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.
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…
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.