Nostalgia has brought Sam B. Manners, executive in charge of producing "Route 66" and "Naked City," back to his native Cleveland for the second year in succession.

Manners, a graduate of West Tech High School who married his childhood sweetheart, is filming three episodes here for the one-hour dramatic TV show, "Route 66," for Herb Leonard Productions.

"I have a tremendous pride in my home town," said Manners, born at E. 111th St. and Woodland Ave. "This time we shot scenes of Terminal Tower, Public Square, Edgewater Park, a shopping center, the Cultural Gardens, my former neighborhood on W. 99th and the James H. Rand home.

My wife, the former Joyce Williams, lived on W. 98th St. She also graduated from West Tech. Last year we filmed three episodes here and from Euclid Beach Park to the West Side.

"My studio on wheels, a caravan of 10 vehicles carrying 60 persons, doesn't take a dime out of Cleveland. Instead, we spend about $100,000 a week during our three-week stay. We use actors from the Cleveland Play House and Karamu Theater for bit parts and as extras."

Manners said "Route 66" is the only network TV series filmed entirely on location. He has logged 3,000,000 air miles in four years.

His stay here was punctuated by flights to scout St. Louis and Memphis for locations for future :Route 66" episodes, to New York to sign stars for "Naked City," and to Washington to negotiate a new series on historic landmarks.

Manners, 41, a vibrant, peripatetic man with wavy gray hair, moved to E. 123rd and Kinsman Rd. as a child and attended Lafayette School and Audubon Junior High School. He was 14 when his family moved to W. 99th near Walford Ave.

Sam quite West Tech at 16 to join the Faith Bacon variety show on the Orpheum Circuit. He played at the Great Lakes Exposition here in 1935-36 and became a comic and impersonator.

In 1942 he joined the Army and became an instructor in infantry training and a special performer at military camps and USO. He joined WJW in 1945 and William O'Neil, owner, persuaded him to return to school.

Manners graduated from West Tech and the University of California at Los Angeles. Married in 1944, his wife financed his schooling by working as a secretary. Sam placed a unique ad in a trade paper and Dore Schary, then production chief of M-G-M, got him a job with Music Corp. of America.

In two weeks Manners was named assistant to Lew Wasserman, MCA president. He remained three years, then became casting director for Gross-Krasne Productions. He produced "Big Town," "Lone Wolf," and "Mayor of the Town."

Manners built a home for his parents in California in 1955. On the day that his father was killed in traffic, Sam was given a motion picture production job by Herb Leonard.

Sam rose to executive in charge of producing "Route 66" and "Naked City" and became co-owner.

"I hope to own my own producing company and produce and direct my own pictures," said Manners. "The trend is to adult entertainment with more accent on story content and less on violence and sex."

Manners and his wife have three children, Kim, 11; Tana, 9, and Kelly, 6. Their home is in the San Fernando Valley.