I'm sitting in a hotel, at this very moment, in Midtown Manhattan reading an article on Buffalo NY that was featured in the Globe and Mail just yesterday. The reason that I'm in NYC is rather interesting. Last summer I received an email from a NYC restaurateur who shared with me that he had fallen in love with a Buffalo gal and was picking up and moving to to be with her. After sitting down with the New Yorker for almost three hours the two of us hit it off and have since spent quite a few hours discussing his future role in "our fair city*". Tonight, however, I am in NYC celebrating his marriage and will soon be toasting to his new life in Buffalo.
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In NYC there are countless hotels that boast incredible grandeur. In Buffalo, they are few and far between. Fortunately there is finally a hotel that we can brag about - Hotel Lafayette - a hotel that writer Craig Offman from the Globe and Mail has discovered and is telling his readers about. You might think that having one hotel of this caliber is nothing to brag about, but I'm sure that many of us can remember the day when The Elk Terminal was the only building downtown that we could point to as a beacon of hope for apartment conversions to come. With all of the success that Hotel Lafayette has experienced, hope springs eternal for The Statler and myriad boutique hotels that will hopefully soon be underway. When talking to my restauranteur friend from NYC he sees the potential in Buffalo because of the forward thinkers who have finally gotten the ball rolling in our city. Whether it's a progressive hotel, loft conversion, restaurant or fashion boutique, there are those who are taking a chance with Buffalo in hopes that the payoff is a good one. In recent years those initial investments appear to be paying off.
A segment from the Globe and Mail:
The hotel is a win for tourists and the city alike. Its downtown area is filled with Art Deco splendour, a joy to walk through on a bright Sunday morning. (My nine-year-old, Noa, said she preferred Buffalo's downtown to Toronto's, and that was even after I told her she couldn't go to the Tim Hortons near our hotel.) A 10-minute drive from there is the world-class art gallery and museum, the Albright-Knox, which offers audio tours for both adults and kids, and equally close is Frank Lloyd Wright's Darwin Martin house. Or the artless can clog their arteries with the Buffalo wings at the Pearl Bar and Grill, the tastiest (and greasiest) I've had in ages, and I mean that in the best way. Even if you're not getting married any time soon, the Lafayette is well worth the overnight trip.
Also see Frank Lloyd Wright's forgotten gem - in Buffalo | Globe and Mail
The article is a left-handed complement. Its author looks down on us from his perch in Toronto and gives us a compliment in between several snarky stereotypical assumptions. We don't need jerks like this guy to assess our city.
Agreed. It seems that every bit of positive national press that we get is laced with subtle jabs and cliche stereotypes.
Or we could shed our delicate hide and quit with the cliche stereotype of Buffalo as a city of whiners; and instead say thanks for the press and compliments! Or fire a salvo back. Or better yet go to the CN Tower, pay the $75 it costs to get to the observation deck, and take a big diarrhea dump on the glass floor. That'll teach 'em.
Either way, quit crying.
Is it 75 bucks now? Jesus, what a ripoff!
Wow. I didn't like condescension and that's my opinion. It doesn't merit a nuclear response. After all, I'm not your nemesis, the ladyinwhite.
I get pretty pissed when taints like this guy or Joffrey Lupul spew diarrhea, too. But doesn't Buffalo pride itself on being a tough, blue collar town? Not on being a prissy, nancy town like Toronto. So when we whine and cry because people like this author express derisive OPINION, just like you expressed your opinion, aren't we acting more like Charlotte than the hard-nosed, tough, no-nonsense town we like to think we are?
Let's get the sand out and drive on. I know who I am and don't need to hear anyone's judgement. Thanks for the exposure and compliments, Craig Offman! Come back anytime.
I don't think people in Charlotte would take a diarrhea dump in another city. Nor to I think they would even use that term. That's more up your alley. So classy.
Class, class, class. Equaled only by your mastery of grammar, punctuation, spelling, and a miserable attitude. I bet your kids hate you.