- welcome to new day cleveland, i'm natalie herbick, and we are hanging out today highland square. we're basically in the akron area. if you talk to the locals, they'll tell you it's a mile in each direction from west market to highland avenue, but if you talk to the summit county historical society, they'll say it's a much larger area. so while we're not sure of the exact square mileage, we know we love this place. it's artsy. it's eclectic, and it's fun. and we're gonna start today with mr. zubs. doesn't that just sound fun? (upbeat music)

look at all these great sandwiches they have here. before we get to these, the name sound's fun to me, zub's. and i'm guessing sub's i see a lot of great sandwiches. - right. - so why the z? - my parents were foreigners, and as i was growing up, they said everything with an s with a z. so instead of sub it just came out. and they always throw the name mister or missus in front of somebody's name, even though it was their first name. so it just-- - mr. zub's. - my family's been laughing about it since i was a kid, so. - i love it, so there's a fun story behind the name. and the food, these are different types of sandwiches, i must say. and i feel like there something that you would find, like if you were going to someone's house, and they say, "hey, we're gonna make you a good sandwich, "put a good sandwich together for ya." - correct, yeah, that's like gourmet grub kind of style. we try to maximize what we can fit on whatever bread we have, and a lot of people like to customize their sandwiches. they like to add different ingredients from different sandwiches. and since every sandwich is made to order,

laces, you're hesitant to try to change things around. ww encourage it. we want you to create your own. but we have over 40 sandwiches. - so you have over 40 sandwiches, but then you said if someone wants to kind of mix and match, create their own, you can do that, too. - [mario] yeah, like, some of our number one sellers, this is like a hightower. it's a mac and cheese, bacon sandwich. - [natalie] look at that. - and a lot of people will add corned beef to it. our rocky is our number one seller. it's a philly cheese steak. a lot of people will just add bacon or-- - wait, so what, the rocky? so what are these names? - so every sandwich is named after a movie character. - [mario] yeah, we have a ron burgundy sandwich. - [natalie] ron burgundy, ron burgundy sandwich! - so any sandwich, we either try to use the setting or the character or what we think they would like. like for instance, our uncle rico. - which one's that? - this is right here. - [natalie] uncle rico! - it's a roast beef, onion and chive, cream cheese with tater tots on the sandwich and it's on wheat bagel. - looks so good. - and we just felt like that's a sandwich uncle rico would actually want to eat. so we kind of incorporate that, and that's what makes it fun

i mean, there are quite a variety here. i think i would go for that one. - that is a-- - 'cause i see turkey, and i see sprouts. - [mario] that is the duckie. - [natalie] the duckie, okay, so i'm gonna order the duckie. - so it's fresh sprouts, cream cheese. it's jalapeno cream cheese, which we make in house, lettuce tomato and turkey. and our roast beef and turkey are all, like, antibiotic-free, nitrate-free. they're all-natural. - wow, you got the good stuff. - we try to incorporate the best ingredients we possibly can - i like that, and quickly! you get people in and out of here pretty quick. - yeah, we serve about 2,500 a week, easily. - that's a lot. - that's on the low side. - and i know part of it's due to the amazing work of your wife, who i hear is a mean chef back there. - yeah, my wife is killer. yeah, she can make anything out of anything, and she's just, you know, she helps me come up with the creative side of the menu, and we-- - what i really think i like about your place is,

on top of that, though, because you're a full service bar, you can come in for dinner, have some drinks. if you want to bring the kids, you know, you can also do that. - [mario] yup, it' family-friendly. it's late night friendly. we're open 'til 3am. - now what time does the food stop going? - probably 3:30. - really? - yeah (laughs). - you can get, well, you've just got yourself in trouble, probably, with saying that. people are gonna come down here at 3 o'clock. "hey, i have a 12 sandwich order for you." - i mean, on a friday or saturday night, there's a line out the door probably from two to 3:30. - really? they should get a sandwich. so we don't close until the last person gets through. - [natalie] so they're also very friendly, too. that's because you come from a nice big family. - [mario] a nice big family. - [natalie] you know, you're making a ton of food for all of them. you just want to share the wealth with everybody else. - [mario] yeah, it's a cultural thing (laughs). - i like that, you know. it goes a long way with people. i know that it means a lot to people. well, i'm gonna eat. i know i probably made you really hungry now, so come and get some food. and then just a few steps away, you can go to a great place to do a little shopping. it's called revival.

