Giovanni Centurione has put together a nostalgic YouTube video that showcases Buffalo in the 1960s. It’s an amalgam of photos that tell the tale of a thriving, bustling city. Well, part of it at least. The video also features some of the city’s most turbulent times.
I love watching these types of videos, to imagine what it must have been like to wander the streets of downtown Buffalo during this city’s heyday. At the same time, many of the images are kind of depressing. Just look at all of the old signs on the buildings! Where the heck did they all go? There were countless numbers of them. Were they all junked, or are are some of them sitting around in the basements of these old buildings, just waiting to be rehung as nostalgic reminders of an era gone by? Now that would be a great art/historic project that would generate a lot of enthusiasm for downtown Buffalo – locate and re-hang a few of these historic gems. I’m sure that if a concentrated effort was put forth, some of these old signs would re-emerge from the shadows. Then, some Buffalo institution would have to pony up funds to hang them on deserving buildings (with the consent of the property owners of course). There are a lot of blank sides of downtown buildings that would benefit from such an undertaking.
As for the rest of the video, Giovanni says, “The 60’s were a strange time for Buffalo. From downtown development such as the Main Place Mall and M&T Plaza to racial tensions mainly on the East Side. The last great decade for downtown shopping, just before the decline due to job loss and demographic shifts to the burbs.”
