Candy Cane Cruise on Clifton 
Do you have what it takes? Cruisin' Times Magazine does!
Cruisin' Times Magazine has cruised in their '29 Ford roadster (which has no heat, no windows, no fenders!) and had a great time.
Read the PDF version of ttheir Candy Cane Cruise on Clifton adventure from their blog "Johnny's Cruisin' Chronicles".
Story and photos were posted Crusin' Times' blog in late 2008.
December 5, 2008
Winter Adventure #3, by John Shapiro
I would say, December 3, 2008 will go down in my Cruisin' Chronicles as the night we earned our
Cruisin' Winter Roadster Wings, as group of us took our roadsters and participated in the first ever
Candy Cane Cruise, on Clifton Blvd, between Lakewood and Cleveland.
We received a post card promoting the first ever Candy Cane Cruise and thought, sure what the heck
let's take my wife's roadster out one more time (Dec 3rd). She said, "What!" I said, "It'll be fun and
there's shopping!" (good boy). Sooooo with 2 layers of sweat shirts, scarf, snow mobile suit, hand
warmers and leather hats, (we don't have heat, wipers, windows, fenders or a hood) ... we then hastly tie
wrapped two strings of battery powered Christmas lights (see above pic strung between the grille and
the windshield) ... we cruised out along Lake road with only a bit of rain hitting the windshield which
quickly converted to a large spray of water spewing from our rear wheels that kicked up a beautiful
rooster tail spray totally emercing passerby windshields!! I love a good time. Isn't wasn't long before
we made the scene (jelly bean) at the Candy Cande Cruise to the amazement of on lookers which
amazes me the kind of comments like: "Aren't you afraid those old engines are gonna blow up!" or
"Do those things have brakes?" I just couldn't bring myself to tell 'em the truth.
First stop was registertration at Don's Lighthouse Restaurant, getting what was to become the Best
Goodie Bag we've ever gotten - check these things out: $10 dollar gift certif to the Liquid Planet; Buy
One get the 2nd at half price at the Asian Grille, Buy One get one at half price at the Diner on Clifton
(which we used); $5. gift certificat at Papa Nicks Pizza, skyline of Cleveland key chain from Clifton
Web and a gift certificate to Don Lighthouse just to name a few! When was the last time that
happened? Usually it's duck tape and a parts catalog.
Although only 33 cars participated (which is probably 30 more than I honestly thought would venture
out), it was pretty neat seeing hot rods and collector cars, out and about in nasty weather. Interestly,
the back drop of all the Christmas lights and wet streets made for some cool pictures (above thanks to
CT photog Bruno Z).
Next year the Candy Cane Cruise will allow any old cars, convertibles, coupes, sedans, whatever (any
year too). And although it wasn't the kind of cruise we are all used to, it only went for a few blocks, it
was lots of Christmas fun and you know me, whether there's 100 cars or 10, I'm gonna have fun and
eat!
Unique Shopping
We stopped along the way we visited a couple of shops along Clifton that included one of the most
unusual shops (see pic above which is so packed with stuff it'll take 45 minutes to go through it)
It's called "Flower Child" - but don't be misled by it's 70's name - it's not just 70's but 60's, 50's and is
loaded with vintage artifacts, cool clothes, old records (33 1/3 and 45's), funky funiture and make sure
you go downstairs - you will get lost in the basement - it's a true time warp as you can see from the
picture. Next door is Clifton Web. (see pic below) as owner Mike stood outside for a snap shot to some
people who couldn't believe we actually drove those "old cars"!
But not before recommending the Diner on Clifton (he must have heard my stomach rumbling)... on the
corner of 117th and Clifton for one of the best meals we've had in a long time.
Diner Chow-down time
I've passed the Diner on Clifton at least 100 times and thought "ya know, one of these days I'm gonna
stop in, but never have until tonite". I'll say, lately I've been eating in some real good diners - I might
write a book! Seriously, it's was great and I had my choice between Chicken Pot Pie and Shepards Pie,
I took the later and glad I did, excellent. Their dinners, sandwiches and desserts are great and
affordable.
Did I mention dessert... this is the piece of carrot cake we attempted to eat. Note the size as it sits next
to a regular coffee cup - $3.50!
Well, the Candy Cane Cruise is now history, but you can visit the shops and eateries along the short
few blocks just East of 117th street. Then think about participating next year.
As always, I invite you to "cruise" through our website, it's updated very often... always check the
CRUISE NEWS button upper left for all of the latest news, then be sure to click the flamed READ
MORE box to take you deeper into the website. There's more "Cruisin' Chronicles" below.....
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