Technology has been changing the shape of entertainment on Coventry Road for some time. Bars on the streets can now show almost any sporting event live and in high definition from around the world, while DJs bring laptops filled with hundreds of thousands of songs to bring the dance floors to life. Yet for the past thirty years, Mike's endorsement has provided free monthly poetry readings that rely solely on the human voice and creativity. With bookstores closing across the city, the continued success of Mac's Backs and its literary events is testament to the store's close relationship with the Coventry community, which opened in 1982 with Jim McSherry and Suzanne DeGaetano Mike's endorsement opened above the old Dobama Theater on Vertical Road. In 1984, the store moved to a larger location at 1785 Coventry Road, at the north end of the street. Around this time, the store began holding poetry readings on the second Wednesday of each month. The tradition began when poets Daniel Thompson (the first poet laureate of Cuyahoga County) and Dennis McDonnell approached the owner of Macs Backs after a nearby coffee shop no longer wanted to host a coffee party. Poetry readings on Mike's Back feature a mix of professional writers and amateur poets, and other literary events such as book clubs and author talks are often held at the store.
In 1993, McBeal moved to its current location at 1820 Coventry Road, next to Tommy's, another long-standing Coventry business. There are actually two bookshops on the block; the other is Revolutionary Books, which has been a mainstay on the corner of Coventry and Mayfield Roads since the 1970s. Many of us remember Delphi Books, which recently gave way to a coffee shop, and Coventry Books, which lived in Coventry from 1972 to the early 1980s. However, Mike's has no plans on his back to expand, close or move, hoping to keep the small, customer-focused shop that has been since it opened.