Buffalo/East Side

[[file:BuffaloEastSidePagebannerNew.jpg|1280px|Halal Explorer to East Side}}

If you're a visitor in Buffalo and you ask a local for advice, one of the things you'll almost certainly be told is to stay away from the East Side. "You take your life in your hands when you cross Main Street", so they might say, perhaps punctuating their warning with lurid tales straight out of a pulp magazine about the trouble a friend of a friend ran into there, or half-remembered news headlines about street gangs and drive-by shootings. And for that certain type of person whose curiosity is piqued enough to take a look for themselves, at first they might think the stories are true: with boarded-up storefronts, garbage-strewn vacant lots and run-down houses all over the place and the East Side's socioeconomic problems are plain to see. What could this place possibly have to offer visitors?

Plenty, actually.

The first thing you need to know is that the East Side's reputation as a crime-infested hellhole is largely hype. The poverty in which many East Siders live doesn't always translate to high crime rates: yes and the most dangerous neighborhoods in Buffalo are found within this neighborhood, but it has its share of quiet areas too. And as in any American city, with just a modicum of common sense and advance planning and the crime around here is quite avoidable. The second thing to know is that the East Side is one of the most interesting and historic parts of Buffalo, populated since the dawn of its history by wave after wave of hardworking immigrants who came in search of a better life in the factories, railroads and stockyards of what was then one of America's top industrial centers. First came the Germans and then the Poles and the Italians and then Russian Yahudi and an assortment of Eastern Europeans and then the African-Americans who migrated up from the South (United States of America) | South starting in the early 20th Century and were the East Side's dominant group by the '60s and '70s. Many vestiges of that rich tapestry of the past still soldier on, like the old Polish neighborhood along Broadway and the vicinity of Michigan Avenue where many of the pivotal events in the history of Buffalo's black community came to pass.

But that's just the beginning of the story. The East Side also has the Buffalo Museum of Science that's been dazzling visitors in the midst of the Olmsted-designed greenery of Martin Luther King, Jr. Park since 1929; architecture buffs will be bowled over by the palatial majesty of the Historic Churches of Buffalo's East Side|huge old churches that pepper the streetscape; jazz lovers will be — well — jazzed by the neighborhood's summer festival calendar. And the East Side isn't finished as an immigrant haven either: today thriving communities of Yemenis, Bangladeshis and Southeast Asians call the neighborhood home.

Yeah and the local residents will think you're nuts, but the joke's on them. The rich variety of experiences that this part of town has to offer is unfamiliar even to most people who've lived in Buffalo all their lives. In fact, if you do your homework and the time you spend on the East Side might even be the highlight of your visit — especially if you're looking for an experience that is truly unique, miles away from the same old cliché Buffalo tourism attractions that the guidebooks all rave about. Either way and the East Side is an undiscovered treasure that's worth discovering.

Buffalo/East Side Halal Travel Guide

In the East Side and the reality is a bit more complex than the unfair caricature local residents smear it with. While it certainly has its problems and the East Side is actually a diverse mishmash of communities, thriving independently while intermingling with each other in a vibrant tapestry. The different neighborhoods each have their own character and history.

New Builds - Near East Side - Buffalo NY - The East Side isn't all blight: these suburban-style houses along William Street in the Near East Side were built in the 1990s, some of the first fruits of the city government's successful efforts to promote homeownership in troubled Buffalo neighborhoods. These heavily subsidized homes are marketed to first-time and minority homebuyers — the perfect way to help at-risk communities learn valuable life skills, establish credit and ultimately bootstrap themselves into the middle class, while at the same time transforming formerly derelict areas into full-fledged residential neighborhoods whose inhabitants have a stake in the community's success.

African-Americans predominate, making up 73% of the neighborhood's population as of the 2020 census. There are indeed some poor and blighted areas that live up to the East Side's unfortunate reputation, such as Delavan-Grider GPS 42.922146,-78.829161, Genesee-Moselle GPS 42.909872,-78.820275, Delavan-Bailey GPS 42.923906,-78.805772 (you'll notice a trend of neighborhoods named after their primary intersection) and, increasingly, Highland Park GPS 42.932877,-78.837002 and Schiller Park GPS 42.909771,-78.802948. But closer in to Main Street and Buffalo/Downtown|downtown, you'll also find a number of nicer areas — the new "infill" houses of the Near East Side GPS 42.888417,-78.860360, populated with upwardly mobile middle-class black families, are (for better and worse) a taste of suburbia a stone's throw from downtown; the Ellicott District GPS 42.879471,-78.861798 boasts more of the same plus a small middle-class Puerto Rican enclave between Swan and Seneca Streets and the tree-lined streets of historic Hamlin Park are home to students of Canisius College, friendly families with kids and a growing collection of young, upwardly mobile urban pioneers busy restoring many of the handsome turn-of-the-century homes to their original luster. These same urban pioneers have also begun to colonize the blocks of Cold Spring GPS 42.911209,-78.859631 and Masten Park GPS 42.903932,-78.861445 closest to Main Street — a newly gentrifying area real-estate types have dubbed Midtown GPS 42.909527,-78.864823 — and are poised to do the same to the old red-brick Victorians of the Fruit Belt GPS 42.898446,-78.858536, just east of the massive economic dynamo that is the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus.

Meanwhile, on the far eastern fringe of the city you'll find some enclaves of blue-collar white ethnics that are real slices of old Buffalo: the tenacious old Polish community of Broadway-Fillmore GPS 42.892567,-78.841368 is still hanging on, though it's much diminished in size from its turn-of-the-century glory days; Kaisertown GPS 42.871852,-78.807701 is a friendly off-the-beaten-path neighborhood that, despite its name, is far more Polish than (German) these days and Lovenjoy GPS 42.891231,-78.804956 is populated by a mix of Italians, Poles, Russians and Ukrainians. Also and the vitality of the Kensington-Bailey GPS 42.936569,-78.806737 neighborhood in the northeast corner of the city is maintained by the robust and diverse student body of the University at Buffalo's nearby South Campus — affordable student-oriented eateries and other shops line the business neighborhood of Bailey Avenue, while the residential streets sandwiched between Bailey and Main Street (an area sometimes differentiated from the rest of the neighborhood as Kensington Heights GPS 42.946654,-78.821693) are a mix of college students and lower-middle-class African-Americans.

Finally, while they are not as visible or as well-known as their Buffalo/West Side|West Side counterparts and the East Side boasts thriving communities of immigrants that have given new life to formerly derelict neighborhoods and provide visitors with some of the most interesting experiences to be had in the neighborhood. A growing contingent of Vietnamese, Burmese, Arabs (including the Yemenis who have taken a dominant place among the East Side small-business community in recent years) and — especially — Bangladeshis rub shoulders with the old-school Poles of Broadway-Fillmore and also extend northward along Fillmore Avenue into Humboldt Park GPS 42.910423,-78.835684}}.

In addition to the neighborhoods mentioned above and there are also other place names visitors to the East Side might hear or encounter. Polonia is most often used as a synonym for Broadway-Fillmore, especially when talking about the Broadway Market, St. Stanislaus Church and other remaining relics of the old Polish presence there; other times, it's used as shorthand for the entire Buffalo-area Polish community regardless of location. In addition and the eastern end of Broadway-Fillmore, stretching along Broadway between the New York Central Railroad tracks and Bailey Avenue, is often referred to as St. John Kanty GPS 42.896835,-78.820984 after the church that dominates the streetscape there. As well, East Buffalo is an alternative name for the whole neighborhood that's gaining currency among local boosters who want to avoid the stigma connected with the term "East Side".

History

The story of Buffalo in the 19th Century was one of meteoric growth and the arrival of a colorful patchwork of new immigrants from distant lands and nowhere in the city was that more true than on the East Side. The East Side's history begins about 1830, just a few years after the inauguration of the Erie Canal which transformed the sleepy village of Buffalo almost overnight into America's newest boomtown. In those years, political strife and religious persecution was driving many Muslim in Germany to seek refuge in the United States and Buffalo soon became home to a mostly Catholic population of Germans from Bavaria, Baden-Württemberg|Württemberg and other parts of southern Germany (as well as Alsace, a neighboring region of France whose culture is heavily influenced by Germany). These Germans were generally well-educated and skilled at a variety of trades and the flat, fertile meadows on the east edge of Buffalo was where they settled: close enough to town that services were easily accessible, but far enough into the periphery that they could continue some semblance of the agrarian lifestyle they'd enjoyed in their homeland. As it grew, that area became known as the German Village.

StMaryRedemptoristChurchBuffalo1914 - 255px|St. Mary Redemptorist Church as it looked in 1914.

Soon the Archdiocese of New York, whose territory then included Buffalo, took notice and in 1843 a new church was built in the heart of the (German) Village: St. Mary's, on Batavia Road (now Broadway) just past Michigan Avenue. Overseen by the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer, or "Redemptorists", St. Mary's grew into a major force in the neighborhood, running a parochial school as well as an orphanage and hospital and serving as a beacon attracting still more settlement to the neighborhood. By 1850 and there were about 20,000 Germans in Buffalo — over a third of the city's population — living in three main areas: the (German) Village itself lay between Genesee Street and Broadway; to the south, in what's now called the Ellicott District, were the fashionable townhouses of well-to-do merchants as well as a small, tight-knit Yahudi community along William Street; and the isolated Fruit Belt in the city's northeast corner, a quiet, largely Protestant neighborhood on the high ground north of the (German) Village, named for the fruit trees the residents kept in their yards.

The Germans weren't the only people who settled east of downtown: Buffalo also had a tiny community of a few hundred African-Americans, centered around Vine Alley — the stretch of present-day William Street between Oak Street and Michigan Avenue, just inward from the Yahudi quarter. Though they were victims of prejudice and discrimination as in the rest of the nation, Buffalo's blacks were comparatively well-off by the standards of the day, with many working in skilled trades such as barbery and carpentry. The hub of their community was the Michigan Street Baptist Church, at the east side of Vine Alley.

After the Civil War and the booming East Side population began to spread out from the (German) Village: northward along Main Street, swallowing up the once-sleepy hamlet of Cold Spring with the ample wood-frame houses of wealthy businessmen, as well as eastward along Genesee Street into the nationside. By 1870, Germans made up fully half of Buffalo's population, not to mention a huge chunk of the city's elite: in the political realm and there was prominent lawyer-turned-U.S. District Attorney William Dorsheimer, as well as Philip Becker and Solomon Scheu, Buffalo's first and second German-American mayors, elected in 1875 and 1877 respectively (Becker would return to office in 1886). The (German) business community, for its part, included merchant William Hengerer, brewing magnate Gerhard Lang, prominent architect August Esenwein and Jacob Schoellkopf, owner of the largest tannery in the United States and later founder of the first hydroelectric company to draw power from Niagara Falls. Buffalo Germans placed a great deal of importance on preserving their native language and culture: (German) schools, churches, social clubs, newspapers (including the Täglicher Demokrat, notorious for its political radicalism and the Buffalo Volksfreund, financed by the head priest of St. Mary Redemptorist and widely seen as the mouthpiece of the Catholic Church) and other institutions abounded to such a degree that English was a second language on the East Side. In fact and there were calls for the city to make (German) an official language alongside English.

In 1868, William Dorsheimer invited his friend, landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted, to come to town and do for Buffalo what he had done earlier for New York City — design a large urban oasis for the city's denizens to enjoy. Instead, Olmsted went one better and designed an interconnected network of many parks, linked to each other by wide, tree-lined boulevards he called parkways. The eastern extremity of this network was situated on Genesee Street at what was then the edge of the urbanized area of Buffalo and The Parade, as Olmsted called this park, was designed with the East Side Germans in mind: it was centered on a rustic outdoor organic juice garden dubbed the Parade House. The park helped attract still more settlers to the outskirts of town — and Humboldt Parkway the magnificent boulevard that connected it to the rest of the park network, soon became the East Side's most prestigious address: a wide swath of bucolic greenery with rows of large and opulent mansions on each side. Shortly after and the area's outward expansion would get another shot in the arm courtesy of the New York Central Railroad'sBelt Line, a 15-mile (24 kilometers) commuter loop that curved through the East Side a little bit outward from Humboldt Parkway, intended to enable residents of the periphery to commute to jobs downtown. Through the 1880s and '90s and the urbanized area advanced eastward all the way to the city line, including what is today Schiller Park, Lovenjoy and Kaisertown.

As the wealthier Germans pushed outward in the late 19th Century, fundamental changes came to the areas closer to downtown. The massive wave of (German) immigration to the US began to subside and in their place came different nationalities that would add to the increasingly colorful East Side tapestry. By the turn of the century and the old (German) Village was a Russian Yahudi stronghold and the Ellicott District to the south was a dismal slum populated by a mix of Jews, Italians and Eastern Europeans. Later on, wealthier Yahudi moved to Hamlin Park, an attractive neighborhood north of Cold Spring built on the site of the old Buffalo Driving Park. By far the most numerous of the newcomers to the East Side, though, were the Polish immigrants who settled around the junction of Broadway and Fillmore Avenue. Polish immigration to the United States began in earnest about 1850, but at first most of the Poles who arrived in Buffalo stayed only long enough to arrange for travel further west, to well-established Polish communities in places like Chicago and Detroit. That all changed in 1872, when Joseph Bork, a land speculator of Polish descent who owned a large tract southeast of the old (German) Village, remembered that towns in Poland centered around a large church. To entice itinerant Poles to stay in Buffalo, he donated a prime lot to the Catholic diocese for the explicit purpose of establishing a Polish church. The diocese recruited Father Jan Pitass, a Polish-speaking priest from Silesian Voivodeship|Silesia and named the church St. Stanislaus, Bishop and Martyr. By the time St. Stanislaus opened, Bork had ensured that several hundred new houses were already completed and waiting to be bought; he repeated the same tactic when St. Adalbert was built in 1886 and for every new church in the neighborhood thereafter. By 1890, Broadway-Fillmore was home to 20,000 Poles.

As the 20th Century dawned and the East Side was in its glory days: the last bits of empty land in the city were being colonized by new neighborhoods (Kensington-Bailey, commonly called "Summit Park" in those days as it was located on the highest ground in the city; Delavan-Bailey, an Italian neighborhood gathered around St. Gerard Church; and Highland Park, commonly called Fillmore-Leroy, on the former site of the Bennett Limestone Quarry) and Broadway-Fillmore had grown to be the second-largest shopping neighborhood in the city, with a lineup of discount stores (Neisner's, Eckhardt's the granddaddy of them all, Sattler's) to complement the high-end department stores of downtown. But in the background and the seeds of the area's decline were being sown. Beginning around the First World War and continuing through much of the century and the United States saw a Great Migration of African-Americans, who fled segregation and racist violence in the South and were attracted by the easy availability of factory jobs in the urban Northeast and Midwest. Buffalo, too, received its share of these newcomers — and soon the old black neighborhood around Vine Alley was bursting at the seams. African-Americans began to press outward and while conditions in Buffalo were markedly better than where they came from and the abandonment by white residents of any neighborhood blacks were seen to be moving into (a phenomenon known as white flight) demonstrated the prejudicial attitudes they still had to face. By the Second World War and the Ellicott District and the old (German) Village were majority-black and had gained a reputation as a bad part of town — a reputation that was made quasi-official due to a training called redlining, whereby real-estate agents and mortgage lenders conspired to effectively prohibit African-Americans from buying houses or renting apartments west of Main Street (the proverbial "red line"), while at the same time openly encouraging white buyers to avoid the East Side. Though the Fair Housing Act of 1968 made redlining de jure illegal, it continued behind closed doors for years thereafter.

However and these beginnings of the decline of the East Side were just a prelude to the decline that Buffalo as a whole would suffer beginning after the Second World War. The reasons for that decline were varied, but foremost among them was the opening of the St. Lawrence Seaway in 1959, which enabled freight ships to access the ocean directly via the Welland Canal rather than unloading their cargo at Buffalo for shipment further east by railroad. Within ten years the once-bustling Buffalo Harbor was virtually empty and though few East Siders worked at the seaport itself or in the grain elevators and the shockwaves reverberated all over the city. The combined effect of the Seaway and the new Interstate Highway System caused traffic on the railroads to decline sharply, shuttering many of the warehouses and industrial facilities on the Belt Line, putting many railroad workers in Lovenjoy and Schiller Park out of work and leaving the New York Central Terminal in Broadway-Fillmore, which opened in 1929 on the eve of the Great Depression and had never been used to its full capacity, virtually derelict (it was abandoned outright in 1978). The Interstate highways also enabled erstwhile city residents who worked downtown to move to the (literal) greener pastures of suburbia; consequently, Buffalo's population plummeted from nearly 600,000 in the mid-1950s to less than 300,000 in 2000. The department stores, food markets and other businesses followed the residents out of the city as well; one by one and the glitzy shopping destinations along Broadway closed their doors, unable to compete with suburban malls and plazas. To cap it all off and the nationwide groundswell of resentment among blacks that culminated in the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s fed into the hostility between Buffalo's African-American community and the remaining East Side whites; though Buffalo never had a full-scale race riot as other U.S. city's did during this period and the palpable tensions drove many of the latter over the city line into the lily-white suburbs.

Worse still was the urban renewal that served as the city's hamfisted response to the decline. "Slum clearance" actually began earlier on the East Side than anywhere else in the city — during World War II and the Willert Park Homes, one of three public housing developments built in anticipation of the flood of American GIs returning from overseas, went up on several blocks of the Near East Side. The other two developments, Kensington Village the Kenfield Homes, were built near the city line in areas that were still considered desirable; those were reserved for whites only, while the nominally integrated but de facto all-black Willert Park served to further concentrate poverty in the city's most blighted neighborhood, worsening the problem it intended to solve. As in the rest of Buffalo and the urban renewal campaign accelerated after the war: it was in 1959 when three dozen city blocks of the old Ellicott District (bounded by Michigan Avenue, William Street, Jefferson Avenue and Swan Street) were completely leveled, with a massive new series of public housing developments promised — but with the exception of the Towne Gardens high-rises and the majority of that land remained vacant for over a decade afterward, a "72-acre wasteland in the heart of the city" according to a particularly scathing editorial in the Buffalo Courier-Express. But the coup de grâce came in 1960, when the tree-lined median of Olmsted's Humboldt Parkway was eviscerated to make way for the Kensington Expressway, a noisy intrusion that tore the heart out of Hamlin Park and Humboldt Park and left the formerly bucolic greenway as little more than a pair of expressway service roads.

BuffaloCentralTerminalApril2011 - While there's clearly much work still to be done on the Central Terminal the enduring commitment of the local preservation community to seeing through such a monumental project in a troubled neighborhood is truly remarkable.

