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What do you miss about Buffalo?


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What year were you there? San Jose is now the 10th largest city in the U.S. They have spent lots of money in the urban core and downtown is now very safe, clean, and full of things to do. Developers have built several high rise, upscale condos downtown. It's a very nice city. Of course like most cities, the area around the college is somewhat of the prototypical "student slum." It's a lot better than around the UB Main Street Campus and similar to the area around the Buff State Campus

 

I'm guessing about 15 years ago since I was there. Haven't gone back. My wife and I like to cruise CA1 in my cherry old Integra RS from Morro Bay to San Fran, because we love the Big Sur, Carmel, Pacific Grove/Monterrey areas south, and then the Ano Nuevo (we try to catch the elephant seal orgy around Xmas-New Years), Half Moon Bay, Redwood ride further north. Don't really like Santa Cruz much, except for the campus, and some nice fossil beds we found in the cliffs by the sea. We lived in The City and love Chinese food, so we always spend a few days eating our way through China Town in SF. We only drive the Interstate if CA1 gets washed out or mud-slided. If you're out thereabouts and vaguely see a red blur go by, that's likely us.

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Having left the Buffalo area for Rochester at age 11, but returning often until I joined the service, I miss the following in western NY:

 

Sahlen's Hotdogs

Ted's

Zweigles White Hots

Amerc's games

The Red Wings

Niagra Falls

Crystal Beach

Swimming in Buffalo Creek (Elma)

M&A's and my grandma

Taking the bus everywhere

Bison Football

Attica & Arcade RR

Bills Games

The Rockpile

Duff's

Beef on a Weck

Letchworth SP

Watkins Glen SP

Dunkirk

The Waterfront

Seabreeze Park

Lake Erie & Ontario

Brightly colored houses (Pink, pea soup green, purple...etc)

Kielbasa

Deli's

Real Wings, not the crap Buffalo Wild Wings sells

Genessee Cream Ale

Labatt's

The Peace Bridge

Rick Azar

WKBW Chicken Man (I go back that far)

 

Things I don't miss:

Corruption on steroids

The mafia

Dunlop Tires Smoke and Smell

Bethlehem Steel Smell

High Taxes

Corrupt Politician

Humidity

Piles of Snow deep enough you can walk out your second floor window

Rusty cars

Tolls on the thruway

potholes

 

I miss western NY, and definately miss the food.

 

You bring up some of the same things I think about....but Chicken Man? Boy did I get a laught out of that! I go back that far as well. How about the original Glen Park? And the Inferno?

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Been in Dallas since '81..

 

I must have lived near you - miss Glen Park and the Inferno

Also enjoyed plenty of Capicola subs at Frans also, they were the best. No Capicola in TX

 

Also miss..

- The Fall (we have two seasons in TX - green and brown, it is getting brown again)

- First Snow

- Santoras - I was a delivery guy for the ;ocation on main in Williamsville

- Local TV personalities - Azar and Weinstein - don;t really know they guys here but it has only been 28 yrs

- Kids that could ride their bikes wherever they want

- Being able to ride my dirt bike on the railroad tracks from main/union to West Seneca

- Dean's Cycles on Walden in Depew

- Skaros drive in on Walden in Depew

- Twin fair

- Being able to go to a local watering hole in Depew and spending a night drinking and getting a good hamburger and settling up for under $10 - Pentacle still around?

- Joe McCarthy Little League baseball

- Playing Hockey in the swamps near Cayuga

- Summer with the windows open

- Good sense of community and togetherness, especially during the blizzards

- No Name Bar, Goodbar, Mighty Taco - and a sub shop I forgot the name of in the buff state/elmwood area

- Niagara Falls, King Edward, Molson Brador

- The Aud, Rich Stadium, Bills and Sabres....

 

I almost wrote Santoras as well. The one on Main Street in Williamsville was a high school hangout. Played ball in the Joe McCarthy league, the fields were way out in the country at the time, can't remember the name. They did have a cup on top of the right feild pole, if you hit a ball in there, you won something. Irv Weinstein passed away some years ago I believe. Rick Azar is retired.

