User:AndreCarrotflower/Lower West Side

The Lower West Side is in Buffalo.



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Understand
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The Hispanic community still predominates in the Lower West Side, but it's also increasingly being colonized — and rehabilitated — by young, middle-class "urban pioneers" migrating west from Allentown and the Elmwood Village, buying up and renovating lovely but dilapidated old Victorian houses in places like Prospect Hill, the West Village, and, where a small cluster of art galleries, upscale restaurants, and specialty shops has sprouted around the titular intersection of Rhode Island, Brayton, and West Utica Streets.

History
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 * South Black Rock, what is today the Lower West Side, where streets were surveyed in a distinctive grid angled parallel to the shoreline that still exists; however, the land remained a sparsely settled forest, and none of the streets were actually constructed until the 1830s, '40s and after.


 * As predicted, Buffalo grew explosively [after the completion of the Erie Canal], expanding its borders in 1832 to include newly developing South Black Rock.


 * It was about 1850 when former mayor Ebenezer Johnson moved to Tennessee, placing his vast Lower West Side estate up for sale. The estate was subdivided into streets and houses that quickly took on a working-class character: the canal was only a few blocks away, and the crowded tenements of the First Ward were a place that canal laborers, largely Irishmen, were keen to escape if they could afford it. As the Irish pushed north, they were joined on the blocks closest to downtown by Italians, who, beginning in the 1870s, competed with the Irish for canal and railroad jobs. Further north, the park and parkway system that eminent landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted had planned for the city attracted development to Prospect Hill; its western arm, Porter Avenue, lined with rows of stately elms, cut a swath through the old South Black Rock street grid, passing Prospect Park and ending at "The Front" (now Front Park), the pleasant green space Olmsted planned for the beautiful Lake Erie shoreline. The similar Richmond Avenue additionally extended north toward Delaware Park along the eastern fringe of the district.

'blah blah blah... 20th century decline and urban renewal'


 * Block after block of lovely brick Victorian cottages on the Lower West Side were demolished; these stable and vibrant, if poor, Italian communities were derided as "slums" by city leaders and replaced with public housing that was no better than what came before them, with the Italians dispersed to various parts of the city (most notably the Hertel Avenue area). As well, no sooner was the bed of the abandoned Erie Canal filled in than the monstrous Interstate 190 was built over its top. With the opening of I-190 in 1958, Buffalo was essentially cut off from its own waterfront; Front Park's serene river views were replaced by that of a noisy expressway. Thankfully, at the end of the 1960s, grassroots pressure forced the cancellation of plans for the West Side Arterial, another highway which would have bisected the Lower West Side along Virginia Street (the huge Niagara Street exit of I-190, the intended west end of the West Side Arterial, is a gruesome example of what might have been in store for the neighborhood).


 * By the 1980s, the West Side was in rough shape. Though the Hispanic community that had replaced the Italians on the Lower West Side (and, later, spread northward to Prospect Hill) tried their best to keep the area up, the battle against drugs, crime and poverty at times seemed hopeless. However, glimmers of hope were emerging by the turn of the millennium" blah blah blah gentrification and D'Youville College also made massive investments in the surrounding neighborhood of Prospect Hill as it expanded during the 2000s.

Climate
Much like downtown Buffalo but not nearly to the same extent, the West Side riverfront is noticeably cooler and windier than other areas of the city and region. The refreshing breezes are a big part of why locals are drawn to waterfront oases like LaSalle Park during the stifling summer months, but by the same token, visitors looking to walk the Bird Island Pier during the spring or autumn would be well-advised to wear a windbreaker and long pants.

Talk
As the longtime home of Buffalo's Hispanic community, visitors to the Lower West Side will likely hear Spanish spoken almost as frequently as English. Those who want to practice their Spanish on the West Side may run into some difficulty, though: the fast-paced, somewhat slurred Caribbean dialects most often heard here may be difficult to understand for those used to standard Spanish.

a bit about immigrant languages - this began in the Upper West Side but moved south

Monolinguals need not worry — no matter their nationality, it's quite rare to encounter any West Side residents who cannot speak English at all.

By car
I-190:


 * Exit 8 (Niagara Street) provides access to the West Village and the Lower West Side as well as downtown.
 * Exit 9 (Peace Bridge via northbound lanes; Porter Avenue via southbound lanes) leads to Prospect Hill and also Fort Erie, Ontario via the Peace Bridge. Cars headed southbound exit directly onto Porter Avenue, with the Peace Bridge onramp accessible via the roundabout on the other side of the overpass. Northbound traffic can either proceed directly to Customs and over the bridge or else keep to the left lane and exit at the corner of Busti and Massachusetts Avenues. (Despite what the signs say, there's no direct access to Porter Avenue from the northbound 190).

surface streets: Niagara Street

Richmond Avenue

Porter Avenue and Connecticut Street - main cross streets; perhaps relocate the following para?

Driving in the Lower West Side can be tricky due to its many one-way streets. An easy trick to navigating the Lower West Side that dates back to the initial survey of the South Black Rock street grid is that most of the crosstown streets (those that run perpendicular to Niagara Street) are named after the United States' Eastern Seaboard states, with more southerly states closer to downtown and more northerly ones further out. Thus, anyone with basic knowledge of U.S. geography can judge what direction they're heading and approximately how many blocks they are from their destination. The system isn't perfect, though: the word "New" has been shed from the street names (for instance, it's "Jersey Street", not "New Jersey Street"), there's only one Carolina Street, rather than a North and South, the Olmsted-designed Porter Avenue supplanted the portion of York Street west of West Avenue in the early 1870s, Hudson Street interlopes between Maryland and Pennsylvania, and Maine and Delaware are not represented (respectively, to avoid confusion with Main Street and because Delaware Avenue already exists elsewhere in the city).

list which of these crosstown streets are major ones

meters along Niagara Street south of Hudson Street (in effect till 5PM every day except Sunday, $1 per hour to a maximum of 2 hours)

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 West Side is traversed by a number of NFTA Metro bus routes:

To and from downtown
NFTA Metro Buses #1 — William, #2 — Clinton, and #4 — Broadway all begin and end on, and take the same route to and from, the Lower West Side: outbound buses proceed southward down 4th Street from Carolina Street, turning left on West Genesee Street and entering downtown; inbound buses turn right from West Genesee Street onto 7th Street and proceed as far as Carolina Street. Buses #1, #2 and #4 end, respectively, at the AppleTree Business Park in Cheektowaga, at the Bank of America Operations Center in West Seneca, and at the Thruway Mall Transit Center in Cheektowaga.

NFTA Metro Bus #3 — Grant. Beginning at the city line at the corner of Tonawanda and Vulcan Streets, inbound #3 buses serve the Lower West Side via Hampshire Street, Normal Avenue, York Street, and West Avenue, emerging onto Carolina Street and proceeding downtown via Elmwood Avenue. Outbound buses: Hudson to Plymouth to Hampshire and the above-described route.

NFTA Metro Bus #5 — Niagara-Kenmore. Beginning at the University Metro Rail Station, then via Niagara to downtown

NFTA Metro Bus #7 — Baynes-Richmond. Beginning at the Richardson-Olmsted Complex in the Elmwood Village... southward down Richmond to Symphony Circle, ending downtown. Bus #7 does not run Saturdays, Sundays or holidays.

NFTA Metro Bus #40 — Buffalo-Niagara Falls. Beginning at the Portage Road Transit Center in Niagara Falls, Bus #40 proceeds through the West Side via Niagara Street same route as 5 but does not serve passengers whose trips are entirely south of Hertel Ave

Crosstown routes
NFTA Metro Bus #12 — Utica. Beginning at the corner of Niagara Street and Busti Avenue, eastbound buses on Route #12 head northward along Niagara Street and pass through the Upper West Side- southward thru LWS via Richmond then enters the Elmwood Village at West Utica Street and ends at the University Metro Rail Station.

NFTA Metro Bus #22 — Porter-Best. Beginning at the corner of Jersey Street and Lakeview Avenue, eastbound buses on Route #22 serve Prospect Hill via Jersey Street, 7th Street, and Porter Avenue, entering the Elmwood Village at Symphony Circle and ending at the Thruway Mall Transit Center in Cheektowaga. Westbound buses proceed along Porter as far as Lakeview, then turning left and proceeding as far as Jersey Street.