thing. - it's so nice that around here, everybody likes everybody, too. - we're like one big, happy neighborhood here. - i love it! - everyone gets along, yeah. - all right, well, we're gonna head there right now. (upbeat music) - when we came up with the name revival, it was recycling old wardrobes. since we buy used and vintage, it kind of just naturally went with buying new stuff, buying vintage, buying used and like recycling, like the revival of old fashion. i have older vintage, which is it's getting harder to find '50s, '60s, '70s in good condition. that stuff's worth money, and people do ebay it or you know, have it in higher-end vintage stores. but '80s, '90s, tommy hilfiger, i sell all the time to kids, just tommy hilfiger jackets, overalls, stuff like that, if you find it is getting popular now, and you know,

it's already vintage, like what i wore in high school, which is really scary. (upbeat music) i just have women's. we used to carry a lot of men's new stuff, but i'm kind of trying to integrate that back in and find some good lines for men that are affordable. men's stuff tends to be more money. and the guys around here are pretty frugal, which is why i do really well with used and that kind of rock and roll look, like vintage t-shirts and just used jeans and stuff. women will spend more money on clothes, just try to find stuff that's fun, that you wouldn't find in the mall around here. it's fun to find stuff that is a little bit more unique or different. i buy every day. so new and used, i get new stuff in every week, technically. i try to order. i only have small runs of in size runs of clothes, so if it goes, it goes. i change the window out, people see it.

so i have someone selling me something. so there's people who live in the neighborhood that stop by every day or every other day. and then there's people that come by every week. so the new stuff is like pretty much every week, something new coming in, and the used is everyday. i have all kinds of gift, like locally made mugs. you know, my friend's mom has a pottery studio, and i asked her to make ohio and akron mugs. i have candles from sarah sampsell. she's up in cleveland. so those are locally made. i have locally made t-shirts. i have art openings, once a month. so i just have friends or people around here that are looking to show. i'm not a gallery, so i don't take money from them, but it's nice to have art on the walls. there's not really money like working and like walking neighborhoods in akron, like there is in cleveland. i think just the neighborhood is progressing. and like i said, downtown is coming along, but i feel

ng neighborhood, so people live and come to all the establishments around here. and then it's also probably the only neighborhood that people from outside of akron come to, just because there's restaurants and like a movie theater. so i mean, if anything, i would compare it to like gordon square, just not, you know, going at the biggest pace as they did. it's been 12 years of being here and it progressing. great place to shop, and they are open seven days a week. more new day cleveland after this.

- welcome back to new day cleveland, and yes, i am here at highland square and having a great time in akron, just a little bit away from akron. and everyone told me when i came here, rafael, that i should come to angel falls coffee company, a place that's been here how long? - 20 years this year. - 20 years. - yes, sir. - that's right, so you guys been here before the other guys ever got here. - uh, (laughs) yes, kind of. - i got to tell you. walk in this place, too, it smells fantastic as it should, right. - [rafael] well, we do a lot of baking ourselves, and you know, the coffee's a great thing to start. (machine hisses)

isn't there? - yes, that was the intention of the coffeehouse. we don't want a place that people just come in and go, but a place for people to hang out and talk to each other and do things. - [david] yeah, it's like a living room, and we got so many cool, different kinds of style of furniture. you got leather. we have upholstery. we got big tables. we got little tables. and the area where people come up to get their coffee, a lot of choices of things are up there, too. - yeah, it's a good thing. sometimes, too many choices you have, are good, you know. and we want to be eclectic in the furniture and everything, so nothing to be too stuffy and too formal, and that's a good idea for a coffeehouse. - [david] rafael and jim have had this place 20 years. and when i came in here, it smells so great. jim was saying that you guys do a lot of the baking here also. - that is correct, yes. we do baking, and we do lunches in the house. so again, we try to--

