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From the 1920s through the 1950s, Cleveland was an industrial powerhouse and, at one point, the fifth largest city in the country. The migration of heavy industry abroad, the white flight of the 50s and 60s, and the city’s 1978 financial default under then-mayor, and recent presidential candidate, Dennis Kucinich, eventually saddled Cleveland with the painful nickname “the mistake on the lake.” That mistake is now being vigorously corrected. The research division of The Economist recently ranked Cleveland among the top ten cities for business travel, based on factors including per diem cost, convenience, culture, and meeting venues.

For a city in the blustery Midwest, Cleveland boasts a remarkably weather-resistant airport. In 2005, the worst winter in Cleveland’s history, Cleveland Hopkins International (a hub for Continental Airlines) had the best on-time departure record of any airport in the U.S. Easy to navigate and whimsically decorated with hanging sculptures of enormous paper planes, the airport is less than 30 minutes from downtown Cleveland via light rail link. If you’re thinking of renting a car during your stay, consider the fact that Cleveland has remarkably little traffic congestion for a major city, and that, unfortunately, its public transit infrastructure is patchy at best.

Unlike the many Midwestern cities that have become over-polished and chain-store genericized in their efforts to become “cosmopolitan,” Cleveland has more in common with Baltimore, retaining a welcome measure of grit and quirkiness to maintain a singular identity even as it embraces a new era.

Terry Shook, who used to work as a Continental flight attendant while running his gift and novelty business Kitsch City on the web, has taken advantage of affordable storefronts to ground his airline career and try his hand at full-time retailing in Cleveland’s emerging Detroit Shoreway neighborhood. Two doors down from Kitsch City, partners Scott Suskowicz and Tim Kempf have opened the trendy DuoHome boutique, where they’re able to sell high-design housewares for about 25% less than the same items sell for on the east and west coasts. The Lesbian/Gay Community Center of Cleveland is just across the street, and an art house cinema is scheduled to open down the block next year.

When it comes time to book your hotel, Cleveland’s most upscale accommodations (rarely costing more than $250 a night in this remarkably affordable city) include the InterContinental Hotel, a gleaming sci-fi mothership of a building surrounded by handsome brick remnants of 20th-century industry, and directly adjacent to the Cleveland Clinic. In addition to its location less than a mile from the University Circle museums and a quick drive to other major cultural attractions, the InterContinental’s pluses include a sauna that’s open 24 hours, a business center with free printer access, and the superslick, modernist Table 45, voted one of Esquire magazine’s top 20 new restaurants last year. One downside: daily fees for in-room wireless—a serious faux pas for a business-driven hotel.

Other recommended accommodations include the Wyndham at Playhouse Square, which scores big points for a round-the-clock indoor pool and walking proximity to eight performance venues hosting everything from touring Broadway shows (cast members often stay at the Wyndham) to music headliners to avant-garde local productions. For travelers seeking a cozy, inn-style alternative, gay-owned Stone Gables Bed & Breakfast is located in an 1883 mansion in the historic Ohio City neighborhood.

Speaking of Ohio City, it is a must-visit area, combining the charm of early 20th-century Cleveland with contemporary boutiques and dining. The anchor attraction here is the West Side Market, a 1912 marvel of byzantine brick architecture with a block-long vaulted ceiling housing over 100 stalls where vendors representing the city’s Italian, German, Irish, Middle Eastern, Russian, Greek, and Polish populations sell fresh ingredients and prepared foods. Among the highlights is Pierogi Palace, where the traditional Eastern European dumpling that is Cleveland’s most iconic food, is offered in over 100 flavors, from the classic potato-cheese and sauerkraut to melting pot novelties like refried bean and Szechuan chicken.

Around the corner is the Great Lakes Brewing Company, where the phrase “green beer” is associated with environmentalism, not Ireland. Owners Patrick and Daniel Conway are socially committed entrepreneurs convinced that do-goodism goes just as well with a frosty mug as with a bowl of granola. Their brewpub’s dependence on local ingredients and clean energy is accompanied by a spirit of playfulness and fun, exemplified by their trademark Fatty Wagon, a shuttle fueled by used cooking oil that takes tipplers back and forth from their bar to Cleveland Indians games at Progressive Park.

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