Things That Aren't There Anymore - Buffalo 1950's

So glad my mom played her Big Band records for us! Love remembering my parents dancing in the living room.

My Dad Daniel Thomas was The pilot of this ship For the last 5 years.  What a great time!

May I et the record straight.  My name is Fran (Francis) Lucca, a retired print, wire service, and broadcast investigative reporter in Buffalo for more than a half century. I researched, picked the subjects, interviewed them,,, paper edited, and produced "Things That Are Not There Anymore". for PBS Station WNED as  a freelancer   under my copyright Fran Lucca Enterprizes.      I do not know how Jason Mendola  managed to get it on you tube...but am grateful for the exposure he has given to my documentary.  ENJOY..

Fantastic! Thanks for posting this. Brings back my own great memories of Crystal Beach in the 70's.

Rodger,  Thanks for your reply.   My last visit to Buffalo was in Aug, 1999, when Dad passed away. He was born / raised in Williamsville, and his brother sold Christmas trees at the family home on Main St. Some things remain, and I hope that continues.  I'm happy to see the Sheas Buffalo theater still standing,..it was a wonderful place for a family evening at the movies.       John Carleton, (Buffalo native)   Citrus Heights, Ca.

My family also had a small house, or "camp",  in Crystal Beach, right on the lake a few blocks from the park. It was just our summer house, my dad sold the place after my parents divorced. We used to go to the park or to the beach almost every day in the summer. Thanks for posting this. Brings back a lot of memories. After the park closed, some people got together and made a documentary about it, in VHS format. Maybe someone will put it on YouTube. I no longer have my copy.

What a great documentary. Even though I did not live in Buffalo, I would come to Niagara Falls, Ont every July with my grandfather. We would leave from northern New Jersey and head up the Thruway to Buffalo and then cross either the Rainbow Bridge or the Peace Bridge. We would leave NJ at 400am and get to the area about 400pm. A long day, but a great memory. My uncle in Niagara Falls would take us to Crystal Beach and I remember riding the Wild Mouse at the park in the early 60s. Such fun.

Thank you for reviving so many memories.

Thanks for posting ! Great memories !

I remember going to downtown Buffalo on the NFT red & cream buses from Town of Tonawanda that went down Elmwood Avenue at Sheridan Drive when I had lived in Sheridan Parkside. There was a Brinson's on Military Road. Downtown Buffalo was real busy in the late 1950's and even early 1960's. Used to watch the St.Patricks day parade on the Sunday closet to St. Patrick's day. Once in awhile we would go to Glen Park amusement park which was a favorite for me. It's a shame that it was destroyed by fire in the mid 1970's around the time of Watergate. The video is great.

Sad that so much is gone. I hope the few places I go to that I enjoy in Buffalo are around for at least 20 years

I spent many days,  as a youth in the 1970's,  at Crystal Beach. For $5, you  could be bused from Buffalo's suburbs to and from the park, over the border to Canada ( no questions asked, no passport, no nothing!) .  Remember Lancaster/Depew/ Cheektowaga Days?  I do.  Toward the end of Crystal Beach's life,  a single admission fee got you unlimited rides and we would exit the Comet roller coaster and get right back in line to ride it again. And again.  And again!!!  Oh,  and more than once I smuggled fireworks back from Canada to New York on the return ride!!!!!!   Pretty sure the statute of limitations is up on those crimes.  

Harvey Weinstein had a cottage at Crystal Beach when he was rock promoter Harvey and Korky and I remember seeing him in the downtown.

My maternal grandmother, Leonora Santuci, owned and operated a "soda fountain", (ice cream and soda shop) in downtown Buffalo, I believe it was in the 1940's. I do not know the location, but my mother kept a photo of the interior. My grandparents lived a few blocks off of Genesee St., on Kehr and Frederick Place. I seem to recall that at one time downtown Buffalo had an "automat", a restaurant where you would buy your food out of glassed- in boxes that lined the walls of the restaurant. There were no waiters or waitresses.,You would put your coins in a slot by the door where your desired meal was located, then open the door and take out your food. The floor between the walls where you bought your meal had tables and chairs to eat at. I think that the automat was down on Main St., near the old Greyhound bus station. Does anyone remember this?

There used to be two bus systems. NFT (Niagara Frontier Transit) serving the city, and another ???? that served Cheektowaga (and other) suburbs. Inbound to the city, these buses could only pick up passengers in the suburbs, but could not pick up passengers within the city limits, they could only discharge them.  On the outbound trips, they could pick up passengers anywhere, but could not discharge them until they left the city limits. It was some sort of co-exist agreement to limit competition between the 2 bus companies. Does anyone remember the name of the suburban bus system? The buses they used were generally a generation older than those used by the NFT. I do remember the NFT bus barns in red brick buildings were on Broadway near Bailey.

Awesome! May i use some of the footage?

Buffalo died after the Saint Lawrence canal slip was completed in 1960 and the collapse of the railroads and cutback on freight car shipping.

  Hughes coffee shop,....My dad worked at M&T Bank, at Main & Swan;  Hughes was his daily lunch place, until the bank moved to M&T Plaza during the mid 60's.      John Carleton,    Citrus Heights, Ca

what was, will never be again.

Jason...you may also see my docs on you tube under Fran Lucca at the Editor's Desk...as well as Ch 17 Reports.