While my primary focus for this site is sharing about things that make Buffalo wonderful and unique, sometimes I have other thoughts, too. I share those here, along with some of the titles from other categories which I’ve written about in a more personal manner.
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Bob Koop, sitting behind the wheel of photojournalist Dan Summerville’s 1985 Chevy Celebrity news cruiser.
I’m blessed that as a child of the 80s, my ol’man did a lot of channel changing during the local TV news– or should I say, since our TV didn’t have a remote for most of the 80s, that I did a lot of channel changing at dad’s command.
I’m glad I got to watch a lot of Bob Koop. His look and sound were perfect, but his sense for news and writing skills were even better. Even without knowing it, I think I started figuring out how I wanted to be on the news sitting next to my dad watching Bob and Carol most nights on News 4 at 6… Directed by Mike Cunningham, Produced by Vic Baker.
I was honored to work with him once– producing a radio show he was filling in on shortly before he died from Leukemia at the age of 48.
All that… and this is just a really cool super 80s photo.
A great scene of typical life in Buffalo from 70 years ago shows how entirely different life was in Buffalo such a short time ago. Streetcars, men wearing wide-brimmed hats, billboards in Polish, all in a Buffalo/Cheektowaga city line neighborhood where they’d all be unrecognizable today.
The billboard seen in this 1948 photo was for “Polish Everybody’s Daily,” as the Polish daily newspaper “Dziennik dla Wszystkich” was known to English speakers. The heart translates to “40 years of building the might of Buffalo.”
The billboard was for “Polish Everybody’s Daily,” as the Polish daily newspaper “Dziennik dla Wszystkich” was known to English speakers. The heart says “40 years of building the might of Buffalo,” which by any measure was true.
Publisher Frank Ruszkiewicz called his daily “the only paper necessary in the Polish territory.” Not only was it read by 30,000 Polish speakers in Sloan, Black Rock and East Buffalo, it was also the organ by which community was built among Buffalo’s Polish population.
Through the 1950s, the paper was hurt by a dwindling number of people who wanted their daily news in Polish. A two-day strike of mechanical workers in 1954 caused a setback as well. The final writing was on the wall when “Everybody’s Daily” was making front page news in the city’s other newspapers.
A trade official of the Communist government in Poland who defected to the West said today that Communists in Poland are using the Polish language newspaper in Buffalo, Everybody’s Daily, as a propaganda outlet in the U. S. – Buffalo Evening News, May 16, 1957
The publisher and the editor of paper vehemently denied the charges, but it was the final blow. The last edition of the paper was printed in August 1957, a few weeks short of the paper’s 50th anniversary.
To alleviate any question of how a Polish language billboard would have been received at the corner, a 1946 want ad for Eddie’s Bakery, shown left in the top photo, calls for a sales girl: Polish preferred.
The building at the left on the 1948 photo, still standing at 1096 Walden, was a bakery for decades. Eventually known as the Walden Bakery, at the time of the photo, it was Eddie’s Bakery, owned by Eddie Olejniczak. For almost 30 years it was the EF Kuntz Bakery – but at one time, it was more than just bread and pastries.
At the height of prohibition in 1926, Ernest and Gustav Kuntz were arrested on charges of manufacturing and possessing “high powered beer,” following a federal raid that turned up 60 bottles of beer, 80 gallons of cider and two quarts of whiskey inside the bakery.
The streetcar is on the last run of the number 6 Sycamore run. The blind, sharp angle was a traffic hazard, especially since it was an end-of-the-line turnaround for the Walden line. To use the “Y” turnaround and start heading back inbound, streetcar motormen had to blindly reverse into traffic.
In 1932, the Town of Cheektowaga petitioned the International Railway Company to reroute the line so that a loop turnaround could be built in a nearby field. At the height of a big snowstorm in December 1942, the snow-packed switches on the Y turnaround caused the street car to derail.
The end of the line for this end-of-the-line streetcar stop came in September 1948, when the Sycamore/Walden line was converted to buses. The last of Buffalo’s IRC streetcars were retired on July 1, 1950.
