Buffalo Rising Online

I would have rather seen the dead streetside trees replaced. There is one at the end of my street (wellington) in front of the Side Bar, and numerous that did not produce leaves this year.

Also I would love to see more activity occur between Main and Parkside. This whole stetch could be a bridge between the University and Elmwood.

al - Don't worry, if Hertel gets too Disneyish you could try Grant St. According to a few street light banners I've seen over there, it's an international marketplace. http://www.berc.org/pdf/Grant_and_ferry.pdf

i dont think it will be overdone, a little recognition for my hood is welcome :]

So al-alo...if you knew anything about 'your hood'...you'd know it was predominently Italian before you--or any of the other cultural food gems that compliment the same made their way to the avenue. There are a lot of Italian families to boot. It's also where the Italian Festival is staged every year...so it does make sense and should promote growth of more authentic Italian places. Heck--wish Guercios was on the Ave! Embrace the positive, grass roots-inspired thing it is dude. It's nice! So love it...or leave it--as you proposed.

I love it! More please.

Not very original folks. Pine Avenue in Niagara Falls has a Little Italy theme going on, let's hope ours is a little more successful and tasteful.

How come we can't advertise Hertel as.. wait for it.. Hertel... A little self recognition goes a long way to creating a place. Elmwood became popular when Elmwood became a household name not because it tried to theme itself in some partially correct but partially incorrect way. Make Hertel known for what it is, an up and coming business street with many different and appeal attractions with a solid walkable neighborhood. Theming all of Hertel at little Italy will disuade many people from going there and also make those non-Italian places there seem out of place. So if people did go because it is called little italy, they would probably make an effort to avoid anything not-Italian.

plus it is false historically since anyone with google can find out that the italians originially settled on the west side, hence the reason for Marco's, Santasario's Guercio's being where they are.

That being said, I do really love the quality of the signs... They look fantastic but I think they should brand Hertel for being more than just Italian. Also.. why paint metal. they are beautiful the way they are and paint means you need to maintain them by repainting them every 5 years.

my aunt lives on norwalk..im there alot, im just up a block

just be thankful Russ Salvatore wasn't involved with these plans or there could have been some golden schmaltzified archway towering over Hertel ave....much like the one that marks the entrance to China Town at the end of Dundas / Spadina up in TO . These signs actually aren't that bad.

North Buff was a pretty diverse neighborhood in its origin, but the Jews were probably the first immigrants to leave their mark...the Italians came later before moving out to the Town of Tonawanda

I was just on Hertel the other day and I would love to see benches and garbage cans. And a metro link that will take people from LaSalle station on main down the Hertel strip and down Elmwood too. Have it run frequently on the weekends and advertise it to local universities. Many of you would be amazed at the number of students that never leave campus, ever.

^^wow sorry that wasn’t a complete thought at all.

I was just on Hertel the other day and I would love to see benches and garbage cans. And a metro link that will take people from LaSalle station on main down the Hertel strip and down Elmwood too. I was just on Hertel the other day and I would love to see benches and garbage cans. And a metro link that will take people from LaSalle station on main down the Hertel strip and down Elmwood too. Have it run frequently on the weekends. I think this would increase the volume of shoppers in both districts immensely. In addition advertise it and the districts to local universities. So many students never leave their campuses because “there is nothing to do” they just aren’t informed.

we don't need a metro link.. i dont understand the point of these shuttles when there are already bus routes that serve the same areas. Maybe if we didn't divide our resources for public transportation so much we could actually have some good quality bus routes also. Or are we just that afraid as a society of buses that the only way to get people to consider public transportation is a trian or a short bus... *sigh*

If we want to get people off campus to Hertel we need and should have the Hertel Fillmore bus link to south campus. It doesn't even go by the LaSalle station, so if you wanted to transfer to that route, you need to exit the station, walk 500' go around the corner to the bus stop and wait without any shelter. Having the bus loop at LaSalle (preferably University) would make a lot of sense and make the system much easier to navigate.

Does Hertel really have an ethnic identity anymore? For the Italian Fest, I guess, but the other 51 weeks of the year? For the last few yrs it has struck me as a place with a growing East Side population and scuzzy bars with a few eclectic retailers/rest. thrown in.

