Buffalo/Elmwood Village

Do you remember when Madonna's album Ray of Light came out? It was a touchstone moment in late-'90s pop culture, yet another megahit for the Material Girl that begat a raft of monster hit songs and enjoyed a long reign on the upper reaches of the charts. But around that time, those who were paying close attention were beginning to come to certain realizations. While Madonna was a true groundbreaker in her prime, by 1998 she'd been a superstar for an eternity in pop-music terms. What's more, the world had meanwhile been introduced to a whole new crop of pop stars who were barely out of diapers when "Burnin' Up" and "Lucky Star" were all over MTV, and who were now pushing the formula she'd pioneered in a thousand different directions. On one level it was a vindication, but on another, it begged the questions: where does Madonna go from here? How does she stay fresh and relevant among the competition? Surely it's not just diminishing returns from here on?

That, in essence, is the story of the Elmwood Village: it is living out the Ray of Light phase of its history. Perpetually invigorated by the youthful presence of the students from Buffalo State College at its north end, and with a touch of upscale elegance furnished by the beautiful parks and parkways designed in its environs by the renowned Frederick Law Olmsted, the Elmwood Village has been Buffalo's "cool" neighborhood since before it had any real competition for that title. And make no mistake: the roster of bars, restaurants, and funky boutiques along its main drag of Elmwood Avenue remains a force to be reckoned with. But it's also a neighborhood in the throes of change. Not only is it now forced to share the spotlight with up-and-coming districts like the upscale Hertel Avenue, the lively Allentown, and a resurgent downtown, but the Elmwood Village has become something of a victim of its own success: a wave (some dare call it a bubble) of speculation among developers and other real-estate types has coincided with the so-called "retail apocalypse" and led to Buffalo's first high-end blight, a phenomenon whereby vacant storefronts crop up in supposedly tony areas for lack of any small business owners who can afford the stratospheric rents. These are problems that are going to need answers in the coming years, but don't count the Elmwood Village out just yet: much like Madonna, this longstanding superstar among Buffalo neighborhoods has a large and loyal fan base ever keen to see it through to the next phase of its existence. Even if it has to reinvent itself along the way, Elmwood is not going anywhere.

Understand


Buffalonians often mention the Elmwood Village and Allentown in the same breath, and while there are indeed a lot of similarities between the two, the astute visitor to Buffalo who experiences both neighborhoods will notice some differences. In the Elmwood Village, the ambience is decidedly upscale: by and large, its shops cater not to hipsters but to well-heeled urban bourgies, and the bars and restaurants on Elmwood Avenue invite a more refined clientele than the frat-boy meatheads who descend on Allen Street every weekend. As a contrast, at the north end of the strip you'll find a small, stalwart cluster of low-key college dives catering to Buffalo State students. In short, Allentown is the place to party down with youthful abandon, while Elmwood is where you go when you get too old for that scene.

History
Until 1868, Buffalo's northern boundary was located at North Street, and what is now the Elmwood Village was a rural area known as "Shingletown", traversed by a quiet country lane called Rogers Street. A tavern stood at the corner of Rogers and Utica Streets, serving as a way station for travelers between Buffalo and Black Rock; across the way stood a tiny chapel staffed by a preacher who traveled each Sunday from Westminster Presbyterian Church in Allentown. Other than that, however, Shingletown was little more than an expanse of apple orchards, pastureland, and forest. Elmwood Avenue itself existed only between Butler Street (now Lexington Avenue) and West Delavan Avenue.

Like the Delaware District immediately to its east, what is today the Elmwood Village sprang to life largely thanks to the extensive system of parks and parkways that Frederick Law Olmsted developed beginning in the 1870s in what was then the outskirts of Buffalo. The large Delaware Park, the centerpiece of that system, was placed there; to serve as grand entrances to the park, Olmsted designed a series of parkways: wide avenues that extended between the park and the city, lined on each side with great rows of shade trees to give visitors a prelude to the tranquil green oasis that awaited them (he also redesigned Rogers Street in the same manner, which would come to be renamed Richmond Avenue). Though these parkways ran through empty land at the time, Olmsted correctly assumed that as the city grew, they would attract the attention of the growing aristocratic class, who were already beginning to build ample estates on Delaware Avenue in order to escape the crowds and congestion of downtown. By 1890, Elmwood Avenue had been extended southward, a streetcar line had been established, side streets had been laid out with still more homes, and the neighborhood as it is today had begun to take shape.

Buffalo's shining hour came in 1901, when the Pan-American Exposition took place in and around Delaware Park. An estimated eight million people visited the Exposition between May and November of that year, in order to enjoy the pleasures of the midway, thrilling attractions such as "A Trip to the Moon", and the new phenomenon of electric light. The Exposition also served to attract development to the north end of the Elmwood Village, which was still somewhat isolated from the center of town. Immediately afterward, the Buffalo Historical Society set up its museum on the Exposition grounds, in the former New York State Building next to Hoyt Lake, and the Albright-Knox Art Gallery, which was intended to be open in time for the Exposition but was not completed until 1905, was nearby. For obvious reasons, this area is now known as the Museum District. Moreover, the more far-flung Olmsted parkways, such as Lincoln Parkway, began to see the same sort of ostentatious mansions as Delaware Avenue.

