Forgotten Buffalo: Historic & Hip...

Forgotten Buffalo: Historic & Hip...An Urban Explorer's Guide to the Buffalo-Niagara Region: Unique Landmarks, Historic Gin Mills, Old World Neighborhoods, History, Nickel City Oddities, Tours and More!

Welcome

Experience the Tour

Departure Board

Arrival Board

Tour Polish Buffalo

Buffalo Ethnic Tours

Tour German Buffalo

Tour Italian Buffalo

Tour Irish Buffalo

Last Fine Time Tour

Buffalo Brewery Tour

Classic Taverns-Awards

Classic Taverns-Buffalo

Dill's Tavern

Top Hill Grill

Talty's

Daren's Tavern

Scharf's Schiller Park

Pristach's

G&T Inn

Gene McCarthy's

Ulrich's Tavern

Artys Grill

Dick's Eastside Inn

East End Tavern

Sportsman Tavern

The Malamute

Taverns of Polonia 1910

Dalys

Eddie Brady's Bar

Ten-O-Won Grill

Classic Taverns-Travels

The Concertina Bar

Mels Bar

Club 505

Steve's Lounge

Classic Taverns-Last Call

Felong's Tavern

Billy O's Golden Swan

Big Joe Dudzick's Tavern

The Broadway Grill

Bramer's Grill

Concord Restaurant

Messner's Aero Bar

Ray Flynn's

Kutas Warsaw Inn

McBride's Pub

Strusienski's Restaurant

Private & Ethnic Clubs

Adam Mickiewicz Library

American Serbian Club

Corpus Christi AC

Croatian "Cro" Club

Dnipro Ukrainian Center

Dom Polski - N Tonawanda

Eldredge Bicycle Club

Polish Cadets

St. Stan's Athletic Club

Third Warders Club

Ukrainian-American Center

FBTV Video

Historic Polonia District

Central Terminal

Polish Home Museum Project

Broadway Market

St. Stanislaus Church

Corpus Christi Church

St. Adalbert's Basilica

Superman Corner

Polonia Views

Eckhardt Department Store

Polish Union of America

PPS Broadway Mkt Report

Polskie Kolo Spiewackie

Lucki Urban

Buffalo's Polonia History

A Polka Moment In Time

Vintage Polka Posters

Pulaski Parade 1962

Pulaski Parade 2006

Pulaski Parade 2008

Broadway Fillmore

Polonia Stories

1910 Maps of Polonia Buffalo

Buffalo Polonia - 1910

Preserve a Polish Home

Kaminski Meats

Polonia Scrapbook

Polonia On Parade

1965 Polka Convention

Polish Paintings

Power To Polonia

Beer Murals Nielsen

Forgotten Bflo Features

Kids & Wigilia Traditions

The Simon Pure Brewery

Lost Bflo Train Stations

New York Central at War

Pennsylvania RR at War

Talkin' Proud!

Buffalo Union Station

Bayliss-Oshei Residence

Niagara Falls Steak Sub

Buffalo Heights

The Statler Hilton

Metro Rail 1973

Bflo Before & After

Retro Chip Collection

Melody Fair - N Tonawanda

Buffalo Courier Express

History in Your Pocket

Corner Store Experience

The Fair

Most Endangered Sites

Re-Light the Rand

Pierogi @ St. Nick's

Whammy Weenie

Skateland - East Ferry

Jimmy Griffin 1929-2008

Jack Kemp 1936-2009

Sattler Theater

Masonic Lodge #846

Broadway Grill Reunion

Vintage Xmas Cards

Bocce Club- Clinton St.

Smiling Ted's

Buffalo Snow

Edsbyn, Sweden

Buffalo Drive-In

Buffalo 1969

Ray Bennett Lumber Co.

