- [Announcer] Production of "Applause" on Idea Stream Public Media is made possible by the John P. Murphy Foundation, the Kulas Foundation, and by Cuyahoga County residents, through Cuyahoga Arts and Culture.

(funky music) - Coming up, Clevelanders reflect on the past, present, and future of a civil rights landmark.

Plus, revisit the music mecca of Mount Pleasant, the Boddie Recording Company, and the Cleveland Orchestra provides a hero's welcome for a famed German composer.

Hey gang, another edition of "Applause" is on the way.

And I'm your host, Idea Stream Public Media's Kabir Bhatia.

It's been six decades since Sidaway Bridge could serve its original purpose, bringing together two neighborhoods on Cleveland's east side.

But with its recent designation as a historical landmark, the conversation has shifted from its troubled history to its possible future.

(solemn piano music) Hidden in plain sight and rising above an overgrown valley is a connection to Cleveland's past, a bridge that once connected two neighborhoods.

- On the one side of the bridge which is now branded as Slavic Village, it was a neighborhood known as Jackowa, and that was the neighborhood that was centered around St. Hyacinth's church.

It was largely Polish.

It was an industrial neighborhood, like most Cleveland neighborhoods, these were walking neighborhoods.

People didn't have cars, and it sort of was a little community there.

Then across the ravine, which is Kingsbury Run, you had the Kinsman neighborhood, which at one point was Jewish, now Hungarian, and also ethnic.

And the thing that that held them together was this bridge.

- [Kabir] The original wooden trestle bridge opened in 1909, replaced 20 years later by a steel suspension bridge.

- We know it as Sidaway Bridge now, it's the only suspension bridge in Cleveland.

- [Kabir] And it's a bridge with a notorious past, spanning Kingsbury Run, where victims of the Cleveland Torso murders were discovered in the 1930s.

In the 1960s, the bridge became a symbol of racial tension.

- What's happening is the center of Cleveland, which is where many of the African-Americans are living at the time, because it's defacto segregated.

With the great migration coming during and after the war, the population increased.

Some of it moved eastward into the Hough and Glenville neighborhoods, and others followed, went along Woodland and up in on Kinsman.

So that neighborhood shifted to African-American.

- [Kabir] During the 1950s and '60s, blighted homes in Cleveland were torn down while new public housing was going up, notably Garden Valley.

- I grew up on 78th Street near Kinsman.

It's a very nice little street.

There were frame houses.

So my parents and their six children lived in a little house on 78th Street.

It was a good life.

And I remember when we moved to 78th Street, there were no Garden Valley housing projects on 78th Street.

We watched them demolish houses, and the neighborhood flipped very quickly in the early 1960s as those families moved out and those houses were torn down.

And then the brick apartment buildings and townhouses were built.

And they were very nice too, in the early years.

- And so you have an African American population across from the white ethnic population, and the children go to the public school.

It's called Todd Public School.

It's on the Jackowa side.

And they come over the bridge.

So we have black children coming through mostly a white community at that time.

- [Kabir] And if people in the neighborhood weren't using the bridge, they were aware of it.

Dr. Regina Williams and her siblings didn't cross Sidaway to get to school.

They attended schools near the Kinsman neighborhood.

- The bridge was something that I always admired from a distance.

You know, we could always look toward the other end.

We were warned very early on in life that you don't go there.

This is early 1960s, and I had no business going over there.

I was a little kid, but we all had bicycles and we would ride through the neighborhood, 78th Street to 71st, that's not so far as a little kid to go on your bike, but you don't dare think about going across that bridge.

And that problem was solved for us right, in 1966 with the Hough Riots.

- And somebody on the Slavic Village, the Jackowa side of the bridge, decides that they want to close the bridge down.

So they begin to pull up some of the boards which formed the base of the bridge, and they tried to set fire to it.

And so the bridge is impassable, and basically, that's basically putting a border between the white community and the black community, that's what we're looking at here.

And it's never, never replaced.

So the bridge has been closed since 1966.

So it's, maybe, not maybe, it is, a symbol of racial divide in Cleveland.

(ambient music) (insects buzzing) - [Kabir] More than 50 years have passed since the Sidaway Bridge has been in operation.

Parts of it claimed by nature, yet most of the structure is still intact.

While a question still lingers, could it once again be used as a connector between Kinsman and Slavic Village?

- There's not a ton of discussion around it.

It's more one of those things you mention, and people are like, wait, what?

Where's that?

You know, we have a suspension bridge in Cleveland?

- [Kabir] But it's gained more recognition after being placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2022 for its significance in the Civil Rights Movement.

- Kind of nice that people are recognizing that we have it, and that there's a value to it.

