Buffalo - Not just snow and cold! :o)
12:31 p.m. || 07.10.03

I came across this acticle on Buffalo while reading the local news online. If you arent from Buffalo, you may not appreciate this, you may not even read it... But, I thought it was interesting how someone who isnt from Buffalo perceived our city. I love Buffalo, but I know many who dont... Check it out!

Shuffle No More

Buffalo -- yes, Buffalo -- is now walking proud as a hip center of arts and performances. Plus, it's a cheap flight.

By Mary Ellen Slayter
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, July 9, 2003

The gumbo was thick and delicious. The kind my grandmother would make, if only she could afford to stock it with so much sausage and shrimp.

And where was this enticing bowl of gumbo? Buffalo -- a much-maligned city about 1,300 miles from my Louisiana home town that I never thought I'd have any reason to be in. Maybe I feared getting snowed in, even in July. Which sounds silly, yes -- but I had heard rumors.

I was on my way back from Toronto, which I visit a lot because my boyfriend lives there. I fly to Buffalo, then take a bus to downtown Toronto, a "Planes, Trains and Automobiles" scheme that sometimes saves me hundreds of dollars. In this case, on my way back to Washington, it also gave me about four hours to entertain myself . . . in Buffalo. (Which by the way isn't named after the shaggy beast. The city's name comes courtesy of early French explorers, who fittingly dubbed the Niagara "Beau Fleuve," or beautiful river.)

I left the bus station and headed toward the tall buildings. My first impression of Buffalo: inspiring architecture. Well, except the public library, for which the designers should issue a public apology. For penance, they should have to build three more like the gorgeous art deco City Hall.

A five-minute walk led me to Main Street and the theater district. The light rail runs along Main, and it appears to carry more traffic than the cars.

Sadly, the majority of the retail space on the bottom floors of those grand multistory buildings, mostly home to banks and international investment concerns, is empty. It was 2 o'clock on a Friday afternoon, and the place was dead. I headed into the only spot that was open, taking a seat at the bar of the Ya Ya Bayou Brewhouse. While I enjoyed my gumbo, a mammoth muffuletta and several pints of locally brewed beer, the restaurant began to fill up.

Students and professors from the University at Buffalo streamed in. To my right, three grant writers discussed strategies for funding a theater project. Behind me, a professor vented his frustrations with plagiarism in the Internet Age. It was a lively crowd. I stepped out on Main Street at about 6 o'clock to see hundreds of people milling around, queuing up for shows at one of the half-dozen or so theaters within those few blocks.

Full of good food and probably a little too much beer, I was smitten with Buffalo.

A few weeks later, I returned. This time, just for Buffalo. No side trips to Toronto, or even Niagara Falls, which is only a half-hour away by bus or car. I stayed at the Hyatt downtown and vowed to see the city by rail and foot. I didn't bother asking any of the dozens of people I know who grew up in Upstate New York where I should go. They all claim to hate Buffalo. Asking that bunch of Buffalo-bashers for guidance would be like asking your new boyfriend's ex-wife how he likes to spend Sunday afternoons. I would learn about Buffalo on my own -- or at least take advice only from people who lived there.

My first stop was the brew pub I visited before. The bartender, Johnny, remembered me. See, this is what I like in a town. I thumbed through ArtVoice, the city's free weekly, looking for a way to fill the hours before the Steve Earle concert that night, the only part of my trip I had planned in advance.

It didn't take long. Carol Adams was in town, hosting a book signing at Talking Leaves, an indie bookworm's dream near UB's north campus. About 10 people gathered to meet the influential ecofeminist writer, who had just published "The Pornography of Meat." While Adams's writing is not the sort of stuff I'd generally choose for vacation reading, I couldn't pass up a chance to meet her: This was a fairly rare public appearance. Adams, who now lives in Dallas, grew up near Buffalo and had scheduled the discussion during a visit home. I hopped the quick, cheap light rail back to the theater district just in time to run upstairs and catch the first notes of the Earle show at the Tralf, one of the city's many venues for live music.

I'd seen Earle play roughly a half-dozen times, mostly in Washington, but I'd never seen him greeted by such an enthusiastic crowd. Indeed, when he sang about being "a union man" in "Harlan Man," the mostly blue-collar male audience broke into cheers.

