20s Glamour in Buffalo

Parkside Candy 1927 interior

Parkside Candy on Main St. in Buffalo, NY

Meatball Sandwich lunch at Parkside

I drive up and down Buffalo's Main St. twice a day.  Parkside Candy catches my eye as a place that time has passed by.

Faded facade hides historic beauty:

The outside is rundown and in sad need of maintenance.  The wooden sign is weather worn, decayed and hanging by a nail.  The awning is tattered beyond existence.  And the brick and concrete of the entrance is crumbling.  The store displays are 4th of July, Christmas and graduation all at once in late April.  I thought Parkside Candy was out of business decades ago as their facade suggests.
(Plus the apparent abortion clinic on the second floor does not fit with the falsely 1950s cheery attempts of Parkside Candy's window displays.)

But my Buffalonian friends told me that Parkside Candy is a historic Buffalo landmark that is well worth a visit.

So finally I stopped in for lunch today.  And my friendly Buffalistas were right!

The inside is a tribute to 1927 with original floors, booths and woodwork.  There were few customers but the lunch was fun if a little white bread traditional.  The ice cream sundae was old fashioned and deluxe.

It really is the decor and beaux arts design here that is the story.  The oval room with the frieze work ceiling in plaster and the original mirrored oval wooden doors are outstanding.  You can easily imagine yourself as a patron from a past decade at Parkside Candy.

I cannot understand why the building is not maintained.  I understand preserving the beauty of its past and not marring the historic design.  But crumbling superstructure, a tattered awning and the weathered sign all give me the signal that the owners are not concerned with preserving the appearance or reputation of this long standing Buffalo tradition.

There is much here that is worth preserving and restoring.  The broken neon sign that fronts Main St. alone is worthy of a Buffalonion restoration.

Juici Patties in Jamaica

MoBay: Streetside market in Montego Bay, Jamaica.

This colorful scene in Montego Bay, Jamaica with these beautiful fruits was just outside a Juici Patties restaurant that we visited.

We met a couple on the pier and shared a taxi with them.  The wife had gone to medical school in Grand Cayman, and she was a huge fan of Juici Patties.
She raved about wanting a "juici pattie."
She said it was the must have food of Jamaica.  So we went with them to the Juice Pattie emporium to taste this wondrous dish.
We figured out later that the couple was pretty drunk and seemed to be there to get even drunker and though they loved the greasy, carb laden juici patties-- we did not.

The Juici Patti itself!

Juici patti is a greasy meat pie in a  doughy envelope.  The meat is not especially spicy, tasty or juicy.  It's like a fast food, McDonaldized version of what you think a meat pie should be laden with empty calories and no discernible nutritional value.

Dave & our friends waiting to get a Red Stripe

This comes under the heading of sometimes you meet great folks randomly while traveling.  Sometimes you taste awesome local specialties while on vacation ... AND sometimes you don't!  This day was a DON'T.

Our friends who we met at the pier in Jamaica were from Arkansas and taught us that they were Indians "dot not feather."   Though they were soused- they were fun enough until they started bickering.

Me and the fam in Jamaica.

Me and Vika in St. Petersburg, Russia

But that's ok- it was a fun experience I won't soon forget just like my new friend in St. Petersburg (see photo below) who we shared a fun impromptu dinner with while she taught us about the Russian people and what it's like to live in Russia.

Montego Bay, Jamaica

Cats in Parkas

Cats in Parkas

Little Boy in his pink parka

My cats wear parkas in Buffalo when it's cold.  They often have words over who gets to wear the more manly brown parka.

Joker gets to wear the brown parka - but looks irritated.

Little Boy with one of his humans

Cats recreate Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel

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My cats reenact the Sistine Chapel pose

The real deal - God and man.

My cats live a full life.

Here they have chosen to recreate the
work of Michaelangelo as they reenact
the famous tableau from the Sistine
Chapel of God touching man.

Little Boy is God and man is played by his little brother Joker.

Yes, I do have better things to be doing than likening my cats to great
Renaissance painters.  HINT:  See the
Atlas of Anatomy lurking in the background.  Yes, I should be studying that instead.

I did find this interesting article about one man's theory that Michaelangelo really is portraying God has a human brain.


Medical students take note, here is a chance to combine your humanities with your science training.

As an English major with a Master of Arts who went into the sciences and is now a physician assistant student, I live for these moments where art and medicine collide.

Ah well, back to work on anatomy.  Here are the boys in their usual roles--themselves!

The boys as themselves in the Buffalo sunshine.

My cats eat Kleenex while I hide in bathroom mirror

Cornish Rex Cats

Now I know that not everyone loves Cornish Rex cats or even just cats - how CRAZY is that!?
These guys are an acquired taste.  I admit it.  They have little fur and what they have is wavy and fine like down. 
They have minds of their own and just want to do what they want to do when they want to do it!  Oh, they sound like bad toddlers!  Oh my!

Kleenex eating

But here they are eating Kleenex from the box, a favorite pastime of theirs that they mostly perform when they want a snack.  They have several signals to tell me that they WANT FOOD and they want it NOW and this is one of their favorites!!!!!

Not naked

By the way, I am NOT naked in the bathroom mirror hiding behind my iPhone.