Buffalo Rising Online

Apr 30th, 1:54pm By Eli George

According to Marty Biniasz, Forgotten Buffalo wasn’t originally meant for tours. “It started off as a website that I founded five years ago,” he says. However, it wound up being a host of different themed tours that takes Buffalonians all across the region to places that have been lost over the ages. The next tour is soon, May 8th, and space, as always, is limited.

This is the second and last tour of the theme “Secret Societies & Clubs.” Biniasz discovers these places around Buffalo through his own research, which includes work he is doing on a book. His website, forgottenbuffalo.com, was originally a magnet for information on Buffalo neighborhoods, oddities, and off-the-beaten-track landmarks. As he found more and more places, people around him began to show an interest in sharing his discoveries. With that, the tours were born.

Biniasz says that what Forgotten Buffalo has found is that many Buffalo natives don’t even know about many of the things featured on the tours that it runs. Some examples of some of the things people will see on the “Secret Societies & Clubs” tour is a former athletic club with its own bowling lanes as well as two buildings that were at risk for being torn down that have a rich, secret history, and some ethnic clubs on the East Side that are hidden gems.

Biniasz explains that the tours are not merely getting on and off a bus. He says they are fully choreographed, entertainment tours. They have skits and songs and require audience participation. “We want them to eat, drink, and laugh in Buffalo history,” says Biniasz.

The tour will have a traditional Buffalo dinner featuring pizza at one of the stops as well as the Buffalo original Beef on Weck. The “Secret Societies & Clubs” tour only has about 16 seats left available on the 48-seat bus. The cost of the tour is $35 per person and you must be 21 years old or older to take part. It kicks off at 6pm from the Sportsmen’s Tavern at 326 Amherst Street and you have to reserve your spot by e-mailing forgottenbuffalo@aol.com or calling 833-5211.

Forgotten Buffalo will be hosting more tours, including one on May 31st at 5pm called “Over the Falls in a Beer Barrel.” It will feature a lot of Niagara Falls greatest taverns, lounges, and clubs and will feature the other, non-casino side, of the area. After that, on June 14th at 5pm, is “The Soul of Buffalo” tour. This tour will feature soul food at great African-American lounges and bars on the lower East Side.