and we close at 10 o'clock at night in normal days. and weekends, we open at midnight. so it's long hours, but it pays off. - so i ordered this beautiful latte, which is fantastic. i still don't know how you do the beautiful design now. (rafael laughs) i said well, let's get a coffee for jim, one for rafael. he says, "well, jim might want tea." so do you guys have that? - that's correct. he is a tea-drinker. he never drank coffee in his life. so i'm the coffee person. i was born in venezuela. offee plantations and cocoa plantations. (david grunts) so i knew a little bit of both, and that's what i'm putting here in the coffeehouse. - [david] i think you probably forgot more than most people know. (rafael laughs) - [rafael] i'll try to say yes, but i'm trying to be modest. - yeah, well, i tell ya, it's terrific. so i understand that you guys also keep up with the coffee trends. i mean, things are always changing in what's new, what's hip. like, do you guys keep up with the new york city coffee trends? - yes, you have to.

coast are the first ones to produce the trends, but we try to keep up with that. and yes, we have the latest trends into, not coffee themselves but how to make different drinks. and that's what people want. - [david] yeah, 'cause you hear about the cold brew and all the different kinds of brews. - [rafael] absolutely. - [david] and i see a lot of different types of coffee for sale. so you sell coffee in bulk also? - we're roasters, and we specialize in the organics and first-rate coffees. important for us to, the environment is very important for us, but yes, we roast our own coffees in that we have varieties from all over the world, yeah. - [david] and a terrific selection of teas. so many things to talk about. you wouldn't think so in a coffee shop. you know, you get the coffee. you get the tea. you get some bakery or whatever. it's great, and i tell ya, if you're here the right time of year, the garden you guys keep up next door is fantastic, great place to sit in the little area up there

- and as you see the front, the front is all tile. and that was a local artist from university of akron, and they did the whole design, the front design for us, too. so we're trying to put art in the square and trying to be an anchor very much in the square, too. - angel falls coffee, these guys have been here 20 years, fantastic place, check it out. i can finally have a sip of my coffee. i don't want to mess it up, because it was so beautiful. and from here, we're gonna keep up our show. to a place called birchwood supply company. you ever hear of 'em? - yes. - check it out. (upbeat music) - birchwood supply company is, it's something for me that's been unknowingly growing in me for the last probably four or five years. and for me, it's always been a community. it's always been relationships. it's a store, it's retail.

we sell my design work. we sell some other local makers in northeast ohio. you know, i'm not trying to one-up somebody. we've got other shops in the neighborhood, you know, and a lot of people will talk about competition. none of us, i think, view it as competition. i'm a cog in the wheel. and that's just in community. you know, that's just in life in general. the personality of the store is me. you know, it's a manifestation of me. i've poured, i can't even begin to tell you how much time i've poured into this place. w hard i've made my life by just completely redoing the shop, you know, and having it set up, and i like it, but then i see one little thing, and then it's just a snowball effect from there, and everything gets changed. people ask me, you know, what are you looking for? what are you, how are you getting all your stuff? what's going on? and i just say it's whatever comes across my path. it's whatever i see and whatever i like and then have an opportunity in this awesome kind of space

hat's coherent. that maybe putting a handful of things together that you don't think maybe are related, and they all just play off each other. you know, it's almost going back to the early 1900s, pre- and post-world war ii, just working with your hands. i only work from reclaimed material, and i save material. that can be wood. that can be old industrial pieces. that can be anyting. there's no limit. i started out doing lighting and just playing around with pendants, you know, the old, insulated glass. those tell the story, you know. like, those lineman, i mean, those guys, you talk about grizzled. that's what you get. i think people can register when somebody cares about what they do. i think being a small business owner, i think people are receptive to that. i've poured everything i am into this place, and i will continue to.

i completely went in a totally different direction. at the end of the day, i want to give value to people's lives, 'cause this brings value to my life. this fulfills me. this is, you know, i love doing this. and i just want to give that piece back to somebody. (upbeat music) - jason says he's gonna keep the richard's florists sign on the building, because it is an iconic landmark. more new day cleveland coming up right after the break.

