Beachland Ballroom Celebrates The Plaza Apartments: Cleveland's "Chelsea Hotel"

A great story in The Cleveland Plain Dealer.

""I grew up at the Plaza. It's where I became an adult," said Ravenstine. "I was a kid from the suburbs. When we bought this inner-city building in the red light district in 1969, we did everything from paint to carpentry. When the building was first built, it had 24 apartments. When we bought it in a land contract, there were 48 apartments. We tried to restore it unit by unit."

Bloomquist, who now restores historic buildings in Savannah, Ga., said his involvement in the Plaza spanned from 1969 to 1985. "There were several hundred people that called the building home during those years," he said.

"There were scores of wonderful community dinners, insipid and treacherous burglars. Innocence was lost, and there were raucous outrageous parties. Families were formed and raised, there were tragic early deaths of close friends. But music, art and life were in joyful abundance all the time," he said."