For other places with the same name, see Buffalo (disambiguation). Buffalo is a huge city with several district articles that contain information about specific sights, restaurants, and accommodation.

The largest city in New York State's Niagara Frontier, Buffalo is a city full of surprises. Though Buffalo is sometimes the butt of jokes about chicken wings, its long-suffering sports teams, and the mountains of snow under which it is supposedly buried each winter, local residents and others who are in the know tell a different story: one of vibrant nightlife, world-class museums and cultural attractions, tight-knit neighborhoods with community spirit and a real sense of place, a winning combination of high quality of life and low cost of living — and the sunniest summers in the Northeastern United States.

Districts [ edit ]

Buffalo regions - Color-coded map Downtown

Buffalo's central business district boasts monumental architecture, a revitalized historic waterfront, the vibrant Theater District, the thumping dance clubs of Chippewa Street, and the Medical Corridor. Allentown and the Delaware District

Allentown's hipster bars, rock clubs and art galleries are a lively counterpart to the sedate Delaware District's quiet residential streets. Both are heaven for architecture buffs, with charming Victorians lining the side streets off Allen Street and sumptuous Gilded Age mansions on Delaware Avenue's Millionaire's Row. Elmwood Village

What once was Buffalo State College's student ghetto has now become a bourgie oasis in the heart of the city: if you have money to burn, the quirky fashion boutiques and gift shops along Elmwood Avenue are calling your name (that goes double if your tastes run more toward the "basic" than the trendy). Meanwhile, at the north end of the strip, the Museum District is home to some of Buffalo's best. North Buffalo

With more of a suburban feel than other Buffalo districts, North Buffalo is a diverse hodgepodge composed of Little Italy along Hertel Avenue, scruffy but pleasant University Heights, and the beautifully-landscaped, historic residential areas of Parkside, Central Park, and Park Meadow. West Side

Buffalo's most up-and-coming area. Long the epicenter of Hispanic culture in Buffalo, the West Side now boasts a veritable United Nations of immigrant communities and a nascent arts scene along Grant Street, ramshackle Victorian cottages in Prospect Hill and the West Village gradually being spruced up to their former glory, and waterfront parks galore. To the north are historic Black Rock and working-class Riverside. South Buffalo

Separated from the rest of the city by the Buffalo River, proudly Irish South Buffalo can seem like a city unto its own: to the north, the historic Old First Ward and Cobblestone District and newly redeveloped Larkinville; to the east, pleasant parkland and quiet residential streets; to the west, the grain elevators and rail yards of Buffalo's mighty industrial past; along the lake shore, the redeveloping Outer Harbor, Buffalo's newest summer playground. East Side

Buffalonians are quick to deride the East Side as a drug- and crime-infested ghetto. Those who are smart enough to disregard the locals will be rewarded with the jaw-dropping sight of huge, ornate churches built by 19th-century German and Polish immigrants, an educational look into Buffalo's African-American history, cultural attractions like the Buffalo Museum of Science, and other surprises in this truly off-the-beaten-path district.

Understand [ edit ]

Buffalo is New York State's second-largest city, with (as of 2010) a population of 261,310 in the city proper and 1,135,509 in the Buffalo-Niagara Falls Metropolitan Area. Buffalo is the cultural and economic center of the Western New York region. Though for the past half-century it has been rightly considered a stagnant working-class city that has suffered from the aftereffects of deindustrialization, Buffalo's economy has turned around significantly, with an unemployment rate in April 2014 of 5.8%, running below the national rate of 5.9% and the statewide rate of 6.1% for that month. Perhaps surprisingly given its history as a center of heavy industry, Buffalo has also been cited as the third-cleanest city in the United States. Buffalo was named one of the Dozen Distinctive Destinations for 2009 by the National Trust for Historic Preservation, whose 2011 National Preservation Conference was held in Buffalo and was the largest and best-attended of these annual conferences in the history of that organization. Other titles bestowed on Buffalo include a placement among the "44 Places to Visit in 2009" by the New York Times, the "All-America City Award" for the years 1996 and 2002, and one of the 10 best cities in the U.S. to raise a family, according to a 2010 feature in Forbes magazine.

History [ edit ]

A great part of Buffalo's appeal to visitors is the still-palpable sense of its history as an important industrial center. Majestic historic buildings and sites around every corner tell the story of a city that was great once and has all the tools in place to be great again someday.

Frontier beginnings [ edit ]

Though the area had been settled by the Iroquois since well before Columbus and was visited periodically by French fur trappers beginning in the 17th century, Buffalo's history per se begins about 1789, when Cornelius Winney set up a trading post at the mouth of the Buffalo River. At the time, this site was still far beyond the frontier of white settlement. It was not until 1793 that the Holland Land Company, a syndicate of investors from the Netherlands, purchased the tract of Western New York wilderness that included Buffalo. Land agent Joseph Ellicott, who arrived at Winney's trading post in 1798, felt that it had the potential to be the site of a thriving city. He gave the name New Amsterdam to the village he laid out there, though it was soon renamed Buffalo after the adjacent river. (The question of where the Buffalo River itself got its name is still very much a mystery — the most well-known theory, which has the French explorer Sieur de la Salle exclaiming about the beau fleuve, or "beautiful river", that he saw while sailing along Lake Erie in 1679, is almost certainly untrue; also, no buffalo or bison were known to have been present in Western New York at any time since the arrival of the white man, though 17th-century French explorers did find some living relatively nearby on the south shore of Lake Erie, in present-day Ohio.) Ellicott laid out a grand radial pattern of streets and public squares inspired by the one designed by his brother Andrew for Washington, D.C.; however, despite his lofty aspirations, Buffalo remained a tiny outpost whose main claim to fame during its very early history was as the site of several important military installations and battles during the War of 1812 (famously, the village was burnt to the ground by British troops in December 1813 as part of the Niagara Frontier Campaign of that war).

From canal port to "City of Light" [ edit ]

Buffalo's status as a frontier backwater abruptly ended when, after a hotly contested dispute with the neighboring village of Black Rock (later to be annexed by its rival), Buffalo Harbor was designated as the western end of the Erie Canal, a great inland shipping lane extending westward from the Hudson River at Albany for a distance of 363 miles (584 km) in all. The most ambitious work of infrastructure undertaken in the U.S. up to that time, the Erie Canal greatly lowered transportation costs and singlehandedly made large-scale settlement of the lands west of the Appalachians economically viable. The magnitude of the Erie Canal's commercial importance is illustrated by the fact that in the first five years after its completion, Buffalo's population more than tripled (to 8,668); two years later, in 1832, Buffalo was finally incorporated as a city.

Commercial Slip (seen here) was once the western end of the Erie Canal, which was built in 1825 and which transformed Buffalo almost overnight from a sleepy frontier village to one of the United States' fastest-growing cities and most important inland ports. It is now the centerpiece of the Canalside redevelopment on the downtown waterfront. Located in the shadow of downtown, the(seen here) was once the western end of the, which was built in 1825 and which transformed Buffalo almost overnight from a sleepy frontier village to one of the United States' fastest-growing cities and most important inland ports. It is now the centerpiece of theredevelopment on the downtown waterfront.

Buffalo's early economic mainstay was as a transshipment port, where grain from the Midwest was unloaded from lake freighters and transferred to canal boats headed for New York City; it was in Buffalo where the world's first grain elevator was constructed in 1843, and indeed there are still many elevators that remain standing around Buffalo Harbor. Over the second half of the 19th century, the Erie Canal gradually became obsolete, but that scarcely affected Buffalo's explosive growth. Instead, the city maintained its status as a transportation hub by transitioning into the second-most important railroad center in the U.S. (after Chicago); the New York Central, Pennsylvania, Michigan Central, Nickel Plate, Erie, Delaware Lackawanna & Western, West Shore, Baltimore & Ohio, and Lehigh Valley Railroads all passed through Buffalo at the height of the railroad era. In addition, the steel industry became a major player in the local economy in 1899, when the Lackawanna Steel Company moved its base of operations from Scranton, Pennsylvania to a site just south of the city line. By 1900, Buffalo boasted a population of over 350,000 and was one of the ten largest cities in the United States.

The Pan-American Exposition was a World's Fair that was held in Buffalo in 1901, at the apex of the city's glory days; it was intended to showcase, among other things, the technological marvel and economic possibilities of electric power (Buffalo's proximity to Niagara Falls, a site of early ventures in the generation of hydroelectricity, gifted it with the cheapest electricity in the nation at the time). Though the dazzling sight of the fairgrounds, illuminated by night with this new technology, earned Buffalo the enduring nickname "City of Light", the Pan-American Exposition's main historical significance is much more somber in nature: it was at the Exposition where, on September 6, 1901, U.S. President William McKinley was fatally shot by anarchist Leon Czolgosz, moments after concluding a speech at the Temple of Music.

Buffalo continued to grow during the first part of the 20th century. However, trends were beginning to emerge that would, by 1950, cause the city's growth to slow, stop and then reverse. As in other American cities, wealthier residents began to leave their homes in town for quieter, greener suburban properties outside the city line. This began in the 1910s and 1920s — many of Buffalo's older suburbs, such as Kenmore, Eggertsville, Pine Hill, and Snyder, date to this time — and kicked into high gear during the post-World War II economic boom. At the same time, the growing American middle class began to migrate in ever-larger numbers to areas in the West and South with milder climates, at the further expense of the cities of the Northeast. The construction of the Interstate Highway System fueled suburbanization at the same time that it contributed to the decline of the railroads and of Buffalo's port, as goods could be shipped more cheaply by truck.

However, the single most important cause of the free-fall that Buffalo suffered during the late 20th century was the opening of the St. Lawrence Seaway in 1959. Historically, Buffalo's importance as a port was largely due to the barrier that Niagara Falls posed to shipping. However, thanks to the expansion of the Welland Canal as part of the Seaway, freighters loaded with grain and other goods could now access the ocean directly via the St. Lawrence River, rather than stopping at Buffalo to transfer their cargo to railroad cars headed east. Within ten years of the Seaway's inauguration, most of the grain elevators at Buffalo Harbor had been abandoned, and the port that was once filled to capacity with ships was now nearly empty. As well, the steel plant in Lackawanna closed its doors for good beginning in 1977, unable to compete with cheaper foreign steel. By 1980, Buffalo's population was roughly equal to what it had been in 1900, down nearly 40% from its peak of 580,132 just thirty years earlier.