Other than alt-country, the only other thing I really need to be happy is coffee. I found it the next morning at Spot Coffee on Delaware, a couple of blocks from my hotel. The little chain serves as western New York's Starbucks. And I'd say they make a better mocha. Properly caffeinated, I headed out, following a map a helpful Talking Leaves clerk drew for me.

I walked 10 minutes to Allentown, a funky neighborhood that reminded me of a quieter version of Philadelphia's South Street. Need a tattoo? A secondhand copy of Germaine Greer's "The Female Eunuch"? A place to test your new earplugs on screeching punk rock? This is it.

I spent most of the morning wandering in and out of the eclectic shops along Allen Street, including the very hip, very helpful Rust Belt Books.

Elmwood Avenue, which also runs through Allentown, is home to many of the city's galleries and upscale shops. I ducked into Uncommon Grounds for a healthy lunch (no Buffalo wings!) and spent the afternoon moseying up the avenue, mostly window shopping.

After doing some real shopping at Don Apparel, a vintage clothing store, I headed back downtown to meet my boyfriend at the bus station and pick up our last-minute theater tickets. Pre-show, we filled our wing consumption quota at Hemingway's and sipped wine at Bacchus, a new tapas bar that seems a little too slick (and expensive) for comfortably shabby Chippewa Street.

"The Full Monty" at Shea's Performing Arts Center was top-notch. The movie, about unemployed English steelworkers who turn to stripping, was reset in Buffalo in Terrence McNally's American stage version.

The audience was filled with college students, facetiously bored teenagers and blue-haired ladies (one of whom unironically made a snide remark about my own hair, which was dyed pink). They all cheered wildly at the play's finale, chanting "Buffalo boys go all the way!," goading the male actors to the play's, um, revealing conclusion.

The real star, though, was Shea's itself. The interior, dating back to 1926 and designed by Louis Comfort Tiffany, is breathtaking. Nonprofit efforts to restore the theater to its former glory, including refurbishing the 15-foot Tiffany crystal chandeliers, are impressive.

After the show, we joined the other theater patrons spilling into the bars on Chippewa Street. We found one with an Irish name on the sign, bad '80s music piped through the speakers and cheap drafts at the bar. The perfect end to my visit.

So it turns out that Buffalo's got more than piles of snow and spicy chicken wings. It also has character and spunk, plus four Frank Lloyd Wright houses and a park system designed by Frederick Law Olmsted, which I didn't have time to visit.

I'm already planning my next layover.


GETTING THERE: Fly to Buffalo for as little as $49 each way on Southwest, if you catch the airline's "fun fares" specials. The 20-minute cab ride downtown costs nearly $25. A better deal is the 204, a bus that makes the trip in the same amount of time for $2.50.

GETTING AROUND: Excellent bus and light rail systems make a car unnecessary if you're sticking to the city. Get bus and rail maps and schedules at www.nfta.com/metro. Light rail is free to riders in the theater district.

THE ART: Surprise! Art and performances are the best reasons to visit Buffalo. For gallery and theater listings, check the city's free weekly, Art Voice. Some promising examples: Shea's Performing Arts Center (646 Main St., 716-847-0850), for first-run musicals, opera, dance and concerts; Albright Knox Art Gallery (1285 Elmwood Ave., 716-882-8700), for mostly postwar American and European art; Kleinhans Music Hall (370 Pennsylvania St., 800-699-3168), home of the Buffalo Philharmonic; and the Tralf (622 Main St., 716-851- 8725), for live music from jazz to jams.

STAYING: The Mansion on Delaware Avenue (414 Delaware Ave., 716-886-3300)is downtown and swank; package deals start at $135 a night. Rooms can be hard to come by. The Hyatt (2 Fountain Plaza, 716-856-1234, about $100 a night) is scruffy by usual Hyatt standards but is very convenient to theater attractions.

EATING: The Anchor Bar (1047 Main St), which claims to be the original home of Buffalo wings; Ya Ya Bayou Brewhouse (617 Main St.), where Cajun entrees average $15; and Bacchus (56 W. Chippewa St.), a tapas and wine bar, with dishes about $8.

INFO: Buffalo Niagara Convention and Visitors Bureau, 800-BUFFALO.

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