Buffalo Finally Getting The Press It Deserves
So everyone I know from Buffalo has sent me this New York Times article(subscription req’d) about our hometown. It’s actually a pretty good story. Usually stories about Buffalo in the national press are absolute hatchet jobs that make fun of anyone who would live there or poke fun at the fact that Buffalo’s waterfront is dotted with abandoned grain mills, or that Buffalo is a blue collar town and has some residents that could be called “slightly trashy” or “horrifyingly obese.” So it was nice to see a story that pointed out all the positives about the city: the architecture, the parks, the fact that it’s the birthplace of Jack Kukoda. It does so mention that in the article! Read it for yourself.
So in the spirit of highlighting positive elements of the City of Buffalo, I thought I would point out some lesser known facts about my hometown.
1. Buffalo has SIX buildings designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. And I’ve left a flaming bag of poop on all their doorsteps.
2. Buffalo is often referred to as “the thinking man’s Cleveland.”
3. It is against the law in Buffalo to lure children into your home with candy. You have to use cheese.
4. Once, a polar bear got loose from the Buffalo Zoo when I was in fourth grade. The police were powerless to stop it, so they called me. I tracked that polar bear over the course of four days through the hills. Eventually, I caught him, wrestled him into submission, and returned him to the zoo. We gained a lot of respect for each other, though. I was the best man at his polar bear wedding. True story.
5. My ancestors were once the richest family in Buffalo until they put all their stock in Kids, Incorporated. That was a company that supplied child labor to sweatshops. It was doing well until it got sued by the Nickelodeon show of the same time. My family lost everything.
Whew! That was a lot of fun facts. Oh, and did I mention yet that I’m going back to Buffalo next weekend? Oh right, I did. Well, just to make you extra jealous why don’t you go to that article in the NY Times and take a gander at that photo of the Erie Canal and Buffalo’s sweet ass waterfront? ‘Cause that’s where I’ll be getting a tan come Friday. Whoo hoo!
After a Half-Century of Decline, Signs of Better Times for Buffalo [NY Times]
