(OT) Skating at Canalside

[Stoner]

I skated at Canalside today. Impressions:

 

1. "This is so cool!" said a teenage girl on the way in. I can't find any better words.

 

2. There were tons of skaters and the ice was very snowy. The Zamboni was having trouble, and eventually they just let people back out.

 

3. But you don't really go for the ice. You go to imagine the Aud around you and above you. I couldn't quite get there.

 

4. There's a logo where center ice was, very murky looking even after the Zamboni went over it. I'd argue for the no-brainer faceoff dot with the red line extended out a few feet to show the orientation of the building.

 

5. No one could answer this question. Is that exactly where center ice was, or exactly below where center ice was? The ice had to be at about street level, no? So I'm guessing it's below.

 

6. Saw Larry Quinn. Pretty juicy juxtaposition. I can't imagine the original vision of the space as a Bass Pro would mean 10% of what it currently means to the community. Sometimes, it ain't all about commerce.

 

7. I kept getting this weird feeling of being in the future. A lot of us live firmly in the past when it comes to Sabres hockey. I almost felt like someone threw snow in my face and I woke up from a 1983 nap to an Aud-less world of 2014. Where's the Aud? What? It's gone? Where do they play now? Oh, over there? The future's not so bad. We just need our hockey team's future to materialize, tomorrow.

 

Good for you, Buffalo.

[biodork]

Jealous! And good stuff, PA... glad you got to check it out in person, and hopefully I will at some point, too!

 

So did your skating lessons pay off? ;)

Edited December 21, 2014 by biodork

[beerme1]

Good for you, Buffalo.

 

 

Wow.

[Stoner]

Wow.

 

Wow what? I've had very few bad things to say about the city over the years. I got on Eleven's bad side once. And I've always had good things to say about Canalside. No backtracking here. Deleted reference to Terry. Let's keep this nice and positive and wholesome.

Edited December 22, 2014 by PASabreFan

[Brawndo]

I skated at Canalside today. Impressions:

 

1. "This is so cool!" said a teenage girl on the way in. I can't find any better words.

 

2. There were tons of skaters and the ice was very snowy. The Zamboni was having trouble, and eventually they just let people back out.

 

3. But you don't really go for the ice. You go to imagine the Aud around you and above you. I couldn't quite get there.

 

4. There's a logo where center ice was, very murky looking even after the Zamboni went over it. I'd argue for the no-brainer faceoff dot with the red line extended out a few feet to show the orientation of the building.

 

5. No one could answer this question. Is that exactly where center ice was, or exactly below where center ice was? The ice had to be at about street level, no? So I'm guessing it's below.

 

6. Saw Larry Quinn. Pretty juicy juxtaposition. I can't imagine the original vision of the space as a Bass Pro would mean 10% of what it currently means to the community. Sometimes, it ain't all about commerce.

 

7. I kept getting this weird feeling of being in the future. A lot of us live firmly in the past when it comes to Sabres hockey. I almost felt like someone threw snow in my face and I woke up from a 1983 nap to an Aud-less world of 2014. Where's the Aud? What? It's gone? Where do they play now? Oh, over there? The future's not so bad. We just need our hockey team's future to materialize, tomorrow.

 

Good for you, Buffalo.

 

Very nice write up PA.

[Doohicksie]

Very cool. I wish I could go there (kinda far from Texas).

 

It sounds like Canalside is kind of transformational in terms of downtown Buffalo. Even though I don't live there anymore, I'm so happy for all the good things happening there. In the past year or so Buffalo, NY, has become an awesome place to be from (as in when people hear I'm from Buffalo, I don't get jokes anymore; instead people say, "Buffalo? Cool.")

[beerme1]

 

 

Wow what?

Let's keep this nice and positive and wholesome.

 

Wowie wow wow?!@!!!

[Stoner]

Wowie wow wow?!@!!!

 

Stop turtling, Barnaby. *PA does several chicken pecks with his head

[That Aud Smell]

Great post, PA.

 

The feeling of being in some Future Buffalo is spot on. I live and work here, and there is something positively, sometimes deliriously, disorienting about being down that way.

 

For my own mother (who used to bring me and my siblings to the Aud -- infrequently for Sabres games and more frequently for Stallions games (!)), this feeling seemed much more intense. Some of it may be because she's getting older and some of it may be because she's never been much for having a sense of direction, but much of it seems deeper than that. I was down there this weekend with her (my Mom) and some of my kids for a quick skate (maybe when you were there!), and she just kept looking around as she skated (she's still an elegant skater) and was genuinely trying to get her bearings. I don't know that she ever fully did. It was both beautiful and a little sad.

[josie]

Lovely.

 

I am hoping to get a chance to check it out after New Year's with d4rk. It sounds so awesome.

