Buffalo's electric cultural scene



The Electric Tower (1912).



New Sol LeWitt installation at Albright-Knox.

There's something Gotham-esque about Buffalo, New York, at night. The moon rises through cold crisp darkness over monuments to its past wealth and importance: the ghost-white Electric Tower, the floodlit ladies atop the Liberty Building, the magnificent Art Deco pile of its City Hall.

In dark streets below, the city's legendary nightlife carries on until a 4 a.m. last call. But if beer, chicken wings and surgical shopping strikes at Target are all you know of Buffalo, you're missing out on a truly electric cultural scene.

First, the city's architectural riches. Everything old is new again, thanks to dedicated "friends of" organizations that have brought landmarks like Frank Lloyd Wright's Darwin Martin House Complex and Graycliff Estate back from near-ashes and done a lot towards earning Buffalo a designation last year as a Distinctive Destination by the National Trust for Historic Preservation.

The New York Times, too, voted it one of the world's top 44 places to go in 2009 and added that Buffalo is rapidly becoming a "center for creative types" thanks to affordable housing, inexpensive studio space and a super-supportive community.

There's so much going on artwise, it's hard to know where to begin so I'll begin where I usually do, at the Albright-Knox Art Gallery. Since my last visit just a few months ago, the Albright-Knox had almost entirely changed what was on display, pulling treasures by the likes of O'Keefe and Warhol from their Aladdin's cave of 20th century art. One new commission: Wall Drawing #1268: Scribbles: Staircase, conceived by Sol LeWitt before his death in 2007, was recently executed in painstaking graphite scribbles by a team of artists following LeWitt's instruction to make it look like steel (pictured above).

Burchfield Penney Art Center.

An exciting discovery was the new Burchfield Penney Art Center. Its proximity to the Albright-Knox (they're right across Elmwood Avenue from each other) make both a do-able double whammy on a day trip but you're definitely going to want more time. Beyond/In Western New York 2010: Alternating Currents (yes, an electrical theme) features 100 artists at over 20 venues like the legendary Hallwalls Contemporary Arts Center, founded in 1974 by a group of students that included now-icons Cindy Sherman and Robert Longo.

From live theatre, rock and jazz clubs, multi-disciplinary creativity all over the place and an increasingly sophisticated culinary scene that recently got a nod from Anthony Bourdain, Buffalo is accessible, stimulating and great fun. And while Pittsburgh has rightfully been getting a lot of buzz for being the "new New York" of the art world, Buffalo isn't far behind.

Buffalo landmarks at Poster Art in Elmwood Village.

Palmy afternoon in Buffalo, New York

Gee, a GPS makes road trips a lot more fun. You can fit in more of what you want to see when you're not  constantly getting lost.    This time, down in Buffalo for the day, we finally made it to the legendary Anchor Bar where buffalo wings were invented. I still prefer Coles overall for location, atmosphere, variety and prices but have to say the Anchor Bar's wings are excellent and quite possibly the best.  They're certainly the biggest I've ever seen.  And if you like bikes, the rafters are hung with everything from kiddies' trikes to an old Ducati to a new Moto Guzzi.

An arts festival had attracted hundreds of people and closed off a chunk of the city but with the GPS lady's urgent recalculations, we made our way around it and down to Buffalo's South Park.

South Park is part of Buffalo's Olmsted-designed park system, Frederick Law Olmsted being the guy who planned New York's Central Park (among others). Is there anything better than a snooze under a old tree in a quiet Olmsted park in June? I left Pat in the shade and went to explore the Botanical Gardens.

The centrepiece of the gardens is the Victorian conservatory (1900), a massive tri-domed glass, wood and steel design by Lord & Burnham.  L&B were top designers of glass houses in their day and this design was based on the famous Crystal Palace in Kew Gardens, England.

Today, the Buffalo conservatory is one of only two remaining Lord and Burnham conservatories incorporated into an Olmsted-designed park. At 67' tall, the main dome is magnificent, full of palms and tropical fruit trees. A globe introduces the gardens' new theme of "The Buffalo Meridian", a line circumnavigating the globe, connecting the city to other people, places and plants.
Buffalo is full of wonders if you can find your way to them!

Great Escapes

The Beach(es) in east Toronto.

After getting caught in Jonas Brothers fandemonium on Bloor last week when the Toronto International Film Festival opened (no, I didn't spot Joe himself jogging, just the swarm of fans and paparazzi chasing him), I escaped TIFF madness on Sunday by going down to the Beaches. I started at Woodbine where the volleyballers--and white cruiser bobbing offshore--reminded me vividly of Miami, then walked along the water's edge past Kew, Leuty and Scarboro beaches. It was a gorgeous day with big tumbles of cloud overhead so I flicked my camera to video mode and made my own souvenir record.

There were a record number of female directors at this year's TIFF which made me think of Ida Lupino, who made the jump from starlet to Hollywood's first female director (of mostly low-budget, issue-driven films) and first female director of a noir. Her best title? Hard, Fast and Beautiful (1951), in which she both starred and directed.

Beaches and movies, both great escapes. Famed director (In the Heat of the Night, 1967, and The Thomas Crown Affair, 1968, for two) Norman Jewison grew up in the Beaches, witnessing the daily parade of human drama through his parents' Depression-era convenience store at the corner of Queen Street E. and Kippendavie. He got so good at telling stories that his buddies would pool their pennies to send Norman to the local movie house, knowing they'd get their money's worth when he returned and reenacted the afternoon's feature down to the last dramatic detail.

Shadows grew long, I went home and turned on Turner Classic Movies, another favorite escape. Fiddling with my camera I accidentally deleted the little movie I'd made and so far haven't been able to figure out how to retrieve it.  Perfectionist Ida wouldn't approve.