And there's a lot of history there.

- In early 2023, Cleveland City Council also granted the bridge landmark status.

The bridge sits in the Ward Five District, where Councilman Richard Starr grew up.

- I learned about Sidaway Bridge when I was a kid.

When I think of the Sidaway Bridge, I think of a bridge that was bridging the gap to different neighborhoods.

The bridge has been closed for some time now.

And throughout that time period, some development has spearheaded and occurred.

What I mean by that is we now have Opportunity Corridor.

And one of my plans and goals for Opportunity Corridor is to be able to do exactly what the name of that project is.

Bring opportunity to residents in Ward Five to take advantage of those.

Meaning if we refurbish this bridge, get it up and running, you can really, really, really help our neighborhood.

- [Kabir] That would take the work of several different organizations, including the City Planning Commission, community development corporations, on either side of the bridge, and structural engineers to determine the scope of the work.

- With some structural analysis and that kind of thing, you know, I think it could be put back into use.

There's certainly a need for connecting neighborhoods.

The times have changed so much since it was built with, you know, the access to automobiles and that sort of thing, that, you know footbridges aren't really something that we think of or use too often anymore.

But they can be great ways to, you know, get around a neighborhood or from one area to another without you know, having to drive around the block.

- But a pedestrian bridge where kids can walk over and hang out with their friends, come back, you know, no problems, that would be great.

And if a bridge can do that, bring two communities together east side of the Cuyahoga River, why not?

I'd walk across it, this time.

I didn't walk across it in the early '60s.

But I'd walk across it.

- [Kabir] For more on the future of the Sidaway Bridge, visit arts.ideastream.org.

(record player hissing) Now for the story of another historic landmark in the city of Cleveland.

Recently the Boddie Recording Company building in Mount Pleasant received that status.

So let's dig into the Applause archives from 2013, and tell the tale of Cleveland's first black-owned recording studio.

- I knew that my dad had recorded at Boddie Studio.

His studio was located on 122nd and Union.

And as we would pass by, I would see this sign there, Boddie's Recording Studio.

And you know, that was just bigger than life to me.

- Sure, he did bluegrass bands, he did country people.

He did, you know, he tried to help out anybody that wanted to try to do an album or whatever.

He had no preference.

- I think the Boddie story shows us kind of how much talent was here, and how eager people were to record.

- When we were recording, he was always making things, and working up how to get a certain sound.

And he just loved it.

It was in his bones.

- [Kabir] The roots of Tom Boddie's career can be traced back to his days at East Technical High School, where he developed a reputation as a tinkerer.

He thrived on the challenge of fixing things.

- His job was to empty the old icebox.

He used to have a pan you put under it when the ice melted, it would drip into his pan, and if it ran over, he would have to empty and mop up the floor.

What he did, he put some kind of thing together where the water got up to a certain point, it would set off this little bell, and he would get up and go dump the pan, and he didn't have to scrub the floor.

- [Kabir] After serving in World War II, Tom Boddie returned to Cleveland where he found pickup work fixing public address systems and church organs.

Along the way, Tom was introduced to his future bride by a popular disc jockey.

- [Louise] They called him Walking and Talking Bill Hawkins, 'cause he talked a lot.

I know Bill Hawkins had a record shop there at the corner of Cedar and 105.

And Tom would go up there and listen to the jazz, 'cause we both like jazz.

Bill Hawkins is responsible for us meeting.

- [Kabir] The young couple proved to be a match made in heaven, with Tom's tinkering skills and Louise's skills at running a business, he started building a reputation across northeast Ohio.

- He did organ service for Hammond and Baldwin.

He serviced 13 counties for Hammond Organ.

He covered all of the counties around.

And when he'd call, if he ran into a real problem, that he couldn't solve, and called the factory, they would say, Tom Boddie's on the phone.

Get all the engineers together.

'Cause if he can't solve it, it's gonna take all of us.

(laughing) - I came to know him because our church, being located at 1161 East 105th Street, we had a PA system, so we needed expertise to keep that going.

And we called on Thomas to do that, and he was always available to get it done.

- But Jesus said, it's not over until it's over.

- [Kabir] Tom Boddie not only repaired organs and PA systems he began to record church services and concerts.

And that's where we got the idea to get into the recording business.

- We did anniversary programs, we did the preacher's anniversary, the choir anniversaries.

So we've done a lot of recording, all the major churches.

- [Kabir] He set up shop in a former dairy, remodeling a small warehouse and outfitting it with soundproof walls, microphones, and speakers.

- We recorded every gospel group that ever walked the streets of Cleveland.

Churches and all.