Ray H. Bennett Home

Ultra Cool: 70s Buffalo

Buffalo Bowling Shirts

Great Northern Elevator

Pullman / Wagner Complex

Pierogi Capital of US

North Park Theater

Zywiec Brewery

Buffalo Beer Trays

1964 Campaign For Pres

Heritage Discover Ctr

Tale of Two Roundhouses

Brand Names Catalog

Trolley Lobby BCT

Mentholatum, Hyde, Smythe

Chez Ami 311 Delaware Ave

Schreiber Brewery

Forgotten Buffalo Sounds

Sounds of Buffalo Beer

Sounds of Buffalo

Sounds of the Hound

Utica Club Beer Song

Forgotten Buffalo-Lost

Gramza's Cigar Store

Burczynski Bakery

St. Gerard's Parish

The Polish Village

Rudas Record Store

Tondrowski's Shoe Store

The DL&W Terminal

Buffalo Gas Works

S.S. Aquarama/Marine Star

Aquarama - Final Chapter

Sattlers 998

Rivoli Theater - Broadway

H-O Elevator

Riverside Men's Shop

Mastman's Kosher Deli

Crystal Beach

Department Stores

CLASSIC PHOTOS

Bevador/Beerador Coolers

Parkside Candies

Buffalo's Last Roundhouse

Wildroot Factory

Buffalo Stockyards

Chicago Iron Works

Spolka Clothing

Forgotten Ontario

Tim Hortons #1

TH&B Train Station

Ivor Wynne Stadium

Canadian National Station

Minojijikum Island 1076

Forgotten Rochester

Retro Wegmans

Polonia Rochester

Spittoon Water Troughs

Forgotten Buffalo & Genny

Genesee Brewery Tour

Forgotten Bflo Roadtrips

Perreca's Bakery

F.X. Matts - Utica Club

Forgotten Buffalo-Media

Ch. 2: WGR & WGRZ-TV

Rocketship7

Commander Tom Show

Dialing for Dollars

Ed Tucholka

Polonia Media

Greg Chwojdak, WXRL

Tour of Bflo Broadcasting

WKBW Radio

WKBW Top 40 Celebration

KB Goes Kaboom! WKBW

1430 Main St - WKBW RADIO

A Thing of the Past 2006

WKBW's Tommy Shannon

George Hound Dog Lorenz

1420 Main St - WKBW TV

Forgotten Bflo Orchestra

R & L Lounge, 23 Mills St

Union Stock Yards Bank

The Think Bank

The Natural Tour

Preservation Corridors

Broadway

Fillmore Avenue

Lombard Gibson Mktplace

Project Paderewski

Forgotten Buffalo News

Despensata Corporation

Marketplace Kitchen

Buffalo Broadcasting

SOUNDS OF BUFFALO and QUEEN CITY POLONIA


Buffalo Sabres - 70s Style!
Click logo for another 1970s Flashback...Buffalo Style!
If you grew up in Buffalo during the 1970s, you were a Sabres fan. The team, only with a few seasons under its belt, went all the way to the Stanley Cup playoffs in 1975. To celebrate, the late Tommy Calandra wrote the classic Sabres spirit song "We're Gonna Win That Cup."  Sung by Donna McDaniel, the song makes a comeback every time the Sabres get close to capturing Lord Stanley’s allusive trophy.

Public Affairs Records 45" single - Side A
Performed by: Donna McDaniel
Written by: Tommy Calandra
Year: 1975

 

 


Click here to download "We're Gonna Win That Cup!"


KOLIPINSKI'S
Thanks to Steve Cichon's www.StaffAnnouncer.com for this Kolpinski Ad from 1954.

Do you remember Kolipinski's? After many year's on the Eastside, the popular store moved to its final location on Clinton Street near Harlem in Cheektowaga. I am looking for pictures, ads or information on the store. Please e-mail me at DyngusDay@aol.com.

Click link below to listen to a classic radio jingle for Kolipinski's from the 1940s.


Click here to listen to a classic Kolipinski jingle
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TALKIN' PROUD BUFFALO!

During the 1970s, the Nickel City lost much of its shine. High unemployment, a miserable football team and poorly planned downtown urban renewal projects had Buffalo in the doldrums. To combat the negativity, advertising executive Alden Schutte produced the Talkin’ Proud campaign. Anyone who grew up in Buffalo during that time can remember the chorus of singers dancing through the streets singing loudly, “Buffalo's got a spirit, talkin' proud, talkin' proud!"


