A visit to the Rock and Roll hall of fame in Cleveland
I am sure that every fan of rock and roll music has heard of the famous museum, dedicated solely to rock and roll and its history and development, called the Rock and roll hall of fame. Situated in a pretty unexpected place in the American Midwest, more precisely in Cleveland, Ohio, Rock and Roll hall of fame is worth visiting even if you are a couple of hours away. And in this entry, I would like to tell you more about it.
But what is the big deal with this museum? Is it not just like any other boring museum? Stop right there with these thoughts, my friend. I am not a big fan of museums either, but Rock and roll hall of fame is not just a regular museum. It is an experience! Would you like to see a dress your favourite musician performed in? Guitars, drums and other instruments? Or would you like to do some more interactive exhibits? Missed the induction ceremony, but you are dying to see how it looks and feels like? Rock and roll hall of fame has you covered! Excited to learn more? Read on!
How to get there?
Like I already mentioned, Rock and roll hall of fame is situated in Cleveland, Ohio, more precisely on 1100 East Ninth street, on the very shore of the majestic lake Erie. If nobody told you this was a lake, you could easily mistaken it for an open ocean, simply because it is so big. Unfortunately, the proximity of the lake often means bad weatherin Cleveland, and be prepared for some powerful wind gusts as well. And do not be too surprised if it is nice and sunny once you enter the Rock and roll hall of fame, and it will be raining cats and dogs once you exit, or the other way around.
Once you exit the highway, you will see plenty of signs that will direct you toward the Rock and roll hall of fame.
If you are staying in the downtown Cleveland, Rock and roll hall of fame is situated a walking distance away of most attractions. And only a ten minute walk away from the museum, there is another cool attraction - the House of blues, where they frequently host some well known (and some less known) rock bands. So if you are visiting Cleveland for a concert, you can have two rock experiences in one visit - the concert itself, and the visit to the Rock and roll hall of fame.
If you are driving there, regardless on the direction you are coming from, you have to take the exit towards Lakewood and you will notice the East Ninth street shortly after. Not too difficult, is it?
Be advised that the Rock and roll hall of fame closes early - at five o’clock in the evening, so plan your visit accordingly. This is definitely not the place you want to rush through.
Parking and admission
Rock and roll hall of fame does not have its own parking lot, but you can park your car in several parking lots nearby. The closest parking facility is situated just across the street, and therefore you have to be pretty lucky to be able to get a parking spot there, since everybody tries their luck there first. To park there, you will need to put a license plate number into the machine, and pay per hour. From my own experience, three hours is more than enough, and if you would like to stay inside the Rock and roll hall of fame longer, you can come back to the car later and pay for more hours.
As far as admission goes, regular admission price to the Rock and roll hall of fame costs twenty six dollars (or a dollar less if you book online). When me and my two friends visited the place, the lady at the box office asked us if we are students. We said we are a little too old to e students, and she said she will give us a student ticket anyways - it only cost us twenty one dollars per person! Well, if you are not as lucky as we were, and you want a student ticket, you will need to show a valid student ID to be able to get a student admission price. They also have discounts for veterans and current military members.
Before you enter, you have to (well, you do not literally have to, but this is the cool spot to do so) take a picture with the big red ‘Long live rock’ sign in front of the pyramid - shaped museum front, and also check out the Johnny Cash’s tour bus, that is parked in front of the museum.
The exhibitions
Rock and roll hall of fame has several exhibitions, and I love all of them equally. The exhibitions are spread across six floors. Yes, this place is much bigger than it looks like on the outside. You will always start on the underground level, which is also where you will buy your entrance tickets.
When riding down the escalator, you will notice the storefront replica of the infamous New York club, CBGB, also known as the birthplace of punk rock, and the place where the Ramones rose to fame. Unfortunately, the place is nowadays a clothing store, but they did keep the original decor.
This is how a typicla exhibit at the Rock and roll hall of fame looks like. The items are neatly displayed, there is an explaination who they belonged to, there is a description of the item and the musician, and also some fun facts. These two guitars belonged to ZZ top.
But back to the museum. Once you enter, you will be presented with some of the history of rock and roll, and the presented facts are quite interesting. For example, who knew that gospel music influenced rock and roll music at the very beginning?
