Monthly Archives: April 2014
Still Rebuilding from Prohibition, Because It’s Always a Rebuilding Year
or, How My Unbeatable Liver Uncovered a Conspiracy Built Completely on Heresay
Some days, for whatever reason, you want to drink yourself stupid. That’s easy enough to accomplish. Other times it creeps up on you and you’ll go from feeling pretty good with a gin & tonic in your hand to sleeping on the couch in your clothes with the burnt remains of a pizza that sat in the oven for six hours.
The other night I found myself faced with option three: no intention of getting sloshed and apparently lacking in the physical ability to do so as well. You keep ordering drinks and even toss in a shot or two before your buddies start bailing on you, but it’s not sticking. There’s a hint of a buzz creeping in, but not much else and now that other group of idiots with their smarmy ringleader who has a permanent duck-face and Jersey Shore wardrobe who totally cheats by leaning three over the line to take his shot has edged you out from the dartboards. You’re all right calling it quits and heading home.
The good news is that the next morning you wake up and remember how you got there and made it all the way through the movie you put on, even if that movie was Sweet Dreams
The Pierce Arrow Building, in case you’re not aware, is the massive complex facing Elmwood Avenue between Amherst Street and Hertel Avenue. It was built in 1906 for the Pierce Arrow Motor Car Company by Albert Kahn
Thankfully, unlike the Larkin Administration Building, after Pierce Arrow declared bankruptcy in 1938, the complex carried on and still stands today. It was divided into smaller pieces for an assortment of companies and businesses over the years from theater groups to casino dealer training. And now a distillery.
In 1887 there were three distilleries in New York State, two of which were in Buffalo. Until Prohibition shut it down after 70 years of operation, C. Person’s Sons was considered the finest distillery in the state. There may not have been much competition for that title, but they were well regarded for the quality of their product and respect for their customers.
It may have taken quite a bit longer for distilling to come back to Buffalo then its brewing counterpart, but now we have Lockhouse Distillery. From what I’ve heard, it’s been worth the wait. Originally named Eight Buffalo Spirits, Lockhouse has so far released vodka but is already aging rye, and plans on tackling gin this summer. After selling out of their initial 800 bottle offering in less than two hours that business will surely continue to grow. Their expanded products is similar to what C. Person’s Sons offered a hundred years ago and given their predecessor’s reputation, that’s not a bad legacy to pick up. Lockhouse certainly is on its way since just recently they won the gold medal for grape-based vodka from the American Distiller’s Institute.
The interesting part of our conversation wasn’t even about the distillery at all. My friend had talked briefly with one of the guys behind Lockhouse about how they ended up in the Pierce Arrow Building. Finding a suitable location wasn’t that easy since it seems all those unused buildings and empty lots around the city aren’t as ignored and neglected as they seem. Most of those commercial properties that would have been suitable for their needs were owned already but not in the absentee landlord sense we all assumed. They aren’t owned by real estate speculators hoarding lots for a big payday when a new hotel or strip mall is proposed by one of the big name developers, allowing them to cash in. These properties are part of a plan with development projects in various stages of planning.
I’m not naïve enough to believe these developers are investing in the city simply out of the goodness of their hearts. Their financial futures are tied directly to the city’s. The improvements on the waterfront will lead to further development with Ohio Street, the Webster Block, Uniland’s new Delaware North headquarters that began construction recently at Delaware and Chippewa. The continued expansion of the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus brings improvement to any vacant property within two blocks of anything they slap their logo on.
These projects aren’t spontaneous. There’s no mad dash to flip the nearest empty building every time Ciminelli, Rocco Termini or Uniland announces a new project. The plans are in place, property is owned and proposals are flying. This may make it harder for companies like Lockhouse to find a suitable location, but they will. Their success, the success of independent pipe-dream niche businesses, however small or grand, any idea what begins with, “Hey, wouldn’t be cool if—” is tied to the success of these sprawling mixed-use developments like HarborCenter or the renovated FWS building on Elmwood that Buffalo Spree recently moved into, intended to become part of “Pierce Arrow Village.”
