Cleveland Rock Legend Gets A Street In The Heartland

One of Cleveland’s favorite sons now has his own downtown street.

The corner of Euclid Avenue and Huron Road officially became Michael Stanley Way on Tuesday.

"I'm still going to get a parking ticket on this street, I can tell you that," joked Stanley, who works nearby as an afternoon drive-time classic rock DJ.

"It's cool because I've been working on this block at WNCX FM/98.5 for 30 years," he said. "My dad worked at WGAR in the Statler building for 40 years. And Playhouse Square was my mom's favorite place in the entire city. So it's kinda nice to be right in the middle of everything," he said.

Cleveland rock hero Michael Stanley had a street named in his honor June 10. [Gayle Putrich / ideastream]

Stanley posed for photos and autographed albums for fans as workers erected the new street sign, complete with a photo of the rocker.

“If I had gotten to choose the photo, that would have been the one,” Stanley said. “One of my daughters took that photo, for an album cover, like 10, 15 years ago.”

Known as both a solo artist and the headliner of the Michael Stanley Band, the Cleveland native rose to fame in the 1970s and ‘80s with hits including “He Can’t Love You” and “In the Heartland.”

Stanley is the first Clevelander to have a street named after them under new, stricter rules.

In years past, it was a more casual process, explained Cleveland City Council President Kevin Kelley, who nominated Stanley for the street naming.

“Now, they’ve got to be somebody who has contributed to the cultural significance of the city of Cleveland, to the civic fiber,” Kelley said. “And every council person can only do two during their term. So we’ve tried to really limit it so if you have a street named after you like Michael Stanley, it means something.”