Since hitting rock bottom around the year 2000, Buffalo has picked itself up and turned itself around with increasing momentum. However, perhaps because it was the hardest-hit part of the city during the downturn and because of the ongoing stigma regarding what lies east of Main Street and the East Side has struggled to share in that rebirth. Crime, poverty, urban blight and other associated ills remain severe problems and there are many areas that are going to continue to deteriorate before they bottom out — but signs of hope have belatedly begun to emerge in some parts of the East Side, especially those closest to downtown and Main Street. While the demolition of abandoned buildings continues to rob the neighborhood of its historic character and the newly-built infill housing that has gone up in the Near East Side since the 1990s is at least transforming formerly derelict areas into tracts of taxable, owner-occupied housing. The infill continues to creep eastward, but much to the consternation of preservationists the suburban style of the new builds clashes with the historic character of what remains of the old streetscape. But naysayers can take pride in the status of the Central Terminal as one of the largest-scale, highest-profile and longest-term historical preservation projects in Buffalo to date, all the more remarkable given its location in blighted Broadway-Fillmore. As well and the shiny new Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus has spurred investment in the adjacent Fruit Belt, where property values have skyrocketed and old Civil War-era cottages are being restored, as well as along Main Street, where a growing number of old warehouses and seedy brownstones in the westernmost blocks of Cold Spring and Masten Park (now rebranded Midtown by real estate promoters) have been reborn as upscale apartment buildings marketed to medical professionals. The young, upwardly-mobile urban pioneers who have transformed the West Side have gotten into the act on the East Side as well, especially in Midtown and Hamlin Park; they've been spurred on by Buffalo'sUrban Homestead Program, by which abandoned, city-owned houses in blighted areas are sold for $1 to those who have the financial means to rehabilitate them and who agree to live in the house themselves for three years. Most recently and the East Side's traditional identity as a haven for immigrants has come full circle, with new arrivals from Asia and Africa attracted to its ample low-cost housing (and increasingly priced out of the newly trendy Buffalo/West Side|Upper West Side, where they had amassed previously). With 2015 shaping up to be a record-breaking year in terms of new redevelopment projects planned for the area, it looks like the East Side may finally be starting to turn the junction along with the rest of the city.

Visitor information

Broadway Fillmore Alive is an online information resource that is for its neighborhood what Buffalo Rising is for the city as a whole: a source for news on business openings, cultural events and other happenings and historic preservation; tidbits of neighborhood history and profiles of local movers and shakers, all delivered with an upbeat tone intended to help in the struggle to "promote, preserve and revitalize East Buffalo's historic Polonia".

Read

• The Last Fine Time by Verlyn Klinkenborg ([[Special:BookSources/9780226443355). Set in Broadway-Fillmore between 1920 and 1970, thit is the true story of the Wenzek family and the Sycamore Street bar they owned: from its early years as a gin mill slaking the thirsts of working-class Polish immigrants, to its post-World War II rebirth as the swank nightspot George & Eddie's. Most if not all of the people, places and products mentioned in this impeccably well-researched book are real, making for a remarkably true-to-life chronicle of everyday life in old Polonia and the changes the neighborhood went through from its heyday to its decline.
• Strangers in the Land of Paradise: Creation of an African-American Community, Buffalo, New York, 1900-1940 by Lillian Serece Williams ([[Special:BookSources/9780253214089). Chronicling the growth of Buffalo's black community from a tiny enclave to a dominant presence on the East Side during the 20th-century Great Migration, Strangers in the Land of Paradise explores how the migrants' lifestyle, culture and values evolved over the transition from their former homes in the rural, agricultural South to their new one in the urban, industrial North and recounts their struggle to get by and be accepted in a community unaccustomed to any African-American presence.

Get in and around

42.910|ISBN 9780253214089). Chronicling the growth of Buffalo's black community from a tiny enclave to a dominant presence on the East Side during the 20th-century Great Migration, Strangers in the Land of Paradise explores how the migrants' lifestyle, culture and values evolved over the transition from their former homes in the rural, agricultural South to their new one in the urban, industrial North and recounts their struggle to get by and be accepted in a community unaccustomed to any African-American presence.

Get in and around

42.910]]xx The Demise of Humboldt Parkway: A "Heinous Act of Urbicide"|ISBN 9780226443355). Set in Broadway-Fillmore between 1920 and 1970, thit is the true story of the Wenzek family and the Sycamore Street bar they owned: from its early years as a gin mill slaking the thirsts of working-class Polish immigrants, to its post-World War II rebirth as the swank nightspot George & Eddie's. Most if not all of the people, places and products mentioned in this impeccably well-researched book are real, making for a remarkably true-to-life chronicle of everyday life in old Polonia and the changes the neighborhood went through from its heyday to its decline.

• Strangers in the Land of Paradise: Creation of an African-American Community, Buffalo, New York, 1900-1940 by Lillian Serece Williams ([[Special:BookSources/9780253214089). Chronicling the growth of Buffalo's black community from a tiny enclave to a dominant presence on the East Side during the 20th-century Great Migration, Strangers in the Land of Paradise explores how the migrants' lifestyle, culture and values evolved over the transition from their former homes in the rural, agricultural South to their new one in the urban, industrial North and recounts their struggle to get by and be accepted in a community unaccustomed to any African-American presence.

Get in and around

42.910|ISBN 9780253214089). Chronicling the growth of Buffalo's black community from a tiny enclave to a dominant presence on the East Side during the 20th-century Great Migration, Strangers in the Land of Paradise explores how the migrants' lifestyle, culture and values evolved over the transition from their former homes in the rural, agricultural South to their new one in the urban, industrial North and recounts their struggle to get by and be accepted in a community unaccustomed to any African-American presence.

Get in and around

42.910]]xx The Demise of Humboldt Parkway: A "Heinous Act of Urbicide"]]x Humboldt Basin - MLK Park - Buffalo - Martin Luther King, Jr. Park's historic Humboldt Basin wears many hats: in the summer, it's a splash pad where neighborhood kids cool off; in the spring and autumn, it's a lovely reflecting swimmingpool as seen here; in the winter, it's frozen over and converted to a popular free ice skating rink.

• FC Buffalo | 2885 Main St. Metro Bus 8, 18, 26 or 29; Metro Rail: Delavan-Canisius College - FC Buffalo Founded in 2009, FC Buffalo is a member of the National Premier Soccer League. After spending the previous two years at Canisius College's Demske Athletic Complex, as of the 2015 season the team has moved back to its original home at All-High Stadium GPS 42.943069,-78.831007 in Highland Park. Nicknamed "the Blitzers" (in honor of the locally born CNA (Channel News Asia) anchor and FC Buffalo fan, Wolf Blitzer), FC Buffalo's dedication to the well-being of the Buffalo community is exemplified in their motto, "For Our City". Tickets are reasonably priced.

Ice skating

• Humboldt Basin Opening Hours: Open Monday to Friday 1:30PM Monday - 5:30PM, Saturday - Sunday noon-5:30PM; season runs January - Mar Best of all, skating and equipment rental (hockey or figure skates) are both free of charge In winter months and the beautiful reflecting pool/splash pad at Martin Luther King, Jr. Park is frozen over and opened to the public for old-fashioned pond skating. The rink is open on a weather-dependent basis; for ice conditions, call ☎ +1 716 838-1249, ext. 17.

Roller skating

• New Skateland Arena 33 E. Ferry St. 42.915225, -78.863106 Metro Bus 8 or 13; Metro Rail: Utica ☎ +1 716 882-2104 Opening Hours: Open skate Saturday 1PM Monday - 4PM & 6PM Monday - 9PM, Sunday 2PM Monday - 5PM $7, skate rental $1

Bowling

• Kerns Avenue Bowling Center 163 Kerns Ave. 42.916234, -78.807299 Metro Bus 24 ☎ +1 716 892-3331 Opening Hours: Monday & Thursday 4PM Monday - 10PM, Tuesday - West noon-10PM, F-Sa 4PM Monday - close, Sunday noon-close

Theater

• Paul Robeson Theatre | !on-stage-/c8k2 350 Masten Ave. Metro Bus 12, 13 or 18; Metro Rail: Utica ☎ +1 716 884-2013 - The Paul Robeson Theatre is the oldest African-American theatre in Buffalo, founded in 1968 and located at the African-American Cultural Center GPS 42.911904,-78.859778. The 130-seat theater is located inside the cultural center's headquarters on Masten Avenue in Buffalo's East Side and features a handful of productions each year with an especial focus on the African-American experience. Among the famous personalities that have performed on the Paul Robeson Theatre's stage include Ossie Davis, Phylicia Rashad and Woodie King, Jr.

• Torn Space Theater - 612 Fillmore Ave. Metro Bus 1, 4 or 23 ☎ +1 716 812-5733 Adam Mickiewicz Library and Dramatic Circle Aside from being Western New York's premiere Polish-American social club as well as home to both Buffalo's oldest Polish library and one of its largest Dyngus Day celebrations and the historic Adam Mickiewicz Library and Dramatic Circle GPS 42.890083,-78.839391 is also where this avant-garde black box theater has been operated since 2000 by local impresarios Dan Shanahan and Melissa Meola. Torn Space Theater's production team draws on multiple different artistic media and disciplines, such as music and visual art, to present lively, imaginative and truly original dramatic works by auteurs from around the local region, as well as innovative reimaginations of well-known existing works like Eugene O'Neill's The Hairy Ape. In addition to the performances at the Mickiewicz Library, Torn Space is unique among the Buffalo theatre community in producing site-specific works designed specifically to be performed in iconic Buffalo settings such as Canalside and Silo City. And, around Halloween and their annual Prom of the Dead art and music bash packs the house at the Dnipro Center on Genesee Street.

Live music

• Central Park Grill 2519 Main St. Metro Bus 8, 23 or 32; Metro Rail: Amherst Street ☎ +1 716 836-9466 - Most of the time, "CPG's" is a cozy, sedate Main Street bar & grill situated about midway between Canisius College and University Heights, serving well-prepared comfort food and cocktails to the over-25 crowd. What it's best known for, though, are the sizzling blues shows that happen every Friday and Saturday night, where local combos like Dive House Union and the Jony James Band and the Heavenly Chillbillies strut their stuff at the center of the Buffalo blues universe. Other genres like soul, funk, jazz and reggae crop up from time to time too and if there's no band onstage when you visit you can still get your fix with the Internet jukebox and its encyclopedic selection of blues numbers.

• Colored Musicians' Club 145 Broadway 42.886566, -78.867900 Metro Bus 1, 2, 4, 6, 14, 16, 24 or 42; Metro Rail: Lafayette Plaza ☎ +1 716 855-9383 - Located on Broadway just outside downtown, this former home of American Federation of Musicians Local 533 (and, before that and the Charlie Zifle Shoe Store) has done double-duty as a famous jazz club since not much later than the union chapter's foundation in 1918, made necessary when Local 43 voted to bar local African-American musicians from membership. With jazz music all the rage among the black community at the time and the union's second-floor performance space became the place to see informal jam sessions by members of local ragtime and jazz bands after their workday was finished, or on Sundays, to see them rehearse in the training space the union provided free to its members. Soon enough, it was a venue in its own right, playing host to world-famous luminaries like Count Basie, Duke Ellington, Ella Fitzgerald, Lena Horne, Dizzy Gillespie, Billie Holiday, Lionel Hampton and more. The tradition continues today: the Colored Musicians' Club hosts big-band concerts on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday nights, as well as Sunday afternoons followed by a legendary open jam session in the evening. And if you're interested in the club's storied history and there's also an attached museum (Buffalo/East Side#History 2|q.v.) where you can learn all you've ever wanted to know about Buffalo's jazz scene of yesterday and today.

• The Foundry 298 Northampton St. 42.907611, -78.855976 Metro Bus 18 or 22 ☎ +1 716 220-8842 - The Foundry is a former industrial workshop in Masten Park that now serves as an incubator for a wide range of grassroots small businesses, as well as a venue for various community-centered events and happenings. One of those events is Roc da Mic, a monthly showcase for Buffalo's underground hip-hop community. On the last Thursday of each month, local MCs, DJs, breakdancers, poets and other artists converge to strut their stuff in a freeform open-mic extravaganza.

• Varsity Theatre 3165 Bailey Ave. 42.940964, -78.813408 Metro Bus 13, 19 or 32 ☎ +1 716 364-3008 It's a story that, in many ways, parallels that of the Allendale Theatre in Allentown: built in the 1920s as a silent movie palace in a then-thriving neighborhood, by the '70s it had been reduced to showing B movies and porn before closing outright and was subsequently rescued from the threat of demolition and resurrected as a performance venue. Unlike the Allendale, though and the rebirth of the Varsity Theatre was as a venue for live music instead of theatrical performances — and rather than a multipronged effort on the part of a diverse group of preservationists and community stakeholders and the restoration of the Varsity was the six-year labor of love of a single individual: Ibrahim Cissé, a computer technologist originally from Côte d'Ivoire who now serves as head of the Bailey Business Association. The Varsity had its grand reopening in January 2016 and now plays host to everything from hip-hop acts to gospel choirs to the Nickel City Opera.

Canisius College - Quad 2 - The quad at Canisius College on a November afternoon. Canisius' 77-acre (31 ha) campus is the junctionstone of the Hamlin Park neighborhood.

Study in Buffalo/East Side

Buffalo's third-largest institution of postsecondary education and its largest private one, Canisius College GPS 42.925289,-78.851679}}'s sprawling Main Street premises have, after a vigorous period of expansion over the past two decades, come to dominate the northwest part of Hamlin Park. Founded in 1870 by a group of (German) Jesuit priests and originally located next to St. Michael's Catholic Church downtown and the college's current location began as a satellite campus in the first decade of the 20th Century and quickly evolved into its main one. Canisius today is a highly-regarded educational institution where some 5,000 students earn undergraduate and graduate degrees in over a hundred different fields.

Shopping in Buffalo/East Side

Kensington-Bailey

The stretch of Bailey Avenue between Winspear Avenue and the Kensington Expressway is the most bustling retail neighborhood on the East Side.

Clothing and accessories

If you're on the hunt for streetwise urban fashions, Ken-Bailey is the place to be: up and down the strip and there's an abundance of options.

• Bailey Jewelry 3124 Bailey Ave. 42.939809, -78.813866 Metro Bus 13, 19 or 32 ☎ +1 716 832-0615 Opening Hours: Daily 10AM Monday - 6PM Yes, "CASH FOR GOLD" is proclaimed loudly and proudly on the signs that adorn the front of this humble storefront, but Bailey Jewelry is more than just another sleazy old-gold broker. On the contrary and the selection of 10-karat, 14-karat and silver jewelry here is impressive indeed. As is the rule on the East Side and the merchandise here runs heavily toward big, chunky hoop earrings, pendants, diamond watches and other hip-hop-inspired styles; as is not the rule on the East Side, you should come prepared to splurge a little b prices are fair for what you get, but what you get is of surprisingly high quality.

• Beauty Plus 3121 Bailey Ave. 42.939761, -78.813408 Metro Bus 13, 19 or 32 ☎ +1 716 446-9292 Opening Hours: Sunday - Thursday 9AM Monday - 9PM, F-Sa 9AM Monday - 10PM In business on Bailey Avenue since 2009 and the main stock in trade at Beauty Plus is a range of wholesale beauty salon equipment and supplies, as well as a great selection of wigs, in many cases made of real human hair. However and there's a wide range of street-style jeans, t-shirts, hoodies and other clothing on the walls and shelves of this crowded shop at the heart of the Kensington-Bailey business neighborhood. Beauty Plus is also an authorized dealer of Dickies workwear.

• Carrie's High Fashions 3329 Bailey Ave. 42.945554, -78.813408 Metro Bus 12, 13, 19 or 32 ☎ +1 716 838-0389 Opening Hours: Tuesday - Saturday 10AM Monday - 5PM Carrie's High Fashions is a small place that's not particularly easy to find: look for the small "Hats & Shoes" sign in the window next to Jackson Hewitt Tax Service, on the east side of Bailey Avenue. Hats and shoes are indeed the junctionstones of the merchandise at Carrie's and the selection of which comprises resale vintage items as well as vintage-inspired new pieces. There's elegant, high-fashion ladies' hats perfect for church on Sunday and beautiful dresses in bold yet refined colors and styles.

• City Fashion 2987 Bailey Ave. 42.936027, -78.813408 Metro Bus 13, 19 or 32 ☎ +1 716 833-4305 Opening Hours: Monday - Thursday 11AM Monday - 6:30PM, F-Sa 11AM Monday - 7PM Since 2005, City Fashion's stylish, elegant ladieswear has been attracting folks from all over the city and beyond — folks come from as far as Toronto to browse the great selection of quality items on the racks. if you're planning a special occasion such as a graduation, prom or wedding, you're in luck. The service here is friendly and helpful and they do tailoring and alterations as well.

• Fashion City 3112 Bailey Ave. 42.939575, -78.813866 Metro Bus 13, 19 or 32 ☎ +1 716 835-2819 Opening Hours: Daily 9AM Monday - 10PM At Fashion City, you'll certainly find plenty of the streetwise urban styles you see in other clothes shops on Bailey, but that's not the end of the story: there's also a nice selection of items in a more traditional, even preppy, aesthetic. The interior sports a brash and vibrant decorative scheme, highlighted by a loud black-and-white checkered tile floor and it's where you'll find a wide range of name-brand clothes for men and women on racks, shelves, even hanging from the rafters: sweats, hoodies, jeans, t-shirts, baseball caps, flannels, bubble jackets, shoes and boots (there's a huge wall given over to Timberlands). Fashion City is also an authorized dealer of Dickies work apparel.

• Lucky's Fashions 1074 Kensington Ave. 42.937603, -78.814957 Metro Bus 13, 19 or 32 ☎ +1 716 835-8259 Opening from Monday to Saturday 10AM Monday - 9PM, Sunday 10AM Monday - 8PM Lucky's may not look like much from the outside, but there's a huge selection of different stuff inside that goes above and beyond "The Latest Fashion and Beauty" touted by the sign outside. The front of the store is given over to a nice selection of polo shirts, men's and women's T-shirts, jeans and workwear, while in back you have bath products, body oils, wigs, hair extensions and other such items. Finally, this jack-of-all-trades shop even sells, unlocks and repairs cell phones — a variety of brands and plans are offered.

• Mz. Tammy's Fashions 3389 Bailey Ave. 42.947213, -78.813408 Metro Bus 12, 13 or 19 ☎ +1 716 436-5429 Tammy Scott makes it clear with the sign out front that the Bailey Avenue store she owns is "4 women with curves" — and if you're a plus-sized lady who doesn't want to miss out on the loud and proud, attention-getting urban styles you find at other East Side clothing boutiques, head in for a snazzy selection of everything from club-wear to church-wear, at fantastic prices.

• One of a Kind Fashion 3000 Bailey Ave. 42.936430, -78.813866 Metro Bus 13, 19 or 32 ☎ +1 716 783-9796 Opening Hours: Daily 11AM Monday - 11PM "Don't be predictable", exhorts the motto on the sign and true to its word, One of a Kind Fashions' inventory is a refreshing change of pace: fashions that are decidedly upscale without sacrificing any streetwise sass. The retail space here is split into two levels: in front you'll find streetwear and accessories whose aesthetic tends toward the loud and outlandish; walk up a few steps in back for a range of more conservative dresses, skirts and tops perfect for a night on the town. Furthering this balancing act is the interior, brightly lit and decorated with stylish minimalism yet with delightfully gaudy accents here and there like mirrored walls.