♪ Straight to Heaven on the mornin' train ♪ ♪ Good as the train is long ♪ ♪ My Lord, it's picking up passengers ♪ ♪ From coast to coast ♪ ♪ All you need is a little faith ♪ ♪ To hear that Jesus comes ♪ ♪ Know you got to start right now ♪ ♪ Step on board ♪ ♪ Oh yeah, step on board ♪ - All of our choir.

And we had about, I guess it must have been about 75 people, and we were in that room, and it was just a professional kind of activity going on with Thomas Boddie and Louise there during the whole operation.

- How'd they put that many people in that little room?

- I don't know.

I guess we just hung from the ceiling, but they were there.

- Everybody in the gospel industry knew Mr. Boddie, so he didn't have to advertise.

He was already there.

You know, I mean, everybody wanted to go to him, because he would do a nice job for you.

- [Kabir] It wasn't long before some secular singers started asking Tom Boddie to record their vocal groups.

- If you had a band, you could come right off the street you could talk to Tom or Louise.

You could set up a time to record.

And within a day you could have that magical item, that record to give to your mother, to give to your brother, to give to your buddies on the corner, say, hey, I made this today, or yesterday, and it will last forever.

- I think that he had an idea that, you know, maybe I'm doing something special here.

You know, I'm giving these people an opportunity to be heard, to get their music played and to get to the next level.

The majority of the people that recorded with Mr. Boddie, they didn't have to pass auditions.

You know, they could only be playing music or playing an instrument for a week, you know, and they'd say, hey, you know, I wanna make a record.

And that was okay with Mr. Boddie.

I mean, he would, you know, make it sound better, but if your skill level was only at a certain point, you know, he didn't care.

- [Kabir] Slowly, as the variety of artists expanded, the Boddies created separate labels for each sort of style.

- We wanted to separate the gospel from the rock, and the blues.

So we created label.

We had plaid.

That was jazz.

Soul Kitchen was blues.

Luau was for Caribe and Latin music.

Bounty was gospel.

♪ Lord, if I'd done ♪ ♪ Anything against Your will or love ♪ ♪ Oh, well please forgive me ♪ - [Kabir] While born in Guyana, South America, Ngina Fayola grew up in Cleveland, but she always has her homeland on her mind.

- I can't get away from the rhythms of Guyana.

And that's what really influences every style of music that I create.

- [Kabir] Ngina Fayola steps into the spotlight for "Applause Performances," plus a new health center in Dayton uses the work of local artists to help in the healing process.

All that and more, on the next round of "Applause."

♪ Baby's gotta eat ♪ ♪ Daddy's gotta work ♪ ♪ Momma's gonna fix us a big ol' meal ♪ - [Kabir] Stories about blue collar communities are the focus of two documentary filmmakers from Columbus.

With a passion for storytelling, this pair has a unique perspective to share.

- When I was younger, I kind of, I didn't walk the right path.

I kind of, I walked the path of violence, I tell people, for a long time, I didn't always do the right things.

On the south side, there are plenty of opportunities to not do the right things, but I was fortunate enough I was pretty good at football, had an opportunity to go to the University of Dayton and play collegiate football for them.

And that kind of changed the trajectory of my entire existence because it opened me up to different things.

I went through, it wasn't a rough divorce, you know, we didn't have kids or anything like that, but it was very, it was rough for me emotionally.

Took a lot out of me.

I went through a mental health crisis on my own.

For the first time in my life, I had to seek out therapy, which is something you don't do from the south side.

But in that process of seeking out therapy, I had an idea where I just wanted to make a documentary about men's mental health, the men in my family, and how we use motorcycle riding as a coping mechanism.

And that was my first project.

Kash was on that with me.

And, it was an emotional drain.

I didn't realize what was gonna happen.

You know, we shot for four or five days talking to the men in my family.

It just seemed like you threw a camera in their face, and everyone wanted to talk about things that we ain't talked about in years.

- Whenever everything's overload, ever, there's too much pressure, there's too much everything, I get on my bike and I think it through.

- When I did the project with Josh, I really enjoyed kind of doing something outside of myself.

I really enjoyed being around other people, and hearing their stories, and traveling around, and just getting caught up in other people's sort of lives.

It's just fascinating.

It's like everybody has a fascinating life if you spend enough time with them.

I was sitting in the back row standing next to his cousin, who the story's about, you know, and he's this giant man tattooed from head to toe, just bawling his eyes out, while he is watching himself cry on the screen as well, because then his dad's at the front watching it too, getting emotional, and just watching the two of them just kind of like fall apart watching it, it was just pretty intense, and beautiful to see.

- We are trying as hard as we can to put narratives out there that speak to people on a universal level, so that we can rise, hopefully rise the elevation of filmmaking in Columbus for not just ourselves, but for our contemporaries as well.

