Continue the series on walking Buffalo, from the intrepid couple who walked every day—no matter the weather—in the first 3 years of covid. They think (without being systematic) they walked every street in Buffalo, and many in other cities and towns, taking some 25,000 photos, shared in this series. While not itineraries, we hope to encourage others to “walk the walk,” to see, observe and appreciate Buffalo—and beyond. William Graebner and Dianne Bennett are also 5 Cent Cine’s film critics, here.
Today’s Photo-Essay: Eyes on the Road
When walking Buffalo—and Beyond—you’ll be tempted to look only at the built environment (houses, churches, warehouses, commercial businesses). Fascinating as it is (and we don’t say that ironically), that would be a mistake. It’s worth keeping one eye peeled (love that metaphor) for what’s parked on, or coming down, the road.
For starters, there’s the C OOL BUS:
We liked the name of this business, whose truck was parked on Bailey Avenue in North Buffalo. For us, the name has personal resonance. Years ago, Bill, interested in purchasing several of those orange cones one sees on the streets, called an Elmwood Avenue company. “Do you have cheap safety cones?” he asked. “No,” came the reply, “we have inexpensive ones.”
For pure “mad” decoration, walk Amherst Street in Black Rock and look for the “Madd Ink Tattoo & Piercing” Van at 408. The business supports Ukraine and—beware—has a Student Driver.
We found eye candy of a different sort in the “Triangle” area of South Buffalo, where this pickup truck was making a turn with a load so large it brought out the camera.
The vehicle of the Buffalo Muslim Security Patrol is parked near the intersection of Brier and Liddell Streets on the East Side. We had a brief and friendly chat with the man in charge, who lives nearby.
A different sort of security is offered by the Danforth Street Zombie Response Team, featured in the recent photo-essay on Gothic Buffalo. We thought it was worth a close-up, given the recent rash of zombie sightings.
Food trucks are a visual delight everywhere, though perhaps especially so in Western New York and environs, where they appear to be hand-painted, like the signage of many of the area’s mini-marts. Our first offering is the Squeeze Me Juice Bar and Eatery truck, operating here in Niagara Falls, Ontario. Squeeze Me serves shakes and subs and “paninis,” the latter, unfortunately, with that final “s” (panini is the Italian plural).
Closer to home, we found two handsome trucks serving “soul food,” both of them, curiously, within a few blocks of each other on Buffalo’s West Side, and on the same day. Mama Shirley’s “Soul on the Road” truck, “Home of the Soul Bowl,” serves fried fish and chicken and soul-food trimmings, including yams, grits, collard greens, and black-eyed peas. The side of the truck features a portrait of Mama Shirley and what appears to be a slab of ribs. Even the tires are decorated.
Despite the “Soul on the Road” name of the business, the front of the truck seems to suggest a brick-and-mortar location or future. The proprietor of another soul food eatery, “A Taste of Soul” on Elmwood, told us that owning and operating a food truck was “a lot harder than an ordinary business.”
The words “soul food” also appear on the superbly decorated “Taste of Ghana” truck, but otherwise it’s not clear what this truck offers, except that it’s Ghanaian food. Instead, the truck’s iconography, presented in over-lapping images, markets Ghana’s African culture, with the Ghanaian flag featured and elephants and lions prominent (today, Ghana’s elephants reside in remote parts of the country, and lions are on the verge of extinction). Both men and women are depicted—a muscular man on one side of the truck, a woman serving on the other (and another in bold relief, in a style seen on the Island Mini-Mart and elsewhere). The Buffalo Bills merit a banner on the front bumper. “Akwaaba” means “welcome” in the Ghanaian language.
Click here to see more “walks and thoughts” by © William Graebner.
The post How to Take a Walk—in Buffalo, and Beyond: Eyes on the Road appeared first on Buffalo Rising.