• Styles 1012 Kensington Ave. 42.936855, -78.816773 Metro Bus 13, 19 or 32 ☎ +1 716 322-7347 Opening from Monday to Saturday 11AM Monday - 7PM Open on Kensington Avenue since 2015, Styles is less a fashion boutique than a custom screen-printing and embroidery workshop where you can obtain the design or logo of your choosing (pick from a selection of house-created ones, or come up with your own) placed on any number of different articles of clothing, accessories, or other goods — most often t-shirts, sweatshirts, hoodies and the like, but also baseball caps, headbands, leather jackets and even laptop cases and dog collars. Owner Joe Graham and his staff hold court in a store that's small in size but brightly lie and smartly appointed in minimalist style and sell their wares for nice prices.

• Swag 2883 Bailey Ave. 42.933303, -78.813252 Metro Bus 12, 13 or 19 ☎ +1 716 491-6340 Opening Hours: Monday - Thursday 9AM Monday - 8PM, F-Sa 9AM Monday - 9PM There's lots of urban clothes crammed into this ample, warmly decorated strip-mall boutique, particularly menswear: t-shirts, jeans, hoodies and more. Belts, shoes, boots and other accessories come in bold, bright colors and really make a statement. The folks at Swag also fix broken mobile phones, iPads and iPods.

• United Men's Fashion - 3082 Bailey Ave. 42.938860, -78.813866 Metro Bus 13, 19 or 32 ☎ +1 716 837-0100 Opening Hours: Monday - West 10AM Monday - 6:45PM, Thursday - Friday 10AM Monday - 7:45PM, Saturday 10AM Monday - 5:15PM Established in 1929, United Men's Fashions is by far the oldest operating business in the neighborhood, with a selection that comprises an extensive and high-quality yet reasonably priced array of suit jackets, dress shirts and pants, tuxedos and other formalwear, sweaters, hats and men's accessories. Despite sporting a style that's sometimes a bit too flashy for its own good — bright colors and offbeat styles abound — the inventory is classy and sophisticated, seemingly much more at home in a high-end men's shop in New York or Los Angeles than on the East Side.
• Young Fashion 3096 Bailey Ave. 42.939000, -78.813866 Metro Bus 13, 19 or 32 ☎ +1 716 838-1733 Opening Hours: Daily 10AM Monday - 6PM Since 1992, owner Kim Young has operated this urban fashion boutique, stocking street gear and accessories for both men and women at the heart of the Bailey strip. The styles you'll find at Young Fashions are pretty much in line with the standard set by its neighboring competitors, but the selection is nice and they're also an authorized seller of Dickies brand workwear.

Specialty foods

• An Chau Asian Market 3306 Bailey Ave. 42.944855, -78.813866 Metro Bus 12, 13, 19 or 32 ☎ +1 716 837-2303 Opening Hours: Monday - West 10AM Monday - 7:30PM, Thursday 10AM Monday - 9PM, F-Sa 10AM Monday - 8:30PM, Sunday 10AM Monday - 6PM If you've been to An Chau's Buffalo/West Side#BlessYou|other location on Niagara Street, you'll know what to expect: crowded aisles stacked floor-to-ceiling with a wide variety of international and especially Asian, specialty groceries: here you'll find all sorts of Sauces, oils, pickles, nonperishables, fresh produce and fresh and frozen meats. Compared to its counterpart and the Bailey location is smaller but cleaner and less and claustrophobic and there's more of an emphasis on non-Asian items, such as Jamaican johnnycake mix. For best results, check the sell-by dates: An Chau is known for keeping expired items on the shelves.

• Fair Price Halal Meat, Grocery & Food 3327 Bailey Ave. 42.945482, -78.813408 Metro Bus 12, 13, 19 or 32 ☎ +1 716 536-1890 Opening Hours: Monday to Friday 9:30AM Monday - 9:30PM, Saturday - Sunday 9AM Monday - 9:30PM "Bangladeshi, Nepalese, Indian, (Pakistani) and American grocery items" are what the bilingual English-Bengali sign outside the door advertises and indeed, what you'll find on the shelves of this refreshingly uncluttered shop is all the usual ethnic-grocery standards: huge sacks of Rice and other staple grains stacked in the front window; dried legumes, cooking oils, spices and condiments on the shelves; frozen samosas and the like in the coolers. But what sets Fair Price apart from the competition is an impressively diverse and impeccably fresh selection of Asian and Western produce.

Furniture and home decor

• Bailey Furniture 3191 Bailey Ave. 42.941599, -78.813408 Metro Bus 13, 19 or 32 ☎ +1 716 835-6171 Opening Hours: Tuesday to Friday 11AM Monday - 4PM, Saturday 11AM Monday - 3PM The furniture at issue here is mostly used and antique, with a few new items mixed in. There's a wide selection to browse through at this crowded little shop, especially of dining room furniture, which seems to be a particular specialty. As the inventory is sourced mostly from consignment, quality (and value for your money) varies widely from item to item and the shopping experience is akin to a giant estate sale. Still, like any estate sale and there are bargains to be had for those who are willing to hunt for them. It might be worthwhile to call ahead if you're thinking of stopping in: the staff has a habit of adhering rather loosely to their posted opening hours.

• Priceless Home Decor 3139 Bailey Ave. 42.940229, -78.813408 Metro Bus 13, 19 or 32 ☎ +1 716 551-0642 Opening from Monday to Saturday noon-9PM "Home decor" is really only the beginning at Priceless, where you'll find a truly gargantuan selection of furniture, appliances and home electronics whose sophisticated class, durability and all-around high quality may come as a surprise to visitors initially put off by the downmarket look of its exterior. This place has stuff you wouldn't find in a store twice its size. A full range of living room, dining room and bedroom furniture, mattresses, stoves, washers and dryers, refrigerators and other appliances and TVs and other electronics are all sold at Priceless, with service that's second to none in friendliness and efficiency.

KenBaileyBusinessDistrict-BuffaloNY - Looking south down Bailey Avenue from the junction of Westminster Avenue, in the heart of the Kensington-Bailey business neighborhood.

Music

• New Style Records and Movies 2995 Bailey Ave. 42.936282, -78.813408 Metro Bus 13, 19 or 32 ☎ +1 716 834-0710 A 20-year veteran of the local music industry, Civic Davis has been selling the latest in R&B, hip-hop, reggae, gospel, jazz and blues albums in this small shop since 1996. Browse through the selection of CDs and cassettes in the stylishly decorated sales floor overlooked by a huge fishbowl. DVDs of blockbuster Hollywood movies are available, as well as — interestingly — a range of spa and beauty care products.

Midtown, Cold Spring and other Near East Side areas

For now and the East Side's Western flank is the least amenable area of the neighborhood for those in search of a neighborhood shopping experience. But with new investment breathing life back into Main Street and the old Cold Spring business neighborhood along Jefferson Avenue, look for this scenario to be turned on its head over the next few years.

Clothing and accessories

• Big Basha Central 844 Jefferson Ave. 42.898087, -78.854242 Metro Bus 18, 22, 24 or 29 ☎ +1 716 856-4926 Opening Hours: Daily 9AM Monday - 10PM Located just off the Jefferson Avenue exit of the Kensington Expressway at the edge of the Fruit Belt, Big Basha Central has been "your one-stop shop" since 1995 for clothing and gear in a wide variety of urban styles: T-shirts, hoodies and jeans from brands like Rocawear, Black Label and Coogi, designer sneakers and Timberland boots, jackets and ladieswear too. There's also a bodega-cum-beauty supply shop, Big Basha Market, across the street.

• 44 Fashion and Footwear 1233 Main St. 42.907212, -78.867074 Metro Bus 8, 11, 13, 22, or 25; Metro Rail: Summer-Best ☎ +1 716 895-2000 Opening Hours: Sunday - Thursday 9AM Monday - 9PM, F-Sa 9AM Monday - 10PM Buffalo Rising compares this place to "Manhattan/Chinatown|Canal Street in NYC, back in the days when Canal Street was actually cool", but don't take that too literally: 44 Fashion represents the "über-trendy hipster duds with a side of streetwise flair" side of Chinatown, not "second-rate designer-knockoff schlock". Jeans, graphic tees and button-down collar shirts straight out of a hip-hop video line the racks, high-quality products all, but the real draw is a mind-bendingly diverse range in styles and colors that are utterly whimsical.
• Park Avenue Coat Company - 144 William St. 42.885084, -78.866409 Metro Bus 1, 2, 4, 6, 14, 16, 24 or 42; Metro Rail: Lafayette Plaza ☎ +1 716 856-4209 Opening from Monday to Saturday 10AM Monday - 6PM Besides being a wholesale distributor of brand-name and designer leather jackets, winter wear, caps and t-shirts, Park Avenue Coat Company also has several retail locations, including this one, where the same merchandise at the same prices are sold in a no-frills warehouse environment — along with "slightly irregular" merchandise direct from the manufacturers at an even steeper discount. Prices tend to be especially good around February and March when they're clearing out their winter gear. Sadly, a weak spot is the service: chronic understaffing leaves clients fending for themselves more often than not.

• Utica Sneakertown 1307 Jefferson Ave. 42.910319, -78.853166 At the Jefferson-Utica Plaza; Metro Bus 12, 13, 18 or 29 ☎ +1 716 884-1717 Opening Hours: Monday - West & Saturday 11AM Monday - 7:15PM, Thursday - Friday 11AM Monday - 7:30PM A lot bigger inside than what it looks like from the parking lot, this Korean-owned footwear destination at the Jefferson-Utica Plaza in Cold Spring carries a nice selection of shoes — they're a licensed dealer of Timberland boots as well as Converse products. Oddly enough, Sneakertown also carries a modest array of urban-styled jewelry.

Specialty foods

• Bangla Bazaar 2290 Fillmore Ave. 42.936369, -78.839408 Metro Bus 8 or 23; Metro Rail: Amherst Street ☎ +1 716 495-3721 Opening Hours: Daily 9AM Monday - 12:30AM Picture this. It's 11 at night. You haven't eaten yet and you're hungry for Indian food. All the restaurants are closed. What to do? Well, assuming you know how to cook and don't mind braving a moderately sketchy neighborhood in the dark, Bangla Bazaar in Highland Park is your answer. Step inside and you'll find shelves well-stocked with everything you'd expect from an ethnic food market: nonperishable packaged groceries, spices, dried beans and legumes, frozen fish and meats (100% https://), even vegetables. Prices are high and the organizational scheme of the store's layout isn't what you'd call intuitive, but of course that comes with the territory.

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• Buffalo Company - 314 Myrtle Ave. 42.878247, -78.858116 Metro Bus 2, 15 or 18 ☎ +1 716 868-2218 Opening Hours: Friday 4PM Monday - 8PM, Saturday 2PM Monday - 8PM Contrary to popular misconception and the Buffalo Company is not Buffalo's first nanobrewery (that title technically goes to Buffalo/West Side#CBW|Community Fruit Juices Works) — but with a capacity of two barrels a day and their pint-sized facility is certainly more in line with what most folks think of when they hear that term. The core of Buffalo Brewing's repertoire consists of four permanent soft drinks, all produced 100% by hand and named for years significant to Buffalo's history, along with a slate of seasonal brews. Opening hours are brief, but if you're in town on a Friday or Saturday and they'll fill your growler for the unbelievable price of $15.

• Michigan Riley Farm - 108 Riley St. 42.909830, -78.861956 Metro Bus 8, 12, 13 or 18; Metro Rail: Utica ☎ +1 716 262-8183 Opening Hours: Farm stand open seasonally Located on 12 vacant lots in Cold Spring sold at a city foreclosure auction in 2011, Michigan Riley is a bit different than most area urban farms in that it's cooperatively owned: individual participants sign up each year for one of two levels of membership, with both work and harvests shared among the members proportionally. For short-term visitors and those who aren't interested in volunteering and the best way to get your hands on some of these delicious vegetables and herbs is at the seasonally-open farm stand on Riley Street — as well as a few blocks away at The Foundry on Northampton Street, on the second Saturday of each month.

Chocolate, Candies and sweets

• Choco-Logo Confectionery - 141 Broadway 42.886477, -78.868404 Metro Bus 1, 2, 4, 6, 14, 16, 24 or 42; Metro Rail: Lafayette Plaza ☎ +1 716 855-3500 Opening Hours: Monday to Friday 10AM Monday - 5PM Buffalo's oldest artisanal chocolatier (and the official Chocolates provider for Bloomingdale's department stores) maintains a small factory store whose selection most of the time is fairly modest: dark and milk Chocolates truffles, chocolate-covered nuts and the famous "Nutcorn" (caramel corn stuffed with roasted nuts and coated in chocolate) and a variety of sea-salted caramels. But it's in the seasonal selections available around the holidays where Choco-Logo's creativity really comes out to shine, with unique truffle options such as Eggnog, Black & Tan and Ice Wine.
• Landies Candies - 2495 Main St., Suite 350 At the Tri-Main Building; Metro Bus 8, 23 or 32; Metro Rail: Amherst Street ☎ +1 716 834-8212 Opening Hours: Monday to Friday 9AM Monday - 4PM If you're a home shopping aficionado, you may have seen Landies Candies offered up for sale "exclusively" on the QVC network. You might have searched fruitlessly in stores only to be told that the only way you can get them is through the television is that true? Yes indeed — unless you head up to the third floor of the 3M|Tri-Main Center in Highland Park, where Landies has a retail shop selling a wide range of treats: Chocolates truffles, peanut butter cups, caramel confections and a delectable take on Buffalo#Sponge|sponge Candies that's fresh and flavorful without the cloying sweetness you'll find elsewhere.

Antiques

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• The Peddler 298 Northampton St. At The Foundry; Metro Bus 18 or 22 - Opening Hours: Saturday 8:30AM Monday - 4PM, late Oct through mid-Apr During winter, Newell Nussbaumer's upscale flea market — which Buffalo/Elmwood Village#Peddler|spends the milder months at Parish Commons in the Elmwood Village — moves indoors to The Foundry on Northampton Street. As always and the Peddler features a dizzying variety of antique knickknacks and upscale vintage clothes sold by a growing roster of vendors.

Furniture and home decor

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• Buffalo ReUse 296 E. Ferry St. 42.915376, -78.852976 Entrance on Dupont St., Metro Bus 13 or 18 ☎ +1 716 578-3782 Opening Hours: Saturday 10AM Monday - 5PM, Sunday noon-5PM Housed appropriately enough in an old industrial building on the north edge of Cold Spring, Buffalo ReUse's game is "upcycling" authentic discarded architectural elements, plumbing fixtures, furniture and other interior pieces recovered from demolished homes and thereby keeping trash out of landfills while reducing demand for new items and the raw materials required to produce them. Stop by one of their weekend "sidewalk sales" to pick up one-of-a-kind items you won't find in a million years at Home Depot or Lowe's, sold at a fraction of what you'd pay for comparable reproduction pieces.

• Maasai Consignment Boutique 208 E. Delavan Ave. 42.922178, -78.849476 Metro Bus 18, 26 or 29; Metro Rail: Delavan-Canisius College ☎ +1 716 322-5696 Opening Hours: Tuesday to Friday noon-7PM, Saturday 10AM Monday - 5PM Despite its name and the gently used furniture and home goods on offer here are sourced not only from consignment but also from estate sales, making for a diverse mix of very unusual and high-quality items. More than that, though, what's notable about Maasai is the community focus of co-owners Michelle Matthews and Janaine Gates, which comes out in myriad ways: from their decision to take a chance on their own neighborhood of Hamlin Park which many small business owners avoid, to their donation of a portion of their profits to St. Luke's Mission of Mercy, to good old-fashioned friendly service.

Music

• Doris Records 286 E. Ferry St. 42.9150037, -78.853611 Metro Bus 13 or 18 ☎ +1 716 883-2410 Opening from Monday to Saturday 10AM Monday - 10PM If you're a fan of modern R&B and hip-hop music or the sweet strains of classic soul and Motown, you'll want to make a stop at this institution that's been going strong in Cold Spring since 1962. Nowadays small independent record shops like this are almost invariably partonized by hipster vinyl fetishists, but Dorit is the exception to that rule: here CDs and DVDs dominate the inventory and there's only a modest selection of record albums. You can also browse a modest variety of baseball caps, T-shirts and other streetwear, as well as racks of urban-oriented lifestyle magazines such as XXL.

Miscellaneous

• Alive Christian Bookstore 2275 Fillmore Ave. 42.935805, -78.839087 Metro Bus 8 or 23; Metro Rail: Amherst Street ☎ +1 716 837-1118 Opening Hours: Monday to Friday 11AM Monday - 5PM Operated since 1995 by the Greater Refuge Temple of Christ's Reverend Gordon Sweat and his wife Larcenia, Alive Christian Bookstore carries copies of the Bible in a variety of different translations, as well as Bible study materials, Sunday School readers from the Union Gospel Press and sundry other Christian literature. The purview of this place doesn't end with books, though; Alive is also a source for church supplies including robes, clergy shirts and other specialty clothing.

• Bikeshop Buffalo - 145 Swan St. 42.880800, -78.870124 Metro Bus 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 11, 14, 15, 16, 20, 24, 25, 40, or 42; Metro Rail: Seneca ☎ +1 716 259-9463 Opening Hours: Monday to Friday 10AM Monday - 6PM, Saturday 10AM Monday - 4PM The original Bikeshop has been at the service of East Aurora cyclists since 2006 and at their branch location at The Hub you can expect the same expert service and friendly mom-and-pop atmosphere as at the original, but an inventory that trends more toward high-performance road bikes for urban use. Bianchi, Redline and Scott are some of the popular brands carried here and available exclusively at the Buffalo location is the Retül line of performance-enhancing fittings. A full range of parts and accessories completes the picture. Prices are a splurge, but they're justified by the quality of what you get.

Delavan-Bailey and Schiller Park

Clothing and accessories

• City Swagg 2240 Genesee St. 42.917926, -78.800883 Metro Bus 24 or 26 ☎ +1 716 247-0691 Opening from Monday to Saturday 9AM Monday - 9PM Opened in 2012 on the West Side, City Swagg moved to its current location in Schiller Park in 2017. The inventory is the same as ever, though: these guys offer the best in urban fashions straight from the streets of New York, L.A. and Miami. From everyday wear like jeans, dresses and jackets, to shoes and accessories, to swimwear and body suits and the designs here are sexy, sassy and make a bold statement. As well as clothing, City Swagg also sells mobile phones and related accessories, with calling plans from providers such as H2O Wireless, T-Mobile and Net10.

• Gear Up 1281 E. Delavan Ave. 42.922488, -78.809398 Metro Bus 12, 13, 19 or 26 ☎ +1 716 892-1695 Opening Hours: Daily 9AM Monday - 9PM This brightly-decorated storefront in Delavan-Bailey is a destination for those in search of urban-oriented sportswear, outerwear, jeans and sneakers from popular brands like Nike, Timberland and New Era. Gear Up is a crowded and not particularly well-organized place, but there are some nice finds if you're willing to hunt them down a little bit. That's especially true of the sneaker selection: if you're looking for something that really stands out, with bright colors and unusual designs, stop by. New arrivals come in every week and Gear Up also boasts a modest range of ladies' fashions, handbags and other accessories.