Click to listen to Talkin' Proud. Thanks to WKBWRadio.com for sharing this classic Buffalo sound.
Listen to a real Buffalo classic.... Talkin Proud!
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STAN JASINSKI - The Voice of Polonia
Who would you consider to be the voice of Polonia? Jan Pitass? Fr. Justin? Msgr. Gabalski? Without a question, radio host Stan “Stas” Jasinski could contend for that honor. For over 50 years, Jasinski’s radio programs provided the background for many Polish-American homes. Born in Detroit, Michigan,  Stanley was a native of Detroit Michigan who began his broadcasting career in 1934. In the early 1940s, moved to Buffalo where he worked at  WBNY and WHLD before he was drafted into the U.S. Army in 1945.  As a serviceman based in Germany, Stanley wrote, produced, and directed a variety of programs for the American Forces Network Radio Stations.
In 1947, Stanley returned to Buffalo, but this time to supervise the construction of Radio Station WWOL in Lackawanna, New York.  While he served for three years there as manager and program director, he paid very close attention to the many-faceted physical and entrepreneurial aspects of organizational growth and development.  Why?  It has always been Stan’s dream to build and operate his own radio station. This dream would be realized, but not for almost 14 years.  During those interim years, however, at WKBW and then WWOL, he developed an incredibly large listening audience and established amazingly high station ratings that remained unchallenged until the rock ’n roll era that took the air waves by storm. In 1964, after a lengthy but rewarding application process, Stan Jasinski built Radio Station WMMJ (now WXRL) and became its first President, General Manager, and majority stock holder.
Listen to a 1955 intro to Stan Jasinski's Polka Party on WWOL-AM, Buffalo
Listen to Stan read a Redlinski Meats commercial during an Easter 1999 broadcast. Thank you to Mark Kohan for sharing this audio clip.
Stanley J. Jasinski, a legendary Buffalo broadcaster and a leader in the Polish-American community for many years, died Friday in a Scottsdale, Ariz., hospital after a long illness. He would have been 90 later this month.

Mr. Jasinski put the area's first UHF television station - WUTV, Channel 29 - on the air in 1970 and founded the radio station that is now WXRL.

His passion, however, was bringing news and music to Polish-American listeners, which he did for 60 years before signing off his weekend "Polka Party" show for the last time in 2000.

Mr. Jasinski also headed the committee that arranged a visit to Buffalo in 1976 by Polish Cardinal Karol Wojtyla, whom he met during a visit to Krakow in 1969. He led the group of local Polish-Americans who went to the Vatican two years later when Cardinal Wojtyla was installed as Pope John Paul II.

Born in Detroit, he began his broadcast career at WEXL there in 1934 and served in the Army during World War II with the Armed Forces Radio Network.

He came to Buffalo after the war and became assistant general manager and producer of Polish programs on radio station WWOL. He resigned in 1964 when he gained FCC approval for his own AM radio station, WMMJ in Lancaster. Now WXRL, he sold the station to Ramblin' Lou Schriver in the 1970s.

Mr. Jasinski headed the group that founded WUTV, saw the station through a lengthy application process, and served as its president in the 1970s. In the 1980s, he bought radio station WUFO.

Through all his endeavors, he maintained his polka shows with Polish language news - daily through the 1950s and 1960s - then on weekends after WUTV went on the air. His Sunday show included live broadcasts of the Polish language Mass from St. Stanislaus Catholic Church, the home church of Buffalo Polonia, where he was a parishioner.

His show went from WXRL to WNYS in 1986, then to WHTT-AM and eventually to WMNY.

He also served in the 1970s and 1980s on the Erie County Alcoholic Beverage Control Board and was a member of the board of directors of the Polish Community Center. He also led and supported many fund drives to assist the Polish people.