To add insult to injury, during the 1960s and '70s Buffalo's civic leaders responded to the deteriorating social conditions in the city by demolishing (in the name of "urban renewal" and "slum clearance") ethnic neighborhoods in such places as the Ellicott District and the Lower West Side that, though working-class, were in many cases healthy and vibrant. In particular, the splendid brick Victorian cottages of what was once the Lower West Side's "Little Italy" were nearly all lost to the wrecking ball, while the new public housing projects erected in the Ellicott District soon became high-rise versions of the slums they replaced, as the mere construction of new buildings did nothing to address the underlying social problems in the neighborhood. At the same time, noisy and intrusive expressways were constructed directly through Delaware Park and Humboldt Parkway, destroying the verdant ambience of what were (respectively) the largest park and the grandest parkway designed for the city by landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted; thankfully, forceful opposition from neighborhood residents spared the Allentown Historic District a similar fate. In downtown, only one of the many examples of the senseless destruction of Buffalo's architectural heritage occurred in 1969, when several blocks of handsome Victorian commercial blocks as well as the stunning, castlelike Erie County Savings Bank building were demolished to make way for the Main Place Tower, a bland modernist office tower with an attached suburban-style shopping mall that utterly failed to attract shoppers back downtown in favor of the strip malls and plazas of the suburbs.

...and rebirth [ edit ]

Despite these grave problems, the mentality in Buffalo never crossed the line into total defeatism, which was helpful when Buffalo's decline started to level off in the 1990s. The broad-based grassroots protests that accompanied the opening of the Seneca Buffalo Creek Casino in 2007, which had been presented to the city as a means of spurring development and attracting tourists, serves as perhaps the quintessential example of the city's new approach: rather than relying on one-shot "silver bullet" solutions to the city's problems such as the casino, Buffalo has begun to model its strategy on the successful revival of other Rust Belt cities such as Pittsburgh and Cleveland — a strategy of accepting the reality that heavy industry is gone for good and, instead, using the valuable resource of Buffalo's unusually high number of colleges and universities to encourage development of a diverse range of high-tech industries, such as the medical research and biotechnology ventures that have sprouted north of downtown under the aegis of the University of Buffalo Medical School. The business district, once replete with boarded-up storefronts and nearly deserted after the end of the workday and on weekends, has enjoyed a new measure of vitality due largely to the conversion of disused office space into high-end downtown apartments and condominiums, a commodity for which many Buffalonians were surprised to discover there was considerable pent-up demand. Additionally, Buffalo can boast of an architectural heritage that is still substantial despite the misadventures of the 1960s, a vibrant range of cultural institutions, and a perennially low cost of living. In the past few years, this new approach has engendered a newfound strength among Buffalo's preservationist community, a dogged devotion by its citizens to cultural attractions such as the Albright-Knox Art Gallery and the Buffalo Zoo, and continued diversification of the local economy. Conversely, what remains of Buffalo's traditional heavy industry has benefited from the mini-rebound in American manufacturing after the 2008 recession; for example, despite General Motors' financial troubles of that period, that company made substantial investments in its plant in nearby Tonawanda in 2010, adding several hundred new jobs in the process. Though Buffalo has not completely stemmed its population losses and there is still much progress yet to be made, the bit of swagger with which residents of the "City of No Illusions" carry themselves today, finally reinvigorated after decades of decline, is unmistakable.

Buffalo Climate chart (explanation) J F M A M J J A S O N D 3.2 31 19 2.5 33 19 2.9 42 26 3 55 37 3.5 67 47 3.7 75 57 3.2 80 62 3.3 78 61 3.9 71 53 3.5 59 43 4 48 34 3.9 36 24 Average max. and min. temperatures in °F Precipitation + Snow totals in inches See Buffalo's 7 day forecast NOAA (1981-2010) Metric conversion J F M A M J J A S O N D 81 −1 −7 64 1 −7 74 6 −3 76 13 3 89 19 8 94 24 14 81 27 17 84 26 16 99 22 12 89 15 6 102 9 1 99 2 −4 Average max. and min. temperatures in °C Precipitation + Snow totals in mm

Climate [ edit ]

Buffalo, although most famous for its winters, has four very pronounced seasons.

In the first half of winter, beginning in approximately November, the city can get lake-effect snow: cold winds blowing over the warmer waters of Lake Erie pick up a lot of water vapor, which is dumped as snow as soon as they reach land. This usually ends in January, when the lake finally freezes over. Contrary to popular myth, however, Buffalo is not the coldest or snowiest city in the country—or even in New York. The Buffalo airport averages 93 inches (236 cm) of snow per winter. On average, Buffalo only has 3 days per year where the recorded temperature dips below 0°F (-18°C). Buffalo's snowy reputation is based in large part on some of its most famous storms: the Blizzard of '77, the "October Surprise" of 2006, and the "Snowvember" blizzard in 2014 all received a lot of media coverage, but none of those things are normal occurrences in an average Buffalo winter.

Spring is rainy and cool up through the end of April. The temperatures can fluctuate wildly in March and April. It is not unusual to see snow one day, and a temperature in the mid-60s Fahrenheit (almost 20°C) the next.

A typical winter day in Buffalo's historic West Village.

Summer tends to be very comfortable and sunny — in fact, Buffalo has more sunny summer days than any other major city in the Northeastern U.S. The moderating effects of Lake Erie have allowed Buffalo to be one of very few places in the United States where the temperature has never reached 100°F (38°C). On average Buffalo has 60 days a year with temperatures reaching over 80°F (27°C).

Fall is warm and beautiful as well. The temperature usually stays warm enough through October or so, and one can watch the trees change colors in comfort. The days are warm, the nights are cool, and the first frost doesn't usually come until well after Halloween. Leaf hunters will be pleased with the number of trees (Buffalo is also one of the most tree-filled cities in the nation!) as well as in the surrounding areas.

Read [ edit ]

For more books about Buffalo, specifically ones that take place in or have to do with a particular neighborhood of the city, please see the respective district articles.

Buffalo Unbound: A Celebration by Laura Pedersen (ISBN 9781555917357). The author is a Buffalo native who, as of this writing, has written fifteen books as well as a number of plays and musicals, many of which are set in her hometown during her youth in the 1970s and '80s. Of all those works, though, Buffalo Unbound is the one that best captures the zeitgeist. This collection of humorous essays provides a color commentary for Buffalo's rise from the morass, with the often bleak and world-weary tone (perhaps inevitable given the timeframe of her life) in the childhood reminiscences of Pedersen's earlier work tempered now with a healthy dose of optimism. Readers may find it hard at first to keep up with the steady stream of in-jokes and Buffalo-specific cultural references, but soon they'll find themselves attuned to the local culture in a way that few visitors ever experience.

by Laura Pedersen (ISBN 9781555917357). The author is a Buffalo native who, as of this writing, has written fifteen books as well as a number of plays and musicals, many of which are set in her hometown during her youth in the 1970s and '80s. Of all those works, though, is the one that best captures the zeitgeist. This collection of humorous essays provides a color commentary for Buffalo's rise from the morass, with the often bleak and world-weary tone (perhaps inevitable given the timeframe of her life) in the childhood reminiscences of Pedersen's earlier work tempered now with a healthy dose of optimism. Readers may find it hard at first to keep up with the steady stream of in-jokes and Buffalo-specific cultural references, but soon they'll find themselves attuned to the local culture in a way that few visitors ever experience. City of Light by Lauren Belfer (ISBN 9780385337649). It's 1901, and plans for the Pan-American Exposition are advancing at fever pitch. Louisa Barrett is the unmarried headmistress of the Macaulay School for Girls, a female mover and shaker in a world dominated by men. Her pride and joy is her goddaughter Grace, whose father Tom Sinclair is a wealthy industrialist who hopes to change the face of the city forever with his dream of drawing electric power from Niagara Falls. But when the chief engineer of the hydroelectric project is found murdered in Delaware Park, there's a nasty power struggle in the local elite to determine who will be in the driver's seat of Buffalo's future. In the midst of it all — and of her blossoming love for Tom — Louisa struggles with the burden of a dark secret whose tentacles penetrate deep into Buffalo's blue-blood aristocracy. City of Light is Belfer's debut novel, a tour de force of historical fiction that is critically acclaimed, meticulously researched, and paints a vivid picture of Buffalo at the height of its golden age.

by Lauren Belfer (ISBN 9780385337649). It's 1901, and plans for the are advancing at fever pitch. Louisa Barrett is the unmarried headmistress of the Macaulay School for Girls, a female mover and shaker in a world dominated by men. Her pride and joy is her goddaughter Grace, whose father Tom Sinclair is a wealthy industrialist who hopes to change the face of the city forever with his dream of drawing electric power from Niagara Falls. But when the chief engineer of the hydroelectric project is found murdered in Delaware Park, there's a nasty power struggle in the local elite to determine who will be in the driver's seat of Buffalo's future. In the midst of it all — and of her blossoming love for Tom — Louisa struggles with the burden of a dark secret whose tentacles penetrate deep into Buffalo's blue-blood aristocracy. is Belfer's debut novel, a of historical fiction that is critically acclaimed, meticulously researched, and paints a vivid picture of Buffalo at the height of its golden age. Gangsters and Organized Crime in Buffalo: History, Hits and Headquarters by Michael F. Rizzo (ISBN 9781609495640). This loosely organized collection of hardboiled true-crime stories starts off fairly slowly — recounting tales of scrappy street gangs and small-time John Dillinger wannabes robbing banks on the Polish East Side in the 1920s and '30s — but soon picks up steam chronicling the rise and fall of the Buffalo Mafia family and its well-respected don, Stefano "The Undertaker" Magaddino, who from his base on the city's West Side (and, later, an unassuming ranch house in suburban Lewiston) controlled a vast territory that stretched from Ohio to Montreal at its height. Best of all, the locations of all the murders, hideouts, clubs, and gambling halls described in the book are meticulously documented, the better to go exploring and retrace the steps of these gangsters of old.

