Rapid" referred to Rapid Transit and was a train not a bus!  Who ever heard of riding a train to get around in a city?  Further, I also had no idea that the Rapid Station was underground in downtown Cleveland, and I never imagined that you had to go inside a building to find it.  I wondered around for a while, looking at the bus stop signs around Public Square (center of Cleveland), but I could never find where the "rapid" stopped.  I hate looking clueless so I tried not to look too much like I had no idea what I was doing or where I was going.  I’m sure I looked pretty funny and out of place:  a country kid carrying a light blue suitcase wandering around downtown Cleveland.  Fortunately for my foolish pride, it was about 6am on a weekend in downtown Cleveland in the early 80's: Cleveland was a ghost town.  I actually don't remember passing anyone on the sidewalk once I left the Greyhound station.

 

Eventually I gave up looking for the rapid.  I looked on my map and it seemed like it was a straight shot down Euclid to E107th to get to CWRU.  I figured that couldn’t be too hard to do, so I started walking down Euclid Avenue, carrying my light blue suitcase and trying to look like I knew what I was doing! 

 

In some of the information I had received from CWRU prior to coming from Cleveland, it said that "you shouldn’t walk around west of E107th alone".  I had dismissed that statement as being meaningless – what could that mean?  After all, Oregon is west of E107th.  I did think it was kind of odd that there were a lot of metal bars on the windows of the buildings I walked past.  The idea that there might be relatively unsafe areas of a city was a totally foreign concept to me.  However, by then the sun was shining and it was still early on a Saturday.  So, actually I never saw another person until I got to E100th or so.  Maybe people saw me and went the other way! 

 

My luggage got pretty heavy by the time I got to E107th.  And, oh...did I mention that I had no place to live?  I didn't see that as a problem, though, because in the information I had gotten from the university prior to coming, they said that you could pick up a list of apartments available in the area.  The list was available at the student center at CWRU (at the time it was called "Thwing Hall" and it was right next to Severance Hall on Euclid Avenue).  After about five miles of walking east on Euclid, I finally made it to Thwing Hall, walked in (still carrying my suitcase) and went in and picked up the nicely typed-up list of apartments.  I had accomplished my first goal!

 

Now remember, this is 1983.  There were no internet searches for apartment websites.  There were no cellphones.  I didn't know anyone I could ask to say "could I come in to your house and borrow your phone?"  There's only one option:  I went out to the pay phone on the corner outside the building and starting calling around for an apartment.  First call:  answering machine.  There goes one quarter.  Second call: “well, we’ve already rented out that apartment”.  There goes another quarter.  I was starting to realize that I hadn’t thought this through very well!  I started praying.  I was already anxious, but for the first time I realized that there was some chance that I might not be able to even find an apartment.  I had to find a place to sleep before the end of the day.  I couldn’t really afford to stay in a hotel – if I could even find one. 

 

The third person I called said “Yes, we have a few apartments available that are ready to be rented out”.  So I said “where are you located?”  Now...it had not entered my mind that nearly every single apartment on my list was not really within walking distance of CWRU!  Most students drove to school.  Or rode their bikes or took the bus.  At the U of Iowa, there wasn’t any place in the whole city that wasn’t within walking distance of the campus.  I just never imagined it would be that different. 

 

When I asked “Where are you?”, he asked me where I would be coming from.  I told him I was outside of Thwing Hall.  He said, “Well – if you look down Euclid and to your left, you’ll be looking at my building.”  I could see it from where I was standing!  As far as I know, this was the only apartment building that was right next to CWRU campus.  The only one.  The apartment building is actually closer to campus than the dorms were.  And it was the third one I called.  In fact, it was right across the street from the Biomedical Engineering department where I was going to be taking classes.  But I had no clue about any of that at the time.

 

I picked up my light blue suitcase and walked over to the apartment building.  The landlord showed me the apartment.  It had quite a bit of space.  The rent seemed pretty reasonable from what I could tell from the list I had.  The location seemed pretty good.  And, let’s face it, I was in no position to be picky!  So I said “I’ll take it”.  We sat down to sign the rental agreement.  He went through the details.  I was just glad to finally sit down.  As we were finalizing things, he said, “OK, I’ll need a half month’s rent for August, and then three times the rent for the deposit.” I was in shock.  He was asking me for over $900.  I’d never heard of a "deposit" before, let alone a deposit that amounted to three times the monthly rent!  I had $500 cash and I needed to eat for the next six weeks.  I had no credit cards.  The cash in my pocket was literally all I had (oh, and a nice light blue suitcase).  So...I said the only thing I could say: “Well, I don’t have that much money.” 

 

Instead of sending me on my way, the landlord seemed to take an interest in me.  He thought about it for a minute and then he said, “Well, maybe we can work something out.”  Then he asked me out of the blue “can you fix screens?”  I thought that was a funny question, but actually I had spent many days fixing screens for people back in Iowa.  I said “yes, I can do that.”  He said “Well, I just fired my janitor two days ago, and there are a few things that need to be fixed up before the students come in.  How would you like to work for me for a few weeks until I can hire another janitor?  If you do, then I’ll discount your rent, and I’ll let you pay your deposit spread out over a few months.”  I said “OK – that sounds good to me.”  He asked if I could start right then.  I asked him if it was possible to start the next day since I still needed to go back to the bus station to get the rest of my luggage.  He said “OK – you’ll start tomorrow.”  And so I signed the rental agreement and had a job.  As it turned out, the landlord was a train engineer and he was often gone for one to two weeks at a time.  He had to leave the day after I arrived and was gone for two weeks.  I had no way to contact him.  So, within 24 hours of arriving in Cleveland, I was the "person in charge" of an entire apartment building!