 

I wasn't around in the days of the Aud, so I won't have that connection, but I can appreciate the history. I'm really looking forward to it. The whole idea has this little excitement in the pit of your stomach "buffalo is getting better" thing. At least for me.

[Sabres Fan in NS]

Very nice PA.

 

Next time ... close your eyes and breath deeply. Hopefully *That Aud Smell* will help get you in the mood.

[Samson's Flow]

Very nice PA.

 

Next time ... close your eyes and breath deeply. Hopefully *That Aud Smell* will help get you in the mood.

I certainly hope you aren't referring to our resident poster with the same screen name. :sick:

[Sabres Fan in NS]

I certainly hope you aren't referring to our resident poster with the same screen name. :sick:

 

:w00t:

 

Nope. I mean the real deal. The Aud was great, but man it stank.

[Doohicksie]

The whole idea has this little excitement in the pit of your stomach "buffalo is getting better" thing. At least for me.

 

Yes. I was amazed at the change in mood when I visited this summer. There was that corny civic campaign of Buffalo Talkin' Proud in the 70s. It was hopeful but there was nothing to back it up. Now you don't so much need the campaign, the people in Buffalo are talking proud from their hearts. I think Buffalo has had to accept that it is not a strapping new city as it was 120 years ago (when it was quite the up-and-comer), but that it is a more settled, established city. The city and its people had to learn to accept a more graceful middle age of sorts.

[That Aud Smell]

Next time ... close your eyes and breath deeply. Hopefully *That Aud Smell* will help get you in the mood.

I certainly hope you aren't referring to our resident poster with the same screen name. :sick:

Wait, what's the problem? PA knows I'm down.

 

:ph34r:

 

:bag:

[josie]

Yes. I was amazed at the change in mood when I visited this summer. There was that corny civic campaign of Buffalo Talkin' Proud in the 70s. It was hopeful but there was nothing to back it up. Now you don't so much need the campaign, the people in Buffalo are talking proud from their hearts. I think Buffalo has had to accept that it is not a strapping new city as it was 120 years ago (when it was quite the up-and-comer), but that it is a more settled, established city. The city and its people had to learn to accept a more graceful middle age of sorts.

I gotta say, the feeling that Buffalo is getting better only intensifies when I go home to my own rust belt of Detroit/Toledo. There's nice areas, sure, but there's still that dreadful cast of gloom that just smothers anything nice. I'll be attending Winterfest for our ECHL team this week (the Walleyes!), so maybe I'll get more of that feeling... But really, the contrast is pretty intense. WNY has it pretty damn nice (all things considered).

 

One thing I've never encountered anywhere else in the world- the sense of community you guys have. Never known a place to have such pride, even if it's tinged with grudges occasionally. It's like how a young kid talks about his/her brother. He's icky, and loud, and bothersome sometimes, but dammit, he's my brother and I love him and don't you dare take a shot at him. Only I'm allowed to do that :)

 

So yeah, I need to get my butt to canalside and harborcenter.

[Doohicksie]

Interesting the comparison. I lived in metro Detroit for six years from '91 to '97 and at that time it was quite the opposite. The auto industry was bustling, jobs were plentiful (thankfully, cuz I was laid off 3 times while I lived there but always found another job right away) and everyone had a new car ;) The city of Detroit itself already had large tracts of wasteland but you knew not to go there. But there was a feeling of industrial might still. So overall it was a positive feeling compared to what I knew of Buffalo.

[Stoner]

Great post, PA.

 

The feeling of being in some Future Buffalo is spot on. I live and work here, and there is something positively, sometimes deliriously, disorienting about being down that way.

 

For my own mother (who used to bring me and my siblings to the Aud -- infrequently for Sabres games and more frequently for Stallions games (!)), this feeling seemed much more intense. Some of it may be because she's getting older and some of it may be because she's never been much for having a sense of direction, but much of it seems deeper than that. I was down there this weekend with her (my Mom) and some of my kids for a quick skate (maybe when you were there!), and she just kept looking around as she skated (she's still an elegant skater) and was genuinely trying to get her bearings. I don't know that she ever fully did. It was both beautiful and a little sad.

 

I know they don't want to make that part of Canalside all about "this is where the Aud was." Maybe some things are best left to the imagination. But I feel like a few more visual clues beyond the center ice logo would help. Not even sure what. A pole with an orange flag flying at the very top of where the oranges were? The infirm (I would imagine; who knows, he's probably still "ripped") Earl of Bud suspended from a crane?

Edited December 22, 2014 by PASabreFan

[Stoner]

Yes. I was amazed at the change in mood when I visited this summer. There was that corny civic campaign of Buffalo Talkin' Proud in the 70s. It was hopeful but there was nothing to back it up. Now you don't so much need the campaign, the people in Buffalo are talking proud from their hearts. I think Buffalo has had to accept that it is not a strapping new city as it was 120 years ago (when it was quite the up-and-comer), but that it is a more settled, established city. The city and its people had to learn to accept a more graceful middle age of sorts.

