Author: Lorne Opler

Toronto born and raised, but with my roots solidly planted in Western New York, I have been visiting Buffalo and enamored with Buffalo ever since I was a kid. I love writing for BRO but equally enjoy writing about Buffalo for Southern Ontario audiences to introduce them to all the great things happening in the renaissance city. When I'm not writing, I'm teaching fitness and health promotion at a community college in Toronto and running my own personal training business. Visit my website at www.lorneopler.com

From the new restaurants, to the new lofts, to all the building cranes rising in the downtown sky, a new energy is clearly emerging in Buffalo. But for all the excitement these projects are generating, for all the contributions they are making to a revitalized Buffalo, we’ve not been giving enough attention to a vital, yet overlooked component to the city’s renaissance. It may not be shiny or gleaming and it doesn’t come with the “wow factor” that we see at Canalside or Harbor Center. But it’s increasing presence and visibility is as much an asset to the new Buffalo…

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I am looking out the windows of my gym here in midtown Toronto and what do I see?  Another new condo going up…yes, another one – one of scores of condos that have sprouted in the past decade.  Condo madness is everywhere.  Nary a major intersection in the city’s core is without a condo today. For anyone who has visited Toronto lately, you can even see condos lining the Gardiner Expressway – condos literally butting up against the highway, so close to the guard rails you have to ask yourself who would be so crazy to buy there?  And just how do real estate…

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The Buffalo By Choice folks are getting together again for the December Happy To Be Here Hour. These events take place on the third Monday of each month at a different venue. On Monday, December 17, the gang will all be at the Cozumel Grill (153 Elmwood, between Allen and North streets) from 6:00-8:00 p.m. – NOT at the North…please note the change of venue. The speaker this month is Sara Emhoff. This dynamic repat has been back for just a tad over two months and is already deeply engaged in transforming her hometown. Sara will talk about where she…

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It all started in the 1920’s when Ferrante Castellani opened up a small grocery store in Niagara Falls, NY. Forty years later that little neighborhood market blossomed into what we now know as Tops supermarket. Fast forward another 45 years, and Tops has become one of the leading grocery chains in WNY, with 41 company owned, and five franchised stores, throughout Western and Central NY and North Western Pennsylvania. For years, Tops was a locally owned and operated business, until it was bought in 1991 by Netherlands based Royal Ahold, Inc., an operator of supermarkets in the US and Europe.…

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When Did Our WNY History Begin? The national weather report maps on TV show a multi-colorful set of the United States, accompanied by a vast green blur of north country called Canada—as if it is only marginally there. In a similar sense, we have written history that begins in any region with the arrival of the first “white man.” Everything prior seems rendered blurrily less significant. Here’s an example: “In 1626, the first authenticated white man in the Niagara region was Father Joseph de la Roche-Dallion. Father Roche-Dallion preached to the Neutral Indians at various villages.” History focuses that On…

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The two key cities in the War of 1812 are Buffalo and Moscow. Really? Yes, no, well– somehwat. Okay, two different wars, but intertwined indeed. We’ll jaunt quickly over to Moscow, to see what was up there, On This Day—and how it deeply, rather quickly, affected our own little world right here in Buffalo. Brace—for the fires are hot On This Day. Buffalo may not have been the most important city (remember Washington, DC burned too) but this series takes a Buffalo view so we’ll stick to that frame. Buffalo was at this time was still standing and growing proud—but…

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The Star Spangled Banner is Born, McKinley is Dead, Roosevelt is President, Mother Seton is Sainted, and the United Nations breaks Ground. Interesting people, some dramatic deaths, and such dramatic events took place variously On This September 14th day. Of course, William McKinley was here in Buffalo. But figure that in 1927 On This Day the great modern dance pioneer Isadora Duncan died in Nice, France, when her scarf became entangled in the wheel of her sports car. Add another car fatality On This Day, 1982, to the beautiful Princess Grace of Monaco, to whose injuries from the day before’s…

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“The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated.” – Mahatma Gandhi Disturbing news this week about species extinction worldwide—one third of the world’s species are faced with extinction. And more news this week that two thirds of the polar bears will say good-bye within 50 years due to polar cap melting. How does that macrocosmic perspective land on Buffalo’s view of the problem and our duty? I remember two years ago introducing the then 90 year old Big John to the 92 year old Chief Petty Officer Tony Christopher…

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Here’s a good line for any young fellow on his second or third date when driving on the south side of the Sqajaquada Expressway by Delaware Park. When you pass the classical statue of David (appearing here,) turn to your date and give an embarrassed look and say “When I modeled for that statue they swore they were going to put shorts on me. They swore they would” Just see how she reacts. It was On This Day, September 13, in the year 1503, that Michelangelo began his work on his statue of David, –and Buffalo has a prized replica.…

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James Benjamin Parker’s heroic actions in Buffalo made him the biggest hero in the entire world, but all for but a few days. It was On This Day, September 12, 1901, to a mass meeting of 5,000 African Americans gathered at the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, when Booker T. Washington delivered an address and a resolution– denouncing the reckless deed of the “red handed anarchist” Czolgoz and rejoicing that a southern Negro “had saved the President McKinley from death.” It was still hoped that McKinley would survive the bullet, and great thanks was going to James B. Parker. James “Big…

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