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- welcome back to new day cleveland, it's our very special road trip to highland square. highland square is in akron. and i found a place that's only been open a short while. hello, william, how are you doing? - hi there, good. - it's called the steam trunk. - steam trunk. - and when i came in here, there's a smell in the air. - [william] so it's a mixture of candles and like scented oil and kind of a conglomeration of different things. - just let me tell you, folks, this is a cool spot. we go to a lot of places on new day cleveland, and this is like a funky boutique that sort of lends itself to the man's side. - yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, so men's boutique is perfect way to describe it. it's eclectic, so i have like antiques, cigars, men's clothing, kind of a good mixture.

i usually like to antique a lot, so i come in here, and i see a whole bunch of really great things that are obviously antiques. then i see some stuff that's like lightly used, like in the clothing department. - [william] yeah, yeah, so we have a lot of gently used, is what i like to call it, and then some new items as well. - that's a mossman shoe right there, right? - [william] yeah. - what do you think, huh? - nice, nice boots. yeah, yeah, so we've got, yeah, nice leather shoes, leather boots, good mixture, leather belts. - mm-hmm. - yeah. - we were in here just a few seconds, and our producer runs to the back and sees a man's shirt back there, and goes like, "this is really 20?" (william laughs) like he said, "it's a great price." - [william] yeah, yeah, well, you know what? i want to keep it reasonable. you know, maybe make a little bit, but keep it reasonable. i want people to come back, which is obviously important. - so we see that, and then we see jewelry like this. now what's the story on some of this stuff? - jewelry, so actually just local-made, a lot of my stuff. my goal is to source as local as i can with items. i do some ordering online, but this is a local,

- [david] yeah, it's great. - yeah, i've got some lights that are local-made as well. - it's sort of a cozy place, too. i see a lot of great things in here, and it's all packed together so no matter where you look, it's sort of rich for the eyes. i mean, you fill up the eyes in a hurry. but i like your little humidor here. - yeah, so you know, lined it with cedar. i've got a pretty good selection of cigars so far. but yeah, it was a fun project. - i saw a bench out front that looked like a bench i might have seen in an old barber shop somewhere. - yeah, you know what? i don't know what that bench is. - [david] yeah, it's like leather and chrome. - [william] leather and chrome. - [david] yeah. - [william] yeah. - [david] great stuff. - [william] yeah, yeah, thank you. - so let's look around a little bit here. where do you think this maybe came from? - so you know what? i was told that this is an old bachelor's desk. - perfect for a men's boutique. - right, yeah, so i kind of feel that with bar-type products, some of it vintage, some of it not. some lights and stuff. - so you drink this yourself, or this is-- (william laughs) - no, i did not, no.

so this must be a rare bottle, huh? - no, i haven't heard of it either. yeah, definitely an old bottle, definitely vintage, i would say. - i used to watch this show, as the world turns. - [william] yeah (laughs). - that's a good one, huh? - it is a good one. that was good. - so what's your favorite stuff? how'd you get-- - pretty witty. - when'd you start collecting your stuff first? - you know what? i grew up with my family collecting, so it was always a part, i guess, of who i was. and i love to do this. i love, again, the idea of just mixing eclectic together. - [david] you're mixing it together, man. can i pull this out? - yeah, of course. - [david] look at this. - [william] a little bit of croquet. - [david] vintage croquet. - [william] yeah, right. - so that'd be a great gift, you know, for somebody that used to play or wants to play or brand new. how about the, is there a story on the motorcycle? - [william] yeah, you know what? it's a 1975 cafe kawasaki. it's a buddy of mine's. needs a little bit of work, but it looks good in here. - so you got all the arts. so you got the motorcycle. i see you got some backpack for it.

- [william] yeah. - we got the leather jacket. we got the shoes. we got some boots. get a cigar and ride out of here. - right, we can outfit you from head to toe. (david laughs) and throw in some antiques. - his name is william tomlinson and a lot of fun, only been here a short time. and we're on the corner of what? how would you describe your location? - we're almost on the corner of south highland and west market? - yeah, so when you get to that area, you got to look down the street about one or two buildings, and he's right there nestled at the end. and i tell you walk in here, it's like you feel like you've discovered all this treasure yourself. u. - [william] that's a fun process. - [david] yeah, and great prices. - [william] thank you. - terrific stuff, okay, italian food, do you like italian food? - love italian food. - there's, right around the corner, there's fine italian food and guess what? some good, old-school ice cream, too. (upbeat music) - i've owned mary coyle's for 28 years, and i had trecaso's restaurant down by the university, and i had both for 10.

