Cleveland Art

This review is for Cleveland Art as a special events venue, and not as a furniture store. Cleveland Art is in the new Arts District, which seem to consist of a few blocks of restaurants, bars, lofts, and a design school. Unfortunately, it is also close to Skid Row, so be careful when travelling here at night.
I was here for a party, and the assortment of high end junk/​art added to the hip factor. There was an odd assortment of furnishings, from a rusty $ 4,000 tandem bike to ten pound irons. There is definitely a lot of items that catch the eye, which made the party cool and memorable.

Sold me a broken $ 400 lamp and wouldn’t offer a refund, only a totally different lamp of equal value. Are you kidding me? We were going to buy so much more for a business we are starting… not anymore.

Don’t buy at the store. Go to the Rose Bowl on the first Sunday of the month and pretty much everything in the store is on display there for ½ price. Seriously — in September we bought 3 of those hand blown pendant lights for $ 400 each and saw them 3 weeks later for $ 200 each. When I asked why, I was told the rent is high… hmmm…I didn’t like that answer.

Industrial waste?
Factory flotsam?
Warehouse junk?
Not if you ask the folks around here. ‘Round here, it’s called artful furnishings.
Cleveland Art is a veritable cornucopia of vintage industrial furniture, lighting and antiques filling an industrial building in an industrial area of soon-​to-​be-​gentrified-​if-​the-​economy-​improves south LA (downtown).
My bf had been invited to the Grand Opening and he saw fit to ask if I’d like to join him. I agreed to drive if he navigated (see my Urth Caffee review to see how successful he was (winky winky) and provided «shotgun security» through the potentially mean streets of a forgotten section of LA (John Wayne he is not but the shotgun looked intimidating enough (I jest) and we made it without a scratch).
I’m more into the esoteric world of fine surf art and graphics but I must admit that I found many items worthy of setting my skinny ass onto (heavy steel tables and chairs), tactile touching of thick glass lighting (probably nuclear indestructible) and imagining how protected my paltry collection of jewelry might be in one of the awesome metal-​clad storage containers. This Grand Opening also features the b&w 70’s photography of Bob Aisley, whose imagery may take you back a few years if you survived those heady days of LA. (Thank God those days are over… it wasn’t till the next decade that I got pregnant).
This stuff was not for me but if you appreciate industrial-​strength neo-​art furnishings, then this is the place for you! And while you’re here meandering this unusual oasis of industrial downtown, check out «Loft Appeal» for incredible discounts on home furnishings and since you might now be hungry, dine or catch cup of coffee at Urth Caffee. Your dog is welcome here but leave the 12 gauge in the car (I jest again).