On December 17, 2013 the Toronto Star published 6 articles on Buffalo
As someone with a Torontonian born/raised (and U of T grad) father, I've always loved Toronto. but since I attended post-secondary in Buffalo, the Queen city of NY has a special place in my heart. Anyway, here's the good press your closest American neighbour has been getting. Time to start letting go of the stereotypes and caricatures one has of Buffalo/WNY and actually experience the city.
Let’s raise a glass to Buffalo: A city of great hospitality
Quote:
Donn Esmonde of the The Buffalo News agrees to tour us around. Donn and I have traded a few warm-hearted slaps in print, but you wouldn’t know it. He’s like everyone in Buffalo: so upbeat and outgoing he atomizes all our smug Canadian notions of decency. We’re not particularly nice. We’re cordial. It’s not the same thing. In Buffalo, they’re nice.
|
http://www.thestar.com/life/travel/2...spitality.html
Buffalo: What to eat, where to go
Star’s beer columnist knows where to find a real taste of Buffalo
http://www.thestar.com/life/travel/2...re_to_go.html#
Buffalo awaits with open arms
A storied city of genuine spirit and warm hearts burns brightly over the frozen lake, writes veteran newspaper columnist
http://www.thestar.com/life/travel/2...open_arms.html
Buffalo: Behind the caricatures, lies a great city
A skeptic finds himself charmed by reality of a town he’d cartooned in his mind
http://www.thestar.com/life/travel/2...reat_city.html
Buffalo: Myths and misconceptions
The Queen City of the Great Lakes is full of surprises
http://www.thestar.com/life/travel/2...nceptions.html
and finally, Toronto Star's architecture critic and urban affairs columnist Christopher Hume gives Buffalo praise
Buffalo, architecture: One of the great cities on the continent for landmark buildings
One of the exceptional cities in North America for architecture, Buffalo is home to dramatic buildings that reflect a storied past
Quote:
If architecture is anything to go by, Buffalo ranks as one of the great cities of America.
That can be hard to grasp as the former industrial powerhouse tries desperately to extricate itself from the downward spiral of lost manufacturing might and shrinking population.
In 1900, Buffalo was among the 10 largest cities in the U.S. Not only was ideally located as the western terminus of the Erie Canal, it was a centre of the grain and steel industries, as well as a railroad hub. One by one these advantages were lost; the St. Lawrence Seaway rendered the Erie Canal obsolete, heavy industry moved abroad and trucks replaced trains.
But there was a time when some of the greatest architects in the U.S.A. came to the Queen City to practice their art.
Frank Lloyd Wright, Louis Sullivan, H.H. Richardson and Daniel Burnham were among the luminaries who helped shape the Buffalo skyline.
Each left behind buildings that even today — especially today — make a pilgrimage a must for architectural students and aficionados.
From, say, the 1880s through to the 1940s and ’50s, Buffalo was as engaged as any city in architecture. Indeed, architectural history was made here as the city competed with itself and other urban centres, notably Chicago and New York, to create a distinctly American architecture.
|
Quote:
Buffalo isn’t the city it was 60 or 70 years ago. On the other hand, as North Americans return to cities and the allure of urban life begins to draw people from the suburbs back downtown, the Queen City will surely prosper once again. When that happens, the architecture of these bygone eras will find new meaning and uses.
Not only do we not build like that anymore, we have forgotten how.
|
http://www.thestar.com/life/travel/2...buildings.html
---------------------------------------------------------------
I really hope that some people from Toronto/GTA and all over Southern Ontario will now visit more than just Walden Galleria/outlet malls, First Niagara Center, the Ralph, and occasional trips to the Anchor Bar for wings.
Time to start checking out downtown, Allentown, Elmwood and North Buffalo and experience the Buffalo that I know. + 4AM last call