In 1931, the north end of the Elmwood Village became home to the new campus of the New York State Teachers' College, moved from its cramped digs on the West Side to what was once the farm tended to by patients of the Buffalo State Asylum for the Insane whose main campus was just south of here in a series of magnificent Gothic towers designed by H. H. Richardson. Together with the museums and the Olmsted parkways, the college was integral in the fact that the Elmwood Village not only held its own in the face of the decline of Buffalo after World War II, but actually thrived; as the school grew and expanded its scope, taking on the name Buffalo State College, the "Elmwood Strip" became a lively row of bars, restaurants and shops serving the students, earning itself a youthful, "cool" cachet even as the rest of the city was going to pot.

As the 20th century wore on into the 21st and Buffalo began to shake off its half-century of miasma, further changes came to the Elmwood Village. The founding of the not-for-profit Elmwood Village Association in 1994 spearheaded its transition into a multifaceted community that came to be more and more dominated by well-heeled, upwardly-mobile young urbanites rather than students — the prototypical Elmwooder nowadays is someone who spent their college days in the '80s and '90s drinking the night away at the old dive bars only to fall in love with the neighborhood and plant roots there permanently; who bought an old house on one of the side streets back when they were relatively cheap and went on to raise their family there. The efforts of this new crop of civic-minded residents bore fruit in 2007, when the American Planning Association named the Elmwood Village one of "America's 10 Great Neighborhoods" for that year, and again in December 2012, with the inclusion of the district on the National Register of Historic Places as a typical and relatively intact example of a late-19th century streetcar suburb.

Ironically, though, lately the continued revival of Buffalo as a whole has led to a downturn for the Elmwood Village. The 2010s witnessed the expansion of the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus just north of downtown as well as the groundbreaking for Tesla's Gigafactory 2 in South Buffalo — two megaprojects that, between them, promised to bring 20,000 jobs to Buffalo; a true game-changer for the economy. This sent the local real-estate market, already on an upswing, into high gear: the ensuing years saw thousands of new luxury apartments, hundreds of new hotel rooms, and dozens of new upscale restaurants sprout all over the city, with rampant speculation driving property values to unheard-of levels. Sadly, this all coincided with the onset of America's retail apocalypse — a nationwide trend (further accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic) that saw brick-and-mortar stores close their doors, unable to compete with the savings and convenience of online retailers like Amazon and Etsy — and Elmwood's neighborhood shops and restaurants, which never operated on thick profit margins to begin with, soon found themselves struggling to pay the highest rents in the city. The fact that the Medical Corridor and Tesla only created a fraction of the new jobs they initially promised was the final nail in the coffin, and by 2016 or so, the undeniable trend was one of Elmwood businesses either closing outright or moving to newer, more affordable hotspots like Grant Street or Hertel Avenue — areas that have largely stolen the spotlight as the place to be for trendy urban dwellers — leaving Elmwood with a plague of vacant storefronts and a growing reputation as passé. But paradoxically, the side streets are still easily the most in-demand residential district in the city, populated by denizens bitterly divided over what to do about this new problem of high-end blight: some have come out in vociferous support of the new high-rise buildings that have been sprouting lately, which they hope will drive down rents by increasing the supply of space; others advocate doggedly for preserving what remains of the small-scale, "village"-y character that attracted them to the neighborhood in the first place.

Visitor information
The 's office is located in the Lafayette Lofts at 875 Elmwood Ave. It contains a selection of visitor information about the neighborhood and Buffalo in general.

By car
The Scajaquada Expressway (NY 198) is a short highway that parallels Scajaquada Creek at the northern border of the Elmwood Village, through Delaware Park and the Buffalo State College campus. The Scajaquada connects the Kensington Expressway on the East Side with Interstate 190 in Black Rock. Elmwood Avenue is the site of one of the Scajaquada's busiest interchanges; those headed for the Elmwood Village via the Scajaquada should exit via the southbound ramp (follow the signs for the Art Gallery and Buffalo State College). Also, there is an onramp to the eastbound lanes of the Scajaquada via Lincoln Parkway, just to the rear of the Albright-Knox Art Gallery; however, the westbound lanes are not accessible in this way and there is no offramp from the expressway to Lincoln Parkway on either side.

The backbone of the Elmwood Village is Elmwood Avenue, which runs north-to-south through the entire length of the district. Understandably given its density of shops, bars and restaurants, traffic on Elmwood is often heavy. Those who want a quicker route will likely prefer Richmond Avenue, which runs west of and parallel to Elmwood Avenue from Forest Avenue southward. Though the two roads are of about equal width, Richmond runs through a comparatively quiet residential area and has only a few stop signs and lights, as opposed to Elmwood where the red lights are frequent and lengthy.

