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I hope everyone is having a safe and wonderful Christmas and ready to ring in a happy new year. Since today is a holiday, I decided to do something a little more fun and less serious than topics commonly found in this forum.
As some of you know from other threads, I have a great interest in studying about cities and a great interest in studying about Buffalo. I was browsing through Google Maps the past two days, checking out pictures of Buffalo neighborhoods, and comparing them to descriptions given by native Buffalonians in this forum. After many comparisons, I found out that Buffalo's neighborhoods can in some ways be compared to Boston's neighborhoods. Please note I am in no way putting down any neighborhood and I truly apologize if I offend anyone here. I have great respect for both Boston and Buffalo alike. This is all for fun and not to be taken too seriously. Here is what I think:
Parkside = Pondside, Jamaica Plain - pricey but beautiful houses, upperclass (doctors and lawyers), safe
Elmwood Village = Centre Street, Jamaica Plain, also akin to Brookline Village, Coolidge Corner, Brookline, or Davis Square, Somerville - hip, mixed use commecial district, popular with young people. Elmwood also has shades of Back Bay, Beacon Hill, and Upper South End, the most upscale urban neighborhoods of Boston. Check out the great architecture in these neighborhoods. After all, H.H. Richardson, Louis Sullivan (who graduated from Boston's English High School), Frank Lloyd Wright, and other greats have made their mark in Boston here too.
North Buffalo = West Roxbury/Roslindale - middle class to upper middle class White neighborhoods with mostly single family homes, generally safe. There is one part of Roslindale close by the square that is more mixed ethnicity and for a while less safe, but it is getting on the rebound.
Black Rock/Riverside = Hyde Park - mixed ethnicity working class to middle class neighborhood, some parts not as safe as Roslindale and West Roxbury but not too bad either. Hyde Park is also the furthest neighborhood from Boston's downtown and still has some industry.
West Side = East Boston and close by suburbs of Chelsea, Revere, and Lynn - I found this comparison to be most glaring. All of these communities were once predominantly working class Italian but have turned predominantly Latino with some Asian, Middle Eastern, and Afro-American enclaves. Crime has gone up from years ago and many streets have become more run down. Just looking at a picture of Busti Avenue in Google Maps and I immediately pictured these neighborhoods.
University Heights = Mission Hill - populated mainly by college students with some long time residents in between. Similar problems: loud parties, occasional break-ins, etc (with a large number of college kids in the neighborhood, you can't help but deal with these unfortunately). Mission Hill, like University Heights, borders on some really seedy places.
Kensington/Bailey = Mattapan
Masten Park, Leroy, Ellicott, Fruit Belt, and much of the rest of East Side (excluding Lovejoy and Kaisertown)= Most of Roxbury, much of Dorchester (especially the Grove Hall, Uphams Corner, Meeting House Hill, Four Corners, Franklin Field, and Codman Sqaure neighborhoods), the Jackson Sqaure section of Jamaica Plain, and the Lower South End - all predominantly African American, Cape Verdean, and/or Caribbean. All major cities have tough spots and the said names are generally speaking the toughest of Boston. There is no need for me to put down these neighborhoods, I teach at an inner city high school whose students live in these and they will all tell you the same thing. If you are the extremely curious tourist or the urban surveyor fanatic like I am, who would like to see crumbling boarded up houses, empty weed strewn lots, and poverty all around, then come see these. A good note though, if you do visit these neighborhoods, you will see occasional urban gardens and other efforts to better these communities, so not all is bad. I drove through the East Side during my last visit to Buffalo and it felt all too familar.
South Buffalo = Adams Village, Port Norfolk, Lower Mills, and Neponset areas of Dorchester - predominantly Irish middle class and safer than the rest of Dorchester. Boston is a very Catholic city and people generally go by their neighborhood parishes. This is especially true in these neighborhoods where there is a St. Marks, St. Brendans, etc.
There are some neighborhoods in Buffalo like Lovejoy and Kaisertown that seem more unique and so I will not compare them to anything. Still, it is so interesting to know that different cities can have so many similarities as well. I cannot compare Boston to NYC however. That is comparing apples to pineapples! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year everyone!
Ahhhhh - this brought back memories - Lynn Lynn the city of Sin - that's what I was told when I lived in Boston area in the 1980's!! I guess it hasnt gotten much better? I lived in Malden, right on the Melrose line and found it extremely convenient !!! I loved it!!!! and I worked in Glouster, Wobourn, Revere and a few other places......... It was a great place - believe it or not, Buffalos weather is much better than Boston - omho - personally of course
Ahhhhh - this brought back memories - Lynn Lynn the city of Sin - that's what I was told when I lived in Boston area in the 1980's!! I guess it hasnt gotten much better? I lived in Malden, right on the Melrose line and found it extremely convenient !!! I loved it!!!! and I worked in Glouster, Wobourn, Revere and a few other places......... It was a great place - believe it or not, Buffalos weather is much better than Boston - omho - personally of course
No, in my opinion Lynn hasn't gotten MUCH better. They did fix up the Central Square quite a bit (eight years ago, it looked like a dilapidated warzone - so scary that I begged in my mind for the MBTA bus driver to turn on the motor and get me out of there ASAP) but Lynn still has a lot of crime compared to surrounding communities. Funny that you mentioned Malden, because I lived there for five years as well. Malden sadly (and shockingly) has worsened on crime, I had a friend who lived there and said her apartment was broken into three times. I never experienced that when I was there. Melrose is still a nice place.
Great thread! I very much appreciate your interest in both Boston and Buffalo. I love both cities and enjoy your insight. Interesting thoughts, Urban Peasant!
No, in my opinion Lynn hasn't gotten MUCH better. They did fix up the Central Square quite a bit (eight years ago, it looked like a dilapidated warzone - so scary that I begged in my mind for the MBTA bus driver to turn on the motor and get me out of there ASAP) but Lynn still has a lot of crime compared to surrounding communities. Funny that you mentioned Malden, because I lived there for five years as well. Malden sadly (and shockingly) has worsened on crime, I had a friend who lived there and said her apartment was broken into three times. I never experienced that when I was there. Melrose is still a nice place.
I lived on Mountain avenue - do you remember it? Not the side with the post office, the other and I could walk there - and to the T and to the pizzeria (papa ginos), the liquor store, the gym etc etc - wow - what a great place!!!! Sorry to hear about the crime going up in the area - it was so damn convenient... now parking, well that sucked...
I used to be a corporate trainer and gm for Papa Ginos back in the days when it was run by the ?Valario? family if my memory serves me correctly......
I lived on Mountain avenue - do you remember it? