The Warehouse District is the few blocks of downtown immediately west of Public Square, built up in the second half of the 19th century with cast-iron commercial buildings serving the Lake Erie shipping trade. After a long decline, the buildings were converted to lofts and bars during the 1990s and the area is now Cleveland's main downtown nightlife district.
The action is densest on W. 6th Street, which fills up Thursday to Saturday with sports fans, bachelor parties, and visiting business travellers. By day the neighbourhood is quieter — coffee shops, the headquarters of a few law firms, and the lakefront walkways. The Free Stamp sculpture is on the eastern edge.
A walk along Bridge Avenue between W. 6th and W. 9th gives a good sense of the surviving 1880s architecture before the conversions made everything fashionable.