Buffalo Stories Archives & Blog

Astigmatism, My Ol’Man, and Leonard Nimoy

By Steve Cichon | steve@buffalostories.com | @stevebuffalo

I got glasses in seventh grade. My vision was really bad and I didn’t really know. I remember looking at a pine tree out our front window, and being marveled by being able to make out the needles; not just seeing a big green blob.

Sixth grade was a mess. We moved to Orchard Park late that summer, and as a late add to every class, I sat in the last seat every time. I didn’t realize it was unusual, but I couldn’t see the board at all.

It’s because of all this, I taught myself the most memorable skills I learned in middle school.

As my grades suffered in Social Studies and Math because I was blind and sitting in the back, I figured out how to do two Mr. Spock moves: make my hand make the “live long and prosper” sign, and make one eyebrow go up while the other one goes down.
These are both actions which take some muscle memory, and had someone realized I needed glasses a year earlier, I might not have had an entire academic year to train those muscles.

Star Trek was one of those shows I watched with my dad a lot growing up. It always seemed to be on, which made him selective.

There were “dumb ones,” episodes Dad thought were stupid and didn’t stand up to the standards he set for the show.

We wouldn’t watch the dumb ones, but the good ones, my dad laughed at the jokes and cheered when they won every time like it was the first time he’d ever seen it. He especially loved Spock, and was lovingly amused at his different ways in the same way Captain Kirk was.

Spock was someone we could always agree on. He’s a great character. He’s forever denying his humanity; which, ironically, is one of humanity’s most prevalent traits.

Nimoy’s calm demeanor and resonant voice brought the best of Spock with him no matter what else he was doing. Dad and I loved him on “In Search of..” as well.

Not many people can specifically remember something striking they learned in sixth grade.

I learned to be a little more Vulcan, and therefore a little more human. And grew a little closer to my dad.

Thanks Leonard Nimoy. Rest in peace.

1960s Buffalo in Glorious Color

By Steve Cichon |steve@buffalostories.com | @stevebuffalo

eBay user soon2bexpat has a treasure trove of more than 300 vintage color slides posted for sale today, and many of them are from Buffalo and Western New York.

Glorious, full-color glimpses of the way life used to be around here, mostly from the late 1950s through the early 70s.

Many are labelled as from Buffalo, but many more are apparently snapshots of day-to-day life on the Niagara Frontier in a bygone era.

All of the “certain” and a good number of the “safe to assume” Buffalo images follow. As of print time, many of these remain for sale from soon2bexpat if you are interested.

If you can help better identify any of the people or places in any of these images, please drop me an email: steve@buffalostories.com

One of several shots taken in various Buffalo basement bars… Genesee and Iroquois lights hang on the wall on this one, pointing to a pretty clear Buffalo connection.

A similar-but-different bar features cans of Buffalo-brewed Stein’s beer stacked.

Beers in the basement.

Church hall? VFW? One thing is sure, that’s Buffalo’s own Simon Pure beer in the can to the left.

The only thing more Buffalo than sitting in the garage drinking a beer, is sitting in the garage drinking a beer while your friend plays the accordion. Extra points for white belt and argyle socks with shorts.

This could be a Polish-American wedding anywhere given the accordion player, but since the slides were mostly from Buffalo, I’ll guess that we can claim this one, too.

This one looks like a more honest-to-goodness gin mill, with at least four Iroquois signs on the wall.

I don’t know if her name is Mabel, but she quite clearly likes her Black Label.

There were several Purina mills and elevators in Western New Yoek, including one in The Valley. Can’t say for sure if this is one of them or not.

Again, it’s likely a Buffalo image, but I can’t say for sure. I can say it’s a Lehigh Valley snow plow…
UB playing at Rotary Field on Bailey Avenue. That’s the VA Hospital in the background.

The Buffalo Sabres and Chicago Blackhawks at Memorial Auditorium. Number 3 for the Sabres is Mike Robitaille.

This Sabres line is the French Connection– Rick Martin, Gil Perreault, and Rick Martin. The defenseman, number 2, is Tim Horton.

It’s a New York plate, so Buffalo is a good guess. It’s a great car either way.

A different New York plate– a different great car. This could be any one of a dozen neighborhoods in Cheektowaga.

The Daughters of Charity were responsible for the operation of Sisters’ Hospital. It appears that they are in a ballroom at the Statler Hilton.

The Isle View has been a Tonawanda landmark since Prohibition, and still is to this day– Doesn’t look too much different, either.

Wanda & Stephanie– Buffalo’s famous Mother/Daughter polka duo, were known as “America’s Polka Sweethearts.”

Random scene: Could be WNY or not…

Location not clear, but could be a lake boat…

Burger Basket, Sweeney & Payne in North Tonawanda. Home of the 39¢ Mr. Big.