The parkways that make up such an integral part of Buffalo's Olmsted park system crisscross the Elmwood Village in the shape of an upside-down Y. Running south from Delaware Park is Lincoln Parkway; at its south end it splits into Bidwell Parkway and Chapin Parkway. Bidwell and Chapin Parkways end at, respectively, Colonial Circle and Gates Circle. In the center of the Y, where all three parkways and Bird Avenue converge, is Soldiers' Place, the largest of all the Olmsted circles in Buffalo.

Major east-west streets in the Elmwood Village include, from north to south: Forest Avenue, West Delavan Avenue, Lafayette Avenue, West Ferry Street, Lexington Avenue, West Utica Street, Bryant Street, Summer Street, and (at its southern edge, ironically) North Street.

It is perhaps harder to find parking in the Elmwood Village than any other neighborhood in Buffalo besides downtown. Visitors to the Elmwood Village should count on not being able to find an open parking spot anywhere within a block of Elmwood Avenue, especially on Friday and Saturday nights. Parking meters line Elmwood Avenue, as well as many of the busier side streets. On the off chance that there are any open spaces, the rate is 50¢ per hour until 5PM, Monday through Saturday.

There are public parking lots on Forest Avenue, West Utica Street, and Bryant Street, each a short distance west of Elmwood; they charge the same rate as the parking meters. Parking is somewhat (but not much) easier to come by in these lots than on-street. The parking ramp of the former Women & Children's Hospital can be accessed from Elmwood Avenue as well as Hodge Avenue; the rate is $1.75 for the first hour or less and $1.00 for each additional hour, up to a daily maximum of $3.75.

Visitors to Buffalo State College should take great care not to park in any lot signed "Student Parking" or "Staff Parking", or anywhere along Rockwell Road, unless they have a valid Buffalo State parking tag. Campus police are extremely vigilant about ticketing cars that are parked illegally. Metered parking for visitors ($1.00 per hour, 2 hours maximum) is available in Lot C, off Cleveland Circle next to Moot Hall, and also in Lot B-1, behind the Burchfield Penney Art Center.

A few businesses on Elmwood Avenue have parking lots of their own; however, these places will not hesitate to tow any cars parked there that do not belong to their customers. Less well-monitored private lots can be found next to Elmwood Taco & Subs and Starbucks at the corner of West Delavan Avenue, next to Panera Bread between Auburn and Cleveland Avenues, and at Stuyvesant Plaza at the southern end of the district. Regardless, park in private lots at your own risk!

Car sharing
Zipcar has two locations in the Elmwood Village where members can pick up and drop off cars:


 * Stationed in the parking lot of the at 366 Elmwood Ave. is a Honda Civic that can be rented for $9/hour or $74/day M-Th, and $10/hour or $80/day F-Su.
 * In Buffalo State College ' s Parking Lot R-4, just off Cleveland Circle, you'll find a Ford Focus sedan that can be rented for $7.50/hour or $69/day M-Th, and $8.50/hour or $77/day F-Su.

All quoted prices include fuel, insurance, and 180 free miles (about 290 free kilometers) per day.

By public transportation
Public transit in Buffalo and the surrounding area is provided by the Niagara Frontier Transportation Authority (NFTA). The NFTA Metro system encompasses a single-line light-rail rapid transit (LRRT) system and an extensive network of buses. The fare for a single trip on a bus or train is $2.00 regardless of length. No transfers are provided between buses or trains; travelers who will need to make multiple trips per day on public transit should consider purchasing an all-day pass for $5.00.

By bus
The Elmwood Village is traversed by a number of NFTA Metro bus routes:

To and from downtown
NFTA Metro Bus #7 — Baynes-Richmond. Beginning at the Richardson-Olmsted Complex on Forest Avenue, Bus #7 proceeds southward on Baynes Street, then turning on West Ferry Street and continuing southward down Richmond Avenue to Symphony Circle, ending downtown. Bus #7 does not run Saturdays, Sundays or holidays.

NFTA Metro Bus #20 — Elmwood. Beginning in Tonawanda, Bus #20 proceeds down Elmwood Avenue through the Elmwood Village and ends downtown.

Crosstown routes
NFTA Metro Bus #12 — Utica. Beginning on the West Side, Bus #12 enters the Elmwood Village at Ferry Circle, proceeding south along Richmond Avenue before turning eastward onto West Utica Street. The route ends at the University Metro Rail Station.

NFTA Metro Bus #22 — Porter-Best. Beginning on the West Side, Bus #22 proceeds along Summer Street through the Elmwood Village, ending at the Thruway Mall Transit Center in Cheektowaga.

NFTA Metro Bus #26 — Delavan. Beginning on the West Side, Bus #26 proceeds along West Delavan Avenue through the Elmwood Village, ending at the Thruway Mall Transit Center in Cheektowaga.

NFTA Metro Bus #32 — Amherst. Bus #32 traverses Amherst Street through Black Rock and North Buffalo, but dips into the Elmwood Village briefly, serving Buffalo State College and the Museum District via Elmwood Avenue.

