Bombed Out Buffalo, NY

[KevinFromTexas]

Great pics. It's odd how such a rundown sad and even ugly place can be so beautiful in photos.

[MayDay]

"Yet, its still functional and the downtown is nice, albeit closes at 5 o'clock."

Clearly you have not been to downtown Cleveland recently, so please save the pontificating for what you know. Thanks!

[Tedious]

Originally Posted by MayDay

"Yet, its still functional and the downtown is nice, albeit closes at 5 o'clock."

Clearly you have not been to downtown Cleveland recently, so please save the pontificating for what you know. Thanks!

Good point. It gets tiring correcting people who've never been here who 'know' that is snows year round. Normally it shouldn't irk me, but perceptions are infectious and when negative enough and large enough can damper a place's growth.

I look forward to going back to Cleveland. Haven't been there in about ten years. Maybe on the way to Cedar Point I'll make a night of it.

[East72nd]

I will repeat, Pittsburgh has a great skyline, but lets be real, its no 24 hour downtown anymore than Cleveland or Buffalo. And I still maintain, that Pittsburgh looks pretty down and out when you exit downtown (yes I was there recently) and toured Shadyside, etc. Nice, but a couple of city blocks does not fool me. In sum, I think Buffalo, Cleveland, and Pittsburgh are all worth visiting and these three cities may be the most similar to each other in people, culture and architecture that I've seen in the U. S.

[ShooFlyPie]

Originally Posted by East72nd

I will repeat, Pittsburgh has a great skyline, but lets be real, its no 24 hour downtown anymore than Cleveland or Buffalo. And I still maintain, that Pittsburgh looks pretty down and out when you exit downtown (yes I was there recently) and toured Shadyside, etc. Nice, but a couple of city blocks does not fool me. In sum, I think Buffalo, Cleveland, and Pittsburgh are all worth visiting and these three cities may be the most similar to each other in people, culture and architecture that I've seen in the U. S.

Did you happen to travel between Forward Ave to 5th Avenue, between Frick and Schenely? That is a pretty substantial large area. Maybe google earth it. Yeah, Shadyside is smaller, but there is a fairly large area more so than a "couple city blocks" north of 5th avenue the whole way to Greenfield.

And similar in Architecture? Really? Think we got a SSP smug alert.

[Buffalonian4life]

Originally Posted by CubicalRebel

And similar in Architecture? Really? Think we got a SSP smug alert.

???????

Pittsburgh has one of the most beautiful and breathtaking skylines in the world. There's no doubting that. Cleveland and Buffalo are a little more spaced out. Architecturally speaking Buffalo tops the list, but is without doubt bottom in the skyline department of the three...thankfully that is changing as we speak.

[Tedious]

Originally Posted by Buffalonian4life

Architecturally speaking Buffalo tops the list.

I don't know about that. Buffalo has top examples from Louis Sullivan, FLW, H.H. Richardson, Olmstead parks, and many more, but do you know enough about Cleveland and Pitt to make such a claim? The Cathedral of Learning comes to mind right off the bat.

Pitts downtown landscape was never marred by mass demolition and parking lots. Much more intact. I get the feeling they never tore down stuff like this:


















Pitt's skyline is loveable. How many people live downtown?

[Bronxwood]

^^Pittsburgh leveled whole sections of its downtown. Point State Park took out quite the number of blocks. Demolition was very plentiful in Downtown Pitt, only difference was Pitt was much more successful in getting those empty lots redeveloped with new builds. Meanwhile, most of Buffalo's never panned out. Buffalo is currently seeing a revival in its downtown. So many buildings are getting renovated, new restaurants are opening and more residents continue to move downtown.

[photoLith]

To be fair, where Pt State Park is in Pittsburgh, most of that was low rise manufacturing buildings and railroad tracks, dont get me wrong, a ton of amazing stuff has been needlessly ruined and destroyed in this city, but where the point is, nothing too great or urban was lost. The largest tragedy is what happened to the hill. If you look at old photos, the Hill looked incredibly dense, like Manhattan dense and today, its almost all bombed out and the remaining bits are ghetto as hell.

[Wiz Khalifa]

Originally Posted by East72nd

I think you hit the nail on the head as far as describing Pittsburgh where the nice is next to the bad areas. There just doesn't seem in Pittsburgh a large affluent section of town. There are just pockets here and there. Contrast to the east side of Cleveland from the Heights through the Chagrin Valley and on into the next county. I mean its all upscale and it could be a swath that is 10-15 miles long. I just did not see that in the Pittsburgh metro.

Since you are talking about suburbs here Pittsburgh has exactly that equivalent area. It's called the North Hills stretching from Ross Township all the way to Cranberry in the next county. Also, the south hills from Dormont/Mt. Lebo to Peters in Washington county is another large swath. You obviously have not explored very much of the metro area. The entire I-79/Route 19 corridor is wealthy and growing. It may not look continuous to someone driving through because of all the hills, but it is.

[East72nd]

Thanks WIz! I will be sure to check out next time I'm there. Cheers!

[Dr Nevergold]

Originally Posted by East72nd

I will repeat, Pittsburgh has a great skyline, but lets be real, its no 24 hour downtown anymore than Cleveland or Buffalo. And I still maintain, that Pittsburgh looks pretty down and out when you exit downtown (yes I was there recently) and toured Shadyside, etc. Nice, but a couple of city blocks does not fool me. In sum, I think Buffalo, Cleveland, and Pittsburgh are all worth visiting and these three cities may be the most similar to each other in people, culture and architecture that I've seen in the U. S.

Not really. But I'll leave it at that. I didn't mean to say Cleveland is 100% dead after 5pm, just saying it is a more business oriented open/closed during business hours downtown than Pittsburgh.

Doesn't really matter to me, because I think Cleveland doesn't deserve a bad reputation. The region actually has a lot of very affordable housing stock and has a good standard of living in America. There are real urban villages in the city that are very attractive, and numerous cultural institutions cities similar in size don't have. Cleveland has more world class museums than most cities in its category, for example. I think the Art museum - which is free - is far better than many.

Now - again - with all this said, why don't we focus on Buffalo? That's the city where the photos were taken.

[Lakelander]

Great photos and thread!