Buffalo is one of those cities we visit as cruisers with no means of transportation other than public, so seeing everything is all but impossible. Nevertheless, we availed ourselves of what was available and believe that we ultimately derived a flavor of what this city is about.
It is amazing how this city truly melds the old and the new; how it is not hung up with being homogenous and straightforward; but rather, how it values a rather eclectic style coupled with wonderful green belts, parks, and victorian style neighborhoods. Buffalo truly shines from its wonderful archetecture and parks, to its championship sports teams, to its famous art collections and exhibits, as well as the popular events it holds in its parks and along its waterfront. Buffalo is a gateway to one of the Seven Wonders of the Natural World, and a center of the potential for extraordinary commercial development as well as a plethora of cultural activity. From the moment we got to Buffalo, we found it an easy city to negotiate. There are lots of great restaurants and bars, not to mention museums, and other things to do. Buffalo is certainly a colorful and diverse city. We met some great folks while we were here.
This is a city which derives most of its history and culture from industry. Whether it is farming, or the manufacturing of steel and other hard goods, or the fabrication of electronics, or hosehold foodstuffs, Buffalo is a working city. There are numerous factories and plants as well as energy production units throughout this region. Unfortunately, like so many other places, these places are strongly affected by this steeming pile of dung we call an economy. As such, go a couple blocks off the main streets, and you will find desperation and despair. You also find neighborhoods divided. I understood there to be often conflicting factions in this city - those seeking progress and those seeking to retain the old. As such, and due to the ongoing conflicts and the seeming unwillingness to compromise, at least several very important economic opportunities that would have employed thousands and thousands of people were reportedly lost. Those who do have jobs, find this situation untenable and, as a result, there is a lot of talk of "they" did this, and "they" didn't do that. It's all so ironic. A city that earned "All America" status is steadily leaking all of its life out over supercilious conflict fed by personal motives. Nevertheless, the potential is all there, and, as I said above, it is still a very cool place to visit.
Contrary to the assertions of some, Buffalo is a city rich with culture and history despite the speed of its assention and its decline. The city’s rise began in 1825 with the opening of the Erie Canal, which opened trade with the heartland. By the 1950s, however, Buffalo’s economy had already embarked on a path of disintegration. The completion of the St. Lawrence Seaway in 1959, which created a more direct route to the Atlantic Ocean, made the Erie Canal obsolete and thus deprived the city of much of its commercial lifeline. Moreover, the city's economic decline was severely exacerbated by race riots in the late 60's and the subsequent "white flight" to the suburbs. By the mid-1970s the inner city was being abandoned. Even today, few people actually live in downtown Buffalo.
The aforemtentioned notwithstanding, perhaps the most important and revered characteristic of the city managed to survive. No city we have visited on this cruise has demonstrated the same level of inspired architecture as this Buffalo.
Buffalo is home to some of the greatest American architecture of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Here, you can see works of construction designed by such fellows as Frank Lloyd Wright, Louis Sullivan, H.H. Richardson, and Eliel and Eero Saarinen, as well as the park systems designed by Frederick Law Olmstead. Buffalo has been called the birthplace of the American Arts and Crafts Movement. As if this is not enough, you can also see buildings by Richard Upjohn, Stanford White, Lord & Burnham, Charles Atwood, and America’s first female professional architect, Louise Blanchard Bethune. One of Buffalo's claims to fame is its tradition of architectural experimentation. The architects who worked here were apparently among the first to break with European traditions; they created a style of their own, rooted in American ideals about individualism, commerce and social mobility.
It has been said that poverty is good for preservation if for no other reason than, the poor don’t bulldoze historic neighborhoods to make way for fancy new high-rises. This is seemingly the impression you get when you visit Buffalo. Today, there is a real strong grass-roots movement to preserve this tradition. This movement is not by Disney-inspired developers, but rather by a bunch of part-time preservationists, amateur historians and third-generation residents who have made reclaiming the city’s history a deeply personal mission.
Although much has been accomplished, they still have a long way to go and the present state of the economy is not helping. Nevertheless, we enjoyed a vibrant farmer's market as well as music played in a larger plaza in the middle of the city during lunch time hours. There are city squares with ponds that will freeze into ice rinks, and outdoor spaces in the middle of the city seeming designed to inspire people to move back into the city. Again, there is still quite a way to go.
So, we are sitting around the boat one evening and the phone rings. From completely out of the blue, the call is from our friends Ed and Annette. Ed says, "Where are you?" I said, "We're in Buffalo." He said, "We are in Buffalo, too." Within minutes, we had agreed to get together. Ed and Annette are in Buffalo visiting one of Ed's son's and his family. So, we got together the following evening at a place called The Anchor Bar.
It turns out, The Anchor Bar is the origin of the chicken wing, and specifically, the Buffalo Wing. It is a fabulous place and the food turned out so good, we went back for lunch the next day. Ok, back to our visit with Ed and Annette.