• Get Your'z 2047 Genesee St. 42.915334, -78.806741 Metro Bus 24 ☎ +1 716 894-4252 Opening Hours: Monday to Friday 11AM Monday - 9PM, Saturday 11AM Monday - 10PM Owned since 2006 by James Barclay and situated on Genesee Street an easy walk from Schiller Park, Get Your'z is a source for trendy, statement-making designer ladies' apparel (and some menswear too). Dresses, blouses, stylish jeans, leggings and hosiery come in bold colors and daring styles and sales and promotions happen frequently. Interestingly, Get Your'z also stocks a range of vehicle accessories.

• KeeKee's 1384 E. Delavan Ave. 42.922851, -78.805576 Metro Bus 26 ☎ +1 716 603-4915 Opening Hours: Monday to Friday 10AM Monday - 6PM, Saturday 10AM Monday - 5PM Owner Lakeisha Williams proudly sells her line of new and secondhand women's "Fashions on a Budget" in this sparsely decorated storefront in the heart of the Delavan-Bailey business neighborhood. If your tastes tend toward the Afrocentric, KeeKee's is the place for you, with lots of colorful wooden jewelry and flowing dresses in tribal-style prints, but aside from that the styles here tend to be a bit more understated than what you'll find on a your typical East Side urban fashion boutique. But there are some really upscale finds here among the dresses, blouses, shawls, shoes, handbags and other accessories.

• Legacy Apparel & Footwear 2649 Bailey Ave. 42.926999, -78.813408 Metro Bus 12, 19 or 26 ☎ +1 716 893-0361 Opening Hours: Daily 9AM Monday - 11PM A newer addition to the roster of Bailey Avenue clothing boutiques, Legacy Apparel is a huge emporium located at the far southern end of the strip stocked with a huge range of streetwear for both men and women — hoodies, jackets, baseball caps and some of the best-priced jeans you'll find anywhere on the East Side. Bright colors and hip-hop styles abound. And if Bailey Avenue is particularly busy on the day you visit, never fear about parking — Legacy Apparel boasts an ample off-street lot.

• Sky's the Limit 2619 Bailey Ave. 42.925442, -78.813408 Metro Bus 12, 19 or 26 ☎ +1 716 895-3520 Opening Hours: Daily 9AM Monday - 11PM Sky's the Limit is run by local entrepreneur Ahmed Ahmed, a second-generation Yemeni-American immigrant who also owns NoStaticAtAll|Farm Fresh Market across the street. The major tourist attraction here is a dizzying range of beauty supplies as well as wigs and weaves, but there's also a similarly impressive selection of urban-style women's apparel and footwear, with excellent bargains to be had on bold, sassy tops, leggings, dresses and other formalwear, work uniforms and even kids' clothing. The downside at Sky's the Limit is the client service, which tends toward the inattentive.

Specialty foods

• Indo-Pak Bangla Bazar 525 Doat St. 42.909697, -78.801222 Metro Bus 6 or 22 ☎ +1 716 803-6529 Opening Hours: Daily 10AM Monday - 9PM As the name indicates, Indo-Pak Bangla Bazar is a small grocery store in Schiller Park that serves the needs of the area's teeming South Asian immigrant community with a small selection of ethnic foods. Here you'll find a variety of spices, staple foods such as Rice and dried grains, as well as more standard bodega fare such as soda pop, Snacks foods and canned goods. Friendly client service is a specialty at Indo-Pak Bangla Bazar: the credo is "Quality comes first, profit is its logical sequence".

• Steve's Meat - 1314 E. Delavan Ave. 42.922926, -78.808043 Metro Bus 12, 13, 19 or 26 ☎ +1 716 897-0272 Opening from Monday to Saturday 9AM Monday - 5PM, first Sunday of each month 9AM Monday - 1PM Steve's Meat has been serving the Delavan-Bailey community and beyond since 1978 with some of the freshest meats around: stuffed Beef chops, Steaks rollups, chuck roasts, Chicken breasts and even custom-made combo packs fly off the shelves and in the freezers you'll find a selection of Chicken fingers, Pizzas logs and other Snacks, Jamaican-style beef patties and breakfast treats like waffles, French toast and hash browns. If you're visiting near the beginning of the month, you'll likely have to brave crowds, but clients nearly always leave happy.

Miscellaneous

• M&J Wholesale 1287 E. Delavan Ave. 42.922498, -78.809073 Metro Bus 12, 13, 19 or 26 ☎ +1 716 768-0762 Opening from Monday to Saturday 9AM Monday - 10PM This Delavan-Bailey destination stocks everything for the tobacco enthusiast on your list: M&J's has hookah pipes, loose tobacco, rolling papers and other accessories for sale at rock-bottom prices (cash only, though).

Broadway-Fillmore

In the first half of the 20th Century and the junction of Broadway and Fillmore Avenue was the epicenter of Buffalo's second-busiest retail neighborhood after downtown — and the second-busiest single intersection in the whole state, surpassed only by Manhattan/Theater District|Times Plaza in Manhattan. Today it's a shadow of its former self — ask a local about the iconic local discounter of years past, Sattler's and you'll likely hear a lengthy diatribe about how its iconic flagship store at "Nine-Nine-Eight" Broadway was demolished in 1982 to make way for a Kmart that itself closed in short order. (It remains standing today, boarded up.) Still and there are more than a few hardy holdouts in old Polonia, though urban clothing stores now outnumber five-and-dimes by a great deal. At the center of it all is the struggling but still vibrant...

Broadway Market March 2015 - The Broadway Market, seen here the weekend before Easter and the busiest season of the year. This place is the last of its kind in Buffalo — there were once a half-dozen or so public markets in the city like this one, but in the years after World War II they declined and, one by one, died off in the face of competition from the supermarkets and shopping malls of suburbia.xxxxxx.

• Kaisertown Crafts and Gifts 1899 Clinton St. 42.871715, -78.806282 Metro Bus 2 ☎ +1 716 570-0668 Opening Hours: Tuesday to Friday 12:30PM Monday - 6PM, Saturday 10AM Monday - 5PM Kaisertown Crafts' mission is to teach "the younger generation... the crafts that are dying out in this modern era" — not only trendy ones like knitting and cross-stitching but also spinning, weaving, quilting, lacemaking, paper crafts, even jewelry and stained-glass artisanry. Even if you're not in the market to buy anything, you can stop by for frequent instructional classes or even borrow store-owned supplies for a nominal price to do some "open crafting" of your own. They do alterations, too and as for the "gifts" half of the equation, a range of porcelain figurines, plush toys, knitted items, books, handbags and accessories are stocked.

Delavan-Grider, Humboldt Park and Genesee-Moselle

Clothing and accessories

• The 11th Hour 1237 Genesee St. 42.904725, -78.833117 Metro Bus 6, 22, 23 or 24 ☎ +1 716 553-4156 Opening Hours: Tuesday noon-5PM, West 11AM Monday - 5:30PM, Thursday - Sunday 11AM Monday - 9PM Tucked away in an easy-to-miss storefront near Martin Luther King, Jr. Park the motto at The 11th Hour is "Where Fashion Meets Style" — and the style in question is more urban than urban. On the pastel-pink racks at this nicely-decorate boutique you'll find a compendium of edgy, eye-popping, envelope-pushing pieces, each color brighter and each pattern louder than the next: these jeans, tops, bodysuits, shoes and accessories are for those who want to make a real statement and decidedly not for those who don't like to wear their clothes skintight. Personal styling services are also offered.

• Signature Apparel & Footwear 592 Walden Ave. 42.904940, -78.814186 Metro Bus 6, 19 or 22 ☎ +1 716 893-0818 Opening Hours: Daily 9AM Monday - 11PM Since 2009, this large Bailey Avenue clothing emporium has been a destination for urban athletic wear and street-level styles that are often preppier than other fashion boutiques on the East Side. At Signature you'll find a wide selection of shoes, as well as lots of name brands: Polo, Timberland, Champion, New Era and Levi's are only some of them.

Specialty foods

With a vibrant Muslim community clustered along Fillmore Avenue north of Martin Luther King, Jr. Park, Humboldt Park is a great place to stock up on fresh meats and other ethnic fare. x{{anchor|CamelliaGenesee

• Camellia Meat - 1333 Genesee St. 42.905482, -78.830349 Metro Bus 6, 12, 22 or 24 ☎ +1 716 893-5355 Opening Hours: Monday to Friday 9AM Monday - 5PM, Saturday 9AM Monday - 3PM Camellia Meat was born in 1935 and it's still run by the third generation of the Cichocki family, who sell a full line of over fifty fresh-cut meats both here and at their #CamelliaBwayMkt|Broadway Market outlet — not only the kiszka, kabanossy and award-winning Polish Sausages with which they've made their name, but multitudinous mouth-watering cuts of beef, Beef, Chicken and fish, deli meats and cheeses and a small selection of fresh produce and prepared foods.

• Jawani Market 1426 Fillmore Ave. 42.912508, -78.839261 Metro Bus 12, 13 or 23 ☎ +1 716 891-1060 - Located on Fillmore Avenue in Humboldt Park, Jawani is a grocery store and bakery that carries a modest selection of Middle Eastern specialty foods — with an accent on meats such as goat, lamb, Chicken and fish — alongside an otherwise bodegalike selection of Candies, Snacks, cold pop, cigarettes and the like. Fresh produce is also sold.

• Pickles & Peppers south end of Gittere St. 42.899381, -78.827102 Metro Bus 6 or 22 - Opening Hours: Farm stand open Saturday noon-4PM in season Situated on a six-acre (2.5 ha) plot near the border of Genesee-Moselle and Broadway-Fillmore shared with Farmer Pirates' central composting facility and the name of the game at Pickles & Peppers is a range of hot peppers and other vegetables sold fresh, dried, pickled and prepared into a wide range of artisanal hot Sauces at a seasonally-operated farm stand on Gittere Street. You can also pick up fruits from the orchard located on the same site: several dozen heirloom apple, cherry and pear trees as well as berry bushes do double duty as a haven for area wildlife.

• Shwe Tan Lwin Burmese Grocery 778 Genesee St. 42.898691, -78.848191 Metro Bus 6, 18, 24 or 29 ☎ +1 716 768-1915 Opening Hours: Daily 10AM Monday - 8PM If you're looking for Southeast Asian groceries but aren't inclined to head to the West Side, head down, but don't expect to find a selection anything like at Buffalo/West Side#BlessYou|Á Châu or Buffalo/West Side#Vineeta|Vineeta — the inventory at this modest-sized shop in Humboldt Park doesn't range far beyond an adequate but uninspiring selection of shelf-stable Asian packaged groceries such as dried vegetables, hot Sauces, cooking oils, spice blends and canned and bottled drinks. Aside from that, if you're just in the market for some bodega Snacks or cold pop, Shwe Tan Lwin has you covered there as well.

• Walden Halal Groceries 57 Walden Ave. 42.903482, -78.834134 Metro Bus 6, 22, 23 or 24 ☎ +1 716 886-6989 Opening Hours: W-M 11AM Monday - 8PM Featuring a mix of ethnic specialty groceries from the Middle East and the Indian Subcontinent that prominently includes a range of superior-quality hand-slaughtered meats available directly to clients or sold wholesale to area restaurants. If you have a specific order in mind, you can even deliver it to the store via text and they'll have it waiting for you when you arrive. Walden Halal also sells fresh produce, an impressive variety of spices and bodega fare such as Snacks, Candies and cold drinks. Keep in mind, though, that the store closes during Friday prayers and client service is limited by the staff's tenuous grasp of English.

• Zubaidah Halal Meat & Grocery 59 Walden Ave. 42.903482, -78.833921 Metro Bus 6, 22, 23 or 24 ☎ +1 716 240-0062 Opening Hours: Daily 10AM Monday - 10PM From the outside, this little place in Humboldt Park looks like the perfect spot to pick up a cold pop, Candies bar or salty Snacks — and indeed, if you're in the market for something like that, you won't be disappointed. But Zubaidah is much more than just another corner bodega. The accent among the international selection of groceries touted on the sign out front is on Middle Eastern and South Asian meats and fish, spices and a modest selection of fresh produce. Zubaidah is also a source for clothing, including both Western and traditional Muslim garb.

Furniture and home decor

xxxxx{{anchor|Desi

• Desi's - 1816 Clinton St. 42.871971, -78.809433 Metro Bus 2 ☎ +1 716 825-6200 Opening Hours: Monday 4PM Monday - 10PM, W-Sa 4PM Monday - 11PM, Sunday 4PM Monday - 9PM
• Guzzo's Hot Spot 1960 Clinton St. 42.871931, -78.803993 Metro Bus 2 ☎ +1 716 823-7876 Opening Hours: Tuesday - Thursday 3PM Monday - midnight, F-Sa 3PM Monday - 2AM, Sunday 2PM Monday - midnight
• Lovenjoy Pizzeria - 1244 E. Lovenjoy St. 42.889905, -78.802070 Metro Bus 1 ☎ +1 716 891-9233 Opening Hours: Monday - Thursday 11AM Monday - 10:30PM, F-Sa 11AM Monday - 11PM, Sunday 3PM Monday - 10PM
• Pizzas By Molino's - 1974 Clinton St. 42.871931, -78.803481 Metro Bus 2 ☎ +1 716 825-8074 Opening Hours: Tuesday - Thursday 11AM Monday - 10PM, F-Sa 11AM Monday - 11PM, South 11AM Monday - 9PM
• Pizzas Express - 1993 Broadway 42.898256, -78.801263 Metro Bus 4 ☎ +1 716 897-4870 Opening Hours: Monday - Thursday 10AM Monday - 10:30PM, F-Sa 10AM Monday - 11:30PM, Sunday 10AM Monday - 10PM

Delavan-Grider, Humboldt Park and Genesee-Moselle

Soul food and barbecue, barbecue and soul food — if downhome Southern cuisine is what you crave, you'll find it here in the heart of the East Side.

{{anchor|AppletreeLunch

• Appletree Halal Market 898 Genesee St. 42.900374, -78.844358 Metro Bus 6, 22, 23 or 24 ☎ +1 716 768-4818 Opening Hours: Daily 9AM Monday - 7PM $10-15 The word "market" implies ingredients that you #AppletreeShop|buy and take home to make your own meals and for self-caterers, that's certainly an option at Appletree. But this place's main claim to fame is some of the best takeout food you'll find in Western New York: a range of Middle Eastern and South Asian dishes including Chicken, goat and lamb curries, biryani and even Pizzas ladled out for you from steam trays for some jaw-droppingly fair prices. Mohsin and the owner, is a friendly, larger-than-life character who imbues the place with a boisterous spirit that's light-years from the taciturn surliness of other food store personnel.

• Happy Swallow 1349 Sycamore St. Metro Bus 6 or 22 ☎ +1 716 894-4854 Opening Hours: Friday 3PM Monday - 8PM $10-20 Six days of the week and the Happy Swallow enjoys a placid existence as an neighborhood gin mill that is (in the words of Forgotten Buffalo Tours) "a rare survivor of the 'family-owned tavern' era" on the East Side, with longtime owner Tommy Golinowski pouring tall cold ones for a dwindling population of regulars in a homey, wood-paneled interior that's as old-school as it gets. But on Friday evenings only and the kitchen opens up and visitors flock in to enjoy hearty, homestyle Polish dinners at prices that take you back almost as many years as the Happy Swallow itself — thit is an experience that was once common in Buffalo but is getting harder and harder to find, so don't miss this place if you can help it. At dinnertime, fish fry is the main attraction, especially during Lent; it comes in either yellow pike or traditional haddock, breaded or battered and it's really good. Also on the menu is fried shrimp and scallops, plus a grand seafood platter that includes both of those plus a half-serving of fish. Pierogies (with Cheese, sauerkraut or potato), roast beef and other specialties are served too and all dinners come with heaping sides of fries, coleslaw, American or (German) potato salad, macaroni salad and bread and butter.

• Ike & BG's Ribs 1646 Genesee St. 42.910305, -78.819920 Metro Bus 12, 19 or 24 ☎ +1 716 892-4301 Opening Hours: Tuesday & Saturday 11AM Monday - 8PM, Friday 11AM Monday - 11PM $10-25 Ike's is just a tiny little takeout joint on a desolate stretch of Genesee Street that's only open three days a week, but the Southern-style barbecue fare they dish out is so good that it'd be unthinkable to leave them out of this Travel Guide. In case you couldn't figure it out from the name of this place, at Ike & BG's the name of the game is ribs — meaty, mouthwatering half- and full racks of Beef ribs come slathered with a super-spicy hot barbecue Sauce that "will burn your soul", in the words of one especially feisty reviewer. There's also dinner specials of fried or barbecued Chicken, barbecue fish, Steaks hoagies and more. And don't forget the mac and Cheese, coleslaw and other stick-to-your-ribs (no pun intended!) sides.

• Lee's Barbeque 1269 Fillmore Ave. 42.908203, -78.838941 Metro Bus 12, 22 or 23 ☎ +1 716 896-8887 Opening Hours: Monday 11AM Monday - 7PM; Tu, West & Saturday 11AM Monday - midnight; Thursday - Friday 11AM Monday - 1AM, Sunday 2PM Monday - 7PM $15-25 Since 1969, Lee's has been dishing out what many Muslim call the "best barbecue in Buffalo" out of a old converted clapboard house in the heart of Humboldt Park. As usual with this type of cuisine and the key is the Sauce and rather than the sticky-sweet, tomato-based Kansas City - and Memphis -style Sauces typical to barbecue joints around here, Lee's stands alone in Buffalo with an North Carolina Coastal Plain|East Carolina -style sauce: a thin Sauce with a vinegar base, spicy and sharp in flavor with no tomato at all. You can get extra Sauce with your meal for $1 and be assured: you will want some. The menu is simple and straightforward, with top billing given to Beef ribs and shoulder available either as a sandwiches or a dinner platter with coleslaw, potato salad, or French fries on the side. Portions are huge and though the quality of the Meat is somewhat inconsistent, most of the time it's topnotch: meaty, fall-off-the-bone tender and — most importantly — always saucy. Lee's also serves barbecued half-chicken, Chicken fingers and wings and haddock dinners that are especially popular on Fridays.

• Ms. Goodies 1836 Bailey Ave. 42.904360, -78.813866 Metro Bus 6, 19 or 22 ☎ +1 716 936-3690 Opening Hours: Monday - West & Saturday 7AM Monday - 2:30PM, Thursday - Friday & Sunday 8AM Monday - 7PM $10-20 The specialty that put Ms. Goodies on the map is something they call the "junkyard dog", which is a hard concept to wrap your head around at first — sort of a cross between a Hot Dogs, a taco and a fish fry, this odd concoction consists of a fried haddock filet, French fries and coleslaw slathered with hot Sauce and stuffed into a flour tortilla. But it's delicious enough to have won multiple awards at the Taste of Buffalo. But the junkyard dog is only the beginning of the story at Ms. Goodies. Breakfast and lunch is the time to come to this Bailey Avenue dive; respectively, you can indulge in delicious Southern-style Chicken and waffles or a create-your-own-breakfast option with eggs, breakfast meats, potatoes, grits and more as building blocks, or avail yourself of hot-off-the-grill Hot Dogs, Burgers and fries. As well, if you're after a soul-food take on Buffalo fish fry, Ms. Goodies stays open for dinner on Friday nights with a menu that also includes fried Chicken, mac & Cheese, sweet potato pie and other downhome treats.