by Michael F. Rizzo (ISBN 9781609495640). This loosely organized collection of hardboiled true-crime stories starts off fairly slowly — recounting tales of scrappy street gangs and small-time John Dillinger wannabes robbing banks on the Polish East Side in the 1920s and '30s — but soon picks up steam chronicling the rise and fall of the Buffalo Mafia family and its well-respected don, Stefano "The Undertaker" Magaddino, who from his base on the city's West Side (and, later, an unassuming ranch house in suburban Lewiston) controlled a vast territory that stretched from Ohio to Montreal at its height. Best of all, the locations of all the murders, hideouts, clubs, and gambling halls described in the book are meticulously documented, the better to go exploring and retrace the steps of these gangsters of old. Eminent restaurateur-cum-local historian Mark Goldman has written a trilogy of books suitable for academic and casual audiences alike that, together, stand as perhaps the definitive analytical commentary on the reasons behind Buffalo's decline and how best to help it reclaim some of its past glory going forward. High Hopes: The Rise and Decline of Buffalo, New York (ISBN 9780873957359). Written in 1983 — perhaps the nadir of Buffalo's history — Goldman's first book traces the story of the Queen City from its birth as a frontier outpost, to its days as a buzzing inland port and industrial giant, to its post-World War II decline. In High Hopes , Buffalo is used as an exemplar of the classic pattern of urban development in the 19th and 20th centuries, its fortunes linked inextricably with the economic well-being of urban America as a whole. City on the Lake: The Challenge of Change in Buffalo, New York (ISBN 9780879755799). This book mines much of the same ground as its predecessor — and shares its format of discrete vignettes that come together to paint a broad cohesive image — but the focus here is on the turning point in Buffalo's history, the 1950s through the '70s, when glory days gave way to postindustrial poverty and blight. From racial tensions and white flight to poorly-thought-out urban renewal schemes to economic disinvestment, City on the Lake analyzes all facets behind the 20th-century decline of Buffalo along with the rest of the Rust Belt. However, in sharp contrast to the pessimistic tone of its ironically titled predecessor, the overall note is a presciently hopeful one that, at a date as early as 1990, few other commentators yet dared to strike. City on the Edge: Buffalo, New York, 1900-Present (ISBN 9781591024576). Despite what the subtitle may suggest, City on the Edge is much more than just a rehash of Goldman's first two tomes — the dark age that Buffalo is now leaving behind is recounted merely as a prelude to what amounts to a love letter to the cultural institutions, strong community ties, and survivalist spirit that have weathered the storm and now serve as foundations on which to build the revived Buffalo. The book's ending breaks with the measured academic tone of the rest of the series, painting a rosy picture of Buffalo's best-case-scenario future and laying out a comprehensive roadmap for how (and how not ) to get there.

has written a trilogy of books suitable for academic and casual audiences alike that, together, stand as perhaps the definitive analytical commentary on the reasons behind Buffalo's decline and how best to help it reclaim some of its past glory going forward.

Watch [ edit ]

The history and extent of Buffalo's association with American cinema may come as a surprise to some. Early on in movie history, downtown Buffalo's Ellicott Square Building was home to the world's first purpose-built, permanent motion-picture theater, the Vitascope Theater, which was opened on October 19, 1896 by Mitchel and Moe Mark, who some years later would go on to build the world's first "movie palace" in New York City. Also in 1896, Thomas Edison sent camera crews to Buffalo, making it one of the first cities in America to appear in the movies. Edison also had the Pan-American Exposition filmed in 1901.

Under the aegis of the Buffalo Niagara Film Commission, an embryonic film industry has developed in the area which is beginning to produce some quality independent features. These and the more than 100 other films that have been shot in the Buffalo area over the last century include:

Hide in Plain Sight (1980). Based on a true story. A working-class husband (James Caan) tries to track down his wife and children who are hidden away by a witness protection program.

(1980). Based on a true story. A working-class husband (James Caan) tries to track down his wife and children who are hidden away by a witness protection program. The Natural (1984). Robert Redford and Glenn Close star in an adaptation of Bernard Malamud's novel about Roy Hobbs, a mysterious baseball player who appears out of nowhere to turn around the fortunes of a 1930s team.

(1984). Robert Redford and Glenn Close star in an adaptation of Bernard Malamud's novel about Roy Hobbs, a mysterious baseball player who appears out of nowhere to turn around the fortunes of a 1930s team. Vamping (1984). In this noirish indie drama directed by local native son Frederick King Keller, Patrick Duffy is a down-and-out saxophone player who gets mixed up in a crooked antique shop owner's scheme to rob the home of a rich widow, then ends up falling in love with his victim. As a movie, it's admittedly a low-budget, amateurish mess — but if you want to get a good sense of what Buffalo looked like in the '80s, pound for pound it's an even better showcase than The Natural , thanks to copious footage of Allentown, Lincoln Parkway, Larkinville, and the then-newly closed Buffalo Central Terminal .

(1984). In this noirish indie drama directed by local native son Frederick King Keller, Patrick Duffy is a down-and-out saxophone player who gets mixed up in a crooked antique shop owner's scheme to rob the home of a rich widow, then ends up falling in love with his victim. As a movie, it's admittedly a low-budget, amateurish mess — but if you want to get a good sense of what Buffalo looked like in the '80s, pound for pound it's an even better showcase than , thanks to copious footage of Allentown, Lincoln Parkway, Larkinville, and the then-newly closed . Buffalo '66 (1998). Buffalo native Vincent Gallo wrote, directed and starred in this critically-acclaimed dark comedy about a man who, after being released from jail for a crime he did not commit, vows to track down the Buffalo Bills kicker who put him there, all the while forcing a young tap dancer (Christina Ricci) to pose as his wife to earn respect from his neglectful parents.

(1998). Buffalo native Vincent Gallo wrote, directed and starred in this critically-acclaimed dark comedy about a man who, after being released from jail for a crime he did not commit, vows to track down the Buffalo Bills kicker who put him there, all the while forcing a young tap dancer (Christina Ricci) to pose as his wife to earn respect from his neglectful parents. Manna from Heaven (2002). The cast is star-studded — Shirley Jones, Cloris Leachman, Seymour Cassel, and Frank Gorshin all play roles, and it was the final appearance on film of Jerry Orbach and Shelley Duvall before their death and retirement from show business, respectively — but the starring role belongs to relative newcomer Ursula Burton, playing a nun on a mission to convince her eccentric childhood neighbors to repay a "loan" from God, which had come in the form of a mysterious shower of dollar bills onto her Buffalo neighborhood 20 years prior.

(2002). The cast is star-studded — Shirley Jones, Cloris Leachman, Seymour Cassel, and Frank Gorshin all play roles, and it was the final appearance on film of Jerry Orbach and Shelley Duvall before their death and retirement from show business, respectively — but the starring role belongs to relative newcomer Ursula Burton, playing a nun on a mission to convince her eccentric childhood neighbors to repay a "loan" from God, which had come in the form of a mysterious shower of dollar bills onto her Buffalo neighborhood 20 years prior. The Savages (2007). Laura Linney and Philip Seymour Hoffman play Wendy and Jon Savage, an estranged brother and sister who reconnect with each other and start to take stock of their dysfunctional lives after coming together to move their elderly father into a nursing home in Buffalo.

(2007). Laura Linney and Philip Seymour Hoffman play Wendy and Jon Savage, an estranged brother and sister who reconnect with each other and start to take stock of their dysfunctional lives after coming together to move their elderly father into a nursing home in Buffalo. Henry's Crime (2011). Keanu Reeves stars as a former Thruway toll collector who, after spending time in jail for a crime he did not commit, decides to get his revenge by holding up in real life the same bank he had been falsely convicted of robbing.

(2011). Keanu Reeves stars as a former Thruway toll collector who, after spending time in jail for a crime he did not commit, decides to get his revenge by holding up in real life the same bank he had been falsely convicted of robbing. The American Side (2016). Matthew Broderick, Janeane Garofalo, and Robert Forster all cameo in this off-kilter film noir, but the star is local first-timer Greg Stuhr. He plays small-time private detective Charlie Paczynski, who, while investigating the murder of a stripper in Niagara Falls, stumbles on a high-level conspiracy to build an unrealized invention discovered in the newly unearthed "lost papers" of Nikola Tesla.

(2016). Matthew Broderick, Janeane Garofalo, and Robert Forster all cameo in this off-kilter film noir, but the star is local first-timer Greg Stuhr. He plays small-time private detective Charlie Paczynski, who, while investigating the murder of a stripper in Niagara Falls, stumbles on a high-level conspiracy to build an unrealized invention discovered in the newly unearthed "lost papers" of Nikola Tesla. Marshall (2017). Chadwick Boseman plays the title role in this period piece that follows a young Thurgood Marshall, the future first African-American Supreme Court justice, on one of the first and most pivotal cases of his law career: defending a black chauffeur (Sterling K. Brown) accused of the rape and attempted murder of his wealthy white employer (Kate Hudson) in 1940 Connecticut.

Visitor information [ edit ]

Talk [ edit ]

English is spoken in Buffalo and the surrounding area on a virtually universal basis. Though the West Side is well known as the home of the city's Hispanic community (mainly Puerto Ricans and Dominicans), the majority of Buffalo's Latinos are able to speak English as well as Spanish. Also on the West Side, there is a diverse collection of communities of first-generation immigrants centered around Grant Street, most of whom speak some degree of English in addition to their native languages (Amharic, Somali, Vietnamese, Burmese, and Bengali are prominent). In any event, visitors to the West Side will have no significant issues with regard to language.

Though Buffalo's neighborhoods include many vibrant ethnic enclaves, very few residents of these districts (other than perhaps a few elderly individuals) can speak more than a word or phrase or two of their respective ancestral languages.

The regional dialect of English spoken in Buffalo — especially among Italians and Poles of the working class — falls within the framework of Inland Northern American English, with the hard, nasally, slightly pinched-nose vowel sound in words like "car" and "stop" and the defricativization of the hard "th" sound (whereby "this" and "that" become "dis" and "dat"), a dialect that will be instantly familiar to those who remember the "Da Bears" guys from Saturday Night Live. Nonetheless, Buffalo's twist on the Inland North dialect involves some unique features such as the devoicing of voiced word-final plosives ("cold" becomes "colt", "rug" becomes "ruck"), and a habit of ending sentences with the word "there" (pronounced "dare") in much the same way Canadians use "eh?" — two speech patterns that are notoriously prevalent among Buffalo's Polish community.

Get in [ edit ]

By plane [ edit ]

Buffalo Niagara International Airport is the busiest airport in Upstate New York. Despite this photograph, theis the busiest airport in Upstate New York.