and that's one of the biggest questions. is your pizza the same as it was 40 years ago? and i joke around and say no, but it is. it's the same. the ice cream's the same. people want to come in and get the same thing all the time. we have a featured flavor, one, it might be, you know, for two days, three days, or it could be here a week, depending on how popular it is. - what's so special about it? i make it here. and it's good. have you ever had, have you ever had the privilege of getting ice cream out of the machine? it's completely different than getting soft-serve or getting hard-pack or anything like that. you got to taste it to understand what i'm talking about. - well, my grandma showed me how to do this and my aunt, who was my godmother and my mother.

make a sheet pizza and a mushroom pizza, yuck. i mean, i like mushrooms now, but when you're a kid, you didn't. and when you came home from school, the dough was in a stainless bowl in front of the fireplace with a towel over it. well, my son came back two-and-a-half years ago. so it's taken a big burden off of me. so now he can work 100 hours, and i don't have to work 100. i can only work, i can work 70 if i want. i worked there for six-and-a-half years. i wanted to be my own boss, wanted to have my own place to call my own, and i just realized that even working there, even if i got the sous position and moved up to be the chef partner, it still wasn't mine. i wanted to be what it was back in the day,

or something like that, there's no need to change it. we're running with the square pizza, 'cause anybody that took geometry knows if you have a rectangle, and you have squares, they fit in a lot better than circles. - and it's eight-inch square, six pieces. that's the only kind we have. and then when they ask is it thick crust, or what kind of crust is it? and i says it's my crust. (laughs) you want a fresh meatball, you gonna get it every time. we don't put 'em, like everybody puts them in their sauce or puts them in a thing of hot water, which will either dry out or get super soggy. and ours are like they just came out of the oven. and you notice the difference. - my kids have a lot of fun here. they work a lot. and they do a great job. they really do.

- trecaso mary coyle, fine italian also has those great old-time, eight-inch square pizzas, plus don't forget, 38 flavors of ice cream. and of course, there's more new day cleveland coming up right after the break.

you know, josh, a little birdie told me that if you want to come here and really enjoy a good breakfast, wally waffle is the place to come. is this true? - yeah, the birdie has good taste, i guess. (natalie laughs) - so when you look at this place, and you're walking outside, you think, "man, it is going to be waffles galore." now you do have a lot of different items on the menu, but clearly your signature is waffles. - yeah, it's waffles. so we've got a bunch. ning our pumpkin waffle. it's that time of year. and our turtle waffle is our other specialty waffle. and a lot of people like our elvis waffles, too, so. - so when it comes to the waffles that we find on your menu, are a lot of them mainstays? i know you have some seasonal things, but mainstays, what are the ones that we can't live without here? - yeah, the mainstays are just kind of your classic

buckeye waffle, that's a mainstay. that's peanut butter and chocolate chips, so kind of honoring the buckeyes, you know. - there you go. - so those are some mainstays that will always be there, aside from our ones that we rotate in and out. - so this is, i know you have two locations? - yup. - one in tallmadge. - we got one in tallmadge that my brother owns. - one here. - yup, and i'm here. - who started this whole thing? - my grandfather and his brother in 1975 started wally waffles. - sorry, which ones do you suggest us, right now? - yeah, we can do the ones that we talked about. - so you already named, okay, you nailed this, all right. so wait, let me guess. let's try to guess these, based on what you said. thank you so much for bringing those in for us. - [josh] okay. - [natalie] oh, i'm gonna be thrown off. that has bananas on it, but is it a banana waffle? - [josh] this is the elvis waffle. - [natalie] that's the elvis waffle, which makes sense, 'cause you have bananas. - [josh] that's right. that's the take on his sandwich there. it goes very well with the waffle. this is our pumpkin waffle.

