Just a kid born in 2002 in Buffalo. It’s so cool hearing all you guys’ stories about growing up around here. My grandfather was born in 42 in buff and became a manager at a steel plant. My dad was born here too in 67 and did all kinds of jobs around the city. He used to tell me all kinds of great stories growing up in south Buffalo going to South Park high school. These pictures tell a great story too lol and I couldnt Be happier growing up in Buffalo like the rest of my family.
@@June-tb4vi Yup. Gramps was the first one on the block to have the fancy color tv with the big satellite that could get you all the fancy channels in the 70's LOL. Good times.
I was born and raised in Buffalo. Back in the day, our Main Street downtown could easily compare to New York City. So many stores to choose from. AM&A'S, Hengerers, Grant's, Kobackers, Gutman's, David's, Hen's & Kelly's, Park Lane Hoisery, Mr. Dee's tots to teens, Woolworth's, Neisners, Sims, Bakers, shoe store. Kleinhans's for men. Just a few of the many department stores that were on Main Street. When I use to tell my girls about all the stores. They looked at me like what happen. We have the best food. And some of the best people. And did I neglect to mention the steel plants that were here. Republic Steel, Bethlehem Steel. Buffalo was a thriving city in the 70's. The good Ole days. If only we had them now.
I grew up in Buffalo on 523 Highgate ave; Bailey-Kensington area. Went to P.S.School 80. Has it been over 40 years already? My father was a steelworker. It was a great neighborhood!! Gritty, but warm and friendly. We knew everybody. I was born in 1965. So many pretty women in Buffalo; black, white, and latino. Thank you for posting. I remember and love my people well.... Love and light to all! N.Tonawanda June 25, 2017
I worked at Jimmy J's On bailey back in the late 80's early 90's. Live in N.T. now.. That neighborhood has really gone downhill since then.. wondering if I know you from back then. reminiscing of the old days.
i was born in 57 on royal ave dad worked at chevy mom took care of house went to riverside till the blacks mad school a living hell moved to bailey delavan finished at ken then blacks crosed bailey sold out went to cheektowaga now Wyoming county
My folks stumbled across this video a couple days ago and were pleasantly surprised to find a set of very familiar faces (their own!) at the 2:20 mark. Thank you so much for putting this together! I'm definitely thinking of tracking down a decent copy of it and getting a framed print made for them.
I left the Western NY area in 1983. I knew that I’d never be back because of the lack of good employment. I’’ve been in Cali for 40 years. It’s been great and still go back to visit my relatives in Buffalo. The city has really recovered.
Chippewa was the seedy area with topless bars when I was a kid. My sister used to take the bus to hutch tech. Parents would never let their kids do that these days
Love this post! Born to Sicilian American parents in 1969 at Children's Hospital and grew up in the 1970s on the West Side....brings back lots of memories!
How they let the Fruit Belt get out of hand I will never understand. Such a beautiful area with some great old strong homes outlasting so many Buffalo winters.
Wow ..I forgot how depressing the area could be ..Sad part is that it's still depressing every time I visit. I've been away to long to even consider going back ..
I'm from Buffalo and moved in 1979. But...I had a great time in the 1970s there. I didn't hang out downtown or go all around to try to find abandoned buildings. I lived on the West Side, had great friends, lots of live music going on then. The Stuffed Mushroom and the popular music group Spiro Gyra came out of there. There were many of us who got together often, and we had fun. You make it sound really bad. I only left because I had a job in another state that I really wanted to take. Buffalo is starting to come back again. I'm glad younger people are moving in and seeing it as an opportunity to create what they want instead of seeing it as a dump they are stuck in, which it isn't. I think it's a great city for young people - creatives, now tech people, with industry gone, I think it is a prime location (cheap, good housing, friendly people) for high tech. I lived out in Silicon Valley and there is NOTHING affordable for people who want to start their own companies and have a space. Buffalo is still cheap enough to live your dream.
During the thirties, the city's population began to level off, and after its 1950 high of 580,000, it began to fall precipitously-down 50,000 people by the end of the decade. Buffalo's worst decade was the 1970s, when it lost 100,000 residents and much of its middle class. The city lost another 857 residents from July 2013 to July 2014, according to census estimates, which peg Buffalo’s current population at 258,703. 580,000 in the 50's to 248,703 in 2014. "Buffalo is back" mantra is for Buffalo buffs!
Lilydaleswans Buffalo is better now, to bad we still get all that snow, I remember those concerts at Bills stadium, they really got some big time bands here. The Bills fans are still crazy but even today we sellout almost every game. I don't think people still avoid us cause of our weather. My Brother is good friends with Johnny Reznic from GOO GOO Dolls. Mickey Rats in Angola was sold. I became quite a partier Bills games & Concerts. ST. Pats Parade is still big here. Darien Lake gets big time bands too. Allentown is go to place. The past 2-3 years Catholic Schools are closing because folks cant afford them. They might put new Bills Stadium on the waterfront, fans say no because they wont be able to Tailgate. The Courts are doing some good getting people help instead of jail.