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I would say the skin on the Nathan's has more flavor...as it grills it renders a nice sausagy flavor. Sahlens has a pretty thick skin. Nathan's are kosher dogs meaning that there is only beef and no pork in them and maybe that's why I like the Sahlens filling better. But I'm not a huge hot dog guy either. I'll take a keilbasa or a brat first.

 

 

I've noticed lately that I don't really care for all-beef dogs. It seems most of the dogs I like have some pork content. Same with sausage. I like hot Italian sausage...all pork! Chicken sausage or turkey sausage can be OK, but it just isn't right to me, for some reason.

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Great Thread!!

 

Things that I miss have all been mentioned but some that stand out:

 

Bills season tickets - N3 Row3 seats on the aisle

going to Sabres, Bandits and Bisons games

the nice summers, here in Orlando, they tend to be a bit brutal but winters here are amazing

all the lawn fetes and beer pumped out of the side of a truck

blue light

driving down RT 14 and sampling wine from Geneva to Watkins Glen

Ziggy's on Main and Eggert, never really a big fan of Mighty Taco

all the food, you name it, I miss it, especially a Royal Sub from anywhere, John and Mary's in Cheektowaga was the best

all the people through the years that I've tailgated with, it numbers in the hundreds and everyone of them is like family

 

I don't miss the same crap everyone has mentioned

 

The endless winters, weeks without sun

the negativity, it still baffles me every time I go back that I still hear the same crap

the ungodly high taxes just to support generations of families living off the system

the ill informed people who vote for someone because their name sounds familiar

 

The one thing that really gets me though is that my two young kids won't grow up with all the variety of things to do and the close knit neighborhood that I grew up in. I'm from the Cleve Hill area in Cheektowaga and growing up, from sun up to sun down, just about all the kids in the neighborhood were together doing something, either in large or small groups but everyone basically got along and did things together.

 

Buffalo(WNY), for the most part, is a large family spread out over miles but it's a place that we all still call home, no matter where we are today.

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You know, I was very young, like 8, when we left, so the things that I miss are

kid things, like snow, building ice forts, slipping down to the lake, (we lived in Lakeview),

we had an etremely large family, so my parents would kick the older ones out of the house

early, and we would just tag along all day with them, and many times in to the night. They really

didn't miss us, we didn't really stay out all that late, but belive me, my parents never went

looking for us, I think that they were hoping that a few of us wouldn't find our way back home.

Of course parents didn't have to worry about as much back then either, especially in a place

like Buffalo.

 

I miss having access to MY TEAMS, Crystal Beach, Botanical Gardens, there was a great Ice Cream

spot out along Rt. 5, on the right hand side if you were heading toward Lakeview, that was great.

When our driveway was plowed, we could jump off the second story balcony in to the piles.

We use to bowl, ice skate, and ride rides at I think Blasedell, the name escapes me right now.

The Erie County Fair was fantastic, I got lost there one time when I was 6 or 7, wandered around balling

for about two hours, that wasn't exactly memorable.

My nieghbor took us to some swimming hole, I think on the way to the falls or something, possibly

off of the Niagara River, an inlet or something, all natural with diving boards and all, I think that that

was one of the coolest places that I ever swam at.

For a very short period of time, I have accumulated a lot of great memories, and they seem to

stand out more than others, maybe because I was just a kid, but a lot has to do with the fact that

it is just a very neat place to live, your little secret!SHHHHHHHH!

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The endless winters, weeks without sun

The winters do end, but some definitely do seem longer than others. But weeks without sun? That's a ridiculous comment! When exactly does this happen? It's so freaken sunny in the winter you can't even see with it reflecting off the snow.

 

the negativity, it still baffles me every time I go back that I still hear the same crap

It baffles me that so many out of towners say this? Everywhere you go you'll hear negative comments from some people. I am sure there are a few folks in Orlando that are negative and say the "same crap" every day. It baffles me that everyone that leaves think they are so much better than everyone else, when in fact they were the negative ones saying the same crap before they left! And probably continue to say it...