- [natalie] mm. - [josh] and then the turtle waffle, chocolate, pecan and caramel, like a traditional turtle-- - [natalie] desert, yes. (josh laughs) that would be right up my alley, first of all, to begin with, let alone the fact that you put it into a breakfast treat. i mean, what more could you ask for? so what was the whole, now your grandfather, i know, you said started this, 1975. - 75, yup. - he wanted to come up with just a cool waffle place, or what was the deal? - yeah, well, he had a few business interests, k that him and his brother just kind of had something that they, you know, were kind of passionate about and had the ability to do it, so they went on it together, and it was a big success. - and who doesn't love a good waffle, right? - i don't know. - and the good part about this is, yes, you can come here for breakfast, but you could get breakfast all day long here. - [josh] that's right, full menu all day, open 'til 9pm, so. - it's really good.

ple come in do they get other things on the menu, because these are so darn good. i don't know why you would even want to try anything else. - a lot of people just get, you know, sort of a normal egg and toast breakfast and that and then kind of get a waffle on the side. so that's normal, too. - [natalie] so they can't stay away from the waffle, no matter what. - [josh] yeah, that happens a lot. - i love that it's a family business. i love that you, you know, you're right in the heart here of highland square. it's a great place to come to get the breakfast food. now i just got to try one more bite. what's your favorite? - oh, man, (laughs) egg white omelets. (josh laughs) - well, i'm here every day, so you know, i could get in a lot of trouble if i ate waffles every day. you know what i mean? - i'll give you that, i'll give you that. once you're used to seeing something all the time-- - that's right. - you might need a break. - yeah. - can you also get omelets here, though, then too? - yeah, we got four-egg omelets, and we got a pretty large selection of those, too. - [natalie] so for whatever reason, if you're a bit cuckoo, and you don't want to try one of these, there's plenty of other options. - [josh] that's right. - josh, thank you so much, and thank you for putting that one on your menu. when i come back, that's what i'm getting every time.

all right, now to a place that has some of the most beautiful bouquets. i'm talking every blooming thing. (bright piano music) - we're a little different floral shop. we specialize in european wrap style bouquets, and then we also offer several different gift and plant items as well. we wanted to incorporate house plants and succulents, are items that they can be successful with long-term. it's a little different than the traditional floral shop, so those customers are starting to see that and get excited about not only the flower options but the plants and gift items as well. people have been very receptive to it. several compliments and lots of talk through the neighborhood and all the local businesses

each other because of that excitement that's being generated. we have a cooler full of individual stems that customers can come in, and it kind of creates a feel of an old-fashioned european flower market. so we can pick stem-by-stem, and i can help them create a bouquet that is to their liking, and then we can wrap it either european style, which is ready to drop in a vase or flower market style, t a cluster of flowers that we wrap in tissue, cellophane and craft paper. we're gonna make a european wrap style bouquet. so this is a bouquet that the customer can unwrap and drop right into a vase. it's already arranged, just wrapped up. well, after we choose the flowers, i would clean them to assemble them. you clean that so there's just the stem that is taking

but a good bouquet will last for sure a week, if not a week-and-a-half to two weeks, depending on the flowers themselves. from this point, we can start assembling the actual bouquet. and we have, you know, some unique filler flower and then some of your more prominent flower. so again, the goal here is to assemble the bouquet so that the customer just has to unwrap it for this bouquet, for example, the focus is the sunflowers. but traditionally, it could be, you now, stargazer lilies or something like that. there's always a feature, and then there's everything else. so if you put too much, you can start to lose that feature flower. from this point, we'll cut the stems to an appropriate length for a vase. so this would be a bouquet that's ready to drop down

into a uniform form there. and from this point, the customer can take this and unwrap and drop right into a vase, ready to go. you can get our flowers by special order or simply stopping in and ordering them and coming back if it's something that's a little larger piece. or we can make it right here with you. right on the floor in front of the customer. so they're able to sit and talk or watch while you make their piece right with you. we want this to be a experience where you can come in and not only get flowers but also pick up that hostess gift or that perfect gift for someone, whether it's a birthday, anniversary, anything.