From the airport, Buffalo is accessible via four NFTA bus routes:

NFTA Metro Bus #24 — Genesee runs four different routes, three of which serve the airport. Bus #24B and Bus #24L run between the airport and Canalside via Genesee Street, also serving the Municipal Transportation Center. The latter of the two is advertised as a more convenient service with a limited number of intermediate stops, but in reality the difference in travel time between the L and the B is insignificant (42-43 minutes vs. 47-48 minutes), so it doesn't really matter which one you take. Express service is offered Monday through Friday by Bus #24X , with four inbound trips in the morning (leaving the airport at 6:03AM, 7:03AM, 7:33AM, and 8:03AM) and four outbound ones in the afternoon (leaving Canalside at 3:50PM, 4:20PM, 4:45PM, and 5:20PM). Travel time to and from the airport is about half an hour. Finally, if you plan to take the bus back to the airport at the end of your visit, make sure not to board Bus #24A , whose route ends at the city line in a not-very-nice neighborhood.

runs four different routes, three of which serve the airport. and run between the airport and Canalside via Genesee Street, also serving the Municipal Transportation Center. The latter of the two is advertised as a more convenient service with a limited number of intermediate stops, but in reality the difference in travel time between the L and the B is insignificant (42-43 minutes vs. 47-48 minutes), so it doesn't really matter which one you take. Express service is offered Monday through Friday by , with four inbound trips in the morning (leaving the airport at 6:03AM, 7:03AM, 7:33AM, and 8:03AM) and four outbound ones in the afternoon (leaving Canalside at 3:50PM, 4:20PM, 4:45PM, and 5:20PM). Travel time to and from the airport is about half an hour. Finally, if you plan to take the bus back to the airport at the end of your visit, make sure not to board , whose route ends at the city line in a not-very-nice neighborhood. NFTA Metro Bus #47 — Youngs Road runs 15 times per day from Monday to Friday from the airport through Williamsville to the University Metro Rail Station, from which point downtown is easily accessible via the subway.

runs 15 times per day from Monday to Friday from the airport through Williamsville to the University Metro Rail Station, from which point downtown is easily accessible via the subway. NFTA Metro Bus #68 — George Urban Express makes one trip in each direction Monday through Friday between the airport and the Buffalo-Exchange Street Amtrak station downtown, leaving the airport at 6:56AM and leaving the train station at 4:38PM. Outbound trips (towards the airport) also serve the Buffalo Metropolitan Transportation Center.

In addition, the Buffalo Niagara International Airport is served directly by a number of intercity bus lines; see the "By bus" section. All buses, NFTA and long-distance, are boarded at the bus lane on the east side of the terminal, on the arrivals level. This is also where Uber and Lyft (see "Ride sharing" section below) pick up.

Buffalo Airport Taxi's stand, as well as a number of rental car facilities, are found directly across from the terminal's main exit, on the arrivals level. For more information on taxi service and car rental, see the "Get around" section below.

For those who are coming by private plane and want to avoid the congestion of Buffalo Niagara International Airport, the closest alternative is Buffalo Airfield in West Seneca. Other general-aviation airports in the vicinity include Buffalo Lancaster Regional Airport in Lancaster, Akron Airport in Akron, and North Buffalo Suburban Airport in Lockport.

By car [ edit ]

The New York State Thruway (Interstate 90) runs east to west and connects Buffalo to other major cities and regions — New York City, the Hudson Valley, Albany, Utica, Syracuse, and Rochester to the east, and Erie and Cleveland to the west. The New York State Thruway is a toll highway over most of its length, with the sole exception of the toll-free portion between Exits 50 and 55, which roughly corresponds to Buffalo's inner-ring suburbs. The New York State Thruway Authority accepts E-ZPass for toll payment, as well as cash.

Interstate 190 begins at Exit 53 of I-90 near the city line, extending west into downtown. At that point, it turns northward and mostly parallels the Niagara River, linking Buffalo to Niagara Falls and extending onward to Canada via the Lewiston-Queenston Bridge. Interstate 290 links I-90 with I-190 via Buffalo's northern suburbs. Interstate 990 runs southwest-to-northeast through suburban Amherst between I-290 and the hamlet of Millersport, after which point Lockport is easily accessible via NY 263 (Millersport Highway) and NY 78 (Transit Road).

If coming from Ontario, the Queen Elizabeth Way (QEW) is the best way to access Buffalo. The most direct border crossing into Buffalo, the Peace Bridge, is at the end of the QEW in Fort Erie. Other bridge crossing options include the Rainbow Bridge in Niagara Falls, along with the Lewiston-Queenston Bridge in Lewiston. All of these bridges are easily accessible from the QEW; follow the well-posted signs.

By car, Buffalo is about two hours from Toronto, one to one and a half hours from Rochester, two and a half hours from Syracuse, and six to seven hours from New York City.

Average wait times at the various border entries vary: at the Peace Bridge in Buffalo/Fort Erie and the Rainbow Bridge in Niagara Falls, wait times over 30 minutes are unusual on most days other than holiday weekends, whereas at the Lewiston-Queenston Bridge, the norm is 30-60 minutes, more on holiday weekends.

By train [ edit ]

Buffalo is accessible from the east and west by Amtrak, which services two stations in or near Buffalo.

Buffalo-Depew (BUF) is at 55 Dick Rd. in the suburb of Depew, about 8 miles (12 km) east of the city. The Buffalo-Depew station can be reached by cab or (with considerable difficulty) via NFTA Metro Bus #46 — Lancaster .

(BUF) is at 55 Dick Rd. in the suburb of Depew, about 8 miles (12 km) east of the city. The Buffalo-Depew station can be reached by cab or (with considerable difficulty) via . The Buffalo-Exchange Street (BFX) station is downtown at 75 Exchange St., near the Buffalo Metropolitan Transportation Center, and is directly accessed by a number of NFTA Metro Bus routes. Unlike Buffalo-Depew, there is no QuickTrak Machine and the ticket office is not open for certain departures. Passengers needing to purchase or pick up tickets for a departure when the ticket office is closed will need to do so in advance of the date of departure, or print out an e-ticket from online. Tickets can also be mailed to you, but this option is slower and more expensive. Fares, schedules, and reservations are available through Amtrak.

Buffalo is served by the following Amtrak lines:

The Empire Service runs from New York City via Yonkers, Croton-on-Hudson, Poughkeepsie, Rhinecliff, Hudson, Albany (Rensselaer), Schenectady, Amsterdam, Utica, Rome, Syracuse, and Rochester, and continues past Buffalo to Niagara Falls.

runs from New York City via Yonkers, Croton-on-Hudson, Poughkeepsie, Rhinecliff, Hudson, Albany (Rensselaer), Schenectady, Amsterdam, Utica, Rome, Syracuse, and Rochester, and continues past Buffalo to Niagara Falls. The Maple Leaf , which runs from Toronto via Oakville, Burlington (Aldershot), Grimsby, St. Catharines, Niagara Falls, Ontario, and Niagara Falls, USA, then continues to New York City along the same route as the Empire Service.

, which runs from Toronto via Oakville, Burlington (Aldershot), Grimsby, St. Catharines, Niagara Falls, Ontario, and Niagara Falls, USA, then continues to New York City along the same route as the Empire Service. The Lake Shore Limited, which, unlike the Empire Service and Maple Leaf, only serves Buffalo-Depew. Eastbound trains on this route travel from Chicago via South Bend, Elkhart, Waterloo, Bryan, Toledo, Sandusky, Elyria, Cleveland, and Erie. Westbound trains begin either at Boston or New York City; trains from Boston proceed to Albany via Framingham, Worcester, Springfield, and Pittsfield; with trains from New York City making stops at Croton-on-Hudson and Poughkeepsie. At Albany, the two routes converge and trains follow the same route as the Empire Service, stopping at Schenectady, Utica, Syracuse, and Rochester.

By bus [ edit ]

The Buffalo Metropolitan Transportation Center, at 181 Ellicott St. downtown, serves as Buffalo's hub for intercity buses, a stop on most NFTA Metro Bus routes, and the city's main taxi terminal.

The following bus routes serve the Buffalo Metropolitan Transportation Center:

Service from DuBois via St. Marys, Bradford, Olean, Salamanca, Ellicottville, Springville, and various points in between.

Service from Cleveland via Ashtabula and Erie (not all runs stop at all intermediate cities). Service from New York City via Newark, Binghamton, Cortland, Syracuse, Rochester, Batavia, and Buffalo Niagara International Airport (not all runs stop at all intermediate cities). Service from New York City via Scranton, Binghamton, Ithaca, Geneva, Rochester, and Batavia. Service from Boston via Worcester, Springfield, Albany, Schenectady, Amsterdam, Utica, Syracuse, Rochester, Batavia, and Buffalo Niagara International Airport (not all runs stop at all intermediate cities). Service from Toronto via Mississauga, Burlington, Grimsby, St. Catharines, Niagara Falls, and Fort Erie (not all runs stop at all intermediate cities).

Service from New York City via Syracuse, Rochester, and Buffalo Niagara International Airport. Service from Toronto via St. Catharines, Niagara Falls, and Fort Erie (not all runs stop at all intermediate cities), and onward to the Buffalo Niagara International Airport. Service from Washington, D.C. via Baltimore and Philadelphia.

By boat [ edit ]

As the place where the Erie Canal met vast Lake Erie, Buffalo's early growth came thanks to the Great Lakes shipping industry. Nowadays the canal has been rerouted to end downstream in Tonawanda, but that's not to say that the canal and the lake aren't still a fairly common, if novel, way to arrive in Buffalo. The West Side, downtown, and the Outer Harbor boast a variety of places for boats to dock. For visitors, the best place to dock is:

Get around [ edit ]

For most visitors to Buffalo, access to an automobile will prove extremely useful, if not quite utterly necessary. Buffalo's public transportation system provides access to the majority of the metropolitan area. Travelling around the city proper by public transit can be relatively hassle-free, especially on weekdays; however, transit riders travelling to the suburbs should be prepared for service that is infrequent (and, on the weekends, often non-existent).

Kensington Expressway approaches its western terminus in downtown Buffalo. Theapproaches its western terminus in downtown Buffalo.

By car [ edit ]

In addition to the Interstate highways mentioned in the "Get In" section, Buffalo has several intraurban expressways useful to visitors:

The Kensington Expressway (NY 33) begins at the airport on Genesee Street, proceeding westward through the suburb of Cheektowaga and the East Side before turning southward and concluding downtown at Oak Street.

(NY 33) begins at the airport on Genesee Street, proceeding westward through the suburb of Cheektowaga and the East Side before turning southward and concluding downtown at Oak Street. The Scajaquada Expressway (NY 198) is a short highway that connects the Kensington Expressway with Interstate 190. The Scajaquada is a convenient route to the neighborhoods of Parkside and the Elmwood Village, the popular commercial strips of Hertel Avenue and Grant Street, as well as attractions like Delaware Park, the Albright-Knox Art Gallery, the Buffalo History Museum, the Darwin D. Martin House, and the Burchfield Penney Art Center.

(NY 198) is a short highway that connects the Kensington Expressway with Interstate 190. The Scajaquada is a convenient route to the neighborhoods of Parkside and the Elmwood Village, the popular commercial strips of Hertel Avenue and Grant Street, as well as attractions like Delaware Park, the Albright-Knox Art Gallery, the Buffalo History Museum, the Darwin D. Martin House, and the Burchfield Penney Art Center. The Buffalo Skyway (NY 5) begins downtown at I-190, extending southward parallel to the shore of Lake Erie with access to Gallagher Beach, Tifft Nature Preserve, and other Outer Harbor attractions. After passing over the Union Ship Canal via the Father Baker Bridge, the divided highway ends, but Route 5 continues as a wide, busy six-lane surface road (variously known as the Hamburg Turnpike, Lake Shore Road, or simply Route 5) that passes through the suburban areas of Lackawanna and Hamburg and continuing southward along the lake shore.

