The Location of my Birth: Buffalo's Lower West Side

So for my blog entry this week I decided on the place of my birth, Buffalo's Lower West Side and surrounding area.  Ofcourse I need to be a bit specific here so I will proudly admit that Busti and Hudson was the corner where my house was closest to growing up.  My house actually still stands even though we havent owned it for most of my life now.  I have always known about Buffalo and its hugely segregated blocks, though nowadays things are changing slightly.  Anyone who has lived in the area of the West Side can tell you that it used to be owned pretty much by blue-collar Italians until the 1950's-60's when thousands of Puerto Ricans made the trip over to America, my descendants coming and settling in Buffalo New York of all places.  Then their is the now, where lots of Somalians and Burmans are coming, to me and the rest of the Puerto Rican community that still occupies the West Side, they are simply Africans (for lack of a better term, dont judge me). 

When I grew up Buffalo had tons of these little corner grocery stores all over the place.  The picture above is from the store Lorigo's and shows some sugar cane and sofrito, common Latin items eaten all the time by West Siders.  It also features Somali and even Dominican food.  All but the very top pic show some art and graffiti taken on by many individuals who owned these storefronts.  The very top pic actually shows some change, the picture has graffiti and gentlemen that are puerto rican and black instead of just one type of person (primarily puerto rican). 

Buffalos landscape has been that of industry

The West Side was settled by Italians who worked (then) Buffalo's many steel and industrial factories.  The landscape as far as housing has barely changed, many of the Italians moving away from the West Side.  The only problem is that the poverty rose constatly in the area, Buffalo and its surrounding areas hold over 5,000 abandoned homes.

Another staple of the Lower West Side that has deep roots in Buffalo is the Holy Cross Church for Catholics was erected in 1948 and a Rec/Charity center was built in 1951 and really is a sign of  Puerto Ricans taking hold as the center and church are representative of many Puerto Ricans faith and was the primary place for Puerto Ricans to go come Sunday morning (my cousins still go there to this day).

I decided to save the best for last, one of Buffalo's big local restaurants and the #1Puerto Rican spot in town.  Niagara Cafe located on Niagara street is totally symbolic of Puerto Ricans taking root.  It was founded in 1992 (so it hasnt been around that long) this restaurant is truly one of the center pieces of the lower West Side of Buffalo and signifies Puerto Ricans stake to the area.  Niagara was dubbed San Juan ave with its many other stores that have Latin Entreprenuers.  It is truly a Latin Ethnic Landmark.  It is one of the only streets in Buffalo that actually has a flag, not the American flag, hanging off of one of the light poles.

The old Niagara Cafe restaurant was located on Niagara as well and is called Latin Romance now, and contains dressware and lingerie

Decorative treatment has always been the symbol of the Puerto Rican flag, I remember growing up that was almost all you seen on every other house, at least one on a blog.  To the plain old eye the Lower West Side might seem like just another poor section of a dying rustic town like Buffalo, but for me it will always be the place of my birth and where I grew up learning most of my Latin Heritage at rec centers, school, home, and the neighborhood.  Buffalo like all places is not meant to stay the same, the Puerto Ricans moved the Italians long ago, and now the Africans are moving from Buffalo's dead East side and moving into the poverished areas like the Lower West Side, taking the place of the Puerto Ricans who are now, finally moving out of the ghetto and becoming more middle-class individuals.  In terms of Landscape it was typically housing, but the commercial establishments, public buildings, and religious structures have changed the most in the area before my lifetime signifying the change from Italian to Puerto Rican, and maybe in the future more of an African/Somolian change will occur.