User:AndreCarrotflower/Allentown

Allentown blah blah blah

Understand
Allentown covers some 160 acres (65ha) north of the Theater District and west of the Medical Corridor. For a long time it was a home for hippies, starving artists, punk rockers, the LGBT community, and other assorted misfits and outcasts, and even today the neighborhood trades on a certain "alternative" identity. But bohemian Allentown is quickly being consigned to history: the Allen Street bar scene of today is miles away from the chilled-out hipster haunts of yesteryear, with an influx of rowdy college kids and twentysomethings bringing a wild and hedonistic vibe north from Chippewa Street after the government-orchestrated mass closure of the nightclubs there, and the remaining shops and art galleries catering to decidedly more bourgeois sensibilities than before. Even on the side streets, the charming old Victorian cottages are nowadays more likely to be home to trendy urban yuppies than to counterculture types.

History
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Allentown takes its name from Lewis Falley Allen, a native of Westfield, Massachusetts who arrived in Buffalo in 1827 and established an orchard and cattle farm on a 29-acre (10.5ha) lot that fronted on Williamsville Road, now Main Street. It was only six years later that Allen moved his farm to a much larger parcel he had just purchased on Grand Island, selling his former plot to developers hungry for new land for development for the growing city of Buffalo. Allen's land was soon joined on the market by a massive portion of the land belonging to future Mayor Ebenezer Walden; located on what is now the southern fringe of Allentown, Walden's land straddled what was then the border between the newly incorporated City of Buffalo and the Village of Black Rock, which was annexed by Buffalo in 1854.



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 * The beginning of the 20th Century saw Allentown at the height of its fortunes...


 * However, the area, along with the rest of Buffalo, eventually began to stagnate and decline... take care not to duplicate verbiage


 * Allentown, never having truly recovered from the Wall Street crash of 1929, for several decades verged on being an outright slum before its rediscovery in the 1950s by an emerging community of artists and bohemians (including what would come to be called "beatniks"), a reawakening that culminated in the founding of the North Street Association in 1960, which was soon renamed the Allentown Association.


 * However, the decline of Allentown was not nearly as severe as that of other parts of the city; it was the location of this district on the west side of Main Street that was its deliverance... take care not to duplicate verbiage


 * Remarkably, the urban renewal that permanently scarred or altered other areas of the city barely touched Allentown... take care not to duplicate verbiage


 * construction of the West Side Arterial, a proposed highway that would have run near Virginia Street connecting the Kensington Expressway with Interstate 190, was opposed relentlessly by a grassroots coalition of community groups and was finally cancelled in 1976.


 * charming red-brick Victorians of Allentown are still largely occupied by residents...


 * have gained a new cachet during recent years as urban life has belatedly come back into vogue among citizens of Western New York and elsewhere in the so-called Rust Belt... take care not to duplicate verbiage

Visitor information
The Allentown Association is the oldest neighborhood organization in Buffalo, with roots that stretch back to 1960; its website boasts a wealth of information for visitors, such as extensive historical information on many of Allentown's homes, buildings, and streets, a business directory, special event listings, and even a small selection of Allentown-related academic essays and literature.

By car
'Allen Street main drag. North, Virginia, Edward'

Delaware Avenue (NY 384), Elmwood Avenue, Franklin Street, and Main Street (NY 5).

In Allentown, on-street parking on Allen Street and the side streets adjacent to it, as well as Elmwood Avenue, can be hard to come by — especially on Friday and Saturday nights, when the bars and restaurants are packed. North Street, Delaware Avenue, Virginia Street, and Main Street are better bets. Parking meters charge 50¢ per hour and are enforced on weekdays until 5PM. Off-street parking along Allen Street is available in the lot between Nietzsche's and Flavors of Allentown (free), next to Holley Farms convenience store at the corner of College Street ($5 flat rate on Friday and Saturday nights; free other times), and in a small pay lot just west of Elmwood Avenue between Falley Allen and Jim's Steakout (same rate as the parking meters).

Car sharing
Members of Zipcar have access to a Honda Fit parked at Antiques Allentown on Elmwood Avenue. The vehicle is available for a price of $9/hour or $74/day M-Th; $10/hour or $80/day F-Su. This price includes 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
Allentown is traversed by a number of NFTA Metro bus routes:

NFTA Metro Bus #7 — Baynes-Richmond. Beginning at the Richardson-Olmsted Complex on Forest Avenue in the Elmwood Village, Bus #7 enters Allentown via Symphony Circle and passes eastward along North Street, turning south at Main Street with service to the Allen-Medical Campus Metro Rail Station. From there, inbound trips continue down Main and Pearl Streets on their way downtown, while outbound trips take Franklin Street north to Virginia Street, then continue eastward to Main. Bus #7 does not run Saturdays, Sundays or holidays.