A longtime Williamsville resident, he maintained a home in Scottsdale for several years before retiring there in 2000. His wife of 49 years, the former Chestress Fiddler, who was his business partner in some of his radio and television ventures, died in 1986. He married the former Dorothy Partyka in 1989.

In addition to his wife, survivors include two daughters, Dr. Michelle J. Marinello of Williamsville and Dr. Marie J. Tapparo of Arlington, Va., and Perugia, Italy; three brothers, Edward, Alex and Teddy, all of Detroit; two sisters, Eleanore Wozniak and Dorothy Roach, both of Detroit; and two grandchildren.


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TIMELESS SOUNDS OF BUFFALO'S SANDY BEACH


Sandy Beach broadcasting from the famous studios of WKBW in the early 70s.

Sandy Beach has made a career of straddling the line of the conservative tastes of Buffalo, and has never let office or city hall politics get in the way of a good show. It's that desire for great radio, no matter the cost, that has allowed Sandy to be a Buffalo radio fixture for 35 years with only a few interruptions. Sandy came to WKBW from Hartford in 1968. His quick wit and infectious laugh have been a part of Western New York ever since at KB, WNYS, Majic 102, and now afternoon drive on WBEN (2005). A native of Lunenberg, Massachusetts, Sandy's made his impact for over a third of a century in Buffalo radio as a jock, in programming, and now in as a talker, and always as a wise-guy friend just a dial twist away. The attached Buffalo sound is from Friday, March 15, 1974. Interesting features include a promo for a "Money In The Bank" game, a :60 second Lowblaws  and Schaffer commercial. 


Click here to listen to a vintage clip of WBEN's Sandy Beach from 1974.
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SING ALONG WITH THE JOLLY LITTLE BAKER


A shift in consumer consumption in part to the Atkins diet craze took its toll on Buffalo’s “Jolly Little Baker” in 2004. After almost 67 years of operations, Stroehmann Bakeries Ltd., shut down its Kaufman’s Bakery sighting slumping sales of breads, rolls and other carbo based products.  Kaufman’s Bakery was founded in 1937 by Sam Kaufman and was sold to the Freedman family in 1938. Sam Freedman and his brothers grew it from a small neighborhood operation to a company that at its peak had more than 330 employees and was grossing more than $27 million in annual revenues.
Kaufmans Rye Bread
Thank JF for the use of this photo

As late as 2003, the bakery employed 109 and had sales of $7.5 million. They produced a full line of bread, buns and rolls for supermarkets and fast-food chains throughout the region, including Burger King Corp., Wendy’s International and Arby’s. Kaufman's legendary main manufacturing plant at 2381 Fillmore Avenue, a 110,000-square-foot building dated back to 1919 and the days of Hall's Bakery.  Kaufman’s moved the bakery to the Fillmore Avenue location in 1969.  

Just as famous as their New York rye bread was the company’s radio and TV jingles that featured their mascot the “Jolly Little Baker.” Click below to enjoy a carb free, yet full of taste, trip back in time….


Click here to listen to the Kaufmann's Rye Bread Jingle from the 1950s
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WELCOME BACK SHELLY!


Click here to listen to the famous Shelly radio jingle from the 1950s. Thank you to Steve Mitchell for digitally remastering this gem of Polonia!
Click image above for more Shelly history!
1920 Display Sign

Sausage Rivalry Ends with Wardynski's the Winner as Company Buys Rights to Szelagowski Name


It's as though the Montagues bought out the Capulets - but instead of Venetian aristocrats, the opposing families are lords of Buffalo's sausage business. F. Wardynski's & Son Inc. has bought the rights to the logo of its longtime rival A. Szelagowski & Sons, with plans to revive the largely dormant "Shelly" brand of hot dogs and bologna, the company said.

"That was always a great name . . . it's like an old friend," said Raymond "Skip" Wardynski, president of the meat processing company his family founded in 1919. The rival maker of sausage and cold cuts was founded several years earlier, in 1889, by Arthur Szelagowski. It was for many years the city's No. 1 name in lunch meats, Wardynski says.