By Metro Rail
The Metro Rail runs along Main Street, far east of here. However, the Elmwood Village is easily accessible from the Amherst Street, Delavan-Canisius College, Utica, and Summer-Best Metro Rail Stations by way of NFTA Metro Buses #32, #26, #12, and #22, respectively. Those traveling to the Elmwood Village by both bus and subway are strongly advised to purchase a day pass for $5.00.



By bike
Buffalo has made great strides in accommodating bicycling as a mode of transportation, with recognition from the League of American Bicyclists as a Bronze-Level "Bicycle-Friendly Community" to show for its efforts — and there are few neighborhoods in Buffalo that are more bike-friendly than the Elmwood Village.

There are two recreational bike trails in the Elmwood Village. The 1.1-mile (1.8 km) multi-use trail that circumnavigates Delaware Park's Hoyt Lake is an especially popular one among cyclists, affording them spectacular views of the lake and the historic Bridge of the Three Americas that carries Lincoln Parkway over it, as well as the Albright-Knox Art Gallery. Also, the Jesse Kregal Pathway, begins near the corner of Lincoln Parkway and Nottingham Terrace (a pedestrian bridge over the Scajaquada Expressway provides access from the Hoyt Lake trail) and proceeds 2.4 miles (3.8 km) along the north bank of Scajaquada Creek, passing the Japanese Garden, the Buffalo History Museum and Buffalo State College on its way into the West Side, where it ends at the Shoreline Trail in Black Rock.

Among the largest bicycle infrastructure projects in Buffalo in recent memory is along Elmwood Avenue between the Scajaquada Creekside Trail and Forest Avenue, then proceeding westward on Forest as far as Richmond Avenue. The sidewalks along this stretch of road were completely removed and replaced with a wide asphalt pathway for bicyclists and pedestrians, completely removed from the road, which provides access between the Scajaquada Creekside Trail and Richmond Avenue. In turn, Richmond Avenue has also been altered to accommodate bicyclists, with "sharrows" (pavement markings on roads too narrow to accommodate dedicated bike lanes, indicating that drivers should be aware of bicyclists on the road) in place between Forest Avenue and Colonial Circle, and dedicated bike lanes from Colonial Circle south to Symphony Circle. Additionally, on Elmwood itself bike lanes have been put in place between Anderson Place and Bryant Street, with sharrows north to Forest Avenue and south past North Street into Allentown; sharrows also extend along all of North Street. Bidwell Parkway also has a bike lane on each side of the street for its entire length between Colonial and Soldiers' Circles.

Quite frankly, even on streets without dedicated bike lanes or sharrows, the whole of the Elmwood Village is quite amenable to bicyclists — and perhaps just as important, drivers there are much more accustomed to sharing the road than in other areas of the city.

Bike sharing
The Elmwood Village has six Reddy Bikeshare racks:


 * on the east side of Elmwood Avenue just south of Bryant Street, in front of Root + Bloom Café
 * on the east side of Elmwood Avenue at the corner of West Ferry Street, in front of the Unitarian Universalist Church of Buffalo
 * on both sides of Elmwood Avenue in the center of Bidwell Parkway
 * on the west side of Elmwood Avenue between Bird and Forest Avenues, in front of India Gate restaurant
 * at the Richardson-Olmsted Complex, just past the entrance opposite the corner of Forest Avenue and Abbottsford Place, on the west side of the driveway
 * on the campus of Buffalo State College, on the west side of the Student Union Quad in front of the Campbell Student Union

Additionally, the stretch of Elmwood Avenue south of Rockwell Road is a free parking zone, where you can return your Reddy bike when you're done to any public bike rack without incurring the $2 fee for parking outside of a hub.

On foot
Elmwood Avenue is a street that is practically tailor-made for pedestrians. Travellers on foot can enjoy the pleasures of strolling alongside sidewalk cafés, detour into any number of charming shops and boutiques, and fully enjoy the sights and sounds of this delightful neighborhood — while also taking pleasure in not having to deal with slow-going traffic and ubiquitous red lights!

The quieter side streets of the Elmwood Village are no less pleasant to explore on foot than Elmwood Avenue itself. In particular, the Olmsted parkways are delightful places to stroll, with an abundance of mature trees and greenery alongside the roads and within their wide, beautifully landscaped central medians, and a bevy of elegant and historic mansions, each more palatial than the last.

Art
The impressive and growing Museum District, situated at the northern end of the Elmwood Village adjacent to Delaware Park and Buffalo State College, boasts a number of facilities of interest to art lovers. As well, there are a few smaller galleries peppered along Elmwood Avenue.



