Cleveland Ohio's "Flats" Area

Cleveland's 1996 Bicentennial brought wonderful new vistas to the Cleveland Flats area, namely the permanent lighting of the many bridges. This photographer was fortunate to meet the lighting designer, Ross De Alessi, the Monday night after the big gala celebration. Actually, he was standing around me at Besquil 1 while I was complaining about the lights on Besquil 2. Oh well, he assured me that the lighting captured the ghosts of the old bridge. You know, I suppose he's right. The Besquil 2's original lighting program featured the bridge bathed in intense red light every half hour. Other program events include a series of high pressure water vapor releases with a blinking light sequence. Rumor has it that the original plans called for a flame to shoot out of the bridge top, but boat freight operators thought otherwise as they might not of been able to handle that sight in their face. The first version of the Conrail bridge is rather lame, due mostly to a reluctance on Conrail's part for much flare. Rumor has it that might change though:-). -rich

1B-
Steel Ghost (Besquil 1)
Accepted to the 1995 FreeTimes "Faces of Cleveland" exhibition

2B-
Swing Bridge

2B-
Flats Bicentennial Party (Besquil 2)

3B-
Rock Bottom Brewery World Series 95

Cleveland Flats Symphony