The Zoo's Primate Forest Debuts Next Week: CLE Daily

Plus, the Guardians go up 2-1 in the series, and things to do this weekend in and around Cleveland and Northeast Ohio.

by Ron Ledgard | Oct. 16, 2026 | 5:00 AM

Courtesy Cleveland Metroparks Zoo

⛽ Gas Prices Are Climbing Again, Tax Holiday or Not: The Cleveland-area average for regular hit $4.01 a gallon Thursday, up 15 cents in a week, according to AAA. That’s below the $4.21 drivers paid a month ago only because Ohio’s 38.5-cent gas tax is suspended through Jan. 2. Add the tax back and today’s price would be about $4.39, roughly 18 cents higher. A year ago, Clevelanders paid $2.75.

🎸 Def Leppard Tickets Go On Sale This Morning: General tickets for Def Leppard's June 21, 2027, show at Rocket Arena with Goo Goo Dolls and The Struts go on sale at 10 a.m. today, and $1 from every ticket goes to City of Hope's cancer research.

🍗 Good Company Is Moving to Little Italy: The comfort food spot known for its 72-hour wings closes in Battery Park Oct. 25 to make way for new residential towers, then reopens Nov. 12 at 2175 Cornell Road in Little Italy, with Sunday brunch and a new West Side location still in the works.

🌿 A 79-Year-Old Herb Fair Returns to the Botanical Garden: The Western Reserve Herb Society's 79th annual Herb Fair sets up at Cleveland Botanical Garden Saturday, selling hand-crafted herbal blends, jams, teas, wreaths and pressed-flower cards. It's included with admission.

ICYMI: Remember when Downtown at Valor Acres was nearing completion? The $678 million Brecksville development now has restaurants, a bar and three apartment buildings open around its walkable main street, with 73% of the units leased and an AC Hotel by Marriott on the way.

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Today's Trivia

What organization, named for a famed African American poet, was formed to help young working women but is now best known for housing and programming for senior citizens?

Development: The Zoo's massive Primate Forest expansion project opens its first phase soon.

By Annie Nickoloff

The first phase of the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo’s $120 million Primate Forest opens Oct. 22, turning the old Rainforest building into a 140,000-square-foot indoor and outdoor campus, marking the largest capital project in the zoo’s 144 years. “Some of these orangutans have never experienced grass,” says zoo executive director Chris Kuhar.

Room to Roam: The orangutans get an outdoor yard with rope courses, trees to climb and shady spots to nap. Inside, kids can climb an orangutan-shaped playground overlooking the yard, and a window into the day room lets visitors watch veterinary checkups like blood pressure checks and cardiac ultrasounds.
What Else Is New: A projection-based forest entryway replaces the old 25-foot waterfall at the Rainforest's old entrance, and a window looks into a room where staff breed Puerto Rican crested toads and spotted turtles for release into the wild. Sloths, otters, capybaras and a dwarf crocodile named Shayna are still part of the building.

Worth Noting: Gorillas arrive in the second phase, due by 2032.

Read the full story.

Photographed by Annie Nickoloff

⚾ Guards Take the Series Lead: Petey Halpin’s two-run homer in the fifth lifted the Guardians to a 3-2 win over the Rays in Game 3, putting Cleveland up 2-1 in the ALCS with Donovan Mitchell in attendance. Game 4 is tonight at 6 p.m. at Progressive Field.

Talk of the Town

Cleveland Public Power customers are still waiting for a plan after this year's outages. After a spring and summer of outages, including a rough Fourth of July weekend, the city utility's roughly 74,000 customers want better outage updates, clearer bills and upgraded equipment. The plan is expected to go to City Council Oct. 29.

CMSD said only local police could see its license plate camera data, but more than 500 agencies searched it. An internal audit found more than 130,000 searches of the district's Flock data before outside access was cut off in July, and the school board votes Oct. 27 on a $603,000 contract renewal.