 

I can’t remember how I got back to the Greyhound bus station to get the box with my bicycle that day.  I think I walked back – I’m not sure - but at least I didn't have to bring my light blue suitcase with me!  I do remember that I took a cab from the Greyhound bus station back to CWRU with my bicycle in a box.  I don’t think I’d ever ridden in a cab before.  I heard you were supposed to tip them, but I had no idea how much – so I think I tipped him $20.  He seemed pretty happy!  I was just glad to have all my stuff in one spot.  By then it was the evening and starting to get dark.

 

And - oh - did I tell you that the place I rented was an unfurnished apartment?  I had a stove and a refrigerator – that’s it.  No chair.  No bed.  No table or desk.  Maybe that was a little oversight on my part, but really, I didn’t have much choice.  Like I said, I was in no position to be picky!  However, I was now the janitor of the whole apartment building, and that had two great advantages.  First, I had access to all the extra furniture and so on that people had left behind when they moved out - it was stored in the basement.  Second, I got to meet everyone in the building, and I soon developed a few friends through that job.

 

One of the janitor’s jobs was to show apartments.  My second day in Cleveland, people were coming by and I was showing them apartments!  One student came by with his parents to look at the apartments.  His parents said, “What’s the neighborhood like here?”  I had to say “I have no idea – I’ve only been here one day!”  I’m sure they thought that was strange.

 

My first day on the job, I was able to find a bed and a chair.  Then I helped one of the students move out – he was a dental student from Thailand, and he was going back home to Thailand and only taking a minimum of items from his apartment.  He was nice guy, and he gave me all his dishes and things like that, and he also gave me all his spices.  That was very helpful – and his spices made some great chili!  I don’t think I’ll ever be able to duplicate that chili!

 

Well, that was my first 24 hours in Cleveland!  In my opinion, I experienced supernatural provision.  In short, I experienced a miracle.  It is one of the reasons I believe that the universe consists of more than just physical material.  I'm convinced of it.  You may not agree and you may chalk this all up to foolishness and chance.  But as I’ve thought more about this situation in recent years, I’ve realized that my situation was really much worse than I knew at the time.  For example:

 

1.  I had a list of apartments that I got from the University.  I’m guessing maybe a list of a couple hundred probably.  And, as far as I can remember, the list was in random order.  I don’t remember them being organized by location or price or anything.  What are the odds that the only place I could contact was within walking distance and needed a janitor?

 

2.  It’s 1983.  No cell phones.  I didn’t know anyone anywhere in the area.  So the only phone I could use was a pay phone.  It was at an outside payphone.  Fortunately, it was a sunny day and wasn’t raining.  I had a few quarters, but not hundreds of quarters.  But what are the odds that I would have found a place before I ran out of quarters?

 

3.  I’m not sure exactly what time I started calling.  I remember that the Greyhound bus arrived in Cleveland somewhere around 5-6am (it was still dark).  I had to gather my luggage, wander around downtown a bit trying to find the rapid, and finally walk all the way down Euclid to CWRU.  So I’m guessing it was mid-morning by the time I started calling prospective apartments.  I probably couldn’t call later than 7 or 8pm and still walk to wherever the place would have been.  So I had less than ten hours to find a place to live.

 

4.  If I had had to walk into Cleveland Heights (where most of the apartments on the list would have been) to look at an apartment, and then I had not been able to get it, how would I have made the next phone call?  It would be hard to find a pay phone in a residential area like that.  So, really, I had one shot to get an apartment.

 

5.  I had $500 with me (in traveler’s checks).  And that was absolutely all I had.  I didn’t have a credit card.  I didn’t have a checking account.  My parents didn’t have additional money to give me.  And how was I going to call them anyway – I couldn’t really afford to make a long distance call on a pay phone.  My first paycheck from CWRU (as a graduate assistant) wasn’t going to arrive until the end of September – six weeks from when I arrived.  But I figured $500 was enough to pay for the first month’s rent and eat for six weeks.  Apartments at that time were probably a minimum $150 per month, most were probably in the $200-$300 per month range.  So, from that standpoint, I was fine.  What I never ever considered was the security deposit.  And I don’t know if there was really any way for me to anticipate that everyone in that area wanted three times the first month’s rent for a security deposit (because all the students would skip out over the summer and leave the landlords high and dry).  It was standard practice there.  So, my measly $500 wasn’t even close to enough to get an apartment.  Even at $150 rent, I would have needed $450 for the deposit and at least $200 for rent for August and September.  Interestingly, the fact that I wasn’t even close helped to some extent.  It wasn’t like I had any room to negotiate.  When I sat with the landlord to sign the rental agreement, and he asked for the deposit, all I could say was “I don’t have it”.  If the deposit had been smaller, but had drained my money, I would have paid it and then I wouldn’t have been able to eat until October.

 

6.  Something else to consider.  I had just ridden a bus from Eugene, OR to Cleveland, OH.  That’s a 2 ½ day bus ride.  So, I hadn’t had a shower in almost three days.  I had just walked 100 blocks in the middle of a typical August day, carrying my big light-blue suitcase.  Would you have rented to me??

 

Did this all happen by chance?  I'm convinced it did not.  Of course, if you're just reading this, you have no idea if I'm even telling the truth and, even if it is true, you consider the situation to be random chance.  "Luck" you would call it.  That's fine.  As I've discussed elsewhere in this blog, these events didn't happen to you.  They happened to me so that my belief would be strengthened.  You'll have to experience your own miracle!  I highly recommend it.