List of references to Cleveland in popular culture

This is a list of references to Cleveland in popular culture. Founded in 1796 near the mouth of the Cuyahoga River, Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County.[1] It is the most populous county in the state, and is located in northeastern Ohio on the southern shore of Lake Erie, approximately 60 miles (97 km) west of the Pennsylvania border. Being a major U.S. city, Cleveland has been used as the cite of numerous books, films, music, and television shows; as well as being mentioned or referenced in many others. Below is a partial list.

Print

• The Old Man and the Sea - "The Yankees cannot lose." "But I fear the Indians of Cleveland."[2]
• The setting of Calvin and Hobbes is suburb Chagrin Falls.[3]
• The comic American Splendor is set in Cleveland. A movie about the comic, also titled American Splendor, was also produced and set in Cleveland.[4]

Television

• Seinfeld - In The Heart Attack, Tor tells Jerry that his note reads, "Cleveland 117, San Antonio, 109."[5][6]
• The Drew Carey Show is set in Cleveland.[7]
• Hot in Cleveland is set in Cleveland.[7]
• The 30 Rock episode Cleveland is partially set in Cleveland, and the show’s characters refer to it as a type of Shangri-La.[8]
• The character Ted Mosby in How I Met Your Mother is from Cleveland and the show contains various references.[9]
• The character Cleveland Brown’s name is a reference to the Cleveland Indians because he was conceived during a game.[10]

Film

• 12 Angry Men - Juror #7 wants to get out of jury duty quickly because he has tickets to the ball game between the "Yanks and Cleveland."[11]
• The 1989 film Major League and its 1994 sequel Major League II are set in Cleveland.[12]
• The 2002 film Welcome to Collinwood is set in Cleveland.[13]
• The 2006 film The Oh in Ohio is set in Cleveland.[14]
• The 2011 film Kill the Irishman is set in Cleveland.[15]
• The 2012 film Fun Size is set in Cleveland.[16]
• The 2014 film Draft Day is a film about a fictional manager of the Cleveland Browns.[17]
• The 2016 film The Land, directed by Steven Caple Jr, is set in Cleveland and contains numerous shots of Cleveland.[18]

Music

• "Cuyahoga" on R.E.M.’s 1986 album Lifes Rich Pageant is a reference to the Cuyahoga River in Cleveland.[19]
• "Cleveland Rocks" appears on Ian Hunter’s 1979 album You're Never Alone with a Schizophrenic. The song was covered by the Presidents of the United States of America and used on The Drew Carey Show as a theme.[20]
• Randy Newman’s song "Burn On" from his 1972 album Sail Away is about the Cuyahoga River and Cleveland. The entire song is played in the opening segment of the movie Major League.[19]
• "The Heart of Rock & Roll" by Huey Lewis and the News references Cleveland as being the heart of rock & roll. Originally, the song lyric was going to be "The heart of rock and roll is in Cleveland," rather than "The heart of rock and roll is still beating."[21]
• Kid Cudi, a Shaker Heights native, alludes to cold Cleveland weather in "Cleveland is the Reason", on A Kid Named Cudi. He also says it's the reason for his sadness in "Cuyahoga Blues." In an interview about working on 808's and Heartbreak he said, "Cleveland wasn’t fit for me as a city. A kid with big dreams I mean, there’s not much in Cleveland to do to accomplish all those goals that I had."[22]
• "Ohio (Come Back to Texas)" by Bowling for Soup references a girl who "went to Cleveland with some guy named Leland that she met at the bank." The song also mentions the singers' affinity for Cleveland-native Drew Carey and the city's Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.[23]

References

1. "Find a County". National Association of Counties. Retrieved June 7, 2011.
2. "Hemingway's Prize-Winning Works Reflected Preoccupation With Life and Death". The New York Times. The New York Times. Retrieved 8 September 2015.
3. "'Calvin & Hobbes' creator enjoys his time off" (PDF). NOLA. Associated Press. Retrieved 25 September 2015.
4. Irvine, Alex (2008). The Vertigo Encyclopedia. New York: Dorling Kindersley. ISBN 0756641225.
5. Rozzero, JT. "Seinfeld: The PTBN Series Rewatch – "The Heart Attack" (S2, E11)". Place2Be Nation. Retrieved 8 September 2015.
6. Fretts, Bruce (2009). Entertainment Weekly Seinfeld Companion. Grand Central Publishing. ISBN 9780446567152.
7. Nutile, Alaina. "Ohio: The Proud State of The Drew Carey Show and 6 Other Popular TV Series". Cleveland Scene Magazine. Retrieved 8 September 2015.
8. Kotz, Pete. "We'd All Like to Flee to the Cleve". Cleveland Scene Magazine. Retrieved 8 September 2015.
9. Jones, Nate. "See Ted Mosby of How I Met Your Mother React to LeBron James Returning to Ohio". People. Retrieved 8 September 2015.
10. Jonathan Green, Gabe Miller (writers) & Matt Engstrom (director) (April 3, 2011). "The Essence of Cleveland". The Cleveland Show. Season 2. Episode 18. Fox.
11. Dirks, Tim. "12 Angry Men (1957)". AMC Filmsite. Retrieved 8 September 2015.
12. Oz, Mike. "'Major League' turns 25 — here are 15 things you didn't know about the movie". Yahoo!. Retrieved 8 September 2015.
13. Ebert, Roger. "Welcome to Collinwood". Retrieved 8 September 2015.
14. Wilmington, Michael. "`Oh in Ohio' just fakin' it". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 8 September 2015.
15. "Danny Greene Biography". Biography. Retrieved 8 September 2015.
16. O'Connor, Clint (October 21, 2012). " 'Fun Size': Cleveland gets its close-up in new comedy starring Victoria Justice". Cleveland.com. Cleveland Live LLC. Retrieved October 21, 2012. ... we see downtown, the skyline, the majesty of the lake, the beauty and character of neighborhoods in Lakewood, Cleveland Heights and Beachwood and the rumpled urban charm of Collinwood, among other locales.
17. Burton, Danielle (April 8, 2014). "'Draft Day' Premiere: Kevin Costner, Jennifer Garner Cheered as Stars Take the Field-Like Carpet". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved April 13, 2014.
18. Jr, Steven Caple (2016-08-04), The Land, retrieved 2016-08-28
19. Feinstein, S. (2010). Conserving and Protecting Water: What You Can Do. Enslow Publishing. pp. 86–87. ISBN 9780766033467.
20. "Cleveland Rocks: Live Interview and Reception with Ian Hunter". Rock and Roll Hall of Fame & Museum. Retrieved 9 September 2015.
21. Wardlaw, Matt. "His Aim is True: When Huey Lewis Needed a Hit Single, He Delivered— And Then Some". Cleveland Scene Magazine. Retrieved 9 September 2015.
22. http://hiphopdx.com, HipHopDX -. "Kid Cudi: The Dark Side Of The Moon". Retrieved 2016-08-28.
23. Songfacts. "Ohio (Come Back to Texas) by Bowling for Soup - Songfacts". www.songfacts.com. Retrieved 2019-09-01.