Folks who know me have heard the story of how the seeds were planted for my eventual move to Buffalo: a few years ago, while doing some consulting work here, I was also involved in a preservation campaign in Rochester, when I happened to read about Tim Tielman and the Commercial Slip in the Buffalo News. So I had lunch with Tim to get some preservation advice, later joined the protest against the casino demolitions, and became a member of the Campaign for Greater Buffalo. When I got the Campaign’s tour calendar in the mail, which made it clear I could learn all about preservation and architecture that summer in Buffalo, I did just that. I must have taken a couple dozen tours, which in the days before the Big Green Bus were either walking tours or boat tours. I really got to know and appreciate Buffalo that summer — and a few summers later, well, here I am.
That summer Tim was discussing his bus plans, but I didn’t know they had come to fruition until the day of the seminal preservation dinner with the National Trust‘s Richard Moe in 2007. Standing outside Kleinhans Music Hall, I saw Tim drive the bus into the parking lot and do a loop around the building — just in case folks hadn’t noticed a topless green school bus with the Campaign’s mascot, the noirish “Max Factual.”
Fast forward to 2010, and this summer it hit me that I still hadn’t taken one of the Campaign’s bus tours, so I decided to rectify that this July 4th — for the Campaign’s annual tour of the Buffalo River and waterfront. Along with a dozen to two dozen others, I headed on down to the Commercial Slip and hopped on board the Big Green Time Machine — see slideshow.
As tour guide, Tim related the story of the State’s original, misguided plan for the Commercial Slip/Inner Harbor, and the long battle to produce the “people’s plan” that would preserve Buffalo’s waterfront heritage and tell a more authentic story.
The next stop by the Sabres’ “crow’s nest” was the site for telling the story of how preservationists worked to keep the nearby historic streets — a street grid being recreated this summer — from being excavated for a boat harbor.
In the Cobblestone District, Tim told us the story of how hundreds of volunteers worked to preserve the district’s eponymous cobblestone — technically, Medina sandstone pavers rather than true cobblestones, Tim confided — streets by pulling out stones, cleaning, and re-seating them. Like the “big dig,” in which I participated in 2006, the Campaign has a knack for promotion and mobilization of volunteer efforts — giving folks the satisfaction of practicing “hands on” preservation.
Not having taken a tour with Tim since 2006, I had forgotten what an exceptionally animated and engaging tour guide he is (see slideshow below — different from the one above!).
Having gotten out of downtown, we had enough road to get up to 88 miles per hour, so with Flux Capacitor fully, um, fluxing our driver took us into the Old First Ward — which provides enough of a glimpse into Buffalo’s industrial salad days as to seem like a jump back several decades. But one of the first sights was decidedly, um modern: while stopped on one of the lift bridges, we got flashed by one of the occupants of a powerboat going under the bridge (so when the Campaign offers a “Topless Bus Tour,” do they mean the bus or the sights?).
Going past McCarthy’s bar (site of a legendary fight between Jimmy Griffin and Gene McCarthy) I managed to get a Jimmy Griffin story out of Tim, who, not surprisingly, was the target of the irascible mayor’s ire on at least one occasion (and probably several!).
And speaking of irascible, one of Tim’s favorite characters is Fingy Connors, the most prominent of the Ward’s “Saloon Bosses,” and onetime owner of the Buffalo Courier-Express. The tour goes past the Swannie House, one of the last of Buffalo’s “sailor bars” that were associated with the Saloon Boss system.
While stopped in front of the former headquarters of the Scooper’s Union, Tim waxed a bit nostalgic as he realized that his personal role in some of the stories of Buffalo preservation battles goes back a couple of decades now. I shared a bit of nostalgia in remembering that when I first explored Buffalo’s waterfront in early 2005, the Scooper’s Union was still open (I believe the last scooper scooped sometime in 2005) — with a sign on the door saying “if your name isn’t O’Connell, keep out!!” I still don’t know what that was about, but one day I’ll find someone who does (perhaps an alert BR reader).
After touring the Ward, crossing and recrossing the Buffalo River, we headed back to the Commercial Slip (and 2010). I was delighted to have finally joined the ranks of the thousands who have already traveled in Max Factual’s Big Green Time Machine — and it was good to have been reminded of how I was attracted to Buffalo in the first place.
Proceeds from the Open Air Autobus tours enable the Campaign for Greater Buffalo History, Architecture, and Culture to keep fighting the good fight to preserve Buffalo’s rich heritage.