'The Avengers' shooting coming to a close

CLEVELAND - On August 15, throngs of people witnessed a huge explosion, a car flying through the air, a fireball that sent plumes of black smoke billowing in the air. It was all in a day's work for the crew of "The Avengers."

On Sunday, crews were cleaning up--striking sets and getting ready to move on to the next city. There were a few stragglers taking pictures of what is left of sets that were transformed to look like the city of New York. Public Square could have been mistaken for a city in Germany.

All good things must come to an end, and some residents who live and work downtown are happy to see all of this commotion go by the wayside. City streets that are blocked off and walkers that need to be re-routed will get back to normal in the next couple of days.

Sam Shapiro of Cleveland Heights sympathized with commuters but said he thinks a little bit of inconvenience is well worth the trouble. He cited money, jobs and the good publicity for the city will pay off.

Thomas Clark of Tremont also said that once people see the movie they will think it is cool knowing that it was filmed right in their backyard.

"The Avengers" do have a day or two of shooting left in a couple of locations in Cleveland.