Cleveland State's business school is getting a $10 million AI makeover. A second $10 million gift from alumnus Monte Ahuja and his wife, Usha, will overhaul every undergraduate and graduate program to prepare students for AI-driven business, and the school will be renamed the Ahuja College of Business and Entrepreneurship.

A new Cleveland Heights apartment building has rents starting at $419. Nobility Court on Noble Road opened this week with 52 affordable apartments above ground-floor retail, including a planned coffee shop, right on RTA's 24-hour No. 41 bus line.

University Circle Inc. has a new name. The 69-year-old nonprofit that helped build the district is now University Circle Alliance, a change meant to reflect its work connecting institutions, businesses and neighbors. "The mission stays the same, the work stays the same," says Sheffia Randall-Nickerson, the alliance’s chief engagement and collaboration officer.

Burn, Baby, Burn: Disco Inferno kept the dance floor grooving at our Best of Cleveland Party on Thursday at the Great Lakes Science Center, where this year’s winners and guests celebrated the best the city has to offer.

More Things To Do This Weekend

🎺 Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis (Oct. 16): The trumpet great leads his famed big band at Severance for a night of swing. 7:30 p.m., Mandel Concert Hall, 11001 Euclid Ave., Cleveland, clevelandorchestra.com

🎨 Third Friday at 78th Street Studios (Oct. 16): Artist studios and galleries throw open their doors, with live music and food and drink vendors throughout the building. 5-9 p.m., free admission, 1300 W. 78th St., Cleveland, 78thstreetstudios.com

🎤 Rock Hall Live: Earl Sweatshirt & MIKE (Oct. 16): Two underground hip-hop favorites share a double bill at the Rock Hall, with Surf Gang's Harrison opening. 8 p.m., Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, 1100 Rock and Roll Blvd., Cleveland, rockhall.com

🎶 Anthony Hamilton & Leela James (Oct. 17): The Grammy-winning soul singer shares the stage with singer-songwriter Leela James for a night of R&B. 8 p.m., Connor Palace, 1615 Euclid Ave., Cleveland, playhousesquare.org

🎸 Buddy Guy (Oct. 18): The Rock Hall inductee and Chicago blues legend brings his guitar to Northfield. 7:30 p.m., Northfield Park Racino, 10705 Northfield Road, Northfield, northfieldparkracino.com

For our full list of things to do, visit clevelandmagazine.com/things-to-do.

Yesterday's Trivia Answer

The intersection of Euclid Avenue and East 55th Street was sometimes called this in the early 1900s for a nearby railroad station? Penn Square

Check back Monday for the answer to today's question.

From the Editor

Every Clevelander has a zoo memory. Maybe it’s a school field trip, a stroller push past the elephants or a cold drink in the old Rainforest after a hot summer walk.

That building is about to become something new.

Annie Nickoloff got an early look at the Primate Forest, and the line that stuck with me came from the zoo’s director: some of these orangutans have never felt grass. Next week, they will. It’s the latest chapter in a 15-year makeover that has already given the zoo’s tigers, rhinos and bears new homes, and the gorillas are next in line.

That alone is worth the trip. Bring the kids, or just bring yourself.

— Ron Ledgard, Managing Editor

Let us know what is on your mind at conversation@clevelandmagazine.com.

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Ron Ledgard

Ron Ledgard is Cleveland Magazine's managing editor and a Pittsburgh native who has made his peace with Cleveland (except on Sundays). He's a University of Pittsburgh graduate, a veteran of The Athletic and the Akron Beacon Journal, and was there for every chapter of LeBron's Cleveland story. After two decades of chasing deadlines and box scores, he's happily landed in magazines. He's a sucker for a long story done right, the kind you save for a Sunday morning (before kickoff, of course). When he isn't editing, he's out on a trail, trying a new restaurant or hunting for the next great thing to do. Sports is his subject of choice, and coffee is his fuel. Most Starbucks baristas in the area greet him like the Cheers crowd greeted Norm.