Architecture
More and more, Buffalo's exquisite and well-preserved architecture has grabbed the attention of locals and tourists alike. However, aside from the resplendent Olmsted park and parkway system that's described in more detail below, the Elmwood Village does not really boast the same caliber of architectural treasures as can be found in neighboring areas like Allentown and the Delaware District. Elmwood Avenue itself is largely made up of newer commercial storefronts of no architectural distinction; the side streets are characterized by ample two- and three-story wood-frame residences in styles popular just after the turn of the last century, such as the Queen Anne, Colonial Revival, and Shingle styles, and occasionally in older styles such as Italianate and Romanesque Revival. Though these houses are a good deal less elegant than the ones you'll see in the Delaware District, they're extraordinarily well-preserved — and that architectural integrity, recounting the history of the Elmwood Village as one of Buffalo's first "streetcar suburbs", was the rationale for the creation of the Elmwood West Historic District in December 2012. Comprising essentially the entirety of the Elmwood Village west of Elmwood Avenue, the Elmwood West Historic District is 275 acres (115 ha) in area, and was by far the largest historic district in Buffalo to be inscribed on the National Register of Historic Places until March 2016, when it eclipsed by the even larger Elmwood East Historic District, a 406-acre (169 ha) expanse on the other side of Elmwood Avenue that shares essentially the same characteristics as its counterpart.

One place in the Elmwood Village where buildings of truly spectacular architectural distinction can be seen is Lincoln Parkway. The mansions located there are on average a few decades newer than the ones on Delaware Avenue's "Millionaire's Row", but no less grand and sumptuous: proud stone sentinels in the Beaux-Arts, Tudor Revival, and Colonial Revival styles standing guard over a tranquil, broad, and verdant thoroughfare just behind the Albright-Knox.



Also located near Lincoln Parkway is the, at 76 Soldiers Pl. at the south end of the parkway. The Heath House is the first of several houses in Buffalo designed by Frank Lloyd Wright for top executives of the Larkin Soap Company; sadly, unlike its counterpart, North Buffalo's Darwin D. Martin House, the Heath House is privately owned and not open for tours.

Without a doubt the Elmwood Village's greatest architectural treasure, however, is the magnificent Richardson-Olmsted Complex, a Nationally Registered Historic Place and National Historic Landmark located adjacent to Buffalo State College. Situated on 91 acres (36 ha) of land bounded by Elmwood Avenue, Forest Avenue, Rees Street, and Rockwell Road, the Richardson-Olmsted Complex consists of eleven edifices designed in 1870 by architect H. H. Richardson in red Medina sandstone, representing arguably the apex of his signature Richardsonian Romanesque style. The landscaping of the grounds was the work of Frederick Law Olmsted, fresh off the completion of the first phase of Buffalo's park system; a young Stanford White, later a partner in the illustrious New York City firm of McKim, Mead and White, also served as an associate architect on the project. For over a century, the complex was the home of the Buffalo State Hospital, an asylum for mentally ill people whose twin-towered Administration Building still looms 161 feet (49m) over the neighborhood; the Administration Building is flanked by ten residential buildings, five on each side. The operations of the Buffalo Psychiatric Center moved in 1994 to a modern building closer to Elmwood Avenue, leaving the historic buildings vacant; luckily, thanks to the preservation tax breaks available to National Register-listed properties as well as a grant of $100 million from the New York state government, these magnificent buildings are undergoing structural stabilization and thorough rehabilitation with an eye to redevelopment. The Hotel Henry, a luxury boutique hotel and "urban resort", opened in April 2017 in the former Administration Building; additional ideas floated for the reuse of other parts of the complex include a museum dedicated to the distinguished architecture of Buffalo and Western New York.