Among the things that make Buffalo… Buffalo is Bob Wells.
Bob Wells at the WEBR RCA-44, where his theme song was Gloria Wood’s “Teen Time.”
Bob Wells was the host of one of Buffalo’s most popular radio shows of the post-war era– the Hi Teen show ran on WEBR for 17 years, hosting as many of 2000 kids in the Dellwood Ballroom at Main and Utica every Saturday.
What kind of music did you hear on Hi-Teen?.
“I was probably the last disc jockey in America to play an Elvis Presley record,” Wells told Channel 2’s Rich Kellman during a late 70s interview.
Wells popularity with Buffalo’s youngest radio fans overlapped the rock ‘n’ roll era, but not by much.
Long after Hi-Teen was little more than a memory, Western New Yorkers continued to hear Bob Wells’ voice as the voice of Your Host restaurants.
WATCH: A Bob Wells-voiced Your Host commercial from 1977:
Bob Wells… and the Hi Teen Show.. just one of the things that makes Buffalo… Buffalo
Cheektowaga’s greyhound track at the corner of Maryvale and Harlem Roads, 1935. (Buffalo Stories archives)
1935.
If the newspaper ads were to believed, the greyhound track at Maryvale and Harlem roads in Cheektowaga was “the most modern greyhound track in the United States” when it opened in 1935.
The building of the $100,000 stadium was surrounded by controversy and fears that “illegal betting might flourish in connection with the enterprise.”
Plans called for a concrete and steel grandstand with a seating capacity of about 4,000, a clubhouse capable of accommodating about a thousand, and a paddock with housing for 88 thoroughbred dogs.
The track proved very popular early on.
“All roads leading to the place were jammed, and aid from Cheektowaga and State police had to be summoned to keep the lines moving,” reported the Courier-Express. At least 6,000 were there to see the dogs take their first practice run the night before the first race.
In what would now likely be described as the abuse of two different species of animals, The News reported a crowd of more the 12,000 was on hand for “jungle jockey night,” when monkeys rode the greyhounds around the track.
The excitement ground to a halt when, only weeks after opening, the gambling system set up at the track was declared illegal. Later efforts to revive the track couldn’t withstand the betting changes.
The Kensington Expressway cuts through part of the land that was once home to Cheektowaga’s short-lived dog track.
I was proud to bring my story to the floor of the Erie County Legislature yesterday.
Legislator Patrick Burke launched “Important Conversations,” a series of monthly meetings to provide a public forum for difficult issues confronting our community. The first topic was suicide awareness and prevention. Speakers included Erie County Mental Health Commissioner Michael R. Ranney, Cheektowaga Town Supervisor Diane Benczkowski, author Steve Cichon, Crisis Services CEO Jessica C. Pirro, LMSW, and Suicide Prevention Coalition Coordinator Celia Spacone, PhD.
Steve Cichon testifying in the Erie County Legislature chambers on June 27, 2018.
The Testimony of Steve Cichon, June 26, 2018
This is entirely new to me— bringing out into the light the darkness which has silently been an exhausting part of my life for as long as I can remember.
I’m not here to speak for the third of Americans who’ve dealt with depression or anxiety… or the 5 percent of Americans who’ll have severe depression or panic disorder symptoms this year.
I can only talk about my own experience– with the knowledge that the only way to defeat darkness is with light and with the hope that my story helps people who don’t suffer understand.. and the hope that it helps people who do suffer realize that they aren’t alone and there is a way out.
In the two weeks since I first published my brief memoir on Depression and Anxiety, on an immediate level, my hopes have been realized.
As one person telling my story, I’ve heard from family members of those suffering from or having succumbed to mood disorders that they better understand what might be going on in the mind of a loved one.
I’ve had perfect strangers and people I’ve known for decades approach me and ask how I started down the road to better mental health.
Knowing that I’ve been able to turn the wretched consternation which is never too far away into something positive– something that can help others– has been a great relief and comfort to me… And it’s why I’m here again today with those same hopes for telling my story… even though it’s really not easy.