The average person only sees a piece of the puzzle in North Buffalo or a piece of it along Fuhrman Boulevard and can’t comprehend that it’s all leading towards a grander integrated vision. These developments have not happened by chance or accident. There is a plan.
“They know what they’re doing,” my buddy said, “This city… in ten years we won’t’ even recognize it. It’s going to be amazing living through that.”
He’s one of several people I know who bought a bottle of Lockhouse Vodka. It may be amazing to witness the changes in the city, to watch us feed our post-industrial sickly self, and watch as pound by pound development companies put some meat on our bones. It’s even more amazing to be a part of it, even one $35 dollar bottle of it at a time.
the Lone Tepee, a Forgotten Masterpiece
You know what’s a good word?
Tepee.
Fun to say, cool to look at, it’s functional, spacious, sturdy yet easy to move. It’s a great time. I got to camp in a tepee as a kid. I don’t remember having any complaints. I was also eight, so that may have had something to do with it.
When I was little I went to day care for a few hours after school each day until my parents got out of work. That was pretty awesome; there were snacks, tons of blocks, I could claim I was doing homework and draw till my head exploded, and there was TV time. Back in the good old days that meant Animaniacs, Tiny Toons and that Peter Pan and the Pirates show where for some reason Peter Pan wore brown and had a cape. I think he had one of those awful little ponytails that’s more of a mullet tied together in the back. I’m also the only one of my friends who even remembers this show, but that’s OK. This place was awesome, and not just for the English muffin pizzas with little slices of hot dog instead of pepperoni Santa used to make. Santa was the cook. I swear to god, that was her name.
The couple who ran the place always felt like an extra set of grandparents for me. It may have been because they lived down the road from my actual grandparents, but I think it was more than that. Some days it was just my brother and me, and another kid and his brother, and Dave would tell us stories that may have been inappropriate for eight year olds. I had a pretty solid understanding of Pearl Harbor at a very young age, I’ll say that.
Now I said Dave and Joyce “lived down the road” from my grandparents because it was just that. Out in Eden, New York you’re down the road. Despite there being street names and even honest to goodness street signs on every corner just like in the big city, for the most part, this was a pretty rural area. They had a ton of land, it never ended. There was enough to take us on hikes, to have a hayride in the fall and for a while they even had a couple horses. The best parts of the hikes was pointing out a rusted old truck they claimed was a burned out ambulance that got worked into a ghost story later by the campfire and showing us where they buried the horses, which to a bunch of little boys was awesome.
By the way, they also built a friggin tepee. And the cool kids totally got to sleep in it. Now, I’ve slept in a caboose, I’ve slept at concerts, I’ve slept through Rambo which was scientifically proven to be the loudest movie ever made. I have fallen asleep while holding a hamburger up to my mouth. I have fallen asleep during jury duty. I have fallen asleep at weddings, funerals and even my high school graduation. I probably could have fallen asleep when I went skydiving but I have strict rules about losing consciousness while a fat middle-aged man is strapped to my back. And I have to say, sleeping in a tepee is pretty awesome.
I have no idea why I drew this tepee, the Lone Tepee. I found it last summer in a notebook when I was digging around in my attic; a notebook that had been my road trip journal for a vacation we took when I was ten. It could be the tepee from summer camp, since they did have only one, but more likely I just started doodling and decided to name it. Why is it leaning over like that?
remember kids, no peepee in the tepee
I scanned it in but didn’t know what I was going to do with it, so it sat there as something for me to laugh at when going through the folder of unfinished projects. Then I got a little frustrated with a few things I was working on. A couple designs I posted didn’t get the response I wanted, not that anything gets a huge response. I really liked the one, too. It turned out great. Great contrast, great color, simple, clean; it was exactly what I wanted it to be. I even tied a blog post into the design with pictures and links, hoping to generate a little traffic that way as well. Considering the range of work available on Society6, that particular design was just boring, basic, and rudimentary. I’m still proud of it; I love how it turned out. Let’s be honest, if I only posted things that I thought blew the rest of Society6 away, I’d have an empty shop with a profile picture. While I don’t think I’m the greatest things to happen graphic design since the slide rule, I’m proud of everything I’ve made.
