Walkalble Cities / Remembering Buffalo

               The mornings are so chilly now, but the temperatures do moderate as the day progresses. Monday morning Buck gave me a call 7:00 a.m. I was just about to send him off an E-mail to line up a time to stop down to his place. He told me I could stop down right now to get all the pears and feijoas I wanted.

Brushed my teeth and got on the road. Buck is about 20 miles away, but the offer of feijoas was too much to pass up on. The nearest thing I can compare these to is a Kiwi. You simply cut the feijoa in half and scoop out the fruit. This fruit with pears on lettuce with a vinaigrette dressing makes a wonderful salad. Thank you Buck!

 

I was thinking of fellow diarist Tick Tock Tick Tock last evening. I was at a lecture on “Walkable Cites” put on by the University.  The author Jeff Spec brought up how Davenport, Iowa was one of the most walkable cities in the US.

Here is a screenshot of the poster for the lecture and a link to his TED Talk,

 

 

 

This morning I wasn’t able to get this entry finished as I had planned on attending the workshop on Walkable Cities with suggestions of what can be accomplished here in Tuscaloosa, AL which started at 9:30 a.m.

What a great informative presentation. There is now a class offered at the University on Urban Planning.  If the tornado of 2011 did anything, it was an instant version of “Urban Renewal”. Rebuilding has taken much longer as planning has to be done right so mistakes are not repeated. Many of those in attendance last night’s lecture and this morning’s workshop were students. As much as these kids can drive me nuts, they can also inspire and give me hope for the future. It is the millennial generation who is reshaping the urban centers. The revitalization of cities like Buffalo, NY by this generation is evidence and hope enough for even the most hardened cynic like me.

 

This brings to mind all the changes I have seen in my life time so far. I remember Aunt Fran taking me and my sisters to go shoping in Downtown Buffalo in December back in the mid 1960’s. I think back to the lights, stores, and the excitement riding on the escalators and going through the rev

olving doors of the department stores. I can just barely recollect the old Bus Station being dingy and dark having a popcorn machine with greasy popcorn warmed by a light bulb.  

In the 1970’s I was in downtown Buffalo to get watch parts and supplies pretty much every other week. The watch supply houses were located in the EllicottSquareBuilding. To be in this building was worth the trip alone.

Here is an image I pulled from the “innertubes” of the interior of this landmark building. Trust me, this was always a beautiful interior, but it was nothing like this 40+ years ago. The beautiful center floor mosaic back then was covered over by a news/candy stand.

 

In 1983 a lot of filming was accomplished in Buffalo for the Robert Redford movie “The Natural”. The Ellicott Square Building was transformed into a posh hotel.

http://www.forgottenbuffalo.com/thenaturaltour.html

The street in front was painted to resemble brick. It is almost beyond my comprehension this all happened thirty years ago.

 Until I got my 1975 Duster, I was dependant upon the bus service. After getting my watch/clock supplies I’d take a city bus to the UB Campus located at Main St and Millersport Highway. There was a small shopping plaza here with two great record stores, Cavages and the Record Runner. I would always treat myself to a budget classical reissue album or two on these trips. Packed away I still have my Cavage’s Discount Card! That record store chain is long gone. The bus stop to Lockport was just across the street.

In the early 1980’s Buffalo was building the light rail rapid transit system. Mainstreet Buffalo was all torn up and a mess. People were afraid to be downtown after dark: Pretty much everyone except the gay boys and cool/in people stayed away. What great times we enjoyed at the seedy bars and restaurants that flourished at that time. Joe’s boyfriend at the time Peter summed it up perfectly as we would traipse over construction rubble and orange fencing, “This all belongs to us!” he wisely said.

The department stores and most of the old retail I remember are pretty well gone now. This area is now so gentrified. Maybe not as bad as Times Square, but enough to make me miss the grittiness of old. Nothing ever stays the same. I feel honored to have lived and witnessed the changes I have.