Jimmy Griffin’s dream-turned-reality for a downtown ballpark helped spur the rebirth of a Buffalo neighborhood and nearly brought a major league baseball team to Buffalo. It was doing what might have seemed impossible for Buffalo on the face of it. A new, $56 million baseball stadium right in the middle of city that, over the … Continue reading Torn-Down Tuesday: Statler’s Hotel Buffalo made way for Pilot Field
Not too long after the last rotisserie chicken was sold at the Swiss Chalet restaurant on Niagara Falls Boulevard in February 2010, the building was torn down, leaving fans (OK, at least me) with the hope that something might be built that could somehow fill the hole left in our hearts by the closure of … Continue reading Torn-Down Tuesday: Swiss Chalet on Niagara Falls Boulevard
The 1980s were a rough decade to love Buffalo. Sure, there was the “Talking Proud” song, but really that was about it. Many of Buffalo’s most iconic industries didn’t make it out of the ’80s, and neither did the jobs associated with those factories and plants that closed. Even those who still loved Buffalo found … Continue reading #Buffalove, 1980s style: the Buffalo tie
The following is an excerpt from Irv! Buffalo’s Anchorman, which I wrote and published in 2010. It’s available at through the Buffalo & Erie County Public Library or for purchase here. Foreward What an honor it is to write the story of Buffalo’s all-time most popular and acclaimed media personalities and news team. About 6 … Continue reading Remembering a Buffalo Legend with Excerpts from “Irv! Buffalo’s Anchorman”
When I was a kid at Holy Family grammar school in South Buffalo, I loved election season. Watching the news with my dad every night, I got to know all the players on the local scene, and through my ol’man’s instant, savage analysis, I always knew who was a good guy and who was a … Continue reading Sign of the times
With March Madness returning to Buffalo, take a look back at the
The Complete History of Parkside By Steve Cichon A history of the Frederick Law Olmsted designed neighborhood, from its place in the history of the Seneca Nation, to its role in the War of 1812, to Olmsted’s design and the turn of the century building out of the area, and the neighborhood’s 20th century evolutions. … Continue reading Titles in our Bookstore
“Stay inside. Grab a six-pack.” It’s almost difficult to imagine Western New York and especially a Western New York snowfall without the phrase that Jimmy Griffin joked would wind up on his tombstone. But while Buffalonians have likely been drinking their way through snowstorms for as long as there have been people here, we’ve only … Continue reading Buffalo in the ’80s: When ‘Grab a six-pack’ became our mantra
In the days and weeks after the Blizzard of ’77 struck Buffalo, full-color images filled Time Magazine and nightly network newscasts, showing Buffalonians continuing to smile and continuing to dig out. It’s probably our smiles and the sense of resiliency that came through in the news coverage that made Buffalo an acceptable butt of jokes … Continue reading The Blizzard of ‘77: Buffalo was seemingly endless target of Carson’s jokes
BUFFALO, NY – The village of Buffaloe was, in 1814 described by one visitor as “a nest of villians, rogues, rescals, pickpockets, knaves, and extortioners.” When the British burned Buffalo, it was a small village of log cabins, with tree stumps strewn in the streets. It’s difficult to imagine the Buffalo of 200 years ago, but … Continue reading The Mound in the Meadow: Buffalo’s Tomb of the Unknowns at Delaware Park
