Buffalo Rising: queenseyes: February 2012 Archives

City February 29, 2012 5:33 PM

Buffalo Central Terminal Schedule of 2012 Tours, Events & Festivals

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The 2012 event schedule for the Buffalo Central Terminal has been released, and with it we are seeing some familiar programming such as the Toy Train and Railroadiana Expo and the Dyngus Day celebration (expanded this year). Deco Fest is making a return visit in 2012, and for those ghost hunters and zombies out there (there are many) the terminal will become the site of three-day paranormal and horror convention - one of the largest in the northeast. Each time you attend an event at the Buffalo Central Terminal you help the architectural icon towards its ultimate salvation. So pick a festival, expo, event or tour and mark it on your calendar.
Highlights include:
Monday, April 9th, 3p-11p - Dyngus Day: The Dyngus Day Capital of the World's biggest party. Polka supergroup Those Idiots will take over the Terminal for the entire night as they play three shows that includes a special "rock polka" concert for the finally.

City February 29, 2012 1:24 PM

149 Elmwood: From Drab to Fab

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After witnessing some truly unimpressive facade mishaps around town, it's nice to see someone actually spending some time and money in order to spruce up a building. The former Claiborne Liquor location has gone from being jacked-up to looking impressive - and the work is not even complete. The liquor store had been at this 149 Elmwood location for as long as I can remember, and during that time it always had a rundown appearance.
When I first saw that work was being performed on the building, after Claiborne moved down the street, I asked a couple of the neighbors who

food February 29, 2012 9:35 AM

Lucy Ethiopian Cuisine and Variety Store

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There has been a buzz going around this past week that Buffalo is finally going to get an Ethiopian Restaurant. A sign had gone up in a window on Amherst Street announcing the news. That's when I started getting phone calls and emails asking if it was 'my guy' who had finally found a location. As much as I wanted it to be Wass (my guy), it was not, but nonetheless I was excited to learn that Buffalo would soon have Ethiopian food.
After digging around, I learned that the operators of Lucy

City February 28, 2012 9:41 AM

Grant Street: Downgrading the Scajaquada Expressway

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This is the third in a series discussing key intersections along the Scajaquada Expressway, as it is downgraded to a boulevard. Once again, the key elements to be improved upon at this Grant Street intersection are traffic calming on the boulevard and access and egress to Grant Street, Buffalo State College and surrounding neighborhoods. You can see that the on-ramps and off-ramps have been cleaned up and converted into intersections controlled by stoplights. As with other intersections along the boulevard, this plan helps to tie together roadways, while the new arterial environment frees

City February 27, 2012 3:09 PM

Olmsted Organic

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The future of the Buffalo Olmsted Parks is starting to look greener and healthier thanks to many of the organic initiatives that we have seen implemented in recent years. As forward thinking ideas of 'plant zoos' and 'maintained meadow areas' move from concepts to realities, Olmsted Parks are uniquely positioned to become sustainable examples of how organic practices can lead to living better lives. The goodness of green doesn't stop

City February 27, 2012 9:21 AM

7-11 Captures A Market

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Now that 7-11 has opened its doors it's time to take a look at a few of the differences that customers can expect from the convenience store (see history). Although the company got its name from the morning to night time period that it was open, 7-11 is now open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. I discovered this while driving past an Elmwood location a couple of days ago at 4:30am. I stopped in to get a cup of coffee and ended up talking with the clerk who was on duty. "I just made a fresh batch of coffee," she told

City February 27, 2012 8:45 AM

Hotel Lafayette: The Two Month Countdown

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The Hotel Lafayette is two months away from opening. That means that a crew of 270 workers is showing up daily to get the historic hotel ready for businesses and residents. "We're spending $10,000,000 on restaurants inside the building," developer Rocco Termini told me. "There will be 34,000 square feet of banquet space... all totaled this is a $42,000,000 project that will be 100% operational the day that it opens. That means that the 400 seat Pan American Brewery and Dining Room will be up and running, as will Butterwood Desserts with its 40 bakers and 3000 square feet of walk-in coolers.

food February 26, 2012 8:42 AM

Buffalo's Best Kielbasa Contest

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Up until this point we've seen Buffalonians battle it out for the best pierogi, pies, chili, etc... Most of the culinary contests revolve around a particular seasonal event, and the upcoming kielbasa contest is no different. It's hard to imagine that Dyngus Day is fast approaching. It seems as if winter never even came this year, and suddenly spring events are upon us. On April 9, at the Adam Mickiewicz Library & Dramatic Circle (Mickey's) and Tornspace, a kielbasa contest will kick off at noon, and with it "Polonia at Buffalo's Most Authentic and Original Dyngus Day Celebration."