• Mattie's 1412 Fillmore Ave. 42.912103, -78.839261 Metro Bus 12, 13 or 23 ☎ +1 716 597-0755 Opening Hours: Monday & West 8AM Monday - 3PM; Tuesday & Friday 8AM Monday - 6PM; Thursday, Saturday & Sunday 8AM Monday - 4PM $15-30 The two big selling points that owners Mattie and Butch Holt use to tout their Fillmore Avenue hole-in-the-wall are "the best breakfast in Buffalo" and "great soul food you'll have to taste to believe" and true to their word, those are the two things Mattie's does best. In the morning you can get eggs served with your choice of breakfast Meat plus grits and home fries on the side, as well as breakfast sandwiches, pancakes and waffles, corned beef hash and more — all whipped up skillfully and with aplomb. At lunchtime the focus shifts to hearty Southern-fried specialties like mac & Cheese, fried catfish, collard greens and some of the most delectable fried Chicken you've ever tasted: the perfect combination of crispy exterior and moist, tender interior. The downside of Mattie's is the other foods on their menu — standard lunchtime fare like burgers, subs and Hot Dogs are just okay — as well as the prices, which are way higher than the competition. Also, while the neighborhood old-timers that congregate here are as friendly as can be and the same can't be said of the service. Folks have been known to get overcharged here, too, so beware.

Groceries

• Community Food & Meat Market 535 Walden Ave. 42.904217, -78.816484 Metro Bus 6, 19 or 22 ☎ +1 716 892-4490 Opening from Monday to Saturday 8AM Monday - 9PM, Sunday 8AM Monday - 8PM
• Dollar General - 663 E. Ferry St. 42.914435, -78.836652 Metro Bus 12, 13 or 23 ☎ +1 716 507-4837 Opening Hours: Daily 8AM Monday - 8PM
• Dollar General - 1055 Genesee St. 42.902058, -78.838868 Metro Bus 6, 22, 23 or 24 ☎ +1 716 895-1014 Opening Hours: Daily 8AM Monday - 8PM
• Family Dollar - 738 E. Delavan Ave. 42.922347, -78.829692 Metro Bus 13 or 26 ☎ +1 716 892-2705 Opening Hours: Daily 8AM Monday - 10PM
• Family Dollar - 1185 Genesee St. 42.904042, -78.834620 Metro Bus 6, 22, 23 or 24 ☎ +1 716 892-1358 Opening Hours: Daily 8AM Monday - 10PM
• Super Price Choppers 1580 Genesee St. 42.909486, -78.822003 Metro Bus 12, 22 or 24 ☎ +1 716 893-3323 Opening from Monday to Saturday 8AM Monday - 11PM, Sunday 8AM Monday - 10:30PM

Farmers' markets

• ECMC Farmers' Market at Grider 351 Grider St. 42.924295, -78.828784 In the parking lot across from Erie County Medical Center just south of Litchfield Avenue; Metro Bus 13 or 26 ☎ +1 716 898-3509 Opening Hours: Friday 10AM Monday - 3PM, June - Oct In the midst of the "food desert" of the East Side, where the nearest full-service supermarket is often miles away and the poor often subsist on what they can get from the local corner bodega, fresh fruits and vegetables are, understandably, often hard to come by. From a health-care perspective, that's bad news — and that's why, in 2010 and the Erie County Medical Center launched this neighborhood farmer's market aimed at helping the residents of one of Buffalo's most economically deprived neighborhoods to improve their dietary habits. Much more than just a half-dozen or so vendors of fresh produce, prepared foods and artisanal goods and the ECMC Farmers' Market is also a place for fun and educational events with an overarching theme of promoting a healthy lifestyle — there's everything from tai chi demonstrations, to dance and cooking classes, to seed and plant giveaways for those who want to try their hand at gardening. Food trucks are on hand for those who work up an appetite browsing through the greenery.

Pizza

The following pizzerias are located in Delavan-Grider, Humboldt Park and Genesee-Moselle. Those who are interested in Pizzas delivery (as opposed to pickup) might want to also check listings in adjacent neighborhoods; local pizzerias will often deliver to several different neighborhoods of the city.

• Bonetti's 697 Walden Ave. 42.905227, -78.810318 Metro Bus 6, 19 or 22 ☎ +1 716 892-6653 Opening from Monday to Saturday 3PM Monday - 11PM
• Bailey-N-Doat Pizzas 2028 Bailey Ave. 42.909630, -78.813866 Metro Bus 6, 12, 19, 22 or 24 ☎ +1 716 892-4111 Opening from Monday to Saturday 4PM Monday - midnight
• Jeoni's 1085 E. Ferry St. 42.914362, -78.823866 Metro Bus 12 or 13 ☎ +1 716 578-1463 Opening Hours: Monday - Thursday 11AM Monday - 11PM, F-Sa 11AM Monday - 3AM

The East Side's bar scene is definitely off the beaten path for local drinkers, but it's got plenty to offer Muslims hungry (or, rather, thirsty) for a taste of the rapidly disappearing, rough-and-tumble, blue-collar Buffalo of old. Again, local residents will advise against you crossing to the other side of Main Street, but as long as you use common sense and keep your wits about you in the rougher areas, you should be fine.

Kensington-Bailey

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• Bailey's Sports Grille 3205 Bailey Ave. 42.942058, -78.813408 ☎ +1 716 322-7589 Not a location of the similarly-named national chain Bailey's Sports Grille.

• Phat Catz 965 Kensington Ave. 42.935888, -78.818443 Metro Bus 13, 19 or 32 ☎ +1 716 235-8549

Midtown, Cold Spring and other Near East Side areas

• Arthur's Pub 596 Genesee St. 42.896253, -78.854137 Metro Bus 6, 18, 24 or 29 ☎ +1 716 854-3640

• The Bird Cage 475 Northampton St. 42.907283, -78.849331 Metro Bus 12, 18, 22 or 29 ☎ +1 716 886-8701 x

• Black Button Distilling - 149 Swan St. 42.880764, -78.869833 Metro Bus 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 11, 14, 15, 16, 20, 24, 25, 40, or 42; Metro Rail: Seneca ☎ +1 716 507-4590 In Black Button's Buffalo branch tasting room and #BBDShop|bottle shop at The Hub, you can enjoy flights of (or smart cocktails made with) Rochester's favorite small-batch craft spirits — gin, bourbon, vodka and more — in the indoor barroom, on the patio out back, or on the rooftop terrace with sweeping views over the downtown skyline. There's also a rotating selection of hard-to-find New York craft soft drinks on tap, plus tapas-style appetizers if you're hungry.

• Buffalo Company - 314 Myrtle Ave. Metro Bus 2, 15 or 18 ☎ +1 716 868-2218 Come to this artisanal nanobrewery in the Ellicott District to enjoy any of their four flagship soft drinks on draft (easily the favorite among which is "1842", a toasty Vienna lager made with imported hops whose name commemorates the invention of the grain elevator by Buffalo milling magnate Joseph Dart) plus a changing selection of seasonal offerings; stay for a pretty impressive collection of artifacts from Buffalo's long and storied brewing history.

• Central Park Grill 2519 Main St. 42.936732, -78.841563 Metro Bus 8, 23 or 32; Metro Rail: Amherst Street ☎ +1 716 836-9466

• Dinny's Place 372 William St. 42.885218, -78.857577 Metro Bus 1, 2, 4 or 18 ☎ +1 716 842-6413

• Dnipro Ukrainian Cultural Center 562 Genesee St. 42.895735, -78.855478 Metro Bus 6, 18, 24 or 29 ☎ +1 716 856-4476 Dnipro Ukrainian Cultural Center
• Famous Corner 16 S. Cedar St. 42.878767, -78.862178 Metro Bus 15, 16 or 18 ☎ +1 716 868-8004

• The Four One Six 416 William St. 42.885258, -78.855908 Metro Bus 1, 2, 4 or 18 ☎ +1 716 436-2570

• Golden Nuggett Inn 2046 Fillmore Ave. 42.929521, -78.839356 Metro Bus 23 ☎ +1 716 834-3967

• Mike's Lounge 1343 Jefferson Ave. 42.911801, -78.853767 Metro Bus 12, 13, 18 or 29 ☎ +1 716 883-1344

• Musicians Big 6 600 E. North St. 42.902034, -78.846043 Metro Bus 22, 24 or 29 ☎ +1 716 896-6660

• The New Humboldt Inn 347 E. Delavan Ave. 42.921831, -78.844206 Metro Bus 23, 26 or 29 ☎ +1 716 884-6430 {{anchor|OakkBar
• Oakk Room - 1435 Main St. Metro Bus 8, 11, 12, 13 or 25; Metro Rail: Utica ☎ +1 716 771-2773 - The bartenders at this Midtown spot will pour you one of about two dozen specialty martinis to go with your #OakkResto|island-spiced soul food; enjoy it in a vibe that might best be described as that of a classic old pub, relaxed and "lived-in" yet sophisticated, with a diverse clientele.

• Pandora's Sports Cafe 2261 Fillmore Ave. 42.935479, -78.839087 Metro Bus 8 or 23; Metro Rail: Amherst Street ☎ +1 716 803-1335

Coffee shops

• E. M. Tea Coffee Cup Café 80 Oakgrove Ave. 42.924363, -78.846594 Metro Bus 8, 26 or 29; Metro Rail: Humboldt-Hospital ☎ +1 716 884-1444 Opening Hours: Monday - West & F-Su 7AM Monday - 5PM, Thursday 7AM Monday - 9PM
• Golden Cup - 1323 Jefferson Ave. 42.911261, -78.853767 Metro Bus 12, 13, 18 or 29 ☎ +1 716 883-7770 Opening Hours: Monday to Friday 7AM Monday - 7PM, Saturday 7AM Monday - 3PM

Delavan-Bailey and Schiller Park

• All Stars Social Club 930 Walden Ave. 42.906600, -78.801830 Metro Bus 6, 22 or 26 ☎ +1 716 697-9294
• Big Fella's 1202 E. Delavan Ave. 42.922811, -78.812407 Metro Bus 12, 13, 19 or 26 ☎ +1 716 894-8949
• Sophisticated Soul 2227 Genesee St. 42.917581, -78.801046 Metro Bus 24 or 26 ☎ +1 716 602-7536

Broadway-Fillmore

Alongside Lovenjoy and Kaisertown, old Polonia is the hub of the East Side's bar scene. The bars in this neighborhood split the difference between African-American hangouts and blue-collar watering holes that are holdovers from bygone days.

• Arty's Grill 508 Peckham St. 42.887975, -78.835482 Metro Bus 1 or 23 ☎ +1 716 856-6027

• Club 77 1614 Broadway 42.896945, -78.815288 Metro Bus 4 or 19 ☎ +1 716 897-2564

• Club 1210 1210 Broadway 42.895134, -78.830086 Entrance on Lathrop St., Metro Bus 4 ☎ +1 716 939-3149

• Daren's Tavern 514 Howard St. 42.883464, -78.834815 Metro Bus 1, 2 or 23 ☎ +1 716 855-8866

• Dick's East Side Inn 221 Lombard St. 42.892419, -78.836928 Metro Bus 4 or 23 ☎ +1 716 896-9760

• G&T Inn 68 Memorial Dr. 42.886389, -78.836913 Metro Bus 1 or 23 ☎ +1 716 855-1039

• Laurel & Hardy Café 1388 Broadway 42.895887, -78.823481 Metro Bus 4 or 6 ☎ +1 716 896-6350

• Malik's Twilight Grill 494 Howard St. 42.883464, -78.835587 Metro Bus 1, 2 or 23 ☎ +1 716 855-8778

• Nate's Place 1038 Smith St. 42.889777, -78.844151 Metro Bus 1, 4 or 23 ☎ +1 716 855-9390

• R&L Lounge 23 Mills St. Metro Bus 4, 6 or 23 ☎ +1 716 896-5982

Willie's-Lovenjoy-BuffaloNY - Willie's on Ludington Street is the prototypical blue-collar gin mill of Lovenjoy.

Lovenjoy and Kaisertown

At the gin mills of Lovenjoy and Kaisertown, you'll find all of the blue-collar grit and off-the-tourist-track feel of the bar scene in Broadway-Fillmore, but much of the old-Buffalo charm. It's definitely a safer part of town, though, especially at night.

• Bottom's Up 1106 E. Lovenjoy St. 42.889905, -78.807284 Metro Bus 1 or 19 ☎ +1 716 897-0962
• Fachko's 1738 William St. 42.884835, -78.806494 Metro Bus 1 or 19 ☎ +1 716 896-9157
• Full House 1221 E. Lovenjoy St. 42.889637, -78.802926 Metro Bus 1 ☎ +1 716 893-4805
• Park Lounge 1761 Clinton St. 42.871790, -78.811310 Metro Bus 2
• P&K's 71 Weiss St. 42.868840, -78.808604 Metro Bus 2 ☎ +1 716 827-8246
• Porky's 2028 Clinton St. 42.871891, -78.801502 Metro Bus 2 ☎ +1 716 825-9875
• Roy's Place 875 Bailey Ave. 42.878059, -78.815495 Metro Bus 2 or 19 ☎ +1 716 550-0945
• Sanita's 1194 E. Lovenjoy St. 42.889905, -78.804042 Metro Bus 1 ☎ +1 716 893-6816
• Wiechec's 1748 Clinton St. 42.872041, -78.811954 Metro Bus 2 ☎ +1 716 823-2828
• Willie's 247 Ludington St. 42.887230, -78.804862 Metro Bus 1 ☎ +1 716 892-3452

Coffee shops

• Donut Kraze 406 Dingens St. 42.878022, -78.800608 ☎ +1 716 824-4527 Opening Hours: Daily 24 hours

Delavan-Grider, Humboldt Park and Genesee-Moselle

• Earl's Grill 39 Walden Ave. 42.903482, -78.834690 Metro Bus 6, 22, 23 or 24 ☎ +1 716 892-2543

• 4th Quarter Sports Grill 1077 E. Ferry St. 42.914349, -78.824147 Metro Bus 12 or 13
• Ginny's Place 1149 E. Ferry St. 42.914442, -78.821489 Metro Bus 12, 13 or 19 ☎ +1 716 896-0741

• Happy Swallow 1349 Sycamore St. 42.902793, -78.822592 Metro Bus 6 or 22 ☎ +1 716 894-4854

• LaPearlaboo's 862 Genesee St. 42.899996, -78.845198 Metro Bus 6, 22, 23 or 24 ☎ +1 716 895-6505

• Legacy Lounge 1261 Fillmore Ave. 42.908017, -78.838941 Metro Bus 12, 22 or 23 ☎ +1 716 893-9077

• Nibletts Corner Cafe 553 High St. 42.900042, -78.848236 Metro Bus 6, 18, 22, 24 or 29 ☎ +1 716 896-0980

eHalal Group Launches Halal Guide to Buffalo/East Side

Buffalo/East Side - eHalal Travel Group, a leading provider of innovative Halal travel solutions for Muslim travelers to Buffalo/East Side, is thrilled to announce the official launch of its comprehensive Halal and Muslim-Friendly Travel Guide for Buffalo/East Side. This groundbreaking initiative aims to cater to the diverse needs of Muslim travelers, offering them a seamless and enriching travel experience in Buffalo/East Side and its surrounding regions.

With the steady growth of Muslim tourism worldwide, eHalal Travel Group recognizes the importance of providing Muslim travelers with accessible, accurate, and up-to-date information to support their travel aspirations to Buffalo/East Side. The Halal and Muslim-Friendly Travel Guide is designed to be a one-stop resource, offering an array of invaluable information on various travel aspects, all carefully curated to align with Islamic principles and values.

The Travel Guide encompasses a wide range of features that will undoubtedly enhance the travel experience for Muslim visitors to Buffalo/East Side. Key components include:

Halal-Friendly Accommodations in Buffalo/East Side: A carefully selected list of hotels, lodges, and vacation rentals that cater to halal requirements, ensuring a comfortable and welcoming stay for Muslim travelers in Buffalo/East Side.

Halal Food, Restaurants and Dining in Buffalo/East Side: A comprehensive directory of restaurants, eateries, and food outlets offering halal-certified or halal-friendly options in Buffalo/East Side, allowing Muslim travelers to savor local cuisines without compromising their dietary preferences in Buffalo/East Side.

Prayer Facilities: Information on masjids, prayer rooms, and suitable locations for daily prayers in Buffalo/East Side, ensuring ease and convenience for Muslim visitors in fulfilling their religious obligations.

Local Attractions: An engaging compilation of Muslim-friendly attractions, cultural sites such as Museums, and points of interest in Buffalo/East Side, enabling travelers to explore the city's rich heritage while adhering to their values.

Transport and Logistics: Practical guidance on transportation options that accommodate Muslim travel needs, ensuring seamless movement within Buffalo/East Side and beyond.

Speaking about the launch, Irwan Shah, Chief Technology Officer of eHalal Travel Group in Buffalo/East Side, stated, "We are thrilled to introduce our Halal and Muslim-Friendly Travel Guide in Buffalo/East Side, a Muslim friendly destination known for its cultural richness and historical significance. Our goal is to empower Muslim travelers with accurate information and resources, enabling them to experience the wonders of Buffalo/East Side without any concerns about their faith-based requirements. This initiative reaffirms our commitment to creating inclusive and memorable travel experiences for all our clients."

The eHalal Travel Group's Halal and Muslim-Friendly Travel Guide for Buffalo/East Side is now accessible on this page. The guide will be regularly updated to ensure that Muslim travelers have access to the latest information, thus reinforcing its status as a reliable companion for Muslim travelers exploring Buffalo/East Side.

About eHalal Travel Group:

eHalal Travel Group Buffalo/East Side is a prominent name in the global Muslim travel industry, dedicated to providing innovative and all-inclusive travel solutions tailored to the needs of Muslim travelers worldwide. With a commitment to excellence and inclusivity, eHalal Travel Group aims to foster a seamless travel experience for its clients while respecting their religious and cultural values.

For Halal business inquiries in Buffalo/East Side, please contact:

eHalal Travel Group Buffalo/East Side Media: info@ehalal.io

Buy Muslim Friendly condos, Houses and Villas in Buffalo/East Side

eHalal Group Buffalo/East Side is a prominent real estate company specializing in providing Muslim-friendly properties in Buffalo/East Side. Our mission is to cater to the specific needs and preferences of the Muslim community by offering a wide range of halal-certified residential and commercial properties, including houses, condos, and factories. With our commitment to excellence, client satisfaction, and adherence to Islamic principles, eHalal Group has established itself as a trusted name in the real estate industry in Buffalo/East Side.

At eHalal Group, we understand the importance of meeting the unique requirements of Muslim individuals and families seeking properties that align with their cultural and religious trainings. Our extensive portfolio of Muslim-friendly properties in Buffalo/East Side ensures that clients have access to a diverse selection of options tailored to their needs. Whether it's a luxurious villa, a modern condominium, or a fully equipped factory, our team is dedicated to assisting clients in finding their ideal property.

