[Downtown Bolivar]

The traditional outlook was that Rochester was a white collar corporate town and Buffalo was a blue collar industrial down. Now both cities are essentially moving toward a health and university research model for their economies--Rochester is further ahead in this regard. Buffalo is experiencing a mini building boom around its medical campus and canalside and while Rochester hasn't been without construction, it's not been the same scale as Buffalo's. I find that Rochester has more going on in its neighborhoods than Buffalo (Monroe Ave, East Ave, South Wedge), but Buffalo has much more going on downtown. Downtown Rochester has the feel of an empty office park after 5pm. Both have plenty to see and are worth checking out. For a mix of both, consider checking out Syracuse, which isn't much to look at as far as skyline, but is fantastic streetlevel and has several cool neighborhoods to check out.