ece that they're like, "i've never seen anything like this." you know, they are so excited to take that, whether it's for themselves or for someone else, to take that home to give it to someone. - [natalie] stay tuned for more of our road trip after the break. (upbeat music)

y249my yixy - welcome back to new day cleveland. yes, we are in highland square in akron, a beautiful, little eclectic area, and we're going to a place now that's got square, and it's called square records. dave, we've met before. - that's right, how ya doing? - how long ago was that? - i think it was about four, four-and-a-half years ago maybe. - so how has the store changed in four, four-and-a-half years? - we've grown a little bit since then. i mean, the shop is still in the same location, but we've added a lot more stuff. we have a lot more used records than we used to, a lot more new records, more records in general. and we've kind of phased, not totally phasing out compact discs, but it's all about vinyl right now. and so we're giving people what they want. - there you go. so that's what i wanted to ask you. i remember four years ago, you told me like, the vinyl things is gonna get bigger, man. it's gonna get better. i guess it has, huh?

riod of time where people were saying like vinyl's coming back. so now i think it's kind of come back, you know. it's where it is right now. it may be at its peak or its plateau, i don't know, but enough people are really into it. it keeps the store going. we've been here 13 years now. so, you know, we're just gonna keep on doing what we do. - i tell you, the greatest thing about this, for me, every time i come into a store that sells this sort of thing, and four years ago, the same thing happened to me, but you come in a place like this, and you pick up an album cover, - yeah. - and not only do you have the song and the album in your hands, but it brings back a history, doesn't it? - sure, yeah, yeah, it's a lot of history, a lot of memories people have in records, you know. people bring in records to sell to us all the time, and it's always sort of like bittersweet, i feel like, for them. they're kind of bringing their records in, and it's, you know, a big piece of them and a lot of memories associated with music through the years. so yeah, you don't get that necessarily with an mp3. you're not gonna get nostalgic over looking

avid laughs) - i love that. - so yeah, i think, you know, there's a lot of reasons people buy vinyl, but that's a big one. it evokes feelings and memories in people that you don't get from the digital side of things. - is that where you get all your stuff from people who are selling their collection? - generally, we'll go out and buy collections from people. people will bring records in to me off the street. the records you're looking at here, that's a repress of a johnny cash record, but you know, the classic records get reissued, and you know, people still buy new copies of those. this section in the middle here is all new records and reissues. so even new artists are putting stuff out on vinyl, like they have been for the past 15, 20 years. - [david] do you have 45s also? - [dave] we have plenty of 45s, yeah. - [david] what's a 45? let's show them what a 45 is. - well, actually we got some right here. - a lot of people think we're talking about a pistol, right now, or a gun. - yeah, just a smaller record here, and it's usually got two or three songs on it. - [david] here's one here. look at this.

- yeah, yeah, you need a spacer for that, so you can adapt it and put it on your turntable. we've got-- - your turntable, what's a turntable? (laughs) - i get these questions a lot actually. (david laughs) and we've got some old akron records even. these were made in akron in the '70s and '80s, human switchboard and teacher's pet, tin huey, the waitresses. these were kind of like popular new wave punk bands in the '70s and '80s that we still have copies of here that are, you know, specific to this area. they were pretty popular regionally. - this will blow your mind, right here, huh? at that. and for you old timers out there, how about a little frank sinatra songbook? i sort of like that one. highland square, i mean this is growing and growing, too. there's some new places to visit here, and there's a place down the street i want to check out. you might have to help me with this. it's gypsy grace and the tipsy what? - gypsy grace & the vintage goat. - the vintage goat, see i knew i needed some help. check it out. (upbeat music) - highland square area is the perfect fit

people can expect when they walk in to probably get out of their comfort zone a little bit, and be engaged. the essence of the store is more, retro's a good word, vintage is a good word, repurposed is a good word to describe it. weird junk is an amazing word to describe it. we never know what we're gonna have. - well, this is our little work station back here. and people like quirky things, and what's good for us is we make a lot of lights, because we need lighting in our shop. it's kind of dark in here, so we make lots of different lighting. if we're kind of slow, we're back here working. we'll just walk out to the middle of the shop somewhere, grab something, bring it back, take it apart, rewire it, wire it up to be a lamp, or turn it into something else.