City February 25, 2012 6:19 PM

Post Taste

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The country's largest two-day food festival got a nice mention in the New York Post as one of the eight food festivals to attend this year. Thanks to the growing diversity in cuisines and the addition of food trucks, the Taste of Buffalo is not only a giant draw for downtown, it's also a great way to show the world that Buffalo has a unique blend of locally owned restaurants.
...and with the addition

City February 25, 2012 11:34 AM

From Rust Belt to Green Belt

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Aaron Bartley's writings were recently published in the Huffington Post, where he drew an interesting picture of living green in modern day rust belt cities. In the column, Bartley, Co-Founder of People United for Sustainable Housing (PUSH Buffalo), talks about the successes of urban farming initiatives in Detroit, Milwaukee, Cleveland and Buffalo. Following is a blurb from his writings - if you are interested in seeing the article in its entirety, click here.
In

City February 24, 2012 11:53 AM

Motor Week: The Pierce Arrow Transportation Museum

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The expansion of the Pierce Arrow Transportation Museum is one of those ongoing developments that we have heard about for a long time, but the details are still a little fuzzy. That's partially due to the fact that we've seen all sorts of architectural renderings, yet haven't seen much as far as the interior make-up of the museum. Up until this point the exterior design has been the flag that owner James Sandoro has been waving, while many of us have been waiting for a real glimpse into the different components of the museum. Fortunately Motor

City February 24, 2012 10:52 AM

Strip Appeal: Reinventing The Strip Mall

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Throughout the United States, the problem of what to do with abandoned strip malls is a serious issue. Even as developers were building these dime a dozen complexes, the next best site was right around the corner. We've seen it time and time again - communities stuck with vast unusable land and derelict properties. Some of these strip malls are smaller, consisting of a handful of businesses. But even the smaller scenarios can present major reuse dilemmas. Then there are the much larger forsaken developments, such as Buffalo's Central Park Plaza, that can scar neighborhoods indefinitely.
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City February 22, 2012 5:01 PM

Albright-BECHS: Downgrading the Scajaquada Expressway

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I think the intersection between the Historical Society and Knox should be the first order of business - Tim (BRO reader)
After posting on the Delaware s-curves yesterday, a BRO reader pointed out that another crucial intersection should be closely examined, and that, of course, is the land surrounding the Albright-Knox and the Buffalo and Erie County Historical Society (BECHS). You will see that a couple of the significant changes come in the form of 1) removing vehicular

City February 21, 2012 3:32 PM

The Buffalo Small Press Book Fair

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In Buffalo, The Buffalo Small Press Book Fair is big news. This year over 110 vendors and over 2500 participants will gather at the Karpeles Manuscript Library Museum (Porter Hall) to pay tribute to "booksellers, authors, bookmakers, zinesters, small presses, artists, poets, and other cultural workers." In a city that knows how to appreciate 'all walks of artists', we have an incredible pool of talented people who rely on the small press way of life both locally and nationally.
On Saturday, March 24th one big building will come alive with

City February 21, 2012 1:39 PM

Delaware S-Curves: Downgrading the Scajaquada Expressway

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As promised, today I am featuring the first of a number of Scajaquada intersections that we will see impacted in the future. Many of these intersections are, at this point, high speed on and off ramps. The Department of Transportation (DOT) is looking hard at removing or reworking some of these ramps in order to clean up the access points that will lead to and from a downgraded Scajaquada Expressway (to a boulevard). The schematic that we see below shows us what it might one day look like at the north end of the s-curves where on and off ramps are now located. The idea is to transform the ramps

City February 21, 2012 11:20 AM

Elmwood Strip Development Group

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"I'm mad as hell and I'm not going to take it anymore." Howard Beale in 'Network'
I still remember when David Cooper first moved back to Buffalo. It was about five or six years ago and when I first ran into him he told me that he had come home to open up a restaurant. That restaurant turned out to be The Wine Thief, a business that closed approximately one year ago. Ever since David returned, he's been fired up about the process and dynamics of opening and expanding small businesses in the city. "I'm not even talking about my business," he told me. "I'm talking

College February 21, 2012 9:01 AM

Bring on the Bengal Bucks!

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If you've ever thought that it would be nice to see more college students heading off campus to explore their surrounding neighborhoods, then I have good news for you. Buffalo State College now has a Bengal Bucks Off-Campus Program that allows its students to use the 'declining balance dollar' system at local shops and restaurants. The first three businesses to accept the Bengal Bucks are Zonies and Elmwood Taco and Subs (photo: on Elmwood) and Subway (on Delaware). Buffalo State Dining is looking for additional businesses that are interested in taking advantage of the campus dollar program,

City February 20, 2012 4:09 PM

4th Annual Edible Book Festival

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One of the more delectable events that takes place downtown each year is the Edible Book Festival. There is nothing else like it. For the fourth year in a row, WNY Book Arts Center (FB) will be featuring a tasty selection of some of the all-time best reads. The way it works is basically a combination of baking and book reading. In the past, culinary artists have recreated 'readible' selections by either accurately portraying a book cover, or dreaming up a fictional or non-fictional baker's rendition of a novel theme. Either way you look at

City February 20, 2012 12:40 PM

Let's cross that bridge now...

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Does this bridge look familiar to you? In a perfect world... a world where Olmsted's Delaware Park was not ripped in half by the Scajaquada Expressway, this is the bridge that what we would still see today, covering the creek while adding an outstanding architectural dimension to the entrance of the Museum District. Unfortunately what we are left with instead is an ugly structural nightmare with no historical significance at all. While we are stuck with this eyesore for now, there may ultimately be a happy ending to this story. As plans toward downgrading the expressway are underway, it has been

City February 20, 2012 10:29 AM

Bacchus Shines Its Own Light On Chippewa

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Did you ever wonder what happened to the old Third Room on Chippewa in Buffalo's Entertainment District. I mean after it closed, what became of the space? When the Third Room turned out the lights, it opened up an incredible opportunity for its neighbor, Bacchus, to expand. Over the past few months the new addition, along with much of the existing restaurant, has been undergoing a significant transformation that will ultimately position Bacchus as a fine dining and banquet destination in what was once the city's red light district. As you can see (lead image), the renovated private dining room