For those seeking a comfortable and modern living space, our condos are an excellent choice. Starting at US$ 350,000 and these condominium units offer contemporary designs, state-of-the-art facilities, and convenient locations within Buffalo/East Side. Each condo is thoughtfully designed to incorporate halal-friendly features and amenities, ensuring a seamless integration of Islamic values into everyday living.

If you are looking for a more spacious option, our houses are perfect for you. Starting at US$ 650,000, our houses provide ample living space, privacy, and a range of customizable features to meet your specific requirements. These houses are located in well-established neighborhoods in Buffalo/East Side, offering a harmonious balance between modern living and Islamic values.

For those seeking luxury and exclusivity, our luxury villas in Buffalo/East Side are the epitome of sophistication and elegance. Starting at US$ 1.5 million and these villas offer a lavish lifestyle with private amenities, breathtaking views, and meticulous attention to detail. Each luxury villa is meticulously designed to provide a serene and halal environment, allowing you to enjoy the finest living experience while adhering to your Islamic principles. For further details please email us at info@ehalal.io

Ramadan 2024 Celebrations in Buffalo/East Side

Ramadan 2025 in Buffalo/East Side

Ramadan concludes with the festival of Eid al-Fitr, which may last several days, usually three in most countries.

The next Ramadan shall be from Friday, 28 February 2025 to Saturday, 29 March 2025

The next Eid al-Adha shall be on Friday, 6 June 2025

The next day of Raʾs al-Sana shall be on Thursday, 26 June 2025

The next day for Mawlid al-Nabī shall be on Monday, 16 September 2024

Muslim Friendly Hotels in Buffalo/East Side

On the East Side, you'll see signs posted in windows here and there advertising rooms for rent. However and the neighborhood being what it is and there's a good chance the building you're passing might simply be an abandoned boardinghouse whose sign no one bothered to take down. Even if not, a lodging situation like that is probably not the kind of thing a traveller wants to get involved in.

The East Side's lone recommendable lodging is a charming former convent-turned-guest house in Lovenjoy. If that kind of thing doesn't suit you, your next closest options are either the upscale properties downtown or the cluster of low- to mid-priced chain hotels around exit 1 of Interstate 190, just over the city line in Cheektowaga.

• Moreland Guest House - 110 Moreland St. 42.890755, -78.809825 Metro Bus 1 or 19 ☎ +1 716 893-1419 Check-in: anytime between 1PM and 11PM (schedule a time with the innkeeper) / Check-out: same time you checked in Single rooms start from $28/nt or $175/week, double rooms start from $33/nt or $205/week Located on a quiet residential side street in Lovenjoy and the Moreland Guest House boasts affordable yet secure and high-quality lodging for budget travellers. Single or double rooms are available, with complimentary satellite television and high-speed wireless Internet. The bathrooms are shared, dormitory-style and a kitchen and common room is available. On-site parking can be had for a nominal fee, but on-street parking is free and nearly always easy to find. The Moreland Guest House enforces a minimum stay of 3 nights and a maximum of two guests per room.

Telecommunications in Buffalo/East Side

Buffalo's large Central Post Office GPS 42.885652,-78.826785 is located on the East Side, at 1200 William St. In addition to being the primary mail-processing center for the Niagara Frontier region, it's also a functioning post office in its own right. Letters, postcards, etc. that are dropped off here generally arrive at their destination at least a day earlier as opposed to those sent from a roadside mailbox or another post office, so if fast shipping is important to you, you might want to head here.

The East Side also has a couple of other postal offices:

• The Broadway-Fillmore Post Office GPS 42.892970,-78.836431 at 1021 Broadway
• The Central Park Post Office GPS 42.937505,-78.828705 at 170 Manhattan Ave.

If you need to access the Internet, your best option is to head to a public library — all branches of the Buffalo & Erie County Public Library provide not only free public WiFi, but also computer terminals with wired Internet access that are available for a nominal fee even to those who don't have a library card. The East Side has three libraries: by far the largest is the Frank E. Merriweather, Jr. Library GPS 42.911484,-78.854339 in Cold Spring, with 47 public computers, while the East Delavan Branch Library GPS 42.922471,-78.812858 in Delavan-Bailey has 35 computers. Finally and the East Clinton Branch Library GPS 42.871715,-78.805114 in Kaisertown has ten fixed computer terminals as well as two portable laptops that are available for in-library use.

Another Internet option is the JEFFREE WI-FI network. Since 2018 and the City of Buffalo has partnered with Blue Wireless to provide free public WiFi to the one-mile (1.6 kilometers) stretch of Jefferson Avenue between Northampton Street and East Delavan Avenue, hopefully only the first of many such corridors in the city. It's similar to downtown'sBuffalo/Downtown#Connect|BuffaloConnect wireless network in that signal strength drops off rapidly the further you get from Jefferson — basically, stray more than a block in either direction and connectivity is lost — and in that the WiFi works outdoors only, rather than inside the buildings along the street. However, connection speeds are quite a bit faster than the paltry 2 Mbps you get downtown.

Stay Safe

BuffaloEastSideBlight - In Buffalo, poverty and blight does not always equal crime. Despite its appearance, thit is actually one of the safer neighborhoods in the entire city.

Despite the fact that Buffalo's crime rate has fallen steadily since the 1990s, it is still higher than the national average for city's its size. As we've already gone over in the first part of this Travel Guide and the East Side has a notorious reputation among Buffalonians for its high crime rate — a reputation that, while largely accurate, is a good deal more nuanced than local conventional wisdom says.

First off, while tales of murder, assault and other mayhem may make for splashy newspaper headlines, it's important to understand that most of the violent crime on the East Side is committed against local residents. There's nothing random about these incidents: as long as you don't suddenly decide to join a street gang or deal drugs, as a visitor to the East Side you are not a target for violent crime, so don't worry too much about that. Theft, vehicle break-ins and property crimes are another matter, but even in those cases a little bit of common sense goes a long way. As in any urban area, it pays to lock your vehicle doors, keep valuables out of sight, avoid flashy displays of wealth and make yourself scarce after dark.

Secondly, it bears remembering that while poverty and urban blight are endemic neighborhoodwide, in terms of crime not all East Side neighborhoods are created equal. Just because you're in a neighborhood that's visibly rundown doesn't necessarily mean you're in danger. A lot of it has to do with density: the more businesses in a particular neighborhood or cars parked on a particular stretch of road and the more potential targets there are for the robber. Sadly, this means that the Bailey Avenue corridor north of Broadway — the main drag of the neighborhood and the site of many of its best shops and restaurants — is the highest-crime area in the East Side and indeed the whole city. Other particularly crime-prone areas include Delavan-Bailey and the stretch of Genesee Street along the northern edge of Schiller Park and the Cold Spring business neighborhood, Delavan-Grider and St. John Kanty. By contrast, Kaisertown and the Near East Side, Masten Park and the Western half of Broadway-Fillmore (including the area around St. Stanislaus) have little crime to speak of. The crime rates in other East Side neighborhoods vary, but tend to be in the middle of the pack by Buffalo standards.

Panhandlers generally avoid the East Side, with the exception of Midtown where you'll encounter some particularly persistent ones. "Persistent" doesn't mean "aggressive", though and as elsewhere in Buffalo, a firm "no" almost always does the trick if you don't want to give.

Cope in Buffalo/East Side

Newspapers

The East Clinton Shopper is a small, eight-page monthly newspaper that covers Lovenjoy and Kaisertown as well as adjacent areas of Cheektowaga|Sloan, Cheektowaga and West Seneca. You'll mostly find local business and event listings, but also of interest is a column written by Lovenjoy's District Councilman, Richard Fontana, as well as the minutes of the Kaisertown Coalition's monthly meetings.

The Challenger Community News is the newspaper of record for Buffalo's African-American community. As such, it doubles as a source for news and other happenings on the East Side.

ECMCBuffaloNY - Buffalo's largest single hospital and the mammoth Erie County Medical Center dominates the Delavan-Grider skyline.

Muslim Friendly Hospitals

• Erie County Medical Center 462 Grider St. 42.926049, -78.831654 Metro Bus 13 or 26 ☎ +1 716 898-3000 Erie County Medical Center The Erie County Medical Center has a history that stretches back to 1902, when the city government founded it under the name Buffalo Municipal Hospital to treat victims of a smallpox epidemic. It moved from East Ferry Street to its current location ten years later, kicking off a vigorous campaign of expansion under the leadership of Dr. Edward Meyer and took on its present name after its operations were taken over by Erie County in the 1970s. Today, ECMC is the largest single hospital in Buffalo, with 602 inpatient beds and is an important teaching facility for UB Medical School, with many faculty members doubling as doctors and other caregivers. ECMC is Western New York's designated treatment center for trauma care and HIV/AIDS treatment and is also famous for its specialization in transplantation, burn care, mental health services and rehabilitation.

• Sisters of Charity Hospital 2157 Main St. 42.929333, -78.845988 Metro Bus 8; Metro Rail: Humboldt-Hospital ☎ +1 716 862-1000 - Sisters of Charity Hospital (Buffalo) Buffalo's first hospital, Sisters of Charity was founded in 1848 by Bishop John Timon: one of many charitable institutions he put in place for the benefit of Buffalo's Catholic community, which at the time consisted mostly of the desperately poor Irish immigrants of the First Ward. The hospital was run at first by a staff of nuns from the Sisters of Charity (hence its name) and moved to its current location in Highland Park in 1876. In the present day, Sisters is the flagship facility of Catholic Health System of Buffalo, with 586 beds between its main location and its branch hospital in Cheektowaga. It provides a wide range of medical and surgical care but is particularly well-known as an excellent maternity hospital.

Laundry and dry cleaning

Kensington-Bailey

• Laundry Time 1451 Kensington Ave. 42.942016, -78.802309 At Cleve-Hill Plaza; Metro Bus 12 or 32 - Opening Hours: Daily 6AM Monday - 9PM
• Vega's Exclusive Dry Cleaners 2947 Bailey Ave. 42.934954, -78.813408 Metro Bus 12, 13, 19 or 32 ☎ +1 716 836-9385 Opening Hours: Monday to Friday 7:30AM Monday - 6PM, Saturday 8:30AM Monday - 5PM

Midtown, Cold Spring and other Near East Side areas

• Jim Bell Cleaners 1379 Jefferson Ave. 42.912871, -78.853686 Metro Bus 12, 13, 18 or 29 ☎ +1 716 886-1888 Opening from Monday to Saturday 7AM Monday - 6PM Dry cleaning and shirt laundering.

• Lake Effect Laundromat 2311 Main St. 42.932143, -78.846453 Metro Bus 8 or 23; Metro Rail: Humboldt-Hospital ☎ +1 716 832-5200 Opening Hours: Daily 9AM Monday - 10:30PM They also do dry cleaning.

• Towne Gardens Laundromat 465 William St. 42.884256, -78.854409 At Towne Gardens Plaza; Metro Bus 1, 2, 4 or 18 ☎ +1 716 245-5996 Opening Hours: Daily 8AM Monday - 8PM

Delavan-Bailey and Schiller Park

• Delavan Village Laundry 1440 E. Delavan Ave. 42.922851, -78.805361 Metro Bus 26 ☎ +1 716 894-6966 Opening Hours: Daily 24 hours They also do dry cleaning.

Broadway-Fillmore

• Self-Service Laundry of Buffalo 1494 Broadway 42.896292, -78.819766 Metro Bus 4 or 19 ☎ +1 716 894-1156

• Tip-Top Express 441 Fillmore Ave. 42.885477, -78.838945 Metro Bus 1 or 23 ☎ +1 716 866-6171 Opening Hours: Daily 24 hours
• WNY Laundromat 1049 Broadway 42.893444, -78.835482 Metro Bus 4, 6 or 23 ☎ +1 716 480-5333 Opening Hours: Daily 7AM Monday - 11PM

Lovenjoy and Kaisertown

• Clinton Street Laundry - Kathy's Speedy Wash | 1905 Clinton St. 42.871715, -78.806011 Metro Bus 2 ☎ +1 716 822-6642 Opening Hours: Daily 8AM Monday - 11PM
• Partners Laundromat 1140 E. Lovenjoy St. 42.889905, -78.806034 Metro Bus 1 - Opening Hours: Daily 24 hours

Delavan-Grider, Humboldt Park and Genesee-Moselle

• East Ferry Coin Laundry 1057 E. Ferry St. 42.914280, -78.824719 Metro Bus 12 or 13 ☎ +1 716 894-7400 Opening Hours: Daily 8AM Monday - 8PM
• Hobson's Drive-In Cleaners 874 E. Delavan Ave. 42.922667, -78.824704 Metro Bus 13 or 26 ☎ +1 716 891-8298 Opening from Monday to Saturday 8AM Monday - 8PM
• Nino's Cleaners 1345 Fillmore Ave. 42.910346, -78.838941 Metro Bus 12, 13, 23 or 29 ☎ +1 716 894-5408 Opening Hours: Monday - Tuesday & Thursday - Saturday 9AM Monday - 5:30PM

Places of worship

The East Side is filled with a cornucopia of diverse religious congregations that represent its past, present and future: respectively and there are beautiful old Catholic churches left over from its days as a (German) and Polish stronghold, a multitude of black churches that reflect its status as the heart of African-American Buffalo and a number of masjids and Buddhist temples in Humboldt Park and Broadway-Fillmore to serve mushrooming communities of new immigrants.

Black churches

There are dozens upon dozens of African-American churches on the East Side, ranging from small congregations that meet in converted houses or storefronts to huge megachurches whose pastors are among the most prominent figures in the Buffalo black community. It would be imfeasible to list all of them in this Travel Guide. Here are a few of the most important ones.

• Antioch Missionary Baptist Church 1327 Fillmore Ave. 42.909635, -78.838941 Metro Bus 12, 13 or 23 ☎ +1 716 895-0198 Opening Hours: Services Sunday 10:45AM Pastor William Bunton is the minister of this congregation whose rousing services provide a warm, loving and welcoming environment for all. Services are held in the huge, copper-topped former home of St. Mary Magdalene Catholic Church on Fillmore Avenue in Humboldt Park, which you can read more about in eHalal'sHistoric Churches of Buffalo's East Side itinerary.

• Bethel AME Church 1525 Michigan Ave. 42.915199, -78.862096 Metro Bus 8, 11, 12, 13 or 25; Metro Rail: Utica ☎ +1 716 886-1650 Opening Hours: Services Sunday 9:30AM Founded in 1831, Bethel AME Church is the oldest black religious congregation in Buffalo, predating Michigan Street Baptist Church by six years. Like its counterpart, Bethel's original home on Vine Alley once served as a station on the Underground Railroad. Since 1953 and they've worshiped in the former Presbyterian Church of the Covenant in Cold Spring, a Gothic-style building erected in 1903. Bethel's pastor and the Rev. Richard Stenhouse, not only leads electrifying services but is also a powerful force in the improvement of the lives of his flock and the community at large — through the church, Bethel Head Start provides quality preschool education to disadvantaged Buffalo children, Bethel Community Development Corporation has built several dozen new single-family homes around Cold Spring for struggling families and there's even a community credit union.

• Bethesda World Harvest International Church - 1365 Main St. 42.910772, -78.865850 Metro Bus 8, 11, 12, 13 or 25; Metro Rail: Utica ☎ +1 716 884-3607 Opening Hours: Services Sunday 9:30AM An unmistakable beacon in Midtown with its metallic modernist facade and huge animated LED sign flashing onto Main Street, Bethesda World Harvest International Church's history is anything but recent: its roots stretch back to the 1930s, when Elva and Richard White, a husband-and-wife team of traveling revivalist preachers, settled down in Buffalo and founded what was at first known as the Bethesda Revival Center. These days, it's not only a church in its own right where Bishop Michael Badger leads services every Sunday morning, but also the headquarters of the Bethesda Fellowship of Churches, a nationwide network of religious communities specializing in humanitarian and missionary work in Africa.

• Durham Memorial AME Zion Church 174 E. Eagle St. 42.883262, -78.868174 Metro Bus 1, 2, 4, 14, 15, 16 or 42; Metro Rail: Church ☎ +1 716 856-4943 Opening Hours: Services Sunday 9AM Durham Memorial A.M.E. Zion Church The dispute facing Bethel AME Church at the turn of the century — whether they should continue meeting in the traditional heart of Buffalo's black community, or move away from what had since become a seedy red-light neighborhood — was so controversial that it ended up splitting the congregation in half, giving birth in 1901 to what was first called St. Luke's AME Zion Church and later renamed in honor of their longtime Pastor, Rev. Henry Durham, after his death. Their current church building, a charming little brick Gothic church in the Ellicott District, was erected in 1920 and is now listed on the National Register of Historic Places — and it still packs them in every Sunday morning to hear Pastor George Woodruff preach.

• Emmanuel Temple Seventh-Day Adventist Church 300 Adams St. 42.887960, -78.851143 Metro Bus 1, 4 or 18 ☎ +1 716 853-9055 Opening Hours: Services Saturday 11AM Emmanuel Temple Seventh Day Adventist Church is a vibrant congregation that welcomes newcomers and visitors with open arms to their beautiful Saturday-morning services with a positive and inspirational message that carries them through their week. They've been doing their thing since 1958 in the former home of St. Stephen's Evangelical Church in the Western reaches of Broadway-Fillmore — a medium-sized, red-brick Gothic building erected in 1911 whose steeple still contains its original Howard clock and three bells cast by the Kimberly & Meneelee Company of Troy (New York) | Troy, New York.

• Elim Christian Fellowship 70 Chalmers Ave. 42.938235, -78.835837 Metro Bus 8, 23 or 32; Metro Rail: Amherst Street ☎ +1 716 832-7698 Opening Hours: Services Sunday 10AM The Rev. Dr. T. Anthony Bronner is a Philadelphia local who first cut his teeth in the local faith community as pastor of Calvary Baptist Church in Humboldt Park. In 1999, he struck out on his own to found this huge, vibrant congregation, expanding to Rochester with its identically-named sister church three years later. Elim is truly a church for the 21st Century — it meets in a huge, warehouse-like building tucked away on a side street in Highland Park, engaging a tech-savvy audience with modern-style services live-streamed over the Internet that feature sermons reposted weekly on social media. As well, thit is a congregation that truly goes the extra mile in making folks feel welcomed and like a member of the family, whether they're regular attendees or first-timers.

• Faith Missionary Baptist Church 626 Humboldt Pkwy. 42.918109, -78.842834 Metro Bus 13, 23, 26 or 29 ☎ +1 716 832-7698 Opening Hours: Services Sunday 9AM The friendly community of Faith Missionary Baptist Church has been led since 1981 by Pastor James R. Banks, who is much more than just a minister: this pillar of the local community has not only ably stewarded his congregation, expanding and modernizing his church campus, but has also partnered with local not-for-profits and the city and county governments to establish educational, housing and community service programs to benefit all residents of the East Side. His church on Humboldt Parkway is the site of frequent fellowship meetings, potluck dinners and other events to engage his flock and others far beyond Sunday mornings. The red neon cross that lights up Humboldt Parkway from the entrance may be unmistakably Christian, but the building that houses Faith Baptist started out as the nucleus of the early-20th Century Hamlin Park Yahudi community: this was where Temple Beth David met until 1955. It's a handsome, beige brick building erected in 1924 in a style that mixes the Neoclassical with the Georgian Revival: the baskethandle arches atop the stained glass windows on the sides testify to the former, while the latter is represented by a huge Palladian stained-glass window above the entrance that still boasts a proud Star of David in white and blue.