take it apart, cut it apart. we get some pieces that, you know, lamp parts, and we drill it out, put a switch in it, put it back together, throw some cool, old bulbs in there, and we end up with like a lamp that looks kind of like a microphone, you know, much more attractive, much more utility. you can get, you know, some use out of it than to have this sitting on your desk and people love 'em. they look good. - we do a lot of custom work. we have a lot of people that come in and have a specific space that they need to fill. a lot of them live in old homes in this area, and so there's very limited space on some things. and they want to put a desk or a shelf, and they can't find that shelf. and they've been looking for a year. they come in, and we tell 'em if they show us a picture,

t comes to building. we have all the materials and the skills to do it. - i love old vehicles. i have a rat rod and build motorcycles and do a lot of fabrication work, and that was something that we had. we just cleaned it up, scuffed it up, put some clear on it, kept that nice patina, and we put a couple of lights in it, hung it on the wall. it's great decor, you know. people love it. you won't see those out anywhere anymore. of the first things they're kind of drawn to. - when people walk in, we want them to immediately be comfortable. and we want them, when they leave, actually we like people to sign our door. and so we put chalk paint all around the door, and we have people who come and sign it, and i take pictures of them when they're laying on the ground signing it. but we want them to say they're gonna be back is the main goal, and we have our faithful people

nd you're here forever. - oh yeah, that place is a lot of fun, and just remember they're open thursday through sunday. more new day cleveland right after the break.

- welcome back to our road trip here in highland square. do you remember at the beginning of the show i said we weren't quite sure of the borders here? well, this next stop is right on the edge, right on the cusp, but it is definitely worth the visit. it's called chop and swizzle, and let me tell you their craft cocktails, delicious. z music) - if you walk into chop and swizzle, you won't see a lot of people buried in their phones. it's meant to be a social room where people meet new people. they have great conversation, listen to some great old swing music, a little bit of jazz. you know, eventually, we'll be incorporating

when our generations grew up, we grew up in only thinking bars were the sports bars, the dive bars. you know, back in the day, people didn't go to bars like that. this is where our cocktail bars, where people savor their drinks, enjoyed a great cocktail. i'm the head cocktailer. you know, chef dick is obviously the chef here. i specialize personally in the early '20s to the early '40s. you'll see some prohibition. you'll also see a lot of polynesian as well. u know, later down the road had a generic term tiki attached to it. but when people think of tiki, they actually think of overly fruity and sugary cocktails. you know, back in the 1940s, it never was like that. they were actually very citrusy, very boozy, very eventful, flavorful cocktails. the 1920s sidecar is my favorite cocktail. it incorporates cognac. i prefer the 1738 cointreau and a little bit

well-balanced cocktails of all time. - so we're gonna do, you know, small plates, kind of bar snacky food but upscale. a little bit of, we got tacos going on right now, short rib tacos with local ramps. they got a little bit of local micro-greens here as well, some spring carrots, hot sauce, a queso fresco, and some fried hominy. here you go, aaron. - [aaron] thank you, chef. - no problem. we're about to plate up our chicken and waffles, too, as well. d waffles has been our best-selling dish since we opened here. we kind of sell, i'd say 30 orders of chicken and waffles every night. our menu kind of changes all the time. i like to change things from time to time, so you don't just get used to the same old thing. so, you know, i always try to have three or four favorites. like our cheese plate and our meat plate sell really, really well. we make all our own jams, jellies, pickles. so everything you see is, you know, from scratch made by us. so anything that we can get to the people here,

ve people enjoy it, it's a blessing. you know, and it also speaks to what we just talked earlier is, you know, there is a market for this. and people are dying and were looking for something like this. and us being as busy as we are, it just shows you that akron is ready for this. - everybody's loving everything from what we, you know, from what we put out so far. akron deserves somewhere to eat as well as drink, and we want to be food to match the cocktails, n the city. - well, i've got my angel falls coffee. i've got all beans. i've got it ground up. let's see, back here, i've got a cigar from the steam trunk. you know, we told you it was an eclectic neighborhood, highland square. well, now you know why we called it just that. a whole bunch of stuff here, just a couple blocks. it's in akron. it's at the corner of west market and highland drive, highland square, a great time and a lot of fun. and where's natalie? chowing down, right down the street, here at highland square.

next new day cleveland. so long.

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