Buffalo's highway system was designed for a city twice its size (a reflection of the population loss the area has undergone between the 1950s and today); as a result of that, the city does not suffer nearly as much from traffic congestion as other U.S. cities. Rush hour, such as it is, occurs on weekdays roughly from 6:30AM-9AM and from 4PM-6:30PM. A good rule of thumb the locals know is that, even at the height of rush hour, it generally takes no more than 30 minutes to drive from downtown to the outer edge of suburbia.

Rental cars [ edit ]

Rental car facilities can be found mainly at the Buffalo Niagara International Airport. Alamo, Avis, Budget, Dollar, Enterprise, Hertz, and National all have offices directly on airport property, while the Buffalo locations of ACE and Fox Rent A Car operate out of the Quality Inn across the street.

In addition, Hertz, Budget, and Enterprise all operate smaller car rental facilities at various locations in the city itself. See the various district articles for more information on those.

Car sharing [ edit ]

Members of the Zipcar car-sharing program can access vehicles in the Buffalo area from various locations in the city, as well as from the North Campus of the University at Buffalo in nearby Amherst. See the district articles for further information.

Ride sharing [ edit ]

After what seemed like an eternity of political wrangling, New York's state legislature fully legalized ride-sharing in June 2017, whereupon both Uber and Lyft immediately started operating in Buffalo. As of November 2017, pricing for both includes a booking fee of $2.15, plus a base fare of $1.10, plus 22¢ per minute and 95¢ per mile on top of that, or a minimum total fare of $7.35 (Uber) or $5.20 (Lyft). There's also a $3.00 surcharge for service to and from the Buffalo Niagara International Airport for Lyft, but not Uber. Surge pricing comes into effect during certain periods of high demand, and can inflate the above prices drastically.

By public transportation [ edit ]

Buffalo's public transportation system is operated by the Niagara Frontier Transportation Authority (NFTA). They run a single-line light rail system (the Metro Rail) as well as an extensive bus network. The NFTA system is focused around three main nodes. From largest to smallest, these nodes are located in downtown Buffalo, at University Station (at the outer end of the Metro Rail), and at the Portage Road Transit Center in Niagara Falls. Most of the buses whose routes begin and end downtown access the Buffalo Metropolitan Transportation Center directly; many also service the Buffalo-Exchange Street Amtrak station.

The Metro Rail extends along Main Street from the University at Buffalo's South Campus at the northeast corner of the city southward to Canalside in downtown Buffalo, a distance of 6.4 miles (10.3 km). With nearly 25,000 riders per day, the Metro Rail boasts the third-highest number of passengers per mile (km) among light-rail systems in the United States. The northern portion of the system is below ground. As the subway enters the downtown core, at the Theater District, it emerges from the tunnel and runs at street level for the remainder of its length. Rides on the above-ground portion of the Metro Rail are free of charge. To ride in the underground portion of the system, it costs $4 for a round-trip ticket, or $2 for a one-way ticket. The Metro Rail is a popular mode of transportation for employees and residents who live along the line and north of the city to commute downtown, and also for attendees of downtown events who want to avoid paying high prices for parking.

The NFTA eliminated the zoned fare system in October 2010. Generally speaking, rides on a single bus or light rail vehicle now cost $2.00 regardless of length. The exception is the "Enhanced Express" service introduced by the NFTA in September 2012 and applied to Routes #60 — Niagara Falls Express, #64 — Lockport Express, and #204 — Airport-Downtown Express, as well as to selected runs of Routes #69 — Alden Express and #72 — Orchard Park Express. An additional 50¢ surcharge per trip applies on Enhanced Express buses.

There are no free transfers between buses. Passengers who will need to transfer from the bus to the Metro Rail, from the Metro Rail to a bus, or between bus lines should consider purchasing a day pass for $5. For further information on public transit in Buffalo including schedules and maps of individual routes, visit the NFTA Metro webpage.

By taxi [ edit ]

In Buffalo, taxis can generally be dispatched quickly and with ease; however, in general, the only places where they can be hailed on the street are at the airport and around the Metropolitan Transportation Center, the various downtown hotels, and (at certain times, and with some luck) Allentown, the Elmwood strip, and around the colleges and universities.

By bike [ edit ]

As in many cities, bicycling as an alternative method of transportation is growing more and more popular in Buffalo. However, in terms of the development of infrastructure such as dedicated bike lanes on city streets and bike parking areas, Buffalo lags behind many other "bikeable" cities such as Minneapolis, Portland, and Boston. Despite this, scenic bike routes such as the Shoreline Trail and the Scajaquada Creekside Bike Path are immensely popular with locals, and under the aegis of the city's newly adopted "Complete Streets" program, dedicated bike lanes and other rights-of-way are being added to more and more of the city's streets.

GO Bike Buffalo is the local organization that promotes and advocates for cycling and other sustainable transportation alternatives in Buffalo. The Community Bicycle Workshop they operate at 98 Colvin Ave. in North Buffalo offers used parts and complete refurbished bikes for sale, as well as special programs periodically throughout the year.

Reddy Bikeshare has about three dozen bike racks around the city, including this one on Delaware Avenue downtown. has about three dozen bike racks around the city, including this one on Delaware Avenue downtown.

Bike sharing [ edit ]

After a three-year pilot program that was a smashing success, the erstwhile Buffalo BikeShare relaunched in July 2016 as Reddy Bikeshare, with Independent Health newly on board as a corporate sponsor. Almost instantaneously, the bright red bikes and racks became a ubiquitous sight along city streets. Today, Reddy has 200 bikes to tool around town on, each GPS-equipped with Social Bicycles (SoBi) technology. Rates are $8.50 for a 30-day membership or $55 for an annual membership, after which point use of the bikes costs 6¢ and 1¢ per minute, respectively.

To use a Reddy bike, sign in to the SoBi mobile app to find and reserve an available bike at any of the various Reddy racks around the city (or simply walk up to a rack and enter your account number and PIN on the bike's keypad to unlock it). Then, when you're finished, simply lock your bike up at any Reddy rack, or else at any public bike rack within one of Reddy's free parking zones (Elmwood Avenue, Allen Street, Main Street downtown, and two locations on the South Campus of UB). There's a $2 fee for locking a Reddy bike up anywhere other than a Reddy rack or free parking zone. If you need to stop off somewhere along the way, you also have the option to "hold" your Reddy bike, which will enable you to lock it temporarily without incurring the $2 parking fee and without the bike becoming available for reservation by other users. When you're ready to take off again, simply enter your PIN number on the bike's keypad and you're good to go.

See the district articles for the locations of individual Reddy bike racks.

See [ edit ]

For individual listings of attractions, please see the respective district articles.

Museums [ edit ]

Buffalo's wealth of cultural attractions is surprising given the city's somewhat small size. The museums here are many and varied, and are a point of pride for Buffalo's citizens. Arguably the most interesting among them are a great number of institutions that focus on the area's past. Those who are curious about Buffalo's rich history are advised to first stop in at the gargantuan Buffalo History Museum which focuses on the city's history in a general sense, then take your pick of the smaller, more specialized museums — the Lower Lakes Marine Historical Society Museum to learn more about the Great Lakes shipping routes that gave Buffalo its importance as an inland port, the Colored Musicians Club Museum or the Nash House Museum for African-American history in Buffalo, the Buffalo Transportation Pierce-Arrow Museum for the story behind Buffalo's importance in the early-20th century automotive industry, the Buffalo Fire Historical Society for the history of firefighting in Buffalo, and more.

Buffalo City Hall is seen in this view down Court Street from Lafayette Square. Built in 1931 from a design by the local firm of Dietel & Wade, it is widely considered one of the world's finest examples of Art Deco architecture. is seen in this view down Court Street from Lafayette Square. Built in 1931 from a design by the local firm of Dietel & Wade, it is widely considered one of the world's finest examples of Art Deco architecture.

Art [ edit ]

More so even than its range of cultural attractions, Buffalo's art scene is huge for a city its size, with galleries large and small to suit all tastes. The Museum District at the north end of the Elmwood Village is the site of Buffalo's two largest art galleries, the beautiful Albright-Knox and the Burchfield-Penney. The Buffalo Religious Arts Center is an off-the-beaten-path gem in Black Rock, dedicated to preserving the statuary, icons, stained glass, and other objets d'art from the many churches and other houses of worship that have closed in the wake of Buffalo's late-20th-century population losses.

Smaller storefront galleries are plentiful, and are concentrated in some of Buffalo's more interesting areas, such as Allentown, the Theater District, and Hertel Avenue — as well as, increasingly, emerging artistic communities on the Lower West Side, in Grant-Amherst, and just south of the Theater District in the 500 Block of Main Street.

Architecture [ edit ]

More and more, Buffalo's exquisite and well-preserved architecture has grabbed the attention of locals and tourists alike. Buffalo's architecture took center stage when the 2011 National Preservation Conference was held in the city to unanimous acclaim. Buildings from almost every decade of Buffalo's existence are still preserved, with more being restored each year.

An enormous wealth of information about Buffalo's rich architectural heritage is available at the award-winning website, Buffalo Architecture and History.

Outdoors [ edit ]

Buffalo is a great place to enjoy the outdoors — especially in the warm months. A side effect of Buffalo's notoriously nasty winters is that locals really make the most of the warm-weather months. Predictably, in March or April on the first nice day of the year, the streets are thronged with pasty-skinned locals, dressed in shorts and tank tops despite the still-chilly temperatures, ravenously drinking in the fresh air and sunlight after the long, bleak winter. Autumn is also a pleasant time to be outdoors in Buffalo, with the crisp, fragrant air a perfect complement to the crunch of fallen leaves underfoot.

The city of Buffalo contains over 200 parks, both large and small. Among the largest and most interesting of Buffalo's parks were designed by Frederick Law Olmsted, unquestionably the greatest landscape architect of the 19th Century, in conjunction with his then-partner Calvert Vaux. Buffalo's Olmsted parks are an interconnected network of six large parks and six smaller green spaces (three of the latter survive today), linked to each other by wide, tree-lined thoroughfares called parkways modeled after the grand boulevards of Paris. Though he would go on to design similar park systems for other cities, Buffalo's is the oldest and one of the best-preserved Olmsted park systems in existence — and the Buffalo Olmsted Parks Conservancy, the not-for-profit that's been in charge of maintenance of the Olmsted park system since 2004, is hard at work repairing and restoring elements that have been lost over the years to put the parks in even better shape than they are now.

