70 miles W of Rochester; 398 miles NW of New York City
It's the eighth-largest city in America, with more millionaires per capita than any other American city. It's an industrial hub that hosted a world's fair. The country's top architects are flocking here to design and construct landmark buildings, including the world's largest office building.
At least, this is what I'd write about Buffalo 100 years ago. It's no secret that Buffalo has seen better days, but the legacy of its past -- one that's being renovated with some modern quirks thrown in for good measure -- makes Buffalo a worthwhile stop for a couple days' stay.
I grew up in nearby Rochester, and all I knew about Buffalo was that it invented the chicken wing and it got more snow than anywhere else in the universe. My loss. When industrialists realized that the Great Lakes/Erie Canal/Hudson River route was the way to get things from America's heartland to Europe, it inspired a boom. And those businessmen put their money back into the city: They brought Frederick Law Olmsted, fresh off his creation of Central Park in New York City, to design Buffalo's park system. They summoned architects Frank Lloyd Wright, H. H. Sullivan, and E. B. Green to fulfill their every architectural whim for business and personal space, and many of their treasures still stand downtown.
The economy is still hurting, but Buffalo is forging ahead with renovations anyway. A couple of big projects are slated for the next couple years: the Westside Rowing Club is building a new boathouse based on Frank Lloyd Wright plans (scheduled to open mid-2006), and plans to excavate the original terminus of the Erie Canal and create a museum around it are slated for 2007. In the meantime, you can satisfy yourself architecturally with a walk downtown, and there are a couple of cool hotels and some fantastic restaurants. Oh, and just for the record: Chicken wings aren't the only quirky food this city created; and though the city does indeed get some 90 inches of snow each year, it also averages 85 days with temperatures over 75.