Lilydaleswans I had a good life in Buffalo, 30 years union job, concerts at Bills Stadium in 70s, Bills seasons tickets, living near Buffalo Zoo, same street that Darwin Martin house is. went to Bishop Timon for free because Dad was football coach even if it was all boys high school. Never forget 77 Blizzard. 1 thing sucks Im full grown Adult only 5'6 Tall. Crystal Beach in Canada was cool. Go to ST PATS Parade every year. It also sucks Catholic Schools are closing because people cant afford them. Some High Schools are $14,000 for 1 year. My School Timon is now coed to stay open.
@@briannotafan3368 I must admit I have heard gunshots out at that time and walked pass crime scenes only a couple but its all targeted to gang members and and criminals
Buffalo boring I was born there ! You probably don’t live on the east west side or riverside OF Buffalo ! That’s hood ! When the nice weather comes out again people who be at Delaware park or canal side will be getting robbed , shot rapped again ! All true Factsss look it up public information 🚓
It's nice to see the Kensington High yearbook - from 1972 (at 1:50). I attended "Ken High" from 1970-74 and have mostly good memories. Thanks for posting!
I remember it all. I was born when the progression stopped and the decline started, insidiously slow at first then it gained momentum like a train wreck in slow motion. Buffalo City proper went from half a million souls to less than half that in about thirty years. Some argue give or take five years but it declined none the less. By the 70's it was still hustle-bustle, just less so but strained and injured, stumbling and almost aimless and known as the city where ideas come to die. The factories closed and relocated due to taxes corporations couldn't tolerate. First down south then to Asia, Mexico and places that made our clothes ill-fitting, car parts that didn't last and mills making products with child labor. The Eighties rolled in and so did the train to nowhere, a subway that traveled down main street leaving behind bankrupt businesses in its wake - the heavy cost of growth and development, unrealized, and La Cosa Nostra union $tacked cronyisms and a related mob hit unsolved to this day. The nineties rolled in because numerically it has to and Bette Midler came to town and remarked how wonderful it was what Buffalo did to its waterfront - so thick with cynicism the area politicians soiled their pants. Crys went out for investigations, impeachments and editorial cartoonists should have been awarded Pulitzers lambasting civic movers and shakers for the fiasco of negative growth. A mouse standing on its toes could see better ideas over a curb than what held political office in Western New York from the top of city hall. Then we moved into the two-thousands and "preservationists" want to save grain elevators for posterity. I can't wait to go on that tour. But hey, from the area that jailed Tim McGraw for the "infamous Horse Incident" what do you expect for this mindset? Grain elevator tour or country western concert? Yep. But to round things off Buffalo and surroundings are really on an upswing. Our football team is a top contender, hockey isn't far behind, jobs doing better than national stats, housing is ok and the weather shift is actually pretty good here in the 'ol Beau Fleu. The City never died because the people wouldn't let it.
Many of these photos are clearly from 1978-1979, about the time I first visited the city. Seeing the leisure suit ads make me cringe, and there were some other aspects of the 1970s that weren't so great, but there were also many fine times to be had. What I see is a city with real personality, and a city that deserves much, much better!!!
WHEN YOU SEE THAT BUICK ON CHIIPPIWA STREET JUST SHOWING THE FRONT GRILL, THAT COULD HAVE BEEN ME IN MY DAD'S BUICK ELECTRA 225 CONVERTIBLE, BLACK TOP LIGHT MINT GREEN COLOR......
Hi! This is amazing. I was wondering how I could get your permission to use some of this footage for a project that I am doing? Thanks. Many Blessings! - JA
Irv Weinstein he's really a pro. He's got all the news that we want to know. He tells it like it is and even throws us a curve. Nobody says it like Irv. Eyewitness news
The handwriting was on the wall. Industry was deserting the entire rust belt around the great lakes from Chicago and Duluth to Detroit to Cleveland to Buffalo to Niagara Falls to Rochester to Syracuse as fast as they could get out by 1970, and it only accelerated more once Nixon opened the gateway to trade with China in 1974. Nobody now talks about the rampant crime infestation that was everywhere downtown like W. Chippewa St. either, back when hookers and winos were walking the streets and throwing up everywhere as porn shops took over store fronts and old dilapidated movie theaters became porn houses, that made it completely unsafe to even want to go anywhere near what was the then-brand new Main Place mall. And it only got worse from then on for at least 25 if not the next 30 years.
@@payless1981 crazy what a couple additional buildings can do to the feel of a city. i barely recognized it because of the way it just peeks out now looking north. i was getting strong delaware vibes that confused me before haha. thank you
Well being born and raised and not from the 70 era but from the looks of it not much has changed still is a dump full of crime and a minority mayor with the longest run ever when will he leave and give someone a chance to stop with the political nepotism taking care of south buffalo and those with money they fill his war chest with. The police and fire city hall have south buffalo family friends employed all through those departments. Buffalo will always be nothing because of politics and the churches don't mean anything either. People need to be real. Get on these comments and tell it like it is.✊🏾
Considering Buffalo part of the Mid West is irrelevant! CURRENTLY it is part of New York State. What does 1812 have to do with anything? I'm talking specifically about THIS video. I live in Buffalo NY and I've been to every street in this video. Also, you keep calling me a dumb ass but you don't seem to understand the simple concept that Buffalo exists in NY. And I'm going to have to assume that English isn't your native language by your spelling and grammar so do you even live in the US to have a word in this?
