A familiar sign along Clifton Boulevard in Cleveland’s Edgewater neighborhood will go dark a week before Christmas. Owner John Tripodis is retiring after more than 30 years of running the famous West Side restaurant (KJP). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.
City of Cleveland threatens to block liquor license
It’s not often that a restaurant survives more than a few years. Rarer still is the restaurant that lasts nearly eight decades. Tick Tock Tavern, which has been at the same location, 11526 Clifton Blvd., in the Edgewater neighborhood of Cleveland since the year before the last electric streetcars rumbled by in 1948, is set to close its doors forever in just 12 days.
Long known for its St. Louis-style ribs and the restaurant’s own Tick Tock sauce, the tavern has won multiple awards over the years at competitions for its sauce and ribs, which are skewered on a rotisserie, slow cooked on an open fire. It also was known for affordable prices on foods like steak, chicken and seafood, plus all-you-can-eat fish specials on Wednesdays and Fridays.
The closure comes as the owner of 31 years, John Tripodis, will be retiring although it is not entirely his choice. His ownership followed his employment there since 1975, working for his cousin Gus Katsaros who bought the establishment in 1972.
The Katsaros family remains active in the area, including Peter Katsaros owning the 83-year-old Lee Solding Building across the street at 11633-11637 Clifton Blvd. His son Constantine Katsaros and his best friend and business partner Jack Messer own Twist and the Landmark restaurant at the corner of Clifton Boulevard and West 117th Street. The city of Lakewood is on the other side of West 117th.
Tick Tock Tavern owner John Tripodis stands in front of the rib rotisserie grill that made the restaurant’s famous ribs for many decades (John Skrtic).
Tripodis said his cousin bought the already-named Tick Tock Tavern from an unknown German family that had founded the business in the 1940s. But after two separate, high-profile shootings, one in August 2021 and a fatal shooting in February 2023, both involving tavern customers, plus noise and other complaints, city officials put the heat on Tripodis, threatening to fight a renewal of his liquor license.
“I’m getting railroaded by the city,” Tripodis said. “They made me responsible for what people do after they leave here. I hired security but I can have all the security I want and I can’t stop that. I thought that’s why we have police. But I saw the writing on the wall and decided now is a good time to retire.”
In the windows of the restaurant and on social media is information about an online auction of restaurant assets that is getting underway. Bidding is now open and with inspections and pick-up of purchased items are on site are at the Tick Tock Tavern. Assets include kitchen and bar equipment plus dining room furniture and signs.
A preview and in-person inspection is scheduled one week from today, from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. Dec. 13. The online auction will end at 8 p.m. Dec. 18. Interested persons can register for the auction at www.rciauctions.com and look for the Tick Tock Tavern auction listing.
Occupying the second storefront from the corner of Clifton Boulevard and West 116th Street in 1955 was the Tick Tock Tavern. It had already been in business for nearly a decade and would last seven decades more. But it won’t last beyond 69 years to the day after this photo was taken (Cleveland Public Library).
When the auction ends, the Tick Tock Tavern will end, two employees told NEOtrans during a visit to the restaurant yesterday. They said everything must go except for something called the “fireball sign” which is not included in the auction. They heard rising rent was the reason, but Tripodis said that’s not the case.
“Yeah, the rent went up but that wasn’t the worst of it,” he said. “It wasn’t the most expensive rent in the area.”
There are other ground-floor commercial tenants in the building with apartments upstairs. According to Cuyahoga County property records, the land and building is owned by a company called Clifton Medical LLC. A mortgage secured by that company lists to an Oakland, CA address which in turn lists to a post office box in Weaverville, CA. That lists to a company called Wilson Construction.
After bidders acquire the deep fryers, boilers, ovens, walk-in coolers and freezers, rotisserie, bar, bar stools, tables, booths, chairs and even the stainless steel sinks, it will be up to the buyers to remove each item using their own tools and labor. When they’re gone, the Tick Tock Tavern will be gone.
“I’m getting a lot of calls,” Tripodis said. “Everybody is sorry to see us go.”
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