Delaware Park continues to fulfill the intent of its designer, allowing citizens of Buffalo to escape into nature without leaving the city limits. Nearly 150 years after it was constructed,continues to fulfill the intent of its designer, allowing citizens of Buffalo to escape into nature without leaving the city limits.

The Olmsted parks that will be of the most interest to visitors are Delaware Park, Buffalo's largest at 234 acres (93 ha) which boasts amenities including the Buffalo Zoo, a Rose Garden and a Japanese Garden, and public art installations, and South Park, which contains the Buffalo & Erie County Botanical Gardens. Additionally, though it's not an Olmsted park, LaSalle Park has an outdoor amphitheater, baseball and soccer fields, a dog run, and walking and jogging trails in a beautiful waterfront setting overlooking Lake Erie.

Speaking of which: as if to defy the ugly, intrusive Interstate 190 and Buffalo Skyway that run along the shoreline, Buffalo's waterfront is becoming more and more of a focal point for outdoor recreation. Situated in the heart of downtown, Canalside is ground zero for waterfront recreation in Buffalo, with summertime concerts and festivals held seemingly every day in the midst of preserved remnants of the historic Canal District. A number of harbor cruise lines are also based at Canalside, as is the Buffalo and Erie County Naval and Military Park.

Parkland is also abundant on Buffalo's waterfront. In addition to the aforementioned LaSalle Park, Broderick Park is a small green space at the southern tip of Unity Island that's most famous as the northern end of the Bird Island Pier, a 1.3-mile (2 km) walkway with an unparalleled view of the mouth of the Niagara River, lower Lake Erie, and — at its southern tip — the Erie Basin Marina and downtown. Further north, Riverside Park is an Olmsted park at the far northwest corner of the city, adjacent to the Niagara River. Deserving of special mention is the Outer Harbor, a vast expanse of former industrial land south of downtown that became a state park in September 2013. The Outer Harbor features Gallagher Beach, a pebble beach popular with boaters and windsurfers, as well as Times Beach Nature Preserve and Tifft Nature Preserve, where walking trails meander through wetland habitats filled with migratory birds and native fauna.

Do [ edit ]

Festivals and events [ edit ]

Buffalo's calendar of annual festivals, parades and events is huge and growing. Ethnic pride festivals such as the Buffalo Greek Fest, the Buffalo Italian Heritage Festival, and Dyngus Day play a preeminent role, though a diversity of events of all kinds is enjoyed by citizens. Naturally, the lion's share of these festivals take place during the warm months, but efforts have been made to expand the slate of offerings in winter as well.

The festivals and events listed in this section take place at multiple venues city- or regionwide. For events specific to a particular venue or neighborhood, see the respective district articles.











Sports [ edit ]

Make no mistake about it — Buffalo is a sports town. Buffalonians are doggedly loyal to their teams despite the fact that the city hasn't won a national championship in any of the big four American sports since 1965 — the four fruitless trips to the Super Bowl by the Buffalo Bills and two to the Stanley Cup Finals by the Sabres in the intervening years are losses that local fans have been looking to avenge for a long time.

Major-league sports are played downtown at the KeyBank Center, where the National Hockey League's Buffalo Sabres have their home ice, and at New Era Field in suburban Orchard Park where the Buffalo Bills play for the National Football League.

Buffalo has a number of teams in smaller leagues as well. These teams tend to be more successful on the field than the big-league clubs. Baseball's Buffalo Bisons have won seven pennants in the AAA-level International League and American Association, most recently in 2004; they play at Sahlen Field downtown. The Buffalo Bandits play indoor lacrosse at the KeyBank Center and have won four NLL championships. Soccer fans will want to check out the NPSL's FC Buffalo; matches take place at All-High Stadium on Main Street. Finally, the city's newest sports team, the Buffalo Beauts, play their National Women's Hockey League opponents at the HarborCenter.

In the world of college sports, the University at Buffalo's Buffalo Bulls reign supreme. Bulls football and basketball games are played on the North Campus in Amherst, at UB Stadium and Alumni Arena respectively. Canisius College's Golden Griffins, who play at the Koessler Athletic Center on Main Street and the HarborCenter downtown, also have a sizable local following.

Golf [ edit ]

Golfers visiting the area might want to check out the suburbs first; public and private courses are plentiful outside the city limits. However, those who want to hit the links in Buffalo itself can do so in style. No fewer than three of Buffalo's Olmsted parks — Delaware, Cazenovia, and South Parks — boast golf courses (the former has 18 holes, the latter two have nine), and the Grover Cleveland Golf Course in University Heights is famous as the site of the 1912 U.S. Open. See the district articles for more details on individual courses.

Broderick Park. Anglers cast their lines into the Upper Niagara River at

Fishing [ edit ]

Buffalo is a hotspot for freshwater fishing, with a remarkable diversity of species thanks to its location at the junction of Lake Erie and the Niagara River, which each feature different scenarios for anglers.

In Lake Erie, the marquee catch is smallmouth bass: the Queen City has been recognized by Bassmaster magazine as one of the top three bass fishing destinations in the United States. If you're angling from shore — say, at Buffalo Harbor State Park or Ship Canal Commons in South Buffalo — the prime times are early May through mid-June and October through November, just after the lake thaws and before it freezes again. The bass move to cooler waters in midsummer, but if you have a boat, they're still easily catchable at those times in the deeper parts of the lake. Most of the bass you'll catch will be between 2 and 4 pounds (1 and 2 kg), though it's not unheard of to reel in whoppers of 6 or 7 pounds (3 kg) from time to time. Aside from bass, Lake Erie has some of the best walleye fishing you'll find anywhere, with average catches ranging from 5 to 8 pounds (2.5 to 3.5 kg), as well as muskellunge (especially around the mouth of the Buffalo River) and yellow perch.

The Buffalo River boasts its share of fishing spots too — notably RiverFest Park, Conway Park, Mutual Park, Seneca Bluffs, and other green spaces in the emerald necklace of the Buffalo River Greenway. Despite generations of heavy industry that once left it an ecological dead zone, the river was cleaned up enough by the early 1980s for fish to filter their way in once again, and today a typical catch might include bullhead, largemouth bass, yellow perch, and steelhead trout.

The upper Niagara River, meanwhile, is a great place to catch steelhead, lake trout, and northern pike which teem in its cool, fast-flowing waters all season long. This is also a place to find smallmouth bass in the summer months, when the shoreline areas of Lake Erie are too warm for them. Unity Island is the place to be for river fishing in Buffalo — folks from the West Side's Burmese refugee community reeling in dinner for their families are a regular sight at places like Broderick Park, the Bird Island Pier, and Unity Island Park. (But think twice before you follow their lead in eating your catch: though the Niagara River and Lake Erie have come a long way in terms of pollution, it's advised to severely restrict if not completely avoid eating fish caught in local waters. For more specific information, see the New York State Department of Health Fish Advisory.)

Gambling [ edit ]

It's no Vegas, but gamblers have a number of options in and around Buffalo.

The $130 million permanent home of the Seneca Buffalo Creek Casino in the historic Cobblestone District opened in 2013 and expanded only four years later; it boasts over 1,100 slot machines and 36 table games. The Buffalo Raceway, on the grounds of the Erie County Fair in the suburb of Hamburg, has slot machines, video poker, and, in season, live harness racing.

Further afield, there are several other destinations for fans of horse racing, slots, and other gaming (Niagara Falls foremost among them). See the Go next section for more on those.

Theater District, with its great variety of performance venues, restaurants, and other attractions. The heart of downtown Buffalo's, with its great variety of performance venues, restaurants, and other attractions.

Theater [ edit ]

For a city its size, Buffalo has a surprisingly large, active, and diverse theater scene. Even after the closure in 2008 of the biggest producing theater in town, the Studio Arena Theatre, the Theater District, bounded roughly by Washington, Tupper, Franklin, and Chippewa Streets, has remained vibrant, with Curtain Up!, the gala event that marks the opening of the theater season, drawing larger-than-ever crowds downtown each September.

There are plenty of theaters outside the Theater District as well, many of which are connected to the theater programs of the various colleges and universities in the area. See the district articles for details.

Live music [ edit ]

For listings of individual venues, see the various district articles.

Despite the many directions in which it has evolved over the decades — from the soulful, R&B-influenced "Buffalo Sound" of the '60s exemplified by local acts like Raven and The Vibratos (the latter featuring a young Cory Wells, later lead singer of Three Dog Night), to a thriving punk, hardcore and new wave scene in the early '80s, to a ragtag brotherhood of vaguely jangly alternative acts in the '90s, to the kaleidoscopic diversity of today — one thing that's always remained the same about Buffalo's music scene is its tight-knit camaraderie, its loyalty to its hometown fan base, and, despite the occasional native son or daughter that's gone on to greater fame (notably Rick James, Ani DiFranco, Brian McKnight, and the Goo Goo Dolls), its relative obscurity outside the confines of the local area. Buffalo may not have the reputation of Austin, but as a live music town it's worthwhile for locals and visitors alike.

Major national touring artists usually take the stage downtown. The biggest of the big stars — your U2's, your Rolling Stones — usually play at the KeyBank Center, or occasionally at New Era Field out in Orchard Park. But downtown also has a handful of midsize concert venues such as the Town Ballroom, Mohawk Place, and the Rec Room that play host to second-tier acts. Visitors from north of the border might be surprised to see many Canadian groups that haven't yet "made it big" in the States playing to packed houses at places like the Town Ballroom — long lacking decent homegrown rock radio, local fans have taken a shine to Toronto stations and, as a result, bands like the Tragically Hip are huge draws in Buffalo. As well, summertime brings well-known names to the outdoor Canalside Live concert series, and Babeville, on Delaware Avenue on the northern fringe of downtown, is both the headquarters of Righteous Babe Records, the label helmed by Buffalo's own Ani DiFranco, and the site of Asbury Hall, a concert venue situated in a former church that regularly hosts shows by Righteous Babe's stable of folky indie singer-songwriters and other artists of the same ilk.

If local music is what you're looking for, the two hotspot neighborhoods are Allentown and Grant-Amherst. Allentown bars like Duke's Bohemian Grove and the storied Nietzsche's are great places to see homegrown rockers and singer-songwriters doing their thing — usually the same two dozen or so bands playing "musical chairs" among the venues. Though it's uncommon, on occasion you'll even see a nationally famous name take the stage at these places (this seems to happen most often at Duke's). In Grant-Amherst, you're more likely to catch country, blues, or roots-rock acts — the nucleus of the Grant-Amherst musical scene, the Sportsmen's Tavern, calls itself the "honkiest, tonkiest beer joint in town".