But we live in an age of Facebook likes, retweets and little Instagram hearts to tell us we’re going a good job. Those likes mean people are looking, and elbowing their friends to look as well. Without that there’s no possibility of someone noticing and being willing to spend the twenty bucks on an art print or coffee mug with something clever on it. So forgetting the possibility of monetary validation, when an idea that took shape now sits ignored, lacking in proof that someone has at least taken notice, frustration will seep in.
A few days later I was tired, frustrated and watching Green Lantern. Yeah, the Ryan Reynolds one. Clearly I was emotionally vulnerable and prone to making poor decisions. As a joke I posted the Lone Tepee, my grand masterpiece of age ten.
It immediately got three likes.
Re-Imagining the Metro Rail
Looking for old articles on Crossroads Arena reminded me of something I was working on a while ago where I re-imagined Buffalo Metro Rail signage according to NYC standards. They turned out pretty well, even if with our one line they weren’t as visually informative (confusing) as MTA signs. I had multiple variations made for the Special Events station that lets off at the arena with the different names that had been used over the years, along with a generic Downtown one. The same was done with the Seneca Street stop and Pilot Field through its current Downtown Ballpark designation, and I got a good response to one for the closed and now demolished Theater Station. But until I started looking into the background of the arena project it didn’t even occur to me to make a Crossroads.
Currently I’m working on a variation of the Metro Rail signage according the K-D-R standard that found widespread implementation by the CTA beginning in 1977 on Chicago’s L. These are boring too, when they get translated for Buffalo. The design itself was meant to be simple, easy to read and uncluttered. And it is, but when Chicago’s signs feature directions for the Red Line Loop to South Side connections and all we have to boast is the end of the line at University Station, uncluttered becomes boring.
But in making these variations I can’t help but think of the stunted light rail system we have now, lacking in the grand scale of the original project that would have seen lines extending into the northern suburbs and even up to Niagara Falls. The Metro Rail officially opened in May 1985 after six years of construction that was behind schedule, over budget and just generally pissing everyone off. The additional lines never found funding because by then the city population was steadily declining and the fear was that no one would be around to use the existing Downtown to South Campus line.
The original proposal shows several stations beyond South Campus, including UB North Campus and extending into Amherst. The Tonawanda branch would have included six stations and extended into North Tonawanda. These Phase 2 extensions would have tripled the size of the Metro Rail. Consider the fact that our 22 minute long 6.4 mile single rail line right now serves over six million people a year. What would it mean for ridership for Amherst or Tonawanda residents going to a Sabres game or a concert at Canalside? Not to mention the people working Downtown and living in the Northtowns, or vice versa.
There have been numerous proposals and studies over the years to expand the Metro Rail line, from suggestions of connecting the airport with the Church Street Station to former UB president John B. Simpson planning to connect the three UB campuses with a cohesive transportation system, the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus supporting expansion of light rail to feed their growing development, and perhaps most importantly (or most tangibly) the reconstruction of Main Street to integrate light rail and two-way traffic.
Developers are embracing the city’s past at Canalside, building on its present with the Webster Block, and bio-tech research is redefining our identity for the future. What if we could connect Western New York? What if Tonawanda, Amherst, and the airport, with all of its local and visiting travelers, all fed into the heart of downtown Buffalo along Main Street?
While we foam at the mouth for any development in our area to prove that Buffalo isn’t out of the game yet, it may come at a price. Over thirty years ago the original proposal for the light rail was made. The physical resources were there for those lines, and by that I mean the space, the real estate. But for how long? It’s time to finish what was started when they broke ground in 1979 and in doing so connect everything that we’ve accomplished since then in rebuilding our city.
Gas Station Burrito 