As of this morning at 10am, the Rotary Club of Buffalo will unveil something rather unusual and unexpected - something that will speak American pride to all those who see it. A 30'x60' American flag, destined to fly atop a 100' flagpole to be installed at the Inner Harbor (for Flag Day of next year), will mark a Centennial Year Celebration for the Rotary Club of Buffalo. In one year's time, the flag will officially be the largest flying flag in the city, waving high on top of the tallest freestanding flagpole.
The flag is being donated by Rotary Club along with Earl Ketry, owner of Pearl Street Grill and Brewery, who feels that the waterfront feature will be the perfect fit for the Buffalo and Erie County Naval and Military Park. The Rotary Club of Buffalo was the 28th club to be founded - today there are 32,000 clubs operating in 200 countries.
I spoke to Rob Geist, owner of Uncle Sam's Army Navy Outfitters, who told me that he was going to be temporarily adhering a battleship flag (of similar size) to the side of his building (290 Larkin Street facing the 190) to coincide with the event.
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The flag is being donated by Rotary Club along with Earl Ketry, owner of Pearl Street Grill and Brewery, who feels that the waterfront feature will be the perfect fit for the Buffalo and Erie County Naval and Military Park. The Rotary Club of Buffalo was the 28th club to be founded - today there are 32,000 clubs operating in 200 countries.
I spoke to Rob Geist, owner of Uncle Sam's Army Navy Outfitters, who told me that he was going to be temporarily adhering a battleship flag (of similar size) to the side of his building (290 Larkin Street facing the 190) to coincide with the event.
The only city I have ever seen that has "projects" right on it's prime waterfront property.......
It's a proud display of Buffalo's authenticity. Other cities have fake, artificial and plastic foo-foo high rise luxury condos on their waterfront. Buffalo is a city of broad shoulders, a honest and genuine city, and public housing on the waterfront is just a small part of what makes Buffalo more real than Phoenix, Charlotte and Toronto.
Manhattan has a whole bunch of public housing complexes on the edge of the Harlem River and East River. Queens and Brooklyn have projects on the East River (including right behind Coney Island Beach). Chicago has housing projects all along the lakefront.
I'm beginning to think the "only in Buffalo" comments must come from people who have never traveled outside of Buffalo (or even just done a bit of online research).
JSmith> I'm beginning to think the "only in Buffalo" comments must come from people who have never traveled outside of Buffalo (or even just done a bit of online research).
Dan just has the "if its Buffalo it sucks syndrome". If you listen to him you would think that bubble awnings, iron railings, and other objectionable arcitectual features exist exclusively within Buffalo's boundaries. To him our pizza is not good enough, our craft brewing industry is not crafty enough and our Latins are not Latin enough.
> If you listen to him you would think that bubble awnings, iron railings, and other objectionable arcitectual features exist exclusively within Buffalo's boundaries. To him our pizza is not good enough, our craft brewing industry is not crafty enough and our Latins are not Latin enough.
Bubble awnings, iron railings, vinyl and aluminum siding, and the rest: yeah, other cities have such aesthetic monstrosities, but not to the same extent as Buffalo.
I love Buffalo-style pizza. Love it. I only relayed the fact that those from NYC and downstate HATE it. Don't shoot the messenger.
Craft brewing: compare Buffalo to similarly sized cities, and you'll find the beer scene leaves a lot to be desired. Two brewpubs (only one in the city) and an on-again-off-again picobrewery whose products are hard to find ... whoopie.
Latins not Latin enough? I explained that Buffalo's lack of Mexican restaurants could be because Buffalo has the smallest Mexican population of any large-ish metropolitan area in the US. Buffalo's sizable and vibrant Puerto Rican community hasn't done much to spread their culture beyond their home turf of the West Side. Until they do so, Puerto Rican culture will sadly never be part of the collective consciousness of the region, unlike that of the Big Three. Again, you're shooting the messenger.
I find most of what you say about planning and local history very interesting and insightful. Unfortunately it seems that you are one of the many locally that assume anything from or associated with Buffalo, NY is somehow automatically second rate.
Iron railings and such dont exist in other cities at "the same extent as Buffalo"? Really? I'm not sure if there is anything scientific out there that could prove either of our points but based on my own experience, those features and one time mainstream building materials can be found in most Midwestern-Northeastern cities of similar age.
A handful of downstaters told you they didnt like our pizza and that is somehow supposed to make it inferior to the rest of the country? Could it just be as simple as Lawnoilunduhs like their pizza one way and we like it another?
You didnt compare us with similarly sized cities you compared us to Denver. I dont think it should be held against Buffalo for not being on par with a city that has one of the liveliest craft brewing scenes in the country. We have two breweries (Southern Tier and Flying Bison), a handful of brewpubs, and several home brewers. Not Denver but not a bad craft brewing scene either. All of which has little if anything to do with the local brewing heritage that you were mocking.
The worst was claiming that Buffalo was not "Latin" enough because of the lack of Mexican restaurants. While there are few Mexicans here, a large chunk of the city speaks Spanish as their primary language. Does the fact they have not "spread their culture" beyond the west side make them any less a part of the community at large? How do you know that they will "never be a part of the collective consciousness of the region"?