NFTA Metro Bus #29 — Wohlers. Beginning at the corner of Efner and Maryland Streets, eastbound buses on Route #29 proceed through the Lower West Side via Maryland Street. Buses then turn right on Cottage Street and enter Allentown, ending at the Delavan-Canisius College Metro Rail Station. Westbound buses serve Trenton, Esperar, and Efner Streets, ending back at Maryland Street. Bus #29 does not run Saturdays, Sundays or holidays.

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

By bike
Buffalo has been making great strides in recent years 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. The Lower West Side is one of the most bikeable parts of the city, populated largely by immigrants whose habituation to alternative modes of transportation, including bicycles, is imported from their home countries — as well as young, middle-class "urban pioneers" for whom carfreedom is a conscious choice.

Buffalo's oldest, largest, and best-known bike path is the Shoreline Trail, a multi-use trail that connects the Bethlehem Steel site in Lackawanna to Gratwick Park in North Tonawanda via the West Side waterfront, for a total distance of 22.6 miles (36.4 km). The Shoreline Trail passes into the Lower West Side near the posh Waterfront Village condos and closely hugs the shore of Lake Erie and the Niagara River for its length, with excellent views over the water and easy access to many waterfront attractions including LaSalle Park and the Fontana Boathouse. asphalt paved, 15 mph/24 kph

As indicated above, bike lanes and other accommodations have also been steadily added to the street grid. Among the streets which have been improved in this way is Richmond Avenue, with dedicated bike lanes throughout its entire LWS length

bike lanes on Niagara as far north as Hudson

Elsewhere, Porter Avenue sports a dedicated bike lane on each side between Symphony Circle and Niagara Street plus a signed off-street bike path west of Niagara Street as far as LaSalle Park where it connects to the Shoreline Trail, and Hudson Street boasts parallel bike lanes on each side between Plymouth and Busti Avenues, 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 east to Wadsworth Street and west to 4th Street with access to LaSalle Park via a pedestrian bridge over Interstate 190. As well, sharrows lead from Hudson Street to Symphony Circle by way of West Avenue and Pennsylvania Street, and are in place on Connecticut Street between Niagara Street and Richmond Avenue, on Wadsworth Street from Symphony Circle to Allen Street, and on the entirety of Hampshire Street from Grant Street to the Shoreline Trail.

Bike sharing
The Lower West Side has eight Reddy Bikeshare racks:


 * on the east side of Niagara Street between Virginia and Carolina Streets, alongside the back end of the parking lot of the Turner Brothers Building
 * on the south side of Porter Avenue at the corner of Jersey Street and Normal Avenue, across the street from Grover Cleveland High School
 * on the south side of Porter Avenue at the corner of Fargo Avenue, in front of the D'Youville College Center
 * on the north side of Connecticut Street at the corner of Normal Avenue, in front of Horsefeathers Market
 * on the south side of Vermont Street between West and Fargo Avenues, in front of West Side Community Services
 * on the north side of Rhode Island Street between West and Plymouth Avenues
 * at the Five Points intersection, on the south side of West Utica Street at the corner of Rhode Island Street, across the street from Black Monarchy
 * on the south side of Rhode Island Street at the corner of Landis Place, in front of Left Bank

On foot
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Art
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Breweries
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Parks
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In addition to the large parks listed above, the West Side also contains a couple of smaller green spaces that are pleasant places for visitors. Covering two blocks at the corner of Porter Avenue and Niagara Street, in the shadow of the massive Connecticut Street Armory, is. When Frederick Law Olmsted was doing his work in Buffalo, he also redesigned this already-extant park and integrated it into his system, albeit with a layout that bears little resemblance to his typical work. As well, the West Village contains the charming, a small "residential park" similar to the two in Allentown that's located on the former estate of Buffalo's first mayor, Dr. Ebenezer Johnson. - Massachusetts Avenue Park

Other outdoor attractions




Architecture
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Prospect Hill is also home to one of the Niagara Frontier's six Frank Lloyd Wright buildings:



Festivals and events
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Live music
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Learn
is a private Catholic college that's been located in Prospect Hill since 1908. The college was established by the famous Grey Nuns of Montréal and named after their founder, St. Marie-Marguerite d'Youville. A pioneer in the field of higher education for women, D'Youville was the first college in the Niagara Frontier to admit women, and though it went co-ed in the 1970s, its student body is still about three-quarters female. The school has expanded aggressively over the past quarter-century, taking a leading role in neighborhood revitalization and constructing many new buildings in the area (and rehabbing several vacant ones too) for their use. Today, D'Youville is a robust college with a student body of 2,700, including over 1,000 post-graduate students. Undergraduate, graduate and doctoral programs are offered in a wide range of fields such as international business, education, and information technology, but especially in health-related professions such as nursing, dietetics, chiropractic, and physical therapy.