It seemed to strike a chord with some people when I wrote about how living with depression is like trying to move under a heavy wet blanket. It’s possible— but it’s exhausting and miserable, and sometimes it feels like just too much.
I’m up at 4am to read the news at WECK– and while I love my job, it’s sheer misery every time that alarm clock goes off in the darkness. I know I can’t hit snooze… and it takes every bit of everything I have to throw myself out of bed and start my day.
It’s a perfect analogy for the mood disorders I suffer from…
Depending on the day or the hour or the minute… sometimes it takes everything I have to throw myself into whatever small task presents itself next.
The analytical smart-enough, public face and mind I present knows full well that stopping for a haircut or a car wash on the way home from work makes perfect sense… but sometimes it’s just too much. A lot of times.
And those little defeats build– and it can be a constant onslaught. All from inside my own head. It begins to be unbearable when those choices made in the grips of anxiety and depression start to effect other people.
None of it makes sense.. but its there and its a constant fight.
But it is a fight. And it’s one I take on… and millions of people take on every day.
I’m not a depressed person. I’m a happy, sunny, hilarious, industrious hard working guy… who happens to suffer from Mood disorders.
It’s a chronic illness which I refuse to allow to define who I am. One way to do that is to not publicly acknowledge it– and in some ways that might have been easier… but I’m doing my part to chip away at the wall of stigma that exists with mental illness.
Light is the only way to defeat darkness… and the more light we shine, the more darkness disappears.
People ask, How can I help… Be more understanding. For many years, as a closeted mood disordered person, I’d remind people constantly that WE ALL HAVE OUR OWN STUFF, whether you realize your neighbor does or not.
Being understanding means just being a nicer person. Smiling more and meaning it. Making eye contact and human contact and meaning it. Whatever you’re dealing with– trying to make room for compassion for other people dealing with their things.
Bringing light to the world. In many cases, its all we can do. It’s not a cure… but when there’s more light in the world, there’s less chance that someone is going to slip into the darkness.
Be nicer… and be educated.
That’s one way this body can help… Education usually takes money– and for the number of people who are affected by mood disorders and mental illnesses, the funding is woefully short.
The way I told my story was unique, and the unique message touched some people. The more unique messages mental health professionals can put into the world, the more people who will see more light in their day… and that’s all just about any person suffering wants– its some way to realize that there’s a way to find light.
From County Legislator Pat Burke’s Facebook page: Thank you to the wonderful speakers at today’s suicide awareness conversation. Suicide is the second leading cause of death in America for those between the age of 10-34. There will be a summary report and information to follow! To simplify the conversation: practice kindness, connect with people, and know the warning signs of someone in crisis. Public humiliation, social rejection, major disappointments, a personal crisis, and often substance abuse can be triggers for suicide.
It’s been 22 years now– and sad for me to think about the fact that I’ve been without Grandma Cichon longer than the time we were here together. But there’s happiness, too, of course…
She’s so much a part of who I am, what I do, and the way I do it… She’s very much here with me. She never said goodbye when someone would leave, it was always “Toodaloo,” with a smile and the knowledge we’d be seeing each other again soon.
After helping raise her six brothers and sisters, ten kids and a million nieces, nephews, and random kids from the neighborhood by the time she got to me– she had an incredible way of finding the thing she could help develop in a person and quietly make an impact.
When I was 6 or 7, she saw something in me that displayed a love of Buffalo History– and gave me a wonderful Buffalo historical photo-filled magazine (which of course I still have– I’m a pack rat just like her.)
More than just a love of history and the past, Grandma loved what was new and exciting, too. She took us kids on the bus from South Buffalo to Hertel Avenue for the first year of the Italian Festival in its new location there.
She took us (again on the bus) to the “new show” when the new downtown movie theaters opened. Of course, her handbag was filled with cans of Faygo pop and that cheap waxy candy from D&K.
When I was 8 or 9 and started sneaking up to watch Johnny Carson’s monologue, she was the only person I knew who also watched Carson, so she was the only one I could talk to about all the great jokes. It was Grandma Cichon who suggested that I might like David Letterman, too… Even though I was in fifth grade and his show started at 12:30am.