Deleted racist comment

if you were unaware of the heavy Italian influence in this neighborhood before you bought your home you were either misinformed or just plain naive.....it's all around. If you ever plan to relocate to South Buffalo don't be shocked when you encounter shamrocks and general stereotypical Tom Foolery on every street corner

North Park here, it that wasnt obvious.

huh?

right on...the Theatre District moniker must be removed as well

Tacky

Saranac Avenue here. The signs are great, 70% of the residents on Saranac are Italian. I agree with NBJohn, MJman4, Hoss & Andrew, I think MIchael LoCurto needs to step out of his office and take a stroll down Hertel, it really needs some TLC!!!!!!!

What's wrong with "North Park", the original name of the neighborhood? This probably isn't a major concern, but "Little Italy" could be seen as exclusionary. Sure, there was Polonia, but the Hertel Avenue area now isn't nearly as Italian as the Broadway-Fillmore area was Polish during its prime. The Hertel Avenue area still has a small but very visible Orthodox Jewish community, and young homebuyers moving to the area aren't limited to those whose last names end in vowels.

If they want to be truly Buffalonian about it -- authentic, real, down-to-earth and genuine, unlike every other city in the United States -- they must include "District" in the moniker. How about these names?

Pasta District Macaroni District Cannoli District Chianti District Red Sauce District Legitimate Business District

Apart from whether ethnic marketing is a good idea or not (it doesn't seem to hurt Chinatown in Toronto), I like the use of steel for these banners. But whatever typeface was used for the "Benvenuti" already looks dated. Like, the 1970s. They could have picked a typeface from Italy, vintage or contemporary.

Apart from whether ethnic marketing is a good idea or not (it doesn't seem to hurt Chinatown in Toronto), I like the use of steel for these banners. But whatever typeface was used for the "Benvenuti" already looks dated. Like, the 1970s. They could have picked a typeface from Italy, vintage or contemporary.

Formerly Linden corner of Norwalk here...when I was growing up from '57-'63 there was indeed a large Italian population (my classmates included Parisi, Palosi, Ragusa, and Tornabeni) but also many Irish, Germans (Schaus, Stienmetz) and more. My mother (Irish-English) grew up in this area in 1915 to 1938 and married a German Apfel at St. Margaret’s. When researching though the city directories and the census during these periods it reveals a wide range of ethnicity. Although....I did learn a few choice Italian curse words while growing up in North Park...and my dad always called them Eye-talians.

BROKEEPSBLOCKINGME - no, I'm only sore because of my recent banning from Pole Play.

Marilyn, you are so good at remembering our third grade classmates! And you are right, we're all mutts, aren't we....

I work with a Lesniak now, and am related to Apfels.. small world.. :)

This would be like calling the fruit belt German Town, There were more Germans in Buffalo than any other ethnicity. In 1900 over 50% of buffalo's population was of German decent. Sorry to rock the boat with the G word Next in line were Polish then Irish (or vis-versa). Sorry Italians, you might be well connected and outspoken in politics but you don't deserve your own district named after you.

Hows my comment racialist? If I was to say all I see are the Irish, or the Polish would that be bad? Plus, is that statemnt untrue that there is a far greater number of blacks on Herterl than there was ten yrs ago? So if the ethinical makeup of the area is or has changed isn't it kinda dumb to call it Little Italia. Pockets around Braodway that were largely Polish 30 yrs ago but almost all black now, would it make cents to call that little Poland?

Wow, sbrof- if your Apfel connections are from Western New York, we're cousins. That's one of the amazing things about coming back home, I've already connected with two "lost" cousins I didn't know of, discovered dozens more, reconnected with a third-grade classmate, and have found a ton of famous and infamous folk who are distant relations of mine. I don't believe North Buffalo-North Park can easily be classified as one ethnic stronghold. The surname is German but the background is a mix of Irish-British-Italian and more. We're all family here.

al-alo,

I think you so eloquently meant; villaggio di cazzo e culo! (village of d--- and a--! lol)

You've probably phonetically spelled it correctly in dialect though!