Buy
Divide by sub-neighborhoods?

Niagara and Connecticut Streets are the Lower West Side's main thoroughfares for shoppers. By comparison with each other, Connecticut Street is smaller in size but noticeably more upscale, while bustling Niagara Street is larger and more typically "West Side", with a wide array of urban clothes stores, Grant Street-style ethnic food markets, and other shops. There's a smattering of more out-of-the-way shops on other streets as well.

Specialty foods
Those who've come to the Lower West Side in search of delicious Puerto Rican food are better off heading to a restaurant than a specialty grocery store; Hispanic cuisine is mainstream enough around these parts that its ingredients are easily available in ordinary supermarkets such as Tops on Niagara Street (which boasts what must be the best selection of Goya products Buffalo has to offer). However, if you were intrigued by the multiethnic cornucopia of immigrant-run food shops on Grant Street and are thirsty for more, the Lower West Side has what you're looking for.



Eat
If you like Puerto Rican food, the Lower West Side is the place for you: this is the heart of Hispanic Buffalo. But that's just the beginning of the story: fans of upscale cuisine will want to head to Five Points, whose gentrified ambience is more redolent of Allentown or the Elmwood Village.

Pizza
The following pizzerias are located in Prospect Hill, Five Points, and the Lower West Side. 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
Though D'Youville College is located in Prospect Hill and much of the area is populated by students, there is no real agglomeration of greasy spoons and watering holes around it as there is near Buffalo State College or UB South Campus. This is likely because the nightlife of the Elmwood Village and Allentown is within easy striking distance. There is a small cluster of spots in Five Points, but those are hipster hangouts, not college bars.

Coffee shops and juice bars
Despite the aforementioned lack of a D'Youville-area bar district, the coffeeshop scene in Prospect Hill (along with nearby Five Points) is among the most vibrant in Buffalo, with an übertrendy vibe very much in sync with the West Side's emerging identity.



And for cat lovers, Niagara Street is where you'll find...



Sleep
After the closure of the Porter Avenue Pied-à-Terre, the Lower West Side went the better part of a decade without any accommodation of its own. That changed in 2018, when the former Dr. Hubbard A. Foster House on Wadsworth Street was converted to a bed and breakfast. If that doesn't suit your needs, the next closest hotels are the many located downtown. If you're on a budget, a quick five-minute drive north into Tonawanda will take you to a selection of low-cost motels of varying quality clustered around exit 15 of Interstate 190 and exit 1 of Interstate 290.

Connect
nearest P.O.s Grant St & downtown

located at 280 Porter Ave. adjacent to Prospect Park for WiFi; 18 comps free of charge and available to all

Stay safe
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.....Other problem areas include the Lower West Side (particularly the blocks north of Connecticut Street and west of 15th Street).....

By contrast, Five Points is merely average in terms of crime, and Prospect Hill's crime rate is downright low. (DO NOT REUSE VERBIAGE FROM OTHER WS ARTICLES)

Panhandling nbd

Newspapers
The West Side Times is a source for news and business listings

Hospitals
Buffalo General

For non-emergency situations, is located on the Lower West Side at 564 Niagara St., between Jersey and Pennsylvania Sts.

Roman Catholic
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Also, though the area where it's located would be better described today as part of downtown, the weekly Italian-language Mass at St. Anthony of Padua RC Church is a great way to get a taste of what the Lower West Side was like 50 or 60 years ago, as neighborhood old-timers stream back in to catch up with their neighbors and wax nostalgic about days gone by.

Hispanic Protestant
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Though the community is still overwhelmingly Catholic, evangelical Protestantism has begun to make major inroads among Buffalo's Hispanics. The West Side's Hispanic Protestant churches are occasionally large enough to worship in proper church buildings, but as with the African-American churches of the East Side, far more often they are small congregations that meet in converted storefronts or residences. There are far too many churches to include all of them on this list; below are the largest and most important ones. Except where indicated, all services are held in Spanish.

but try not to reuse verbiage



Muslim
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Go next
fort erie via peace bridge, upper west side, allentown, elmwood village