Every now and then I’ll do a “flyover” of the neighborhood. It can reveal some interesting details that a lifetime here hasn’t otherwise made known.
For instance, this view of the area surrounding Cumberland Park offered an intriguing bare spot, just west of the pool, through the otherwise dense canopy of trees.
On closer inspection – which is as easy as a mouse-click – it showed a secret tennis center sandwiched between back yards in one of the city’s oldest residential blocks.
In the block bounded by Somerton, Radnor, Hampshire and Superior roads are three tennis courts. I asked asked a friend who once lived on Radnor about it.
She didn’t have a lot of detail, as she’s not a tennis player. But the courts are clay, and one of her sons swept them as his first summer job. They are run as a co-op and are accessed from a path at the end of one of the driveways.
The same photo also reveals that Cumberland’s wading pool looks like Mickey Mouse.
Flying at a higher altitude shows the extraordinary number of golf courses that exist in a relatively small area here.
Cleveland Heights and University Heights are at the geographic center of 5 private clubs and one public course. That doesn’t include Oakwood, which closed 3 years ago, and the short-lived Euclid Golf Club course, which closed 99 years ago after only about a decade of operation. The old club-house, I’ve been told, is now a private home on Derbyshire near Norfolk.
If you’re waiting for a point or a punchline I’m afraid you’ll be disappointed – except that you can lose hours this way.
That ‘secret tennis center’ is the Cleveland Heights Tennis Club; a private club, welcoming and open to new members; secrecy is more a result of location. CHTC has three spectacular red-clay courts and one grass court. Recent weather trends permit outdoor play 8 months out of the year. Typically, Friday afternoons finds members, and other interested persons, playing an open-doubles pick-up format with fruit, cheese, and more on the sidelines. Rich Hagar, one of the owners, can answer any questions at AndreHager@yahoo.com.
Thanks for the clarification. I didn’t mean to imply anything negative and am glad to have more information about it. It’s a very cool location. And whether it’s really a secret, it is definitely one of those secret-like things that I love to discover about my community.
Bob,
Thanks for linking to our web site about Euclid Golf (www.euclidgolf.com). The history geek in me causes me to quibble–the Euclid Club’s clubhouse was located approximately where the corners of Cedar, Norfolk and Derbyshire are now. The clubhouse is not now a private home. It is long gone, and there are houses (and a parking lot) on the site presently.
Thanks for blogging on this interesting topic!
Again, I appreciate the correction. That’s what happens when one does research from the best of their recollections.