Uncovering Buffalo’s history and trying to make people smile are the very foundation of who I am– in no small part thanks to Grandma Cichon. But it’s not just me, it’s dozens of people, and the people they’ve since touched.
She was really tough, and definitely not the type to tell you that you were a special snowflake. But even better, she saw what was special in you, and without pomp, circumstance, or self-congratulation, she helped you cultivate it, whether you realized it or not.
What would have been her 90th birthday comes up on July 4th. She remains a definitive example of The Greatest Generation and a definitive example of a wonderful grandma.
I first stumbled on the Wellsboro Diner driving the back roads to Washington DC on a high school road trip.
The Diner in Wellsboro, PA is my all-time favorite diner. I am genuinely excited, but I think Monica is mocking me. Hahaha
That’s the same way I first ate at the Miss Worcester Diner in Worcester MA, too– slowly making my way to Boston as a teen-aged adventurer behind the wheel.
In both cases, I pulled out my giant road atlas, and created my own routes with little more to go on than little numbers pasted on top of colored lines criss-crossing the wide open country between where I was and where I was heading.
The place is on Route 6, and to stay on the route, you have to make a left hand turn which puts you right in front of the diner. It’s about 3 hours out of Buffalo, and the perfect spot for a break.
I was so excited to find an actual diner car diner– but then was just beside myself when the food was great, too.
At Miss Worcester Diner, 2014.
My preference was always for state roads and US highways over interstates. I’d the back roads with the hopes of finding great places like this one in those dark pre-Internet days, but there was never a guarantee, which made turning a seven hour trip into an 11 hour one tough when you wound up eating at McDonald’s anyway a lot of the time.
But that really was part of the fun for me. There’s no more serendipity in road trips, mostly because it’s so much easier to plan a trip that’s as fast as possible and hits plenty of neat stuff along the way, too.
Planning a road trip 2018 style, with Google searches for “Pennsylvia diners” and “Donut shops near Harrisburg,” and then having perfect turn-by-turn directions spit out by a smart phone app is wonderful, and I wouldn’t give it up.
But it just can’t replace the wonderful feeling of hitting the open road, and hoping to stumble into some great place to grab breakfast or a meatloaf dinner along the way, and spreading open that map as the waitress fills your second cup of coffee, and maybe gives you an idea about a good place to stop a few hours down the road.
You can do all that now, but it feels antiquated and forced with so many better options. I liked when it was the best option.
And my 25 year love affair with the Wellsboro Diner is a reminder of my discovery of how amazing a road trip– and life–can be, when you leave room for magic.
The reaction to the piece I wrote the other day about my personal struggles with depression and anxiety has been overwhelming.
One aspect I didn’t entirely think through– was that when people would share their stories with me, I’d really like to be able to offer some kind of next step to help them, some kind of way forward with some resources to get get on the road to better mental health.
So I turned to the experts.
“I think what’s important to remember is that everyone’s definition of crisis is different,” says Jessica Pirro with Crisis Services. She says it’s important to know that whatever kind of crisis you feel, at whatever intensity, at whatever moment, Crisis Services wants to help.
“Our hotline is available 24 hours a day for anyone that’s in need,” says Pirro. “You don’t have to be in extreme crisis. You could just need some information and referrals to resources. Maybe you’re interested in getting linked in with treatment or counseling. We can walk you through what that might look like.”
Not just for when “it’s really hitting the fan,” Crisis Services also is for support to help prevent some future crisis.
They want to help getting you to the next step after the phone call, in whatever way makes you comfortable to get to that next step.
“People can call our hotline anonymously. A lot of people call us every day, just to talk about what’s going on. Really our goal is to provide empathy. We’re not here to judge anybody. We just want to provide some resources to help you through the situation you’re faced with,” says Pirro.
Anyone of any age who is experiencing a personal, emotional or mental health crisis can call 24 hours a day and find someone who just wants to help you make your way towards your next step to feeling better.
By Steve Cichon