The funniest part of this exhibition are definitely the numerous posters that label rock and roll as the devil’s music. Apparently, people in the past were actually protesting against that type of music. Well, I feel bad for them!
If you like Elvis Presley(I personally do not, but I still liked the exhibit), then you will for sure enjoy the next part of the exhibition. They even play a movie about him. The ground floor features some smaller exhibitions, and my favourite so far - the memorabilia from the bands such as the Rolling stones, KISS, Jimi Hendrix, Guns and Roses, David Bowie, John Mellencamp and several others.
The Aerosmith's former drum set. Pretty elaborate, right?
The ground floor exhibition will take the most of your time. After you are done, you can venture up to the first floor, where you will find the gift shop and the restaurant, but more about both in just a little bit. The second floor features quite a few interactive exhibits, among which my favourite is the Music Experience booths, where you can even make a video and send a link to yourself to download it later.
The third floor is just one big theatre, where you can see for yourself, how an induction ceremony for the Rock and roll hall of fame looks like. You can read more about it in the next paragraph, but let me just tell you that you should definitely not skip this theatre. The whole thing only lasts about twenty minutes, but it will feel like you are at a real rock and roll concert.
I am sure you have heard of the famous Rolling stone magazine. On the Rock and roll hall of fame’s fourth floor, you can see every single cover of the Rolling stone magazine ever printed. You can also see the recreation of their studio, and some correspondence letters with the famous musicians. And do not worry, there are escalators and elevators all the way up to fourth floor. You will have to walk a few steps up to the fifth floor though, but it is not too difficult.
The fifth floor of the Rock and roll hall of fame is filled with recent Rolling stone magazine covers, some of them enlarged, some of them the actual size. If you manage to be up there with no many other visitors, posing in front of the wall with the magazine covers makes a pretty cool profile photo.
Do you recognize any of them? They were all on the Rolling stones magazine cover.
By the way, do not be surprised if you will see some of the artists that really do not belong in there. You will see Lady Gaga's dress, Kesha's concert attire and so on. Rock and roll at its finest. Nooot.
Apparently, these are Kesha's shoes that she wore to tne of the performances. Like I told you, this is not your typical museum.
The induction ceremony
Each year, the Rock and roll hall of fame induces new musicians and/or bands into the museum, and they are chosen by a public vote. The induction ceremony is usually streamed live (or you can see it in Cleveland if you are lucky enough) and the bands that were chosen, will perform there. If you are lucky, you just might see your favorite band perform there! You can also see the experience of the induction ceremony in the Rock and roll hall of fame’s theatre.
The restaurant
Rock and roll hall of fame has a restaurant on site, and they also serve some pretty tasty beers. Well, if you are under 21, you will have to go with soda, because legal drinking age in the United states of America is 21. And you will get them in a plastic souvenir cup, which you can keep. Their menu offers a fair selection of items, and the thing I tried, was the veggie burger, and it was pretty delicious. Their portions are very generous, and the prices are reasonable. I paid less than fifteen dollars for the veggie burger and a small beer.
The gift shop
Rock and roll hall of fame has a pretty cool gift shop, and the best part about it (other than cool souvenirs that you can get there) is how affordable most of the things in there are. Seriously, I have never been to a souvenir shop so cheap, so you can imagine I could not resist buying more than one item. Well, I bought eleven things, half of which were clothes. Do not judge me, I love their style of clothes, and they are cheaper than they would be if you bought them at the band’s merchandise stand.
The band shirts that are usually super expensive at concerts, range from ten (!) to fifty dollars for hoodies. They also have coffee mugs, books, hats, fridge magnets, and music CDs and vinyls. Oh, and let’s not forget their amazing collection of shot glasses. Just looking at them made me want to collect shot glasses for fun.
A few words for the end…
Whether you are a rock and roll music fan or not, I would say that a visit to the Rock and roll hall of fame is a must for anyone interested in the history of music. While it is located in Cleveland, where not many tourists go, it can be a great excuse to visit the American Midwest, and maybe you can even kill two birds with one stone and visit Rock and roll hall of fame and Cedar point during your visit.