From their plants on the city's East Side, the competitors vied for shelf space in Buffalo stores and kitchens, along with names like Malecki and Frey's. Shelly's fleet of maroon delivery trucks was part of the city's landscape, and longtime residents can still hum its polka-style jingle, "Shelly brand meat products - really grand meat products!" (Out of use commercially, the ads are still heard sometimes on nostalgia-oriented WKBW radio. Wardynski's marketing rejoinder, still in use, is: "Don't give me that baloney, I want Wardynski's!"

Sausage and lunch meat still sells under the Shelly brand locally, although it's been out of the Szelagowski family's hands for many years, Wardynski said. He said he acquired the rights in December from a local food broker whom he wouldn't name. Before that, his company produced some Shelly-labeled hot dogs under license. "For a good period of time they were the biggest player in Buffalo, but they had to compete with the big guys," Wardynski said.

The Szelagowski family sold the business to a Rochester company in 1957, according to press reports, although competitor Wardynski remembers the brand staying in local hands for years beyond that. In 1980s the brand was kept alive by Shelly Foods Co. in Buffalo, a unit of Paul Snyder's Snyder-Darien Corp. In 1983 the company announced plans for a reduced fat "Shellylite" line of cold cuts. "We developed that; we just stopped producing it because it wasn't profitable," Snyder said. His company, which owned the former Szelagowski plant on Bailey Avenue, stopped production sometime in the early '90s. He said he wasn't certain what happened with the brand after that.In recent years the marketing of Shelly meats has been low key, mainly in independent groceries, Wardynski said. Now his plant on Peckham Street, a few blocks from the Broadway Market, expects to ramp up higher volumes of bologna and hot dogs, perhaps increasing production 20 percent. "To get that product in our facility is a good thing for us," he said. "It'll still be 50 people, but they'll be 50 really busy people.”


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PAUL CLARK FOR CONGRESS POLKA - Fall 2004
During the political campaign season of 2004, West Seneca, NY Supervisor Paul Clark ran unsuccessfully for U.S. Congress. In a creative move to court Buffalo's Polish-American vote, Clark produced a polka radio commerical. Click link below to hear the Paul Clark for Congress Polka. 
To listen to the Clark for Congress Polka click here.
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LUCKI URBAN RADIO JINGLE - 1957
Located at 881 Broadway, Lucki Urban was an icon of the Broadway Filmore Shopping District. The famous radio jingle for the store can be sung by any Buffalonian who grew up in Polonia or listened to one of Stan Jasinski's polish radio programs. Enjoy this collection of jingles from the orginial 1957 master tape from the collection of Mark Wozniak.  
Listen to the Lucki Urban radio jingles from 1957, click here.
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SHUFFLE OFF TO BUFFALO

The song "Shuffle Off to Buffalo" is from 42nd Street. The story goes that Julian Marsh, an sucessful Broadway director, produces a new show, inspite of his poor health. The money comes from a rich old man, who is in love with the star of the show, Dorothy Brock. But she doesn't reply his love, because she is still in love with her old partner. At the night before the prmiere, Dorothy Brock breaks her ankle, and one of the chorus girls, Peggey Sawyer tries to take over her part.


Billboard in Times Square, New York City, 2002
Listen to a 1930's version of "Shuffle Off to Buffalo"
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DAN LESNIAK'S POLKA BALLROOM SHOW-WADV-FM 107.7


DAN LESNIAK created the last of the Buffalo radio stations spotlighting the Golden Era of American Music. WADV-FM was the groundbreaking station that became a touchstone for lovers of classic pop music through the 1960s and '70s. Lesniak instituted an outstandingly smooth and intelligent on-air presentation that featured genuine personalities instead of bloodless automation. On the technical side, WADV also was Upstate New York's first FM stereo station in 1962. Dan Lesniak died in 1982. This audio clip spotlight's Lesniak's Polka Ballroom Show during the 1970s.
Listen to Dan Lesniak on WADV. Click here.
Dan Lesniak reads a commerical for Lucki Urban. Thank you to Mark Kohan for sharing this audio clip.
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BONUS: WBEN newscast from July 4, 1996
   
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