 

the ungodly high taxes just to support generations of families living off the system

Can't argue with that, but the new boss will make it so every City is like that in good time.

 

the ill informed people who vote for someone because their name sounds familiar

Another ridiculous statement! Where do you get that from? The most well known name to run for office in quite some time was Joe Mesi this past year, and he lost. I don't understand that comment at all.

 

Buffalo(WNY), for the most part, is a large family spread out over miles but it's a place that we all still call home, no matter where we are today.

This is very true. I don't agree with a lot of your statements or most other out of towners for that fact. And this is not just directed at you, flomoe. But those who left miss us, we don't miss you. You would never come back, that's fine, we don't want you back. You moved for your reasons, I stayed for my reasons. Just don't think you're so much better than the people that stayed...

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Things I miss: fish fry, Mayer Bros apple cider, Louie's TX Red Hots, pizza & wings (pretty much anybody's), Bison chip dip, Broadway Market, Al Cohen's bakery,....you get the idea

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Buffalo is the only city to have two of its mayors go on to become President of the country. Guess their names.

 

It was also the first city in America to have electric street lights.

I think one was Grover Cleveland, maybe the other Was Millard Filmore, possibly McKinleY?

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There used to be a cider mill somewhere in Elma, and, if you had apple trees, you could bring your ripe apples, and they would make juice out of them. That was pretty cool.

 

I thought Elma Meadows and especially Niagara Parks (in Ontario) were very fine golf courses.

 

I saw some really great stuff at the Lewiston Art Park:

 

* the Buffalo Symphony and some fine soloists and choruses performing Beethoven's 9th

 

* Twyla Tharp's dance company

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Here's what I miss:

 

Acme; Nu-Way; Two Guys; Gold Circle; Kresge's; Bond's; Robert Hall; Kleinhan's Men's Stores; A&P; Bells; Freddie's Doughnuts; Grant's; Neisner's; Outdoor Store; Dick Fisher's Sporting Goods; Scime's Hot Dog Stand; Pat's; Brinson's; Deco Restaurants; Ted's (right under the Peace Bridge); Mike's Subs; the Sky Room; Falcon Eddie's; Mulligan's Cafe; Pierce Arrows'; Henry's Hamburgers; the Bona Vista; Schoenie's; Korab's; Alfie's, the Imperial Garage, the Ontario House, all 3 in the Falls; the Pine Grill; the Revilot Lounge; the Royal Arms; and all the free music venues for both local and out of town bands.

Oh... and I still live here, Ha !

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:rolleyes: Friggin Classic!

 

BTW, was it really Cleveland and Filmore? If so, I cant't belive that I nailed it.

Must have been paying attention in History Class, favorite subject actually.

 

BTW, Vey good post!

 

Thanks. I'm probably never going back there, but I misspent my first 25 years there, and nostalgia hits every once in awhile.

 

Fillmore

 

G. Cleveland

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Here's what I miss:

 

Acme; Nu-Way; Two Guys; Gold Circle; Kresge's; Bond's; Robert Hall; Kleinhan's Men's Stores; A&P; Bells; Freddie's Doughnuts; Grant's; Neisner's; Outdoor Store; Dick Fisher's Sporting Goods; Scime's Hot Dog Stand; Pat's; Brinson's; Deco Restaurants; Ted's (right under the Peace Bridge); Mike's Subs; the Sky Room; Falcon Eddie's; Mulligan's Cafe; Pierce Arrows'; Henry's Hamburgers; the Bona Vista; Schoenie's; Korab's; Alfie's, the Imperial Garage, the Ontario House, all 3 in the Falls; the Pine Grill; the Revilot Lounge; the Royal Arms; and all the free music venues for both local and out of town bands.

Oh... and I still live here, Ha !

 

wow! Impressive list, but what about Uncle Sam's night club? I think it was somewhere around Walden and Union, or maybe George Urban and Dick. Previously, it had been a lumber yard. Your shoes would stick to the floor every time you took a step because there was spilled Boone's Farm strawberry wine everywhere. The dance floor was a mile long, and had colored lights that moved in synchrony with the drum set.

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