A lot of our stories kind of focus on two different things.

They're like, I like to really show the healing process, or people that are trying to heal, like mental health issues or physical, so that it can kind of showcase people, that they should do these things in their own life.

And then really showing people's passion, because I think if you see others' passion, or what they're following, it can evoke something into you and try to find more alignment with what you are trying to do in your particular place, in your universe.

And then the reality is, you've gotta look at it.

Is it financially viable?

Can I get the funding to make this thing, at least the pre-production go, or parts of the initial, you know, at least 25% of the production.

'Cause you have to do that.

And thirdly, you have to say, you know, everyone tells you, and good Lord, once you say you're a filmmaker, everybody's got the greatest idea in the world.

And they're not.

And no offense to everybody, but it has to have a universal appeal.

I take on too many.

So a lot of times I go to Kash, and he is like, you're on your own.

And when he tells me I'm on my own, I'm like, yeah, all right, we're not doing this one.

- So there's those moments when you're filming that are like really special moments, where you really capture something, and it feels really good, and you know it, you like when it's happening, you're like really excited about it, you know?

And you know, but at the same time, you're like holding the camera, you gotta keep it cool.

Editing, that happens, like constantly.

Like it happens over and over and over again.

Where like, you know, you're tweaking things a little bit here and there, and then and then each tweak, like when you get it right, you're like, there it is.

Alright, let's keep going.

And then sometimes that goes away too.

Like, it's like, perfect.

But then you watch it from five minutes before, and you get to that spot, and you're like, okay, that, wow, that worked.

Watching it over and over again for 10 seconds, but it didn't work in the whole five minutes.

I mean, change it again, and just keep going, and going and going and going.

But that process for me never gets old.

I have to put a joke in there.

Like, I have to.

Like this last one we did, it's pretty like, straight, it's pretty straightforward.

Like, yay the kids, you know, the program, you know, then I just have to throw in a little joke.

They, they're like, oh, that's gonna that's gonna look corny now.

And everybody's like, nah.

The music breaks, the joke happens, the music just kicks back in.

You know, it just, it throws you out.

But like, I can't help but throw a joke in there somewhere.

At the end of the Jeremy one was a good version of that, where, you know, his dog like kicks some dirt up in him.

You know, he said something nasty.

- But the people are gonna know who Jeremy Smith is.

(bleep) Yeah, that's the best thing in the world, is when you make somebody laugh.

My favorite thing, and it doesn't matter if the crowd doesn't need a laugh, but if there's like somebody over there, and somebody over there, and somebody over there that gets the joke, it could be like three people.

I'd be like, yes.

You know.

(synth music) - Through all of that, kind of my collapse around my divorce, and building myself up, I tried to build myself into a very different kind of man than I'd ever been.

I tried to really evaluate from an introspective idea who I was, and what I was trying to be.

So that led me to a lot of meditation, a lot of time in the forest.

I spent a ton of time in the forest.

That's where whatever the universe, God, Tao, whatever you wanna call it, speaks to me there.

And in that process, I kind of knew that I have a unique set of skills from all my time in business, from all my time in the political area, now dealing being in the artistic world, and being able to coalesce all those industries and to making something really beautiful, that allows individuals to have a voice.

And I won't do any project.

I got, you know, I've been approached through wacky stuff and that's just not what I'm gonna do.

If it doesn't bring light into this world, if it's not the motivation that I know that actually is going to bring people to a higher plane of existence, or evaluate their selves and make them better, I don't want to do anything beyond that.

I really don't give a (no audio) about money.

If we make it here, and I become some multimillionaire, billionaire, whatever the case may be, I'll live on the south side.

I might move to around Schiller Park, might be someplace nice, but I ain't never leaving the south side of Columbus.

(dramatic music) - [Kabir] Hey, if you wanna watch more "Applause," you can do that anytime you wish, online and on demand, via the handy dandy PBS app.

Thanks for joining us for this round of "Applause."

I'm Idea Stream Public Media's Kabir Bhatia, leaving you with music from the Cleveland Orchestra, which can be found on its app, Adella.

Here's Franz Welser-Most, leading the orchestra in "A Hero's Life," by Richard Strauss.

Enjoy.

(Romantic orchestral music) (Romantic orchestral music) (Romantic orchestral music) (Romantic orchestral music) (Romantic orchestral music) (Romantic orchestral music) (synth music) - [Announcer] Production of "Applause" on Idea Stream Public Media is made possible by the John P. Murphy Foundation, the Kulas Foundation, and by Cuyahoga County residents, through Cuyahoga Arts and Culture.