8, 11, 20, 25 down Main, Delaware, Elmwood, and Delaware respectively - make these share a single bullet point

NFTA Metro Bus #29 — Wohlers. Eastbound trips begin on the West Side and proceed through Allentown via Cottage, Virginia, and Main Streets (with service to the Allen-Medical Campus Metro Rail Station), proceeding thenceforward through the East Side before turning westward again via East Delavan Avenue, ending at the Delavan-Canisius College Metro Rail Station. Westbound trips traverse Allentown via Virginia, College, and Maryland Streets. Bus #29 does not run Saturdays, Sundays or holidays.

By Metro Rail
The Metro Rail is an LRRT line that extends along Main Street from the University at Buffalo's South Campus in North Buffalo southward to downtown, along the eastern border of Allentown and the Delaware District. The Metro Rail serves as the backbone of Buffalo's public transit system, accessed directly by many bus routes. Like the buses, the fare for the Metro Rail is $2.00 ($4.00 round-trip); the $5.00 all-day passes available on Metro buses are also valid for the Metro Rail.

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 * — Main Street at Allen Street (Allentown).

By bike
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bike lanes down Delaware Avenue throughout Allentown and into downtown (end at Niag Squ)

"sharrows" (pavement markings on roads too narrow to accommodate dedicated bike lanes, indicating that drivers should be aware of bicyclists on the road) are present along North Street from Symphony Circle to Main Street, along Wadsworth and Allen Streets between Symphony Circle and Delaware Avenue, and along Elmwood Avenue south from the Elmwood Village as far as Allen Street, thence continuing further south to Virginia Street as a pair of dedicated bike lanes. Word is that bicycle infrastructure of one form or another will eventually be added to all of Elmwood Avenue, southward into downtown.

Bike sharing
You'll find three Reddy Bikeshare racks in Allentown:


 * at the corner of Allen and Wadsworth Streets, at the east end of Days Park
 * on the north side of Allen Street between Elmwood Avenue and Park Street, in front of Allen Burger Venture
 * on the west side of Franklin Street at the corner of Allen Street, on the side of Café 59

Additionally, all of Allen Street is a free parking zone for Reddy bikes, as is the stretch of Elmwood Avenue north of Allen. Here 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
Allentown is a safe, pleasant, and compact neighborhood that lends itself particularly well to pedestrians — in fact, with its dense concentration of homes and businesses and relative lack of parking spaces, walking is arguably the most common method of transportation Allentown residents employ for traveling within the neighborhood.

Architecture
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 * The

Art
Allentown boasts perhaps the largest and most longstanding community of artists in Buffalo, with an abundance of galleries for every taste. A good time to experience the art scene there is during First Fridays — a free gallery walk that takes place on the first Friday of each month (hence the name), when the galleries of Allentown and the lower Elmwood Village stay open late and often hold openings and other events, and folks can take in live music and performances or enjoy special deals at nearby shops and restaurants.

In addition to the places listed here, the Buy section includes a listing of galleries that offer works for sale, rather than display only.



If it's a sunny day and you'd rather enjoy some al fresco art than be cloistered inside a gallery, head to the north edge of Allentown, where you'll find...



Parks


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 * is a two-acre (0.9 ha) green space on the site of a former cow pasture at the west end of Allen Street, which its owner, Thomas Day, donated to the city in 1854. Some time later, Days Park was redesigned by Frederick Law Olmsted, whose plan to eventually integrate it into his park and parkway system never materialized.


 * is a smaller residential park a short distance northeast of Days Park, which is most famous as the place Frank Lloyd Wright lived while designing the Darwin D. Martin House in North Buffalo. Both of these beautifully landscaped swaths of greenery still boast beautiful and fashionable Victorian cottages around their perimeters, in Italianate, Second Empire, Gothic Revival, and other styles popular in the late 19th Century. They are lovely places for a picnic or leisurely walk on a warm day.

Festivals and events
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Theater




Live music
Allentown's bars are some of the best places in Buffalo to see local singer-songwriters and rock bands play. The scene here is brimming with talent, and very tight-knit: the bands all know each other socially and from sharing bills, and tend to gig around all the venues in the neighborhood, musical chairs-style. The places listed below are all fairly interchangeable — laid-back, intimate venues populated by typical Allentowners. In addition, a few other venues present a more eclectic range of performances.

And, if you'd like to take in some local music but don't fancy shelling out for a cover charge or dealing with cheek-to-jowl barroom crowds, Allentown is also the center of Buffalo's small but growing busking scene. On Friday and Saturday nights anytime other than the dead of winter, you'll find artists and groups performing for passersby at various locations along Allen Street. However, the one place where you'll invariably encounter a busker is the sidewalk in front of the Holley Farms parking lot, at the corner of College Street directly across from the Allen Street Poutine Company.