Buffalo trucking concern.

Fire at Ann’s Restaurant. Almost certainly in Western New York with the Rich’s Ice Cream sign… There was an Ann’s Restaurant at the corner of Main and Virginia– it’s now a parking lot. Could be this place…

A possible Western New York storefront…

A ship docking in Toronto…

Buffalo Airport

Parade on Niagara Square

Firemen’s parade, downtown Buffalo

A cardinal sits among bishops in a City of Buffalo (CHESTER KOWAL, MAYOR) parade shelter

A Buffalo Police captain, as priests look on…

A parade in front of Lakeshore Tire…

St. Patrick’s Day on Main Street in Buffalo in the late 1950s or early 1960s.

If you can provide any more information on any of these photos, feel free to email me: steve@buffalostories.com.

Buffalo in the 90s: Convenient K-Mart ad compiles every sneaker brand kids hate

By Steve Cichon
steve@buffalostories.com
@stevebuffalo

If you were a kid in the 1990s, a pair of Nikes or Reeboks didn’t make you any smarter or help you perform better on standardized tests.

A pair of name-brand sneakers, however, may have helped you feel equal to (or maybe even superior to) your peers.

There was a sort of sneaker caste system in most places. Nike’s Air Jordans were at the top. Then came a host of lesser brand names, followed by store brands — ranked in order of the coolness of the store, of course.

From personal experience, I can say with unflinching certitude that the lowest sneaker caste was filled with those purchased at K-Mart. I didn’t really care that my sneakers came from K-Mart or Hills, and in fact, I actually felt some pride in that my footwear cost somewhere around $11.94, while the Reebok Pumps or Jordans were in the $70 range. Still, it only takes one or two comments to give even the most steel-willed individualist a complex.

Sneakers in a K-Mart ad, 1986. (Buffalo Stories archives)

By the mid-’90s, K-Mart had dropped the brand names Trax and Athletix — which occasionally marred my otherwise idyllic 1980s grammar school life — but Spaulding, Everlast and MacGregor still remained.

Luckily, by the time I was in high school, and by the time this ad came out, I had switched to wearing shoes more than sneakers. Still, one can’t help but think about how many kids wearing their Skechers (which used to be cool, kids) clipped this ad to know which sneakers — and which kids — to target.

Sneakers in a K-Mart ad, 1995. (Buffalo Stories archives)

Before it was the old AM&A’s building…

By Steve Cichon
steve@buffalostories.com
@stevebuffalo

There is buzz and tempered excitement over the purchase the old AM&A’s department store building on Main Street.

The building was last occupied in 1998 by Taylor’s, a short-lived high-end department store better remembered for its dress code (no sneakers!) than its offerings.

In 1995, Bon-Ton closed what was the flagship store of the Adam, Meldrum, and Anderson Department Store chain. Bon-Ton bought AM&A’s in 1994.

The building is now best known as the AM&A’s building, as it was from 1960-94.

For the 90 years previous, AM&A’s was directly across Main Street from that location, in a series of storefronts which were torn down to make way for the Main Place Mall.

For most of the 20th century, the building we call AM&A’s was the JN Adam Department store. Adam was a mayor of Buffalo and the brother of AM&A’s co-founder Robert Adam. In 1960, JN’s closed, and AM&A’s took over the building.

This photo, probably from the very late 1950s, shows Woolworth’s (which remained in that location until the chain dissolved in 1997), JN Adam, Bonds Men’s store (famous for two trouser suits), Tom McAn Shoes, the Palace Burlesk at its original Shelton Square location, then the Ellicott Square Building.

All of the storefronts between JN Adam and the Ellicott Square building were torn down for the M&T headquarters building and some green space.

Buffalo’s Summer Fun spots of the 1970s

By Steve Cichon
steve@buffalostories.com
@stevebuffalo

In 1971, Big E Savings Bank offered members of its “Money Managers Club” a bundle of coupons to some of Western New York’s great summertime locations.

“The Big E,” once Erie County Savings Bank, became expanded and became Empire of America in the 1980s. The Buffalo-based bank was one of dozens around the country which was liquidated amid the Savings & Loan (S&L) scandal.

Carroll’s Drive-Ins are no longer serving hamburgers to Western New Yorkers, but the Syracuse-based company is now the world’s largest Burger King franchisee.

Fun? Wow! Now known as Martin’s Fantasy Island, the Grand Island amusement park still welcomes thrill seekers every summer, although the once iconic main gate pictured above is no longer as majestic.

Fun ‘N Games Park in Tonawanda just off the 290 was a smaller amusement park in the area generally occupied by Gander Mountain. As much as the rides, kids loved driving by–if not through– the whale car wash next door.

