Jump to content

Blizzard of '77 - 36 Years Ago Today - Where Were You?


ChevyVanMiller

Recommended Posts

  • Replies 69
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

I don't remember, where did they haul/dump all the snow in the city? I think Front Park has been a holding area for a long time? Back in 1977 were they allowed to throw it in the lake? Or was that a no-no even then?

 

Wow Twin Fair!!! I haven't thought of that store in at least 30 years! That's what I love about this board, the fans are such a regional group that a lot of us "get" the references to obscure things like Twin Fair, Ted's, Clip Smith, Anchor Bar vs. Duffs and all the different towns and neighborhoods.

 

Think about it... Twin Fair was really ahead of its time... Groceries and general merchandise all in one stop store! Decades before "Super Walmart!" My wife would say when her mother was working afternoons and there would be trouble among her siblings... My father inlaw would use the line: "I am going to Twin Fair for cigars. This better be resolved when I get back!" LoL!

 

Anyway... Remember "Two Guys" and "A & P?"

 

I do know about this aspect. A lot of the 60's and 70's gave rise to government programs which spawned the insurance and compensation programs of today. I am fairly certain that these programs were not popular at this time, although I have read some articles that have seemed to indicate farmers in the area were insured.

 

Too bad frozen yogurt wasn't invented then, they could have sold that! (kidding)

 

Too... Hasn't milk been subsidized for a very long time? (going back way before the 1960's and 1970's)

 

Anway... Food stamps were flowing after The Blizzard dragged on. Just think how Direct Deposit and computers have made shocks to the system easier to handle.

Edited by ExiledInIllinois
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I don't remember, where did they haul/dump all the snow in the city? I think Front Park has been a holding area for a long time? Back in 1977 were they allowed to throw it in the lake? Or was that a no-no even then?

 

 

 

Think about it... Twin Fair was really ahead of its time... Groceries and general merchandise all in one stop store! Decades before "Super Walmart!" My wife would say when her mother was working afternoons and there would be trouble among her siblings... My father inlaw would use the line: "I am going to Twin Fair for cigars. This better be resolved when I get back!" LoL!

 

Anyway... Remember "Two Guys" and "A & P?"

 

 

 

Too... Hasn't milk been subsidized for a very long time? (going back way before the 1960's and 1970's)

 

Anway... Food stamps were flowing after The Blizzard dragged on. Just think how Direct Deposit and computers have made shocks to the system easier to handle.

subsidized yes, but with most subsidies, they were not attained by everyone. The smaller operations were not privy to what the big ones had. A lot has changed in the agricultural world, and while the big dog still gets the bone, the little dog can still feed well of the scraps.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I was out driving around most of it, had chains on my 73 Polora's wheels. I worked for Santora's on Main In Williamsville, made great tips! Got chased by the Amherst police one time and lost them! by pulling in a driveway and turning off my lights right after a raised portion of RR tracks lol. People were giving me bags of weed as tips haha.

Went and dug my aunt's out from giant! drifts. She lived on Townline rd in Alden we made a tunnel in to her front door and cleaned off the roof so it wouldn't collapse. After the first semi thaw we went back with a plow and really cleaned.

My Mom worked at ECMC in the emergency room, it was hard for her, she said it was busy like it was during Attica.

 

I never thought I had an accent until I saw a TV documentary once about it and the plow driver in it sounded just like me. I was living in NYC then and had to admit it then.

I was in Bflo for the beginning of the storm after Christmas in 2001? was it? reminded me of 9/11 where I lived I was followed around by the smoke plume everyday for 3 months, (literally it went from my house to where I worked like clock work it seemed) get up to Bflo the day I am leaving the dopler radar showed me getting chased by the snow plume all morning ( I took the car out at like 6:30 so it wouldn't get plowed in and was going to Dunkin donuts where my sister lived, I couldn't find my way back to her house and it took me 2 hours driving around like a blind monkey) when I finally got to my nephews house. I never drove in snow that bad before! I could not see the light poles on the side of the road and my wipers kept freezing up and getting to heavy for the wiper motor to push. Had to pull over every 5 -10 mins to loosen them up. When we actually did get on the road to ngo back to NYC, they had closed i90 and it took 8 hours to get to Rochester. Beyond there, no snow at all. Made me not really want to come back (and I only did for my Mom's funeral in 2002), been a long time since then, 11 years.

I don't miss snow, but am thinking about getting back to the states and Bflo might be my landing place again.

Edited by bowery4
Link to comment
Share on other sites

lived in wilson ny. barely made it to my gparents farm in ransomville before we got snowed in. was watching commander tom when the power finally went out. huddled around the fireplace roasting chestnuts and playing break the ice, tip it, and monopoly. watched the plows try to keep randall road open until stuck cars made it impossible to plow anymore. watched the cars disappear into the snow and the people climb out and mush to the houses nearby. watched the enormous snow drift eat cars for hour upon hour. watched the even more gigantic snow drift start to eat the houses. watched the people in the nearby house walk out the third floor window before the house got buried. watched my grandpa get zhitfaced at least ten times. watched my folks worry about almost running out of food and firewood. then watched the parade of people make their way to the massive car filled snowdrift and dig them out with what looked like teaspoons for shovels. awesome

Link to comment
Share on other sites

That is the thing: Stuck cars. Back then it was horrible. Most cars were rear wheel drive monsters. Cars today chew through the snow so much better. Yeah, it still happens... Take Lake Shore Drive in Chicago two years ago. There, the vehicles couldn't exit and then things (pun intended) snowballed.

 

I ask... Think it could ever get as bad as it was in 1977 (1967 was the year of Chicago's big storm) on the roads (outside of a few places where cars bottle neck)?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I don't remember, where did they haul/dump all the snow in the city? I think Front Park has been a holding area for a long time? Back in 1977 were they allowed to throw it in the lake? Or was that a no-no even then?

City was dumping it into Lake Erie until the state said no-go. Then the started dumping it into open spaces. They were also putting it into rail cars to haul south.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I was a student at Baker-Victory High School in Lackawanna. The closed the school before noon. We were to take NFTA bus home but the drier at the Nason loop told us that they told him to park the bus and go home. It was not snowing when we (group of over a dozen students) started our walk towards South Buffalo. The snow started near the city line and along the way people stopped at businesses. My brother and I made it to our street and mile down South Park. By the time we got home the snow was almost knee deep and the wind was really whippping us. It was a memorable trek and the next week was something I will never forget.

 

On Bloomfield avenue the teenage boys dug out the street to make a makeshift hockey rink. We alternated between shovleing our neighbors out and playhing hockey. Our parents thought we were nuts but it did beat cabin fever and being cooped up inside with the family.

Edited by Nitro
Link to comment
Share on other sites

×
×
  • Create New...