Buy
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Eat
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Budget




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



Pizza
The following pizzerias are located in Allentown. 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
Allentown's bar scene has two faces. Show up on Allen Street on a Friday or Saturday night, when the obnoxious party crowd descends on the strip in droves from their homes in the 'burbs, and it quickly becomes clear what locals are talking about when they say enough is enough and it's time to put the brakes on the increasingly out-of-control hijinks. Typically, midnight is when "lively" tips over into "rowdy", and by 2AM vomiting in the streets, the occasional drunken brawl, and a general anarchic hedonism characterize the scene. But on weeknights things are completely different, and you'll actually experience a serviceable approximation of what it was like in the good old days — the strip is quiet and uncrowded, the ambience in the bars is decidedly more chilled out, and the clientele is mostly people from the surrounding neighborhood (or rather, the specific type of colorful neighborhood characters who tend to go out drinking in the middle of the week).



Further east, you'll find the remnants of the old gayborhood, another facet of Allentown's identity that's fast disappearing into history. The two blocks between Franklin and Main Streets feature a cluster of LGBT bars catering to a tight-knit community that's held fast in the face of the changes that have swept over the area in recent years.



Off the beaten path of Allen Street, things are a lot more calm and chilled-out.



Coffee shops
Allentown's long-lackluster coffeeshop scene got a major shot in the arm in 2015, when not one but two new cafés opened their doors to accompany longtime neighborhood stalwart Intersection Cafe.



Sleep
Allentown boasts a modest selection of accommodations, including a pair of grand old historic hotels that have soldiered on to the present day, catering to travellers in search of a more distinctive experience.

Connect
The nearest post offices are located downtown at 229 W. Genesee St. and 701 Washington St.

The service area of BuffaloConnect, Buffalo's free municipal WiFi network, extends north from downtown into the east edge of Allentown, along Main Street as far as North Street. Signal strength drops off pretty rapidly the further you get from Main, though; don't expect anything past North Pearl Street. WiFi is also available at Café 59 on Allen Street and Tim Hortons on Delaware Avenue.

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. By Buffalo standards, Allentown has a moderate-to-high crime rate. The general rule is that the closer you are to Delaware or Elmwood Avenues, the safer you are. Despite (or perhaps because of) the rapid gentrification that is taking place there, a particularly troubled area is the blocks west of Wadsworth Street, straddling Allentown and the Lower West Side. Reports of assaults and robberies in Days Park occur with some frequency. That being the case, visitors should by no means allow these occasional incidents to put them off from experiencing this part of Allentown — the lush greenery of the park and the splendid Victorian cottages surrounding it are simply magnificent, police patrols have increased sharply, and perhaps more than any other area of Buffalo, residents of the Days Park area are working diligently to "take back their streets". Those who exercise common sense — locking car doors, keeping valuables out of sight — will be fine. The Main Street corridor is another problem area.

The Allentown bar district's devolution from a chilled-out hipster scene to obnoxious frat-bro hijinks has been a headache for the increasingly (and incongruously) well-heeled, settled-down population of neighborhood residents, to the point where comparisons to the bad old days of Chippewa Street (from which many current Allentown bar patrons have indeed decamped) are apropos. Bars in Buffalo close at 4AM, and the rule of thumb is the later you stick around, the more things degenerate. If you arrive early in the evening and finish up by midnight, you'll be gone before most of the craziness begins. Alternatively, those who want to take their chances later into the night should be aware that assault, pickpocketing, vandalism, and similar phenomena are routine occurrences on Friday and Saturday nights. That being said, the Buffalo Police have stepped up their weekend presence on Allen Street, so if trouble finds you, help is never far away.

As in downtown and the Elmwood Village, panhandlers are present in Allentown. The homeless tend to congregate around the west end of Allen Street where it veers right and becomes Wadsworth Street, near which there is a soup kitchen. As elsewhere in Buffalo, aggressive panhandling in Allentown is unheard of; a firm "no" will usually do the trick.

Newspapers
The Allentown Association publishes a quarterly newspaper, the Allentown Neighbor, that covers neighborhood news such as business openings and closings, urban development and historic preservation, Buffalo Common Council proceedings, community events, and other issues.

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
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Go next
If you like the nightlife in Allentown, you'll want to make the Elmwood Village your next stop. The range of bars, restaurants and shops that line Elmwood Avenue is even greater than Allen Street, and their vibe is influenced by the student life at nearby Buffalo State College in much the same way that Allentown is flavored by its artists and bohemians. Aficionados of art and history are in luck, too, with a vibrant Museum District at the north end of the strip.

Check out the West Side to see Buffalo's next Allentown in the earliest stages of its revival. Instead of hipsters and well-heeled young urbanites congregating in a relatively "safe" gentrified area, the West Side has a creative community that is far closer to "starving artists" than anything in Allentown, urban pioneers snapping up beautiful but dilapidated Victorian houses and restoring them to their former glory, a vibrant Latino community centered on Niagara Street, and a veritable United Nations of immigrants gathered around Grant Street, each adding their bit to an ambience that is wonderfully gritty and chaotically fascinating.

Delaware District