In the 1970s, a person wanting a hot dog on Sheridan Drive had a footlong’s worth of options. Ted’s first store away from the Peace Bridge was opened on Sheridan in the 1940s when the road was still mainly rural. Pat’s Charcoal Hots (and Whopper Ice Cream) was a big hang out for a couple generations’ worth of Tonawanda kids, although some switched allegiances and switched over to Scime’s across the street when Pat’s was sold. Long gone now, Pat’s was located where Walgreens now stands at Sheridan and Parker.

Buffalo in the 60’s: Buffalonians march here as Rev. King marches in Selma

By Steve Cichon
steve@buffalostories.com
@stevebuffalo

Weeks of murders, beatings and unjust arrests led up to the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s march from Selma, Ala., to Montgomery, Ala.

In support of the events in Alabama, somewhere between 3,000 and 4,000 people rallied at Lafayette Square on March 14, 1965 — days after Dr. King was arrested, but days before the most famous, third Selma march. Arthur Eve led protesters in a march to Buffalo’s Federal Courthouse after speeches decrying racial injustice and inequity in this country.

Two days later in Buffalo– in sympathy with those whose march was stopping in Selma– 300 protestors trudged through snow, ice and cold temperatures as they walked from Lackawanna to Niagara Square, on March 14, 1965.

These photos were reprinted in The Buffalo News twenty years ago this week.

Buffalo in the 90s: Downtown’s future in question as Bon-Ton closes

By Steve Cichon
steve@buffalostories.com
@stevebuffalo

Only months after AM&A’s sold its operations to Bon-Ton, Bon-Ton announced the closure of the Main Street downtown location which had been hemorrhaging money for quite some time.

More than 300 jobs were lost with the closure of the store as well as the warehouse behind the store across Washington Street.

The loss of the downtown anchor and landmark 20 ago this month served as a wakeup call to many, that downtown was still far from a full, healthy recovery.

City must keep encouraging a downtown neighborhood

Housing will not appear downtown just because experts say it should. The old chicken-and-egg issue is part of the picture. Downtown would be more attractive if there were more people on the street to create a feeling of security. Downtown would be more attractive if there were more service outlets such as good convenience food stores, convenient dry cleaners and other small service shops. But those things aren’t likely to appear until more people live downtown.

Dontcha just miss a good ol’fashioned milk machine?

By Steve Cichon
steve@buffalostories.com
@stevebuffalo

This is a scene that played itself out over and over on streets all over Buffalo for much of the 20th century.

It was tough to walk a block or two without hitting a neighborhood tavern or a milk machine.

Though far fewer in number, of course there are still neighborhood gin mills, but the milk machines have gone away.

The machines began popping up in the city in the mid-1950’s. By the mid-1990s, the milk machines were all but extinct, with the last ones gone just after 2000.

The one I remember more than any other was next to B-kwik on Seneca Street, across from St. Teresa’s. The milk machine stood outside against what was the back wall of B-kwik– That spot was built out and is now Tim Hortons.

Although Grandma Coyle, who lived a block away on Hayden Street, had milk delivered from the milk man, occasionally she’d still have me go buy more from the milk machine. Grandma Cichon, who lived further down Seneca, would send me to Fay’s in the old Twin Fair Plaza to buy milk. It was cheaper there, but i can also remember having to take back a carton or two because it was expired.

Buffalo in the 60s: Which beers were Buffalonians drinking 50 years ago?

By Steve Cichon
steve@buffalostories.com
@stevebuffalo

There were a handful of beer ads in the pages of The News 50 years ago this week (the week of Feb. 16, 1965); most of them were brewed in the Buffalo region if not in Buffalo itself.

Frankenmuth Bock beer was brewed in Buffalo after its parent company merged with the Iroquois Brewery of Buffalo to form the International Brewing Co.

In 1965, Genesee Beer was brewed in Rochester, NY, as it is today.

Koch’s Golden Anniversary and Draft beers were brewed in Dunkirk, NY until 1985. The Genesee Brewery, which bought The Fred Koch Brewery in 1984, moved all brewing operations to its Rochester home base until the Koch brands were phased out in the mid-2000’s.

Schmidt’s was brewed in Philadelphia, but was a low-cost favorite in the Buffalo market until the brewery closed in 1986.

Happy Birthday, Grandpa Cichon

By Steve Cichon | steve@buffalostories.com | @stevebuffalo

Today is Grandpa Cichon’s 89th birthday in heaven…

I imagine him wearing a leisure suit up there cutting a rug to celebrate… just like here– dancing with his sister Mary (who, along with her twin Olga, was also born on Valentine’s Day, four years before Gramps.)

It’s a good deal that the man with the biggest heart ever was born on Valentine’s Day.