We know Ed and Annette from Channel Islands Yacht Club back home. I have always known Ed to be, without any doubt, the smartest man I have ever known. His wife Annette is, without any doubt, one of the sweetest, kindest, and smartest women I have ever known. The two of them combined equal......well, let's just say there is no equal. They are wonderful friends, and it was exemplary to get to spend some time with them 3500 miles from home.
Well, it would appear that Ed and Annette follow the blog and knew we were close by, so they called. That was such a welcome suprise. We got together with them, Ed's son and daughter-in-law, and their three children for dinner at The Anchor Bar. A hundred or so wings, a couple pizza's, some beer and wine later, and the evening was effortless. I have to say that Ed's son and daughter-in-law have done a wonderful job with their three kids. They are delightful. Ed's son and his wife are wonderful too. They could not have been more friendly and warm hosts.
So, we talked and talked and ate and ate. It was really fun. What makes this so cool is that Ed and Annette are cruisers, too. They are on their summer time soujourn away from their boat which they left in good hands down in Mexico for the summer. Soon enough, they will return to their boat, and take it and them to a new place. They too, understand the blessing cruisers experience when locals take them in, and even more so, when they meet long time familiar friends in strange and far away places. As I believe we have said before, what we are doing is sometimes very hard. Sometimes you wake up in the middle of the night and wonder just where the hell you are. You sometimes cannot recall the name of the town you were in yesterday, and generally, have no idea, or at least very little, as to where you will be tomorrow. We face new challenges each and every day. Ed and Annette understand this, so it is really nice to get together with folks who do. They understand the challenges and make it easier to talk about it.
So, from the bottom of our hearts, thanks Ed and Annette. It was great visiting with you. Thanks for dinner. Thanks for listening. Fare thee well on your upcoming voyages or should I say, fair winds and following seas. And, by the way, as Perry said, "Don't Give Up the Ship."
We spent a good amount of time wandering around in this city. The train was close by and was easy to hop on and take it up the line for several stops and then get off and walk down, or simply walk around, stop for a coffee, and then ride it back. We saw so much, and enjoyed ourselves thoroughly. We even went all the way up to where my mother went to school for a year when she was just out of high school. Things have changed so significantly since then, I doubt she would recognize the place. Nevertheless, it was fun to go there for nastalgia.
One morning, when the wind was really kicking up, I heard a couple guys conversing outside on the dock. It had to be around 0500. So, of course, I went out on deck. Just as I got out there, I noticed a couple guys eye balling my dock lines and it looked as if they planned to attempt to move our boat a little. Well, these guys came in the night before. Brenda and I didn't notice them when we got back to the boat. Nevertheless, it got really windy during the night, and their bow rail met my anchor. Luckily for them, I had the small Bruce on the bow, and no damage was done. However, they were concerned about the welfare of their boats. So, the goal was to separate the vessels a little bit more. No problem. I hopped down, and we moved our boat back a couple feet so there was plenty of clearance between them. Thereafter, we got to talking. I am lousy with names, and honestly cannot recall the names of the two guys I was chatting with. However, I will never forget them. These two guys and their wives could not have been more hospitable. You know how sometimes you meet people with whom you simply click and feel very comfortable? Well, this is how it went with these folks. By the end of the morning, we exchanged phone numbers. They were going home and asked that we keep an eye on their boats since we would be around. No problem.
The following evening, they came down with their wives and several other friends and their wives. We had something of an impromptu dock party. They brought their boats down to the dock to have a place for the weekend of concerts in the park. Alice Cooper was playing on Friday night. I met several really nice folks. We all enjoyed the evening just talking, drinking beer, and enjoying what can only be described as perfecting weather. These folks drive school buses, are maintenance engineers, and professional drivers. They work in factories, operate machinery, and make an hourly wage. I was so intrigued to talk with these folks. These people remind me of folks such as those Springsteen, John Cougar Mellencamp, Bon Jovi, as well as Woody and Arlo Guthrie glorify in their songs and poems - the men and women who work in the factories and in the yards, operating machinery, and maintaining the strings and springs that allow our world to move along. I have such respect for these folks. I cannot help but admire how they love their familes and friends; how they seemingly put all of life's bullshit aside for those few precious hours, during which the value of spending quality time with friends and family is paramount to all else. Perhaps I am not doing a good job explaining the kind of admiration I felt getting to know these fine people. There was something so different, yet so admirable. I guess it was just refreshing to meet folks who are a part of the American Dream I only knew from songs and movies. You see, that is the beauty of travel. You meet all sorts of wonderful people.
As much fun as we were having in Buffalo, and as much as I was tempted to stay and party with the folks we met on the docks at the Alice Cooper concert, we had a great weather window we had to jump through. It was time to, again, continue our trek westward. I hope to someday return to Buffalo. But if I don't, I will always harbor a special place in my heart for this city and its people.
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