by Davi d C. Barnett
Funeral services are being held, this morning, for famed Cleveland hotel owner Jim Swingos, who died this week at the age of 73. Swingos played host to many of the biggest stars in show business.
25-year-old Jim Swingos took over the restaurant of the Downtowner Hotel in 1967 and, several years later, bought the hotel itself, and renamed it Swingos Celebrity Inn. By virtue of its location at East 18th and Euclid, the first celebrities were Broadway actors who came through town on road shows that played at the nearby Hanna Theater. Elvis Presley stopped by for a stay, as did Frank Sinatra.
"It was really a boutique hotel before that phrase was in the language," says John Gorman. As program director for popular rock radio station WMMS, Gorman watched Swingo's reputation grow. "He just knew how to cater to musicians and creative people."
Including, everyone from famous authors to visiting athletes. But, it was the rockers who made Swingos a destination place for entertainers.
Filmmaker Cameron Crowe tapped into the legend of Swingo's in his 2000 film Almost Famous, about a teen-aged rock journalist who hung-out with a fictional band at their Cleveland hotel. John Gorman says the dining room was a good place for star gazing.
"You'd look at different tables," he recalls, "and you'd see somebody from Jefferson Airplane sitting over there, and there's somebody from Roxy Music over here. And you're having dinner with another band.
Which might have been anyone from Led Zepplin, to the Who, or even the Rolling Stones.
Those glory days lasted until the mid-80s, when Swingos shifted his focus to other restaurants.