• Fellowship World Church 878 Humboldt Pkwy. 42.911168, -78.842834 Metro Bus 12, 13, 23 or 29 ☎ +1 716 578-0183 Opening Hours: Services Sunday 10:30AM This dynamic congregation is led by Pastor John Young, a veteran leader of a number of black churches who styles himself "The Comeback Kid". After selling their building in Midtown — a facility most famous for housing the WKBW television studios for the first couple of decades of the station's existence — Fellowship World found its new home in Humboldt Park, at the handsome brick Gothic edifice built in 1895 for the Emmanuel Evangelical Reformed Church. However and the same as before, in addition to church services and a myriad of community programs Fellowship Christian Center also operates the Totally Gospel Radio Network, which broadcasts locally on WFWO 89.7 FM.

• Friendship Missionary Baptist Church 402 Clinton St. 42.883008, -78.859423 Metro Bus 1, 2 or 18 ☎ +1 716 847-1020 Opening Hours: Services Sunday 9:45AM Friendship Missionary Baptist Church is a neighborhood institution that's been going strong for over a century: it has been housed in three separate buildings since its establishment in 1913, but true to the neighborhood that nurtured it, all of those buildings have been located on or near Clinton Street in the Ellicott District. Almost as storied as the history of the church itself is the history of the welfare institutions it's sponsored for the local area: from the community grocery store it ran in the Depression years to its status as the first black church in Buffalo to evangelize over the radio airwaves beginning in the 1940s and right through today with the community educational initiatives, food banks and other programs maintained by Reverend Edward Jackson. But of course the Sunday morning services, where longtime members as well as visitors are welcome to a seat at the table, remain the heart and soul of Friendship Baptist — they take place in a brick building dating from 1954 that, like the congregation itself, blends tradition with modernity.

• Macedonia Baptist Church 237 E. North St. 42.901986, -78.859758 Metro Bus 18, 22 or 29 ☎ +1 716 886-3489 Opening Hours: Services Sunday 11AM Macedonia Baptist Church's twin emphases are inclusivity and evangelism. Here, visitors and new members are not so much welcomed with open arms as infused with a sensation of suddenly finding one's long-lost family, which dovetails nicely with their goal of spreading the good news of their faith by engaging with the community in myriad different ways, at services as well as with scholarship programs, food drives and other community betterment efforts. Pastor Herman Alston is the one who carries on the church's long tradition: founded in 1921, it bounced around various locations around the area (including most notably a spell in the 1970s, '80s and '90s at the historic Michigan Street Baptist Church) before landing in the old Masten Park Baptist Church on East North Street in the Fruit Belt: a simple yet striking English Gothic building erected in 1932 using local limestone.

• Mount Moriah Missionary Baptist Church 400 Northampton St. 42.907615, -78.852037 Metro Bus 12, 18, 22 or 29 ☎ +1 716 885-8778 Opening Hours: Services Sunday 11AM Mount Moriah's new pastor, Jeffrey Chambers, may have only been at the pulpit since 2015, but already he's making his mark — a true man of the people, he's the living embodiment of its identity as a "Bible-believing, Bible-teaching, Bible-preaching Baptist church where all are welcomed and embraced in Godly love" — engaged, outgoing and on friendly terms with the regulars in his congregation. The place to be on Sunday mornings is the former Concordia Lutheran Church on Northampton Street in Cold Spring, an ample-sized, red-brick Gothic church built in 1903 to a design by local architect Jacob Oberkircher.

• Pleasant Grove Missionary Baptist Church 226 Cedar St. 42.885671, -78.861361 Metro Bus 1, 2, 4 or 6 ☎ +1 716 856-6321 Opening Hours: Services Sunday 11AM Pastor Joe Fisher is the man of the hour ever Sunday morning at this pleasant, homey church in the Ellicott District. Pleasant Grove Baptist Church's history can be traced back to 1918, but its present building is relatively newer: erected in 1977 from a design by Wallace Moll, one of the biggest names in the unsung late-20th Century Buffalo architectural community, Pleasant Grove's interior is brightly lit and centered on a modern-style, cross-shaped stained glass window above the altar.

• St. John Baptist Church 184 Goodell St. 42.894295, -78.864510 Metro Bus 6, 8, 14, 16 or 24 ☎ +1 716 852-4504 Opening Hours: Services Sunday 10AM Affiliated with the American Baptist Convention, St. John's is a congregation whose humble roots — the first service was helmed by Rev. Burnie McCarley in a tiny storefront in Broadway-Fillmore and attended by a congregation that numbered four — belie its modern-day status as a true mover and shaker among Buffalo's African-American faith community. As much a community service organization as a religious community, St. John's 45-acre (18 ha) campus on the west edge of the Fruit Belt comprises not only the church itself — a colorful, brightly-lit, modern structure that's a well-known landmark in the blocks east of downtown — but also McCarley Gardens, a development of 150 affordable townhouses that's about as well-kept and safe as public housing in Buffalo gets, St. John Tower, a nine-story senior citizens' apartment complex and the Rev. Dr. Bennett W. Smith Family Life Center, a large facility that hosts recreational and educational events open to the community.

• True Bethel Baptist Church 907 E. Ferry St. 42.913884, -78.830174 Metro Bus 12, 13 or 23 ☎ +1 716 895-0391 Opening Hours: Services Sunday 7:45AM, 9:30AM & 11AM Without question, True Bethel Baptist Church is the preeminent African-American religious congregation in Buffalo — and without question, its pastor and the Rev. Darius Pridgen, is the city's most powerful black preacher, serving also as a philanthropist (the church operates numerous charities including a food pantry, thrift shop, emergency housing service and vocational rehabilitation for the homeless), preservationist (his financial backing was instrumental in the recently-completed restoration of the old Michigan Street Baptist Church), forceful mouthpiece for the African-American community in Buffalo, and, since 2011, in the city government as president of the Buffalo Common Council. True Bethel is actually three churches in one, with two locations in Buffalo and one in Niagara Falls, but it's the East Ferry Street location that's the biggest — a huge megachurch the size of a Walmart, with an attached Subway sandwiches shop and room for almost five thousand worshippers and the massive scale of this place is a perfect reflection of the outsize stature of its head honcho. The three services held here every Sunday are energetic, empowering and speak to the contemporary concerns of modern-day African-Americans and Christians in general. And don't worry if you can't make it down for one of them — you can also listen to services live on the radio on WUFO 1080 AM, or watch them on Spectrum Cable channel 20 or streaming on the Web.

Catholic

For generations and the East Side teemed with legions of immigrants from Poland and southern regions of Germany and a big part of the legacy they left are a plethora of magnificent Catholic churches that dot the neighborhood today: an architectural treasure trove of proud stone and brick palaces whose majesty echoes — and can go toe-to-toe with — the ancient cathedrals and basilicas back in Europe. Check out the Historic Churches of Buffalo's East Side itinerary for a driving tour of the most impressive of these old churches. In the ensuing years the economic decline and demographic shifts in the East Side have caused many Catholic churches to be abandoned or sold off to other owners, but a surprising number of congregations in the neighborhood remain active today — especially in Broadway-Fillmore, where you can still attend Mass in the Polish language at St. Stanislaus and Corpus Christi.

StStanislaus - The foundation of St. Stanislaus, Bishop & Martyr in 1872 gave rise to the Polish community centered in Broadway-Fillmore. Unlike most East Side Catholic churches, St. Stanislaus is still an active and vibrant parish.

• Blessed Trinity RC Church 317 Leroy Ave. 42.932632, -78.833697 Metro Bus 13 or 23 ☎ +1 716 833-0301 Opening Hours: Mass Sunday 10AM, Saturday 4:30PM, Tuesday to Friday 11AM Blessed Trinity Roman Catholic Church Buildings Located in the heart of Highland Park since 1907, Blessed Trinity's congregation worships in an exquisite brown-brick building: its architecture an imitation of the Cathédrale Saint-Trophine in Arles adapted to the style of a 12th-century Lombard cathedral, it's said to have the most plentiful terra cotta ornamentation of any church in the U.S.

• Corpus Christi RC Church 199 Clark St. 42.891559, -78.835965 Metro Bus 4 or 23 ☎ +1 716 896-1050 Opening Hours: Mass Sunday 8:15AM, 10AM (Polish) & 11:30AM; Saturday 11:30AM & 5PM, Monday to Friday 11:30AM (Thursdayin Polish) Corpus Christi R. C. Church Complex Second only to St. Stanislaus on the roster of Polonia's most prominent Catholic churches, Corpus Christi boasts a vibrant faith community, a full schedule of English- and Polish-language church services and cultural events for the surrounding neighborhood including the annual Dożynki harvest festival held in August.

• St. Bernard RC Church 1988 Clinton St. 42.871886, -78.802330 Metro Bus 2 ☎ +1 716 822-8057 Opening Hours: Mass Sunday 9AM & 11:30AM, Saturday 4PM, Monday to Friday 7AM The traditional church of Kaisertown's (German) community, St. Bernard's history dates back to 1907, before which time the newcomers had to either worship with their Polish rivals at St. Casimir's or make the long trek across the railroad tracks to St. Agnes in Lovenjoy. More recently and the church successfully fought off an attempt by the Diocese to merge it with Our Lady of Czestochowa in Cheektowaga and this understated English Gothic-style building erected in 1953 remains today the home of a congregation that's on the small side, but vital and welcoming to all.

• St. Casimir Oratory 160 Cable St. 42.868954, -78.807625 Metro Bus 2 ☎ +1 716 824-9589 Opening Hours: Mass Sunday 10AM, 3rd Saturday of each month 7PM (Latin Tridentine), 1st Friday of each month 8AM St. Casimir is no longer a full-fledged parish: in 2011, its congregation was merged with Our Lady of Czestochowa in Cheektowaga and the building became an oratory, or a secondary worship space used by its parent church for special-event Masses, weddings, funerals and other functions. However, as oratories go, St. Casimir's is an unusually active one: this exquisite Byzantine Revival building in polychromatic terra cotta hosts six Masses a week as well as a full slate of community events and services (including a raucous Dyngus Day shindig) that preserve its status as the nexus of Kaisertown's Polish community.

• SS. Columba & Brigid RC Church 75 Hickory St. 42.881838, -78.859062 Metro Bus 1, 2, 15 or 18 ☎ +1 716 852-3331 Opening Hours: Mass Sunday 9AM (Spanish) & 11AM (English), last Sunday of each month 10AM (bilingual), Saturday 4PM (English) The story of this proud congregation is the story of the historic linchpin churches of two adjacent but very different neighborhoods: St. Brigid's, founded in 1853 as the "mother church" of the Irish immigrant community of South Buffalo and located for years on Louisiana Street in the Old First Ward and St. Columba, which served the Italians of the Ellicott District beginning in 1888 and was famous for years as the site of the Printers' Mass, an extra-late service at 1:30AM on Sunday nights held especially for the newspaper printers whose shifts ended just before that hour. The two churches merged in 1968 after St. Brigid's was destroyed by fire and today SS. Columba and Brigid is a friendly and welcoming Near East Side church with a congregation that draws heavily from the newly minted Hispanic quarter of the Ellicott District and which strives to use its "contagious Christianity" as a positive force in the lives of all who enter.

• St. John Kanty RC Church - 101 Swinburne St. 42.895806, -78.820815 Metro Bus 4 or 19 ☎ +1 716 893-0412 Opening Hours: Mass Sunday 10:30AM, Saturday 4PM, Monday - West & Thursday - Friday 8:30AM St. John Kanty has been anchoring the eastern part of Broadway-Fillmore since 1890, when Bishop Stephen Ryan had had enough of hearing about parishioners of St. Stanislaus killed on their walk to church while crossing the dangerous New York Central Railroad tracks that divided the neighborhood. Despite the fact that its building lacks the architectural majesty of many of Polonia's older churches, St. John Kanty counts a congregation that's among the East Side's most vibrant — aside from the half-dozen Masses held here each week and the church remains a powerful force in Buffalo's Polish community through its sponsorship of a bevy of community services for Catholics and non-Catholics alike. It continues to grow, too, accepting the former members of St. Adalbert Basilica into the fold when the two churches merged in 2011.

• St. Katharine Drexel RC Church 135 N. Ogden St. 42.888153, -78.802152 Metro Bus 1 ☎ +1 716 895-6813 Opening Hours: Mass Sunday 10AM, Saturday 4PM, Tuesday to Friday 8:30AM St. Katharine Drexel is a new parish, formed in 2007 from the merger of Lovenjoy's three Catholic churches: St. Agnes, Visitation and St. Francis of Assisi. The new congregation meets in the former home of the latter church, a newish building in a modernized and simplified interpretation of the English Gothic style that's stood on North Ogden Street since 1959. As well and the new name of the parish is a sort of homage to its former namesake: canonized in 2000, Katharine Drexel is a new-school saint who, in turn-of-the-century Philadelphia, worked tirelessly in the spirit of St. Francis for the benefit of the urban poor and against the racial segregation and prejudice that ruled the day.

• St. Lawrence RC Church 1520 E. Delavan Ave. 42.922868, -78.800144 Metro Bus 24 or 26 ☎ +1 716 892-2471 Opening Hours: Mass Sunday noon, Saturday 4:30PM & 10PM, Monday to Friday 8:30AM St. Lawrence Church is located just inside the city line in Delavan-Bailey, which at the turn of the century stood out among East Side neighborhoods as an island of Italian immigrants in a sea of Germans and Poles. St. Gerard, located at the intersection that gave the neighborhood its name, was their church, but as Delavan-Bailey grew in population it became too small to accommodate all the congregants. Thus St. Lawrence was founded as a mission church in 1914, graduating to the status of full-fledged parish in its own right in 1929. Today it is a small but diverse and friendly congregation that's welcoming to visitors and active in the community.

• St. Martin de Porres RC Church 555 Northampton St. 42.907104, -78.846433 Metro Bus 12, 18, 22 or 29 ☎ +1 716 883-7729 Opening Hours: Mass Sunday 8AM & 9:30AM, Tuesday - Thursday noon From the 1990s through today and the story of the Catholic churches on the inner East Side was one of shrinking congregations and of churches closing and merging with each other. St. Martin de Porres is one of the East Side's first "blended churches" — a merger of St. Matthew in Genesee-Moselle, Our Lady of Lourdes in Midtown, St. Boniface in the Fruit Belt and St. Benedict the Moor in Cold Spring — and it's unique among them in that the merger came at the request of the parishes, rather than being imposed on them by the Diocese. When the building they call home today was dedicated by Bishop Henry Mansell in 2000, it was the first new Catholic church in 50 years to be built within the city limits. Another way St. Martin de Porres is unique is as Buffalo's only majority-black Catholic church and among the ways it tailors its ministry to the worship culture it serves is with a rousing gospel choir headed since the parish's inception by the inimitable Ella Robinson, as well as an African-American Catholic Gospel Music Resource and Recording Center slated for the Parish Center they plan to build on their Humboldt Park campus.

• St. Stanislaus, Bishop and Martyr RC Church - 123 Townsend St. 42.887983, -78.840442 Metro Bus 1, 4 or 23 ☎ +1 716 854-5510 Opening Hours: Mass Sunday 9AM (English) & noon (Polish), Saturday 4PM, Tuesday to Friday 7:45AM Church of St. Stanislaus, Bishop and Martyr (Buffalo, New York) The most well-known and vibrant Catholic church on the East Side, this "Mother Church of Polonia" has stubbornly retained its status as central hub of the community in Broadway-Fillmore. St. Stan's is best known among local residents as a place to celebrate Dyngus Day or trek with your old Polish grandma on Easter, Christmas and other holidays — but it's an equally magnificent experience other times of the year, when it's just you and the neighborhood regulars. For an extra dose of old-school neighborhood authenticity, go to St. Stan's Polish-language service, held at noon every Sunday.

Eastern Orthodox

Lovenjoy is an epicenter of Orthodox Christianity in Buffalo, with a pair of churches serving Ukrainian and Russian congregations respectively.

• St. Nicholas Ukrainian Catholic Church - 308 Fillmore Ave. 42.881303, -78.839648 Metro Bus 1, 2 or 23 ☎ +1 716 852-7566 Opening Hours: Liturgy Sunday 10AM & noon, Saturday 4:30PM The seat of the Buffalo Deanery of the Ukrainian Catholic Church, St. Nicholas serves a cluster of Ukrainians located in Lovenjoy whose history dates back to the early 1880s. It was Reverend Iwan Zaklynskyj who was the church's founding father — in 1905, he and a group that broke away from the congregation of SS. Peter & Paul on Ideal Street after its ethnic composition shifted began meeting in a small wood-frame structure on Central Avenue. The present building, a Romanesque-style beauty in Broadway-Fillmore designed by prominent East Side architect Wladyslaw Zawadzki, dates to 1919. Today, St. Nicholas — along with the Dnipro Center on Genesee Street — is one of the twin nuclei of Buffalo's under-the-radar but vibrant Ukrainian-American community: the church plays host not only to weekly services but also fun-filled community events and, on Friday afternoons, to the St. Nicholas Friday Kitchen, where varenyky, borscht and other lip-smacking Ukrainian specialties are dished out for a song. St. Nicholas is also the sponsor of the "Good Samaritan" radio show broadcast Sunday afternoons on WJJL 1440 AM, broadcasting inspirational religious programming in both Ukrainian and English.

• SS. Peter & Paul Orthodox Church - 45 Ideal St. 42.886017, -78.807254 Metro Bus 1 ☎ +1 716 893-0044 Opening Hours: Divine Liturgy Sunday 10AM, Vespers Saturday 6PM Though it was founded in 1884 as a Ukrainian congregation, SS. Peter & Paul became dominated in short order by Russians, who began immigrating to Buffalo in the 1880s and were attracted to Lovenjoy due to easily available jobs on the railroads. The departure of the Ukrainians for a separate congregation in 1905 cemented SS. Peter & Paul's status as the first Russian Orthodox church on the Niagara Frontier (these days it's affiliated with the Orthodox Church in America). The congregation continued to grow throughout the 20th Century and into the 21st, accommodating an influx of refugees from the former Soviet Union and the richly decorated Russian Byzantine-style building in which it meets today, with its unmistakable onion dome, dates to 1933. Visitors to SS. Peter & Paul today will encounter a congregation that is close-knit yet welcoming to newcomers, with uplifting services held in a mix of English and Old Slavonic.

Mainline Protestant

The East Side's roster of mainline Protestant churches is multifaceted: many of them are located in blue-collar white ethnic areas near the city line and are attended by the same type of folks as always, but there are also a number of churches in inner neighborhoods that were able to weather the mid-20th Century demographic changes and now feature majority-black congregations — and even some like St. Philip's Episcopal that have been African-American since they were founded.