Parks

 * Delaware Park is far from the only Frederick Law Olmsted park in the city — on the contrary, all of Buffalo is crisscrossed by Olmsted's park and parkway system, designed by him in stages beginning in 1868, and part of which is found in the Elmwood Village. Olmsted's "parkways" are wide, verdant avenues modeled after the grand boulevards of Paris, and lined with multiple rows of large shade trees. They serve as approaches to the parks, or extend from one park to another, and were intended to enable visitors to travel between parks without ever leaving a green and natural environment (for a long time, automobile traffic was prohibited on the parkways). Running south from the entrance to Delaware Park are three parkways, two of which, Lincoln Parkway and Bidwell Parkway, are located in the Elmwood Village. Also included in the Olmsted parkway system are, the grand plaza where Lincoln, Bidwell and Chapin Parkways converge; , where Bidwell Parkway meets Richmond Avenue and whose beautifully landscaped center island boasts a lovely equestrian statue of local Civil War hero Daniel Davidson Bidwell; and , at the south end of the Olmsted-designed Richmond Avenue.
 * Delaware Park is far from the only Frederick Law Olmsted park in the city — on the contrary, all of Buffalo is crisscrossed by Olmsted's park and parkway system, designed by him in stages beginning in 1868, and part of which is found in the Elmwood Village. Olmsted's "parkways" are wide, verdant avenues modeled after the grand boulevards of Paris, and lined with multiple rows of large shade trees. They serve as approaches to the parks, or extend from one park to another, and were intended to enable visitors to travel between parks without ever leaving a green and natural environment (for a long time, automobile traffic was prohibited on the parkways). Running south from the entrance to Delaware Park are three parkways, two of which, Lincoln Parkway and Bidwell Parkway, are located in the Elmwood Village. Also included in the Olmsted parkway system are, the grand plaza where Lincoln, Bidwell and Chapin Parkways converge; , where Bidwell Parkway meets Richmond Avenue and whose beautifully landscaped center island boasts a lovely equestrian statue of local Civil War hero Daniel Davidson Bidwell; and , at the south end of the Olmsted-designed Richmond Avenue.
 * Delaware Park is far from the only Frederick Law Olmsted park in the city — on the contrary, all of Buffalo is crisscrossed by Olmsted's park and parkway system, designed by him in stages beginning in 1868, and part of which is found in the Elmwood Village. Olmsted's "parkways" are wide, verdant avenues modeled after the grand boulevards of Paris, and lined with multiple rows of large shade trees. They serve as approaches to the parks, or extend from one park to another, and were intended to enable visitors to travel between parks without ever leaving a green and natural environment (for a long time, automobile traffic was prohibited on the parkways). Running south from the entrance to Delaware Park are three parkways, two of which, Lincoln Parkway and Bidwell Parkway, are located in the Elmwood Village. Also included in the Olmsted parkway system are, the grand plaza where Lincoln, Bidwell and Chapin Parkways converge; , where Bidwell Parkway meets Richmond Avenue and whose beautifully landscaped center island boasts a lovely equestrian statue of local Civil War hero Daniel Davidson Bidwell; and , at the south end of the Olmsted-designed Richmond Avenue.
 * Delaware Park is far from the only Frederick Law Olmsted park in the city — on the contrary, all of Buffalo is crisscrossed by Olmsted's park and parkway system, designed by him in stages beginning in 1868, and part of which is found in the Elmwood Village. Olmsted's "parkways" are wide, verdant avenues modeled after the grand boulevards of Paris, and lined with multiple rows of large shade trees. They serve as approaches to the parks, or extend from one park to another, and were intended to enable visitors to travel between parks without ever leaving a green and natural environment (for a long time, automobile traffic was prohibited on the parkways). Running south from the entrance to Delaware Park are three parkways, two of which, Lincoln Parkway and Bidwell Parkway, are located in the Elmwood Village. Also included in the Olmsted parkway system are, the grand plaza where Lincoln, Bidwell and Chapin Parkways converge; , where Bidwell Parkway meets Richmond Avenue and whose beautifully landscaped center island boasts a lovely equestrian statue of local Civil War hero Daniel Davidson Bidwell; and , at the south end of the Olmsted-designed Richmond Avenue.
 * Delaware Park is far from the only Frederick Law Olmsted park in the city — on the contrary, all of Buffalo is crisscrossed by Olmsted's park and parkway system, designed by him in stages beginning in 1868, and part of which is found in the Elmwood Village. Olmsted's "parkways" are wide, verdant avenues modeled after the grand boulevards of Paris, and lined with multiple rows of large shade trees. They serve as approaches to the parks, or extend from one park to another, and were intended to enable visitors to travel between parks without ever leaving a green and natural environment (for a long time, automobile traffic was prohibited on the parkways). Running south from the entrance to Delaware Park are three parkways, two of which, Lincoln Parkway and Bidwell Parkway, are located in the Elmwood Village. Also included in the Olmsted parkway system are, the grand plaza where Lincoln, Bidwell and Chapin Parkways converge; , where Bidwell Parkway meets Richmond Avenue and whose beautifully landscaped center island boasts a lovely equestrian statue of local Civil War hero Daniel Davidson Bidwell; and , at the south end of the Olmsted-designed Richmond Avenue.
 * Delaware Park is far from the only Frederick Law Olmsted park in the city — on the contrary, all of Buffalo is crisscrossed by Olmsted's park and parkway system, designed by him in stages beginning in 1868, and part of which is found in the Elmwood Village. Olmsted's "parkways" are wide, verdant avenues modeled after the grand boulevards of Paris, and lined with multiple rows of large shade trees. They serve as approaches to the parks, or extend from one park to another, and were intended to enable visitors to travel between parks without ever leaving a green and natural environment (for a long time, automobile traffic was prohibited on the parkways). Running south from the entrance to Delaware Park are three parkways, two of which, Lincoln Parkway and Bidwell Parkway, are located in the Elmwood Village. Also included in the Olmsted parkway system are, the grand plaza where Lincoln, Bidwell and Chapin Parkways converge; , where Bidwell Parkway meets Richmond Avenue and whose beautifully landscaped center island boasts a lovely equestrian statue of local Civil War hero Daniel Davidson Bidwell; and , at the south end of the Olmsted-designed Richmond Avenue.
 * Delaware Park is far from the only Frederick Law Olmsted park in the city — on the contrary, all of Buffalo is crisscrossed by Olmsted's park and parkway system, designed by him in stages beginning in 1868, and part of which is found in the Elmwood Village. Olmsted's "parkways" are wide, verdant avenues modeled after the grand boulevards of Paris, and lined with multiple rows of large shade trees. They serve as approaches to the parks, or extend from one park to another, and were intended to enable visitors to travel between parks without ever leaving a green and natural environment (for a long time, automobile traffic was prohibited on the parkways). Running south from the entrance to Delaware Park are three parkways, two of which, Lincoln Parkway and Bidwell Parkway, are located in the Elmwood Village. Also included in the Olmsted parkway system are, the grand plaza where Lincoln, Bidwell and Chapin Parkways converge; , where Bidwell Parkway meets Richmond Avenue and whose beautifully landscaped center island boasts a lovely equestrian statue of local Civil War hero Daniel Davidson Bidwell; and , at the south end of the Olmsted-designed Richmond Avenue.
 * Delaware Park is far from the only Frederick Law Olmsted park in the city — on the contrary, all of Buffalo is crisscrossed by Olmsted's park and parkway system, designed by him in stages beginning in 1868, and part of which is found in the Elmwood Village. Olmsted's "parkways" are wide, verdant avenues modeled after the grand boulevards of Paris, and lined with multiple rows of large shade trees. They serve as approaches to the parks, or extend from one park to another, and were intended to enable visitors to travel between parks without ever leaving a green and natural environment (for a long time, automobile traffic was prohibited on the parkways). Running south from the entrance to Delaware Park are three parkways, two of which, Lincoln Parkway and Bidwell Parkway, are located in the Elmwood Village. Also included in the Olmsted parkway system are, the grand plaza where Lincoln, Bidwell and Chapin Parkways converge; , where Bidwell Parkway meets Richmond Avenue and whose beautifully landscaped center island boasts a lovely equestrian statue of local Civil War hero Daniel Davidson Bidwell; and , at the south end of the Olmsted-designed Richmond Avenue.
 * Delaware Park is far from the only Frederick Law Olmsted park in the city — on the contrary, all of Buffalo is crisscrossed by Olmsted's park and parkway system, designed by him in stages beginning in 1868, and part of which is found in the Elmwood Village. Olmsted's "parkways" are wide, verdant avenues modeled after the grand boulevards of Paris, and lined with multiple rows of large shade trees. They serve as approaches to the parks, or extend from one park to another, and were intended to enable visitors to travel between parks without ever leaving a green and natural environment (for a long time, automobile traffic was prohibited on the parkways). Running south from the entrance to Delaware Park are three parkways, two of which, Lincoln Parkway and Bidwell Parkway, are located in the Elmwood Village. Also included in the Olmsted parkway system are, the grand plaza where Lincoln, Bidwell and Chapin Parkways converge; , where Bidwell Parkway meets Richmond Avenue and whose beautifully landscaped center island boasts a lovely equestrian statue of local Civil War hero Daniel Davidson Bidwell; and , at the south end of the Olmsted-designed Richmond Avenue.