Fans of other types of music aren't left out in the cold either: the blues shows at Main Street's Central Park Grill are locally legendary, jazz fans can attend great concerts in the historic Colored Musicians Club or check out exhibits on local music history in the attached museum, and Kleinhans Music Hall, where the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra holds court, is a Nationally Registered Historic Place designed with pitch-perfect acoustics by architects Eliel and Eero Saarinen.

Learn [ edit ]

Buffalo is home to a large number of private and public colleges and universities. The largest school in the area is the University at Buffalo (UB). One of the four "university centers" of the State University of New York (SUNY) system, UB is renowned as a large public research university. For this reason, it is one of 62 elected members of the prestigious Association of American Universities. UB has two campuses: the smaller South Campus is in the University Heights neighborhood at the city's northeast corner, and the larger North Campus is in the suburb of Amherst, about four miles (6 km) northeast of the South Campus.

Buffalo State College, also part of the SUNY system, is across from the Albright-Knox Art Gallery, at the north end of the Elmwood Village. Canisius College is Buffalo's largest private college, located near the intersection of Humboldt Parkway and Main Street. Other colleges and universities in the city and its surrounding area include Trocaire College, Medaille College, Villa Maria College, D'Youville College, Daemen College, and the three campuses of Erie Community College.

The University at Buffalo has an annual Distinguished Speakers Series, which has played host to Bill Clinton, Al Gore, Michael Moore, the Dalai Lama, Stephen Colbert, and Dr. Sanjay Gupta. These events take place on the North Campus and are open to the public; tickets are available from the University's box office. UB has a free series of summer lectures available to the public, and Buffalo State regularly has events open to visitors.

Buy [ edit ]

For listings of individual shops, please see the respective district articles.

Buffalo has a number of interesting shopping districts, each with its own flavor.

Elmwood Avenue, the backbone of the Elmwood Village, is a crowded thoroughfare of lovely boutiques, art galleries, sidewalk cafés, and fine restaurants. , the backbone of the Elmwood Village, is a crowded thoroughfare of lovely boutiques, art galleries, sidewalk cafés, and fine restaurants.

The Elmwood Village extends along Elmwood Avenue from Buffalo State College south to North Street. This area contains a variety of small shops with a very "independent" feel — you won't find many national chain stores or restaurants here. Elmwood Avenue's specialty is upscale clothing boutiques catering to fashion-forward urbanites; it's also a good place to seek out locally produced art and jewelry, quirky gifts, and some of the finest dining Buffalo has to offer.

Allentown is centered along the entire length of Allen Street from Main to Wadsworth Streets, but especially west of Linwood Avenue. Adjacent, and similar in some ways, to the Elmwood Village, Allentown has more of a bohemian and artsy vibe compared with the college students and yuppies that frequent Elmwood. Amid the proliferation of hipster bars, you'll see a lot of antique shops, small art galleries, and clothing stores with a more urban style.

Hertel Avenue, between Delaware and Parkside Avenues in North Buffalo, is home to a growing assortment of small shops. Hertel is the place to come to browse art galleries, shop for antique and contemporary furniture and home decor, mellow out in head shops such as Terrapin Station, and sample Middle Eastern cuisine at a variety of restaurants and bodegas at the west end of the strip, near Delaware Avenue.

Grant Street, which runs north-to-south through the Upper West Side, is the main thoroughfare of two newly revitalized shopping areas in this rapidly gentrifying area of town. The stretch between (approximately) West Delavan Avenue and Hampshire Street, centered on West Ferry Street, is an up-and-coming commercial strip known as Grant-Ferry. A true "melting pot", with the Hispanics who've been here for years now joined by Somalis, Southeast Asians, Arabs, Eastern Europeans, and Buffalo State College students, Grant-Ferry is accordingly home to a modest but growing collection of ethnic food markets, clothing stores, and so forth. Also, Grant-Amherst, a short distance north at the corner of Amherst Street, was named Buffalo's "Best Up-and-Coming Neighborhood" in the "Best of Buffalo 2011" competition in Artvoice. Grant-Amherst boasts a small but growing collection of art galleries, antique shops, and restaurants within walking distance of Buffalo State College. Visitors should be warned, however, that despite the ongoing upswing, the neighborhoods around Grant Street are still a good deal "grittier" than places like the Elmwood Village and Allentown.

In the 'burbs can be found the usual lineup of malls and plazas. The largest mall in the area is the Walden Galleria, on Walden Avenue in Cheektowaga, 10 minutes from downtown via the Kensington Expressway and/or Interstate 90. Others include the Boulevard Mall in Amherst, the McKinley Mall on the border between Hamburg and Orchard Park, and the Eastern Hills Mall in Clarence. In Buffalo itself, there is a small area between Delaware and Elmwood Avenues at the northern edge of the city where shopping plazas, big-box stores, and chain restaurants can be found.

Eat [ edit ]

Buffalo is a haven for great food.

Local specialties [ edit ]

The canonical Buffalo wings: wings, celery, blue cheese, beer, and moist towelettes.

No visit is complete without trying some Buffalo wings. Oh, sure, everyone thinks they've tried them, but nothing compares to the ones you can get in Buffalo. (But please don't call them "Buffalo wings"; around here, they're just "wings".) The classic recipe, as originated in 1964 at the Anchor Bar on Main Street, is a chicken wing fried up crisp, then tossed in a mixture of butter and hot sauce (Frank's Red Hot for best results) in varying proportions according to your spice tolerance, then optionally finished on the grill for a bit of extra char. The debate over who serves the best wings in town is endless and often heated, but as a general rule, head to one of Buffalo's many off-the-beaten-path corner bars.

If you're not a fan of Buffalo sauce, virtually anywhere with wings on the menu will offer barbecue sauce as an alternative. Other varieties you'll come across frequently include garlic parmesan, lemon pepper (especially popular among Buffalo's African-American community), honey mustard, and "Italian style" (i.e. breaded and smothered in marinara sauce). Or for something truly unique, head to South Buffalo, which — ever the odd-neighborhood-out — has its own homegrown style of wings you won't find anywhere else in Western New York, let alone the world.

In much the same vein: if you enjoy chicken fingers, there's scarcely a better place for you to visit than Buffalo. Like any other city, you can certainly find them served as a meal in themselves, but here they also come chopped up and used as pizza toppings, in tacos, on salads, and — above all — in the form of chicken finger subs , whole chicken fingers slathered in Buffalo wing sauce and used as the filling in a submarine sandwich, topped not only with the standard sub condiments of lettuce, tomato, and onion but often blue cheese dressing too. A variant is the stinger sub , basically a steak hoagie plus chicken fingers. Any sub shop or pizzeria in town should be able to make you a chicken finger sub, but for the stinger, the odds-on favorite is local chain Jim's Steakout , where it was invented.

, whole chicken fingers slathered in Buffalo wing sauce and used as the filling in a submarine sandwich, topped not only with the standard sub condiments of lettuce, tomato, and onion but often blue cheese dressing too. A variant is the , basically a steak hoagie plus chicken fingers. Any sub shop or pizzeria in town should be able to make you a chicken finger sub, but for the stinger, the odds-on favorite is local chain , where it was invented. Outside the realm of deep-fried chicken, another local specialty is beef on weck , a sandwich that consists of slices of tender, juicy slow-roasted beef layered on a kümmelweck roll (a Kaiser roll topped with caraway seeds and Kosher salt) and traditionally garnished with horseradish, the more the better. Any place that serves hot sandwiches is likely to have beef on weck on the menu, but the two restaurants whose beef on weck has the best reputation among locals are Schwabl's (on Center Road in West Seneca) and Charlie the Butcher (see below).

, a sandwich that consists of slices of tender, juicy slow-roasted beef layered on a roll (a Kaiser roll topped with caraway seeds and Kosher salt) and traditionally garnished with horseradish, the more the better. Any place that serves hot sandwiches is likely to have beef on weck on the menu, but the two restaurants whose beef on weck has the best reputation among locals are (on Center Road in West Seneca) and (see below). Texas hots , despite their name, were not invented in Texas, but in Buffalo, where they began as a unique offering in the area's Greek restaurants ( Seneca Texas Hots claims to be the first to serve them, though this is a matter of some dispute). The Texas hot is a hot dog slathered with mustard, onions, and spicy meat sauce or chili; the finished product bears some resemblance to the "Coney Island" hot dogs served in Detroit, though the chili sauce on Texas hots is lighter and thinner in consistency.

, despite their name, were not invented in Texas, but in Buffalo, where they began as a unique offering in the area's Greek restaurants ( claims to be the first to serve them, though this is a matter of some dispute). The Texas hot is a hot dog slathered with mustard, onions, and spicy meat sauce or chili; the finished product bears some resemblance to the "Coney Island" hot dogs served in Detroit, though the chili sauce on Texas hots is lighter and thinner in consistency. Speaking of which: Greek food is of course hardly unknown in the United States, but in Buffalo it's a cuisine that has a surprisingly long history and wide reach — there's been a Greek diner in practically every neighborhood since the 1960s or '70s. But Buffalo doesn't have an especially big Greek community, so what gives? It all goes back to Theodore Liaros, who opened the first location of beloved local hot dog chain Ted's in 1927, as well as the time-honored immigrant tradition of ethnic communities coming together to help out new arrivals: as time wore on, more and more Greeks — some distant relatives of the Liaros family, some old friends from his hometown — came to Buffalo, learned the restaurant business at Ted's, and then struck out on their own. Even today, the roster of local Greek restaurateurs remains a tangled web of family relations and intermarriages. As for the food, traditionally these places used to serve Americanized versions of Greek street foods like souvlaki, gyro and spanakopita alongside usual diner fare like burgers and melt sandwiches. This model still predominates in the suburbs, which is also where you're more likely to run across one that keeps to the old tradition of staying open 24 hours, a practice that's more and more going by the wayside as shift-based factory jobs disappear and college kids grow more apt to spend late nights cramming for the test than partying. However, many Greek diners in the city proper — particularly Pano's, Mythos, and Acropolis on Elmwood Avenue; Allentown's Towne Restaurant is a notable exception — have reinvented themselves in a more upscale vein, with ever more creative menu items, swankier decor, and higher prices.

If you want to sample Chiavetta chicken, your best bet is to keep your eyes peeled for signs like this.

