Larkin Street Café
Until yesterday I had never stepped inside the Seneca Industrial Center. After a visit to RPM Productions I took a bit of time to walk around and explore the building. Owned and operated by Seneca Development & Management Corporation (SDMC), the center is a lot different than I had anticipated. First of all, you don't need an invitation to just walk in. For those of you who are into historic industrial building... especially within the former Larkin complex... then you might like to know that there is a small café inside. Actually, it's more like a cafeteria, but what's important is that it's a place to grab an early breakfast or an afternoon meal. The menu offers three pages of food choices ranging from breakfast sandwiches ($1.99), chargrilled hamburgers ($2.19), wraps ($3.50), whole pizzas ($9.95), to Buffalo wings (10 for $4.99).
I've passed by this building numerous times and always wondered if the Larkin Street Café was operational. The simple quaint awning juxtaposed against the mammoth industrial building was so unusual. I always figured that it had been a short-lived business that never made it off the ground... or it was closed to the public. As it turns out, the café/cafeteria is open to anyone who may want to grab some food between the hours of 6:45am to 2pm (Monday thru Friday). The operation caters to many of the employees that work down in the Larkin District... and if you take a look at the types of businesses that are down there then you can expect to find a wide range of people who frequent the place. There are companies inside the center that utilize the space for records storage, and there are creative businesses like RPM Entertainment Productions - the company's office was featured in the latest print issue of Buffalo Rising. That feature will be posted later today on BRO.
The Larkin Street Market Place is located at 701 Seneca Street on the 2nd floor. The phone is 716.852.1075. The cafeteria setting features The Black Star Grille, and the Larkin Street Café... just remember, there is no glamour here, if you're into exploring different places to eat in the city, then it's a pretty cool/cheap find.
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Bishop
I work in the Larkin at Exchange Building (today better known as the wind tunnel looking onto the non-working windmills) and have been wondering about this place for quite some time now. I will definately have to strolol over and check it out.
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wizardofza
Wooo....a cafeteria inside a workplace, what a novel concept!
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stephenjames716
man that building looks depressing. the little blue awning looks nice though :)
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Arcesius
I work in the Seneca Industrial Center and usually get my lunches at the cafe. What a surprise to see an article mentioning them! They also make vegan wraps if you're a food snob like me =). Stop in and say hi if you can manage your way through the maze that is this building. (I once found the mythical eighth floor that, rumor has it, can only be found when you're in dire need of help! You have to walk back and forth in front of the staircase three times for it to open up =).) But anywho, the girls in there are nice and I'm sure would appreciate your patronage!
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bflorox
smart-ass comment to follow...Who cares what it looks like? It's multiple stories with first-floor retail and it's built right to the street. BRO recipe for success.
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TownLine
For whatever reason, I have always loved the Seneca Industrial Center building. The way that it wraps around that curve on Seneca St., its size, worn materials, and its placement right up at the sidewalk just give an absolutely mammoth feeling to the structure.
Yeah, its current condition is pretty ugly and its not the type of place that I'm dying to have built now, but the building just evokes a very different emotion in me from any other structure in Buffalo. Would love to see a rehab here...
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ExWNYer
That picture reminds me of an industrial European city.
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BLothesurface
Theatre of Youth houses their massive scene shop and set storage facilities in the Seneca Industrial Center. Irish Classical Theatre, Shakespeare in Delaware Park, and individual designers of all types also rent space. I think Buffalo politicians should acknowledge with dollars the size of the labor force in our theatre arts community.
(PS We all know about that ‘famous parking lot’ across the street, right?)
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Perry
I love the Seneca Industrial Center. I use to do business with a mailing house that was located in the building...on the 2nd or 3rd floor. Just by going to the office, you needed a compass and leave some bread crumbs in order to find your way back to the elevator...the place is massive...and really cool. I hope someday that the L Co building's success would spill over next door to the Seneca and make it a top-rate office building.
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zen
A slow news day apparently.
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RonR
I personally love the look. The 1st floor could use some work but a great skin.
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chris69
Everytime I drove by this building...I always said when I grow up I want to own this building. Well I grew up but didnt grow wealthy enough to buy it.
This building to me evokes probably more than any other building in Buffalo....what Buffalo was once. Oh yes we have a few remaining buildings downtown but this is different...this was an 8 story manufacturing and warehouse building for the Larkin Company. If was filled with activity and look how it soars above the sidewalk and curves with the street.
To look at the exterior, its very evident that Buffalos former population is gone, its former neighborhoods are gone, its former workers are gone and the decay/age on the exterior seems to mirror the rest of Buffalo.
If you look at a google map you can see the railroad tracks from the beltway passing between Hamburg and Larkin which would be a huge benefit if somehow we could reactivate that for Light Rail. It would connect practically a signifcant portion of Buffalos current growth areas.
Ideas have circulated how to make the space manageable...such as cutting a hole thru the floors and putting in an atrium. In anycase..the build to the curb vertical office buildings are very much a design theme in the Larkin District and I hope that they continue to echo in future development instead of the 2-3 story suburban crud often being proposed these days.
PS and why does Hamburg have to curve into South Division...and why does South Division have to curve into Hamburg instead of going straight....I mean make a rotary but more and more it seems like these urban planners are on acid and are trying to change our street grid into winding suburban lanes. message to urban planners: your in the friggin city....think about it!
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SLEEPL8
Bflorox...good point...it is the "ideal BRO building"
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carl
that is one building which would actually be improved by some graffiti ! (or art, the only difference is permission...)
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Quinn
zen - I love these articles. Here's to slow news days!
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zen
Maybe it's just the absence of negative comments (except for my own) and personal attacks that make this seem so lacking.
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Hospitable
a coat of paint would do wonders.... always thought it was empty..nice write up
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Hospitable
exwny.. ya... like somewhere in Eastern Europe.. Slovakia anyone?
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icecreamsub
sounds good...meet you at Kostas
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RisingDamp666
There has to be a way to luxe out the interior while retaining that incredibly beautiful exterior.
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chris69
Id keep the original french double hung panes.....they humanize the building and give it character
Please no 1960s hippie colors like orange or blue.....and gawd forbid nothing with a bright white
It needs something stately and human and reflective of business like a dark ivory or a very in color seems to be taupes (think coffee and creme)....its not to dark...its not to light...its very human and its very easy to match colors, then do those now invisable columns in a deep brown like chestnut....and the building goes from drabby to WOW.
oh and a few pots with dwarf alberta spruces would do alot to humanize that sidewalk.
Couldnt agree more the owner really needs to do something with the exterior.
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