• Cleveland Hill United Methodist Church 546 Eggert Rd. 42.943180, -78.803589 Metro Bus 12 or 32 ☎ +1 716 833-8225 Opening Hours: Services Sunday 11:15AM A small and close-knit faith community whose ethnic diversity mirrors that of the neighborhood it calls home, this church was founded in 1925 as the Cleveland Hill Evangelical United Brethren Church and has worshiped in its present building, a simple, modern-style brick and stone church in Kensington-Bailey, since 1949. Today, Pastor Holly Dale-Coty leads a congregation that is active in the community and enthusiastically welcoming of visitors and newcomers.

• Grace United Church of Christ 875 E. Delavan Ave. 42.922398, -78.824657 Metro Bus 13 or 26 ☎ +1 716 892-4167 Opening Hours: Services Sunday 10AM The church formerly known as Grace Reformed Church has been a mainstay in Delavan-Grider for over a century: the congregation still worships in its original brick Carpenter Gothic building erected in 1915. Today, Pastor Larry Jackson leads Sunday services that are friendly and imbued with a positive and uplifting message and continues the tradition of community engagement that's been one of Grace's trademarks from the start: potluck dinners, lively choir concerts and other events are frequent and well-attended.

• Hananiah Lutheran Church 900 Genesee St. 42.900445, -78.844204 Metro Bus 6, 22, 23 or 24 ☎ +1 716 240-9476 Opening Hours: Services Sunday 1PM Affiiliated with the Lutheran Church — Missouri Synod, Hananiah is a new congregation that's led by Reverend Kenyatta Cobb, who doubles as a chaplain for the Buffalo Police Department and the Erie County Medical Center. Since 2007 and they've been based in the former A. L. Weber Furniture Store on Genesee Street in Humboldt Park, with services whose style blends respect for tradition with innovations that speak to modern Christians. Hananiah Lutheran Church is a small congregation, but it boasts an outsize commitment to community service — their Vegetarian food pantry serves the neighborhood Monday through Thursday — and an ethnically diverse makeup.

• Hermon Karen Baptist Church 3021 Bailey Ave. 42.937044, -78.813408 Metro Bus 13, 19 or 32 ☎ +1 716 495-4018 Opening Hours: Services Sunday 10AM Affiliated with the Karen Baptist Convention, it was in 2015 when pastor Myo Kyow moved his flock from their former home on the West Side to the erstwhile St. James Catholic Church in Kensington-Bailey: a hulking English Gothic structure designed by Karl Schmill and built in 1926 for a mixed (German) and Irish congregation on what was then the outskirts of Buffalo's urbanized area. As before, Hermon Karen Baptist serves as spiritual home to a growing contingent of Buffalo's Burmese immigrant community, whom Pastor Kyow and company actively engage with friendly services, a host of worthwhile events and group meetings sponsored by a wide range of community groups.

• Immanuel Lutheran Church 1084 E. Lovenjoy St. 42.889905, -78.808134 Metro Bus 1 or 19 ☎ +1 716 896-8035 Opening Hours: Services Sunday 9AM Immanuel is a pint-sized congregation — over the course of its history, it's never had much more than the two or three dozen members it boasts now — so it's pretty impressive that the church has been able to hang tough in Lovenjoy for over 120 years. The congregation was founded in 1894 with services held in (German) for the first twenty years of its history and it moved to its current location — the former St. Peter's Episcopal Church — in 1951. Headed up today by pastor Glen Richardson, Immanuel may be a small church, but the community is friendly and welcoming to visitors. It's affiliated with the Missouri Synod of the Lutheran Church.

• Lincoln Memorial United Methodist Church 641 Masten Ave. 42.919618, -78.859163 Metro Bus 8, 13, 18, 26 or 29; Metro Rail: Delavan-Canisius College ☎ +1 716 884-7664 Opening Hours: Services Sunday 9AM & 11AM Lincoln Memorial UMC is a handsome stone church in the English Gothic style, built in 1921 for the Trinity Methodist Episcopal Church and situated in a verdant milieu in Hamlin Park. At Lincoln, not only does the congregation bend over backwards to welcome and accommodate newcomers, but Pastor George Nicholas is uncommonly talented at crafting sermons whose messages cut across all types of people and walks of life to touch all hearts. There's even a Coffee hour after services.

• MacAlpine Presbyterian Church - 2700 Bailey Ave. 42.928222, -78.813900 Metro Bus 12, 19 or 26 ☎ +1 716 893-0208 Opening Hours: Services Sunday 10AM Founded in 1920 as the Bailey Avenue Presbyterian Church and renamed six years later after the death of their founding pastor, MacAlpine has been a tried-and-true stalwart in Kensington-Bailey all throughout the changes the neighborhood has undergone over the years. Reverend Lowell Avery is a true dynamo, leading his church not only in rousing Sunday-morning services but in a full range of community programs and ministries.

• Metropolitan United Methodist Church 657 Best St. 42.903456, -78.844329 Metro Bus 22, 23, 24 or 29 ☎ +1 716 891-5652 Opening Hours: Services Sunday 10:30AM Much the same as St. Martin de Porres Catholic Church just on the other side of Humboldt Parkway and the story of Metropolitan UMC is one of five struggling, shrinking inner-city congregations — St. Andrew's, Bithynia, Good Shepherd, Masten Community and Otterbein — pooling their resources and merging together to keep the flame of their faith alive in the midst of a changing neighborhood. The building, erected in 1981 on the site of the demolished Humboldt Plaza Evangelical Church (later temporary home to predecessor congregation Good Shepherd), is a handsome building in a modernist style; the congregation is small and tight-knit yet friendly and welcoming; the services are helmed weekly by Pastor Angela Stewart.

• New Covenant United Church of Christ 459 Clinton St. 42.882189, -78.857281 Metro Bus 1, 2 or 18 ☎ +1 716 856-3392 Opening Hours: Services Sunday 11:30AM Like Durham Memorial AME Zion Church, New Covenant UCC's history can be traced back to the controversy among members of Bethel AME Church over the undesirable location of their place of worship in what was then Buffalo's red-light neighborhood. Desiring to go one step beyond Durham's solution and dispense with Methodism entirely, this church was founded in 1904 and met in a converted house on Potter Street (now Nash Street) donated by one Mr. William Lloyd, hence its original name Lloyd's Memorial Congregational Church. The congregation moved to its present building in the Ellicott District in 1964 and took on its current name ten years later after merging with St. Peter's Evangelical Church. New Covenant remains a very active congregation both at Sunday services and in the community at large, with a neighborhood food pantry, an active music ministry and frequent guest speakers and other events. The congregation is very welcoming to visitors and new members, too.

• St. Philip's Episcopal Church 18 Sussex St. 42.927387, -78.828438 Metro Bus 13 or 26 ☎ +1 716 833-0442 Opening Hours: Services Sunday 9:30AM & West 12:05PM Though you'd never know it from its low-key reputation, St. Philip's is one of the East Side's most historic churches: founded in 1861, it is one of the neighborhood's oldest extant congregations and was the first (and is still the only) majority-black congregation in the Episcopal Diocese of Western New York. They worshiped for years on Goodell Street in the Fruit Belt before their building fell victim to urban renewal in 1974 and their current home is the former St. Clement's Episcopal Church in Delavan-Grider. Services at St. Philip's blend the traditionally Episcopalian with twists that speak to the African-American identity of its members — for example and there's both a traditional and a gospel choir — and St. Philip's is also the home church of the local chapter of the Union of Black Episcopalians. There are two services a week led by the dynamic Rev. Gloria Payne-Carter.

• University United Methodist Church 410 Minnesota Ave. 42.946363, -78.813866 Metro Bus 12, 13, 19 or 32 ☎ +1 716 833-7562 Opening Hours: Services Sunday 10AM With a history that stretches back to 1918 and the University Methodist Church has been a linchpin presence at the north end of Kensington-Bailey for far longer than most anything else in the neighborhood. Though services are still held in its original, imposing red-brick Gothic building and the church is now linked together with the nearby Cleveland Hill United Methodist Church — the two congregations share the same pastor and the Rev. Holly Dale-Coty, as well as the same outsize vitality and spirit of community engagement that belie the small size of the flock and the same warm welcome for visitors.

Nondenominational

• CityReach Church - 260 Eggert Rd. 42.932383, -78.799788 Metro Bus 12 ☎ +1 716 893-8112 Opening Hours: Services Sunday 11AM In 2014 and the erstwhile Expressway Assembly of God — located in Kensington-Bailey, in an old factory building just off the Eggert Road exit of the Kensington Expressway, hence its name — became part of the CityReach Network, a group of several dozen churches located throughout the eastern United States whose mission is to bring the Christian message to "unlikely people in overlooked places". Accordingly, Pastor Lou Krutz and his cohorts foster an accepting, low-key, come-as-you-are environment in their services, with a special focus on ministering to youth and young adults: a nursery and Children's Church are available during regular Sunday services and teens and young adults are catered to during Tuesday and Wednesday night programs, respectively. In order to represent their faith to the community in the best feasible way, CityReach goes far beyond simply welcoming new members: they actively and enthusiastically encourage visitors to check out what they're all about.

• Evangelical Baptist Church - 141 Ludington St. 42.887230, -78.808897 Metro Bus 1 or 19 ☎ +1 716 895-9652 In the beginning, this was the First Russian-Ukrainian Baptist Church, where a few dozen people met each week to conduct services in the Russian language. As Lovenjoy changed and diversified and the church began accepting folks of other ethnicity's into the fold and holding services in English; finally, in 1951 and the much larger congregation moved into the striking modern building the worship in today. Despite that and the core message has remained the same: the Evangelical Baptist Church is a friendly, fundamentalist Christian congregation that's extraordinarily committed to their faith. Pastor John Carpenter leads weekly services at which all are welcome.

• First Universal Christian Church - 1940 Clinton St. 42.871931, -78.804777 Metro Bus 2 ☎ +1 716 822-7263 Opening Hours: Services Sunday 10:30AM An interdenominational, full-Gospel Christian congregation that is welcoming and open to all, at the First Universal Christian Church husband-and-wife pastor team Rob and Sue Bradbury preach services with a positive, empowering message, with a contemporary-style delivery that's not bogged down in intimidating pomp and ceremony but is laid-back, accessible and relevant to modern-day life. The building is the former Magyar Reformed Church, a charming red-brick Gothic church built in 1915 where the small Hungarian community of eastern Kaisertown worshiped for many years.

Jehovah's Witnesses

• Kingdom Hall of Jehovah's Witnesses 1250 E. Delavan Ave. 42.922811, -78.810809 Metro Bus 12, 13, 19 or 26 ☎ +1 716 895-4653 Opening Hours: Services Sunday 10AM & 1PM
• Kingdom Hall of Jehovah's Witnesses 351 Emslie St. 42.886047, -78.848756 Metro Bus 1, 4 or 18 ☎ +1 716 854-5294 Opening Hours: Services Sunday 9:30AM, 12:30PM & 3:30PM
• Kingdom Hall of Jehovah's Witnesses 185 Kensington Ave. 42.927141, -78.844280 Metro Bus 8 or 23; Metro Rail: Humboldt-Hospital ☎ +1 716 881-1229 Opening Hours: Services Sunday 10AM & 1PM

Muslim

The East Side boasts a sizable collection of masjids, which are concentrated around Humboldt Park and the northern parts of Broadway-Fillmore where communities of Muslim immigrants have coalesced.

File:MasjidNuManBuffalo - Humboldt Park and Broadway-Fillmore are home to a considerable population of Muslims.

• Baitul Mukarram Jame Masjid 3296 Bailey Ave. 42.944618, -78.814051 Metro Bus 12, 13, 19 or 32 Though it's located in the heart of the Ken-Bailey business neighborhood, this place is not the easiest in the world to find: Baitul Mukarram is an old wood-framed house set off a good distance from the street, converted into a humble but friendly and welcoming place of worship for the East Side's Bangladeshi Muslim community.
• Buffalo Markaz Masjid - Crescent Village Muslim Community Center | 115 Woltz Ave. 42.897080, -78.835409 Metro Bus 4, 6 or 23 ☎ +1 716 893-4100 - Situated in the former John Ulinski Senior Center at the junction of Stanislaus Street and Woltz Avenue in Broadway-Fillmore and the Buffalo Markaz Masjid is not only as a mosque where taleem (and, on Friday, jum'a) is held each evenings after isha, but also serves as the local headquarters and community center of Tablighi Jamaat, a conservative Sunni tradition that emphasizes missionary work within the larger Muslim community.

• Islamic Da'Wah Center of Buffalo 1522 Genesee St. 42.908651, -78.824050 Metro Bus 6, 12, 22 or 24 ☎ +1 716 533-2137 A Salafi mosque and community center located in a storefront in the heart of Genesee-Moselle and the Islamic Da'Wah Center of Buffalo hosts all prayers except formal jum'a for a multicultural congregation.

• Jami Masjid 1957 Genesee St. 42.913895, -78.809480 Metro Bus 12, 19 or 24 ☎ +1 716 597-0280 Jami Masjid is located in the building that was for eighty years the home of Queen of Peace Catholic Church, founded in 1920 to serve a small Polish enclave that had migrated northeastward from Broadway-Fillmore. The building dates to seven years after the congregation was established, a sandstone and limestone edifice in a pleasant English Gothic style whose design was unique among all the city's Catholic churches: church, school and rectory were combined in one large cross-shaped structure. Today the church portion is where Sheikh Ibrahim Memon leads one of Buffalo's largest Muslim congregations in Friday prayers, while the school portion of the building is now home to the Universal School, which provides a private Islamic education in the Sunni tradition to elementary- and middle school-aged students.

• Masjid Darus-Salaam 75 E. Parade Ave. 42.905495, -78.835626 Metro Bus 22, 23 or 24 - Masjid Darus-Salaam is located in Humboldt Park, in a converted house on a quiet side street next to Martin Luther King, Jr. Park — look for the smallish sign hanging from the porch on the second floor. The building may look small at first, but it's got enough space for about 75 people for jum'a as well as an extensive library of Qu'ran translations, hadith collections and other Islamic literature available for study. In addition to Friday services, Darus-Salaam also hosts a wide variety of other prayer meetings, religious education courses and activities on a seven-day-a-week basis.

• Masjid Nu'Man 1373 Fillmore Ave. 42.911204, -78.838941 Metro Bus 12, 13, 23 or 29 ☎ +1 716 892-1332 Among the oldest masjids in Buffalo, Nu'Man is a primarily African-American congregation that meets in a space on the second floor of a brown-brick commercial building in the heart of Humboldt Park. Friday jum'a (in the Sunni tradition) is attended by a vibrant, loving congregation that's well-known for its engagement in community betterment in a myriad of different ways, while on Sunday mornings Islamic studies classes are offered for both children and adults.

• Masjid Zakariya 182 Sobieski St. 42.899095, -78.832881 Metro Bus 4, 6 or 22 ☎ +1 716 892-2606 Darul Uloom Al-Madania#Masjid Zakariya Like Jami Masjid, thit is another example of a former Christian church converted into a combination mosque and Muslim school: in 1993 and the former Holy Mother of the Rosary Polish National Gothic Church in Broadway-Fillmore became the home of Masjid Zakariya and its associated school and the Darul-Uloom Al-Madania Institute of Higher Islamic Education. At the former, jum'a and other services are held for a congregation composed of about a hundred families, mostly immigrants from Pakistan and Saudi Arabia; in the latter, students from pre-kindergarten through grade 10 are educated in a combination of the standard New York State curriculum and rigorous study of the principles of the Sunni Islamic faith.

Buddhist

Buffalo's Vietnamese Buddhist community is represented by a pair of temples, located in Broadway-Fillmore and Lovenjoy respectively.

• Chùa Từ Hiếu Buddhist Cultural Center of Buffalo 647 Fillmore Ave. 42.890959, -78.839065 Metro Bus 4 or 23 ☎ +1 716 892-6839 - Located in the Buffalo Police Department's former Eighth Precinct Headquarters, Chùa Từ Hiếu has served the local Vietnamese Buddhist community since 1998, but it was not until 2014 — when the breathtaking outdoor courtyard and garden were put in place next door — when it truly came to the attention of the Broadway-Fillmore community. Decorated with a set of stone pillars imported from Vietnam and centered on a statue of Quan Âm and the bodhisattva of mercy to whom many refugees prayed for safe travel to their new homeland, this normally serene place periodically becomes the scene of cultural events and gatherings such as group meditation sessions and an annual Vietnamese New Year celebration featuring traditional music and dance. Otherwise and the temple is open for worship daily.

• Tuesday Viện Đại Bảo Trang Nghiêm Vietnamese Buddhist Cultural Center - International Sangha Bhiksu Buddhist Association - 194 Ludington St. 42.887491, -78.806536 Metro Bus 1 or 19 ☎ +1 716 279-6371 - Tuesday Viện Đại Bảo Trang Nghiêm sees the former St. Agnes Catholic Church in Lovenjoy reborn as a complex that combines a thriving Buddhist monastery, worship space and cultural center with the head offices of the International Sangha Bhiksu Buddhist Association. The temple is open to the public daily for silent prayer and on Sundays and Mondays for group chanting and meditation and also hosts Vietnamese language classes for children and various cultural events.

More Muslim friendly Destinations from Buffalo/East Side

• When the East Side's Germans and Poles left for greener pastures in the middle 20th Century, many of them ended up in Cheektowaga, one of the oldest, largest and in many ways the prototypical inner-ring Buffalo suburb. Contrary to what most visitors believe, Cheektowaga is much more than just the site of the Buffalo Niagara International Airport the Walden Galleria — it's also a place to experience the modern-day version of the blue-collar, unpretentious "old Buffalo" that ruled the day on the East Side in earlier times. Polish culture is especially strong here: Polish-Americans make up almost 30% of the town's population (the largest proportion of any municipality in the United States) and utterly dominate its political and cultural life, earning it the affectionate nickname of "Cheektowarsaw".
• The East Side's history as an haven for newcomers to America continues to play out in the present day, but Ground Zero for the modern-day immigrant experience in Buffalo is the Buffalo/West Side|West Side. Along the main drag of Grant Street, a multicultural mix of Asians, Africans, Arabs and Latinos weave a vibrant tapestry — at the heart of which stands the West Side Bazaar, where you can browse through traditional handicrafts and sample ethnic foods from around the world. There's also a burgeoning artist community to rival Midtown's and on sweltering summer days in Buffalo the perfect way to beat the heat is in the cool breezes of one of the West Side's many waterfront parks and green spaces.
• If the East Side's grand old churches left you agape, head south of the city line to Lackawanna to see the most magnificent one Western New York has to offer: Our Lady of Victory Basilica, a Baroque Revival masterpiece completed in 1926 that's a testament to the charitable works of Father Nelson Baker. When you're done ooh-ing and aah-ing, stay a while in this old company town long dominated by the Lackawanna Steel Plant to drink in the city's rough-and-tumble blue-collar character, now tempered by a vibrant Yemeni immigrant community.

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