The key to Chiavetta chicken (usually shortened to just "Chiavetta") is the marinade, a garlic- and cider vinegar-based concoction imbued with a secret blend of herbs and spices (educated guesses usually include black pepper, Worcestershire sauce, and perhaps ginger, onion powder, and poultry seasoning) in which the meat sits for about four hours before being broiled on a charcoal grill. The result is tender and incredibly juicy, with just a hint of crispy char on the skin. If this sounds enticing, you have a number of options: Chiavetta's natural habitats are church lawn fetes, fire department fundraiser cookouts, and other such informal events, or if you happen to be in town during the Erie County Fair , head to the Chiavetta Catering Company's own booth to get it straight from the source. You'll have a much harder time finding it in restaurants: if you can't make it out to Lockport to visit Chiavetta's BBQ Take-Out , you might try Wing Kings on Elmwood Avenue, whose several dozen varieties of chicken wing sauces include a pretty accurate Chiavetta knockoff. And if all else fails, you'll find the marinade on the shelf of most local supermarkets (if making your own, use bone-in thighs for best results; breasts don't absorb the flavor as well).

(usually shortened to just "Chiavetta") is the marinade, a garlic- and cider vinegar-based concoction imbued with a secret blend of herbs and spices (educated guesses usually include black pepper, Worcestershire sauce, and perhaps ginger, onion powder, and poultry seasoning) in which the meat sits for about four hours before being broiled on a charcoal grill. The result is tender and incredibly juicy, with just a hint of crispy char on the skin. If this sounds enticing, you have a number of options: Chiavetta's natural habitats are church lawn fetes, fire department fundraiser cookouts, and other such informal events, or if you happen to be in town during the , head to the Chiavetta Catering Company's own booth to get it straight from the source. You'll have a much harder time finding it in restaurants: if you can't make it out to Lockport to visit , you might try on Elmwood Avenue, whose several dozen varieties of chicken wing sauces include a pretty accurate Chiavetta knockoff. And if all else fails, you'll find the marinade on the shelf of most local supermarkets (if making your own, use bone-in thighs for best results; breasts don't absorb the flavor as well). A non-carbonated, dark purple soft drink with a flavor that could be described as intensely sweet and generically fruity, loganberry is not exactly native to the local area — the berry was hybridized in California in 1883, and beverages, jellies, and syrup concentrates made from it were a brief nationwide fad around the turn of the century — but only in Buffalo did it have staying power. Queen-O was the big local bottler for most of the 20th century, but ask old-timers around here about their loganberry memories and they'll most likely talk about Crystal Beach, an amusement park of yore where it was served not only as a drink but also in the form of loganberry-flavored lollipops and candies. Nowadays Aunt Rosie's is the best-known brand, with a recipe based on the Crystal Beach formula and owned and exclusively distributed by the local Pepsi-Cola bottling company ( not PepsiCo itself, which goes a long way in explaining its lack of availability outside Buffalo). Aunt Rosie's is available only at local soda fountains, though, so if you want a bottle to take home from the supermarket as a souvenir, look for Johnnie Ryan brand instead, bottled in Niagara Falls.

is not exactly native to the local area — the berry was hybridized in California in 1883, and beverages, jellies, and syrup concentrates made from it were a brief nationwide fad around the turn of the century — but only in Buffalo did it have staying power. was the big local bottler for most of the 20th century, but ask old-timers around here about their loganberry memories and they'll most likely talk about Crystal Beach, an amusement park of yore where it was served not only as a drink but also in the form of loganberry-flavored lollipops and candies. Nowadays is the best-known brand, with a recipe based on the Crystal Beach formula and owned and exclusively distributed by the local Pepsi-Cola bottling company ( PepsiCo itself, which goes a long way in explaining its lack of availability outside Buffalo). Aunt Rosie's is available only at local soda fountains, though, so if you want a bottle to take home from the supermarket as a souvenir, look for brand instead, bottled in Niagara Falls. Fish fry is a Buffalo staple that owes its existence to the traditional predominance of Roman Catholicism among the local citizenry — practicing Catholics were once forbidden to eat red meat and poultry on Fridays. Though that prohibition hasn't been in effect since the 1960s, the tradition of enjoying a fish fry on Friday nights has stuck. The traditional recipe sees massive filets of haddock or cod coated in flour, beer-battered and deep-fried until golden brown, then finished with tartar sauce and/or lemon juice and served with sides that may include French fries, coleslaw, or perhaps macaroni salad. You can eat fish fry at some of Buffalo's nicer restaurants if you want, but this is still a working-class food at heart and, accordingly, like wings, the best fish fry is served by the smaller neighborhood watering holes and greasy spoons. Expect lines for fish fry to be especially long during the season of Lent (usually Feb-Apr, though it varies by year), when the old no-meat-on-Fridays rule still applies.

is a Buffalo staple that owes its existence to the traditional predominance of Roman Catholicism among the local citizenry — practicing Catholics were once forbidden to eat red meat and poultry on Fridays. Though that prohibition hasn't been in effect since the 1960s, the tradition of enjoying a fish fry on Friday nights has stuck. The traditional recipe sees massive filets of haddock or cod coated in flour, beer-battered and deep-fried until golden brown, then finished with tartar sauce and/or lemon juice and served with sides that may include French fries, coleslaw, or perhaps macaroni salad. You can eat fish fry at some of Buffalo's nicer restaurants if you want, but this is still a working-class food at heart and, accordingly, like wings, the best fish fry is served by the smaller neighborhood watering holes and greasy spoons. Expect lines for fish fry to be especially long during the season of Lent (usually Feb-Apr, though it varies by year), when the old no-meat-on-Fridays rule still applies. Buffalo also has its own slate of candies, pastry, and sweets of local provenance: Sponge candy , though it's (contrary to local belief) not unique to the Buffalo area, is the best-known of these, and you'll find it at any local candy shop worth its salt. Brown sugar, corn syrup, and baking soda are mixed together into a thick syrup and then baked, releasing bubbles of carbon dioxide gas from the latter which get trapped in the mixture as it hardens and sets into a toffee, creating a crunchy, latticed interior. The whole thing is then covered in chocolate. The Fowler's chain of chocolate shops supposedly sells the best, though its competitors Watson's and Parkside Candy would beg to differ. Ice cream lovers visiting Buffalo should not bother asking about the origins of the Mexican sundae , which are shrouded in obscurity, but should take the opportunity to dig into this salty-sweet favorite of vanilla ice cream topped with hot fudge, whipped cream, and — this is the key ingredient — skin-on Spanish peanuts. In the summertime, any of the locally-owned walk-up ice cream stands you'll find around town have it on the menu; if you're visiting in the cooler months, your best bet is to head to Nick Charlap's Sweets on the Hill in West Seneca. The Charlie Chaplin , wherein shredded coconut and chopped cashews are added to melted chocolate and then poured over lumps of fluffy marshmallow and sprinkled with coarse salt, was allegedly created during the eponymous movie star's 1917 visit to Buffalo for the premiere of his film The Adventurer . Strawberry Island , in the Broadway Market on the East Side, is a good place to find them; they serve theirs on a stick, as opposed to in logs or nuggets as elsewhere. Finally, pastry hearts , also known as angel wings , are flat, heart-shaped pieces of puff pastry coated in a thick shell of white sugar icing that's ideally hard and dry on the outside and soft, gooey, and cloyingly sweet on the inside. They're a specialty of the local Polish community; Mazurek's Bakery in the Old First Ward and White Eagle Bakery in the aforementioned Broadway Market are good choices for where to get some.

of local provenance:

Restaurants [ edit ]

For restaurant listings, please see the respective district articles.

Whereas the area was once largely the domain of unimaginative, cookie-cutter chain restaurants and "greasy spoons", local residents agree that the dining scene in Buffalo has come a long way in the past twenty years. Increasingly innovative and high-quality establishments have popped up more and more often, and visitors — even those who have been to Buffalo in the past — may be pleasantly surprised by the array of options.

In much the same way as with retail shops, every neighborhood in Buffalo seems to have its own specialty when it comes to restaurants. Generally speaking, head downtown for the fanciest fine dining Western New York has to offer, to the Elmwood Village for Greek diners and dudebro sports bars, to Allentown to sober up over a plate of "drunk food" after a night of bar-hopping, to Hertel for hearty homestyle Italian cuisine, or to the East Side for barbecue and soul food. And if you're a fan of the delectable flavors of Asia, get your fix either on the West Side or out in suburbia, in the quasi-Chinatown that's coalesced in Amherst between the two UB campuses.

Speaking of which: Burmese cuisine is hard to find elsewhere in the country, but thanks to a vibrant community of immigrants and refugees that's coalesced on the West Side since the turn of the millennium, it's quite popular in Buffalo. The two most famous purveyors are the West Side Bazaar on Grant Street and the local chainlet Sun (original location on Niagara Street in Black Rock; branches downtown, on Hertel Avenue, and in Williamsville), though since both are firmly on the radar of Western New York foodies, authenticity varies. Culinary purists should head to Riverside, where they'll find a number of off-the-beaten-path alternatives.

Local chains [ edit ]

Locations of most national chain restaurants can be found in Buffalo. However, Buffalo also boasts several local and regional chains that are beloved of Western New Yorkers and that serve as staples of the local cuisine.









Jim's Steakout. The Allentown location of













For additional chains lacking locations in the city proper, see the corresponding section in our article on the Niagara Frontier.

Food trucks [ edit ]

Food trucks have finally arrived in Buffalo, and they're a sensation. There are several dozen food trucks operating in Buffalo today, serving everything from the standard hot dogs and tacos to more unusual selections like elegant scratch-made desserts, gourmet fusion cuisine, and carnival fare. The growth of food trucks in Buffalo has not been without its share of struggle, though: in 2013, a proposal in the Common Council, backed by many prominent owners of local "stationary" restaurants, for a laundry list of new fees and regulations for food trucks was only narrowly defeated thanks to intense grassroots efforts. More recently, however, the line between food trucks and brick-and-mortar restaurants has blurred: many of the latter have taken an "if you can't beat 'em, join 'em" approach and started up their own food trucks, while a few of the most popular trucks have expanded on their success by opening their own brick-and-mortar restaurants that also double as prep kitchens for their mobile operations.

The list below includes some of Buffalo's more popular food trucks (excluding those that are spinoffs from brick-and-mortar restaurants, but including those which started as food trucks and opened restaurants later). Food trucks can most commonly be found downtown or in Allentown, the Elmwood Village, North Buffalo, and Larkinville; if you're in the suburbs, office complex parking lots are another frequent venue. Many food trucks maintain Facebook fanpages and/or Twitter feeds that update fans on where they'll be setting up shop.









Food Truck Tuesdays, held weekly at Larkin Square from May through October. Take your pick of Buffalo's best mobile cuisine at, held weekly atfrom May through October.







Pizza [ edit ]

Of course, nothing goes better with a big plate of chicken wings than a hot, fresh pizza, and Buffalonians are justifiably proud of the pizza served in their city. You'll find a lot of pizzerias here, but one thing you won't find a lot of are big national outfits like Domino's or Papa John's. Instead, the scene in Buffalo is dominated by neighborhood mom-and-pop pizza places and locally based c