 

Beautifully said.

 

I was down there this weekend with her (my Mom) and some of my kids for a quick skate (maybe when you were there!)....

 

Not to retroactively stalk you, but what time were you there?

[Eleven]

I haven't skated in a decade, maybe a little more. I cannot wait to get out there!

 

PA--thanks for the review.

[Stoner]

I haven't skated in a decade, maybe a little more. I cannot wait to get out there!

 

PA--thanks for the review.

 

I did think of you. There's a sign on the boards. "In it's heyday, the Erie Canal." Would you mind going down with some blue paint?

 

Also — no one on the ice bikes looked like they were having any fun.

[josie]

Interesting the comparison. I lived in metro Detroit for six years from '91 to '97 and at that time it was quite the opposite. The auto industry was bustling, jobs were plentiful (thankfully, cuz I was laid off 3 times while I lived there but always found another job right away) and everyone had a new car ;) The city of Detroit itself already had large tracts of wasteland but you knew not to go there. But there was a feeling of industrial might still. So overall it was a positive feeling compared to what I knew of Buffalo.

I always welcome a POV from Detroit proper. I was a NW Ohio burbs kid who happened to go through there quite often, but never lived downtown. My father worked in Toledo at Owens Corning during that time and life was pretty darn good. Then everything fell apart around 99, businesses starting failing left and right. Whatever happened in Detroit usually cast a shadow on us since our industries are so linked, so the worse they had it, the worse it got for us too. We're Detroit's side car.

 

But Toledo, no renovations, no repurposing, no life. We've got a nice baseball field and a couple streets around there that are safe before dark... We're known for our sewer collapses and big ol' sinkholes appearing downtown. I remember going to a lot of those areas for company holiday parties with my dad as a kid and it was sorta swanky. There was a night life and all. Nice office buildings, a hustle and bustle downtown.

 

Buffalo felt like my area when I started college in 07. Not anymore, really. It's a good thing. I go home and when driving around my old haunts in downtown I just want to cry. There's not a lot of hope in that city, or the pride I mentioned in my earlier post.

 

That being said, I have quite a few friends who've moved to Detroit for engineering jobs at GM. They say there's improvement. I haven't been. Poor city went bankrupt last year. I haven't really been there in years- just Toledo mainly.

 

Sorry, I get all nostalgic and weird this time of year. I'm headed back there tomorrow afternoon. I fly over Detroit and laugh wondering where all my friends' hubcaps went (stolen while at concerts or visiting museums/going to games at Comerica or the Joe).

 

I'm gonna write that song: "Where Have All The Hubcaps Gone"

[SwampD]

Good a place as any to put this. I wanted to do a Youtube Christmas card type thingy but I'll be damned if I can figure out video.

 

Listen to this while skating at Canalside.

 

 

 

(wish I knew how to embed Soundcloud)

[Doohicksie]

To go off topic, Josie, Toledo today sounds like Buffalo in the 1970s when the steel industry collapsed.

 

We went to Toledo several times when we lived in Detroit (we actually lived in Troy, then Auburn Hills, then Dearborn). Took in a Mudhens game or two, visited the zoo which I remember as quite nice.

[PromoTheRobot]

I skated at Canalside today. Impressions:

 

1. "This is so cool!" said a teenage girl on the way in. I can't find any better words.

 

2. There were tons of skaters and the ice was very snowy. The Zamboni was having trouble, and eventually they just let people back out.

 

3. But you don't really go for the ice. You go to imagine the Aud around you and above you. I couldn't quite get there.

 

4. There's a logo where center ice was, very murky looking even after the Zamboni went over it. I'd argue for the no-brainer faceoff dot with the red line extended out a few feet to show the orientation of the building.

 

5. No one could answer this question. Is that exactly where center ice was, or exactly below where center ice was? The ice had to be at about street level, no? So I'm guessing it's below.

 

6. Saw Larry Quinn. Pretty juicy juxtaposition. I can't imagine the original vision of the space as a Bass Pro would mean 10% of what it currently means to the community. Sometimes, it ain't all about commerce.

 

7. I kept getting this weird feeling of being in the future. A lot of us live firmly in the past when it comes to Sabres hockey. I almost felt like someone threw snow in my face and I woke up from a 1983 nap to an Aud-less world of 2014. Where's the Aud? What? It's gone? Where do they play now? Oh, over there? The future's not so bad. We just need our hockey team's future to materialize, tomorrow.

 

Good for you, Buffalo.

Okay, what did you do with the real PA?