Arts & Entertainment

It’s easy to complain about Akron (and NE Ohio!) but when it comes right down to it, Akron is an eclectic city with a great big heart that grew from humble beginnings into a major municipality.

Just how much do you know about Akron and its contributions? We’re all familiar with the obvious and the infamous, but there’s a whole lot more, if you know where to look.

With that in mind, I present to you, nine things most locals don’t know about Akron.

1. Who the devil owns this grass?

We’ve all heard the term “devil’s strip,” but what does it mean? I didn’t learn until my sophomore year of college that not everyone uses this term for the thin strip of grass that separates the sidewalk from the street. According to Joan Hall, director of the American Dictionary of Regionalisms, “devil’s strip” is only used in Northern Summit County, Ohio.

Apparently (so the story goes), when the city was putting in sidewalks, the strip of grass between the sidewalk and street was to be owned by the city — but taxed to and cared for by the homeowner. This announcement incited some anger from the masses, who were left pondering: “If it’s not the city’s strip, and it’s not the homeowner’s strip, whose strip is it?”

Because the city can plant trees or dig up the strip without permission from the resident who pays tax on the land, the “devil” is likely derived from the area being a no-man’s land between public and private property — or a vague reference to government itself.

FYI: The “devil’s strip” is known elsewhere as a tree lawn, verge, sidewalk buffer, nature strip, tree belt, utility strip, planting strip or city grass.

2. Vera Wang bridal couture made in Akron

Flying under the radar in a warehouse space in downtown Akron is Vera Wang Luxe, the high-end division of New York-based Vera Wang Bridal House Ltd. Vera Wang and Nancy Haber — VP of Vera Wang Luxe and former children’s dress designer — opened the division in Akron in 1995 and ran it out of Haber’s home in West Akron until 1996. “Fifteen years ago, we had three people in my basement,” says Haber.

The current space is 14,000 square feet, with much of it taken up by gowns. “They have to be spread out on these huge, long tables because the trains are so long,” says Haber, explaining that the Luxe division of Vera Wang Bridal is the most expensive of the three divisions and features the most handwork and lace.