Festivals and events
Delaware Park serves as one of the busiest venues for Buffalo's huge and growing slate of annual festivals, with a wide range of activities taking place there year-round. Additionally, the Elmwood Village itself plays host to the upstart Elmwood Avenue Festival of the Arts each year at the end of August.

Autumn

 * The fall iteration of Buffalo Porchfest takes place in October — see above for details.
 * The fall iteration of Buffalo Porchfest takes place in October — see above for details.

Live music
Perhaps surprisingly, the Elmwood Village's live music scene is miniscule compared to other hip Buffalo neighborhoods like Allentown. However, there are a few places there to catch performances.





Learn
is the raison d'être of the Elmwood Village, the vim and vigor of its 11,000-strong student body having infused new life into Elmwood Avenue in the second half of the 20th Century even as the rest of the city was in decline. Founded in 1871 and moved to its current location in 1931, the school was once known as the New York State Teachers College at Buffalo with a mission of training teachers to work in Buffalo's then-fast-growing public school system; Buffalo State still has arguably the most robust such curriculum in the SUNY system, offering 19 teacher certification programs. Moreover, Buffalo State also offers over 200 additional undergraduate and graduate programs in such fields as arts and humanities, natural and social sciences, business, criminal justice, and the professions. The commitment of Buffalo State College to the Elmwood Village's identity is exemplified in myriad ways: beginning at its inception in 1982, campus radio station WBNY has been a national pioneer in the alternative rock format, and the school's commitment to the arts is exemplified by its Burchfield Penney Art Center and the performance series that are regularly staged at Rockwell Hall and elsewhere on campus.

Eat
For a neighborhood with its level of cachet, the Elmwood Village's restaurant scene has always been fairly lackluster. That's not to say there aren't plenty of options to choose from up and down Elmwood Avenue, but even at its apex this was never the place to go in Buffalo for super-fancy fine dining (that would be downtown) nor to sample a kaleidoscope of foreign flavors (that would be the West Side and, increasingly, suburban Amherst). Rather, the word to describe the eateries here would be, as the kids say, "basic": remember, Elmwood started out as a student ghetto, and despite the evolution and gentrification of the ensuing years, college kids still make up a hefty portion of the clientele. Regardless, if you're looking for a decent meal for decent prices and you don't have a terribly adventurous palate, you'll find what you're looking for. That goes double if you want to try out one of the Greek diners that are ubiquitous features of the local cuisine.

Local chains
The following local chains have locations in the Elmwood Village. Descriptions of these restaurants can be found on the main Buffalo page.



Pizza
The following pizzerias are located in the Elmwood Village. Those who are interested in pizza delivery (as opposed to pickup) might want to also check listings in adjacent districts; local pizzerias will often deliver to several different neighborhoods of the city.



Drink
An artifact of the Elmwood Village's previous identity as a student quarter is the cluster of scruffy dive bars that you'll still find at the north end of the strip, near Buffalo State College. One thing that has changed is that these are no longer college dives — after years of police sting operations, Elmwood bartenders know better than to serve alcohol to folks who are underage — and though it's no less crowded and lively around here than it was in the old days, the scene is far less rowdy than what you'll find in Allentown.

The further south you go along Elmwood — starting, say, around the corner of Bidwell Parkway — the rule of thumb becomes tony, trendy establishments catering to a bourgie clientele. If you prefer a more chilled-out drinking environment, head here.



Coffee shops
If you're a fan of the coffeeshop scene, the Elmwood Village is the neighborhood for you!



Sleep
In the old days, accommodation was one of the few amenities the Elmwood Village didn't have in abundance. However, that changed in a big way in April 2017, when the Hotel Henry (see below) arrived on the scene, bucking the longstanding rule of thumb whereby large buildings such as hotels were said to run counter to the neighborhood's low-rise, intimate, "villagey" aesthetic. If an upscale "urban resort" isn't your thing, there's also a pair of quieter, lower-key B&Bs to choose from.



Connect
The nearest post office can be found at 465 Grant St. on the West Side.

Many of the restaurants, coffee shops and other businesses on Elmwood Avenue offer free wireless Internet, in some cases without purchase. These include Starbucks, SPoT Coffee, the Globe Market, and Caffe Aroma.

In addition to free WiFi, the at 633 Elmwood Ave. boasts 22 publicly-accessible computer terminals with Internet access. The Crane Branch Library is open M Th noon-8PM and Tu F Sa 10AM-6PM.

Stay safe
Despite the fact that Buffalo's crime rate has fallen steadily since the 1990s, it is still higher than the national average for cities its size. However, the Elmwood Village has a remarkably low crime rate by Buffalo standards, especially in view of the density of bars, shops and other businesses (and people) on Elmwood Avenue. That being the case, there are a few areas where crime, particularly theft, is something of a problem — particularly along Elmwood Avenue between Bryant and West Utica Streets. Visitors should also keep in mind that upon crossing Richmond Avenue from the Elmwood Village to the adjacent West Side, the crime rate rises rapidly and significantly. However, visitors to the Elmwood Village or pretty much anywhere else in Buffalo who exercise common sense — locking car doors, keeping valuables out of sight — will be fine.

Given its proliferation of upscale restaurants and shops — and, more to the point, the well-heeled customers that frequent them — it's perhaps not surprising that more panhandlers can be found in the Elmwood Village than anywhere else in the city. However, the personnel of said restaurants and shops are vigilant in shooing away any beggars who make nuisances of themselves, and aggressive panhandling is rarely a problem in any case. If you don't want to give, a firm "no" usually suffices.

Hospitals
The nearest hospitals are Buffalo General Hospital, at 100 High St. in the Medical Corridor, Erie County Medical Center at 462 Grider St. on the East Side, and Sisters of Charity Hospital at 2157 Main St.

Places of worship
Much like Allentown and the Delaware District, white Protestant churches predominate among the relatively modest range of places of worship in the Elmwood Village. Perhaps appropriately, far more of these houses of worship can be found on the peaceful, leafy, and dignified Richmond Avenue, rather than the crowded, boisterous Elmwood Avenue.

Roman Catholic
Shockingly given Buffalo's traditional religious demographics, there is not a single proper Catholic church in the entire district. The nearest one, Blessed Sacrament, is located in the Delaware District.



Go next
If you like your nightlife and cultural attractions served up with a heaping side of historic charm, check out Allentown next. As lively as Elmwood Avenue but a good deal more scaled-down and intimate, the bars and restaurants on hip Allen Street attract an edgier and more artistic crowd than the laid-back Elmwood Village — and the lovely brick Victorian cottages on the cozy side streets are an architecture buff's dream come true.

The collegiate vibe that Buffalo State once afforded to the Elmwood Village has shifted westward, breathing new life into the formerly downmarket West Side. Buffalonians in the know will tell you that Grant Street is poised to become Buffalo's next Elmwood, but with a multicultural flair: the Latino community that has long inhabited this vibrant neighborhood has been joined by diverse immigrant communities from Africa, Southeast Asia, and elsewhere, as well as by middle-class "urban pioneers" moving into charming but dilapidated houses and restoring them to their former glory. Further south, the Lower West Side boasts still more Olmsted parks and parkways, a bustling Puerto Rican community centered along Niagara Street, charming brick Victorian cottages to rival those in Allentown — and amazing views over Lake Erie and the Niagara River.

On the far side of Delaware Park, North Buffalo is a part of the city where the pleasures are subtler. The shops and restaurants on Hertel Avenue are pleasant without the pretension of the boutiques on Elmwood, the mansions of Park Meadow and Central Park are elegant without the in-your-face ostentation of Lincoln Parkway, and the college dives in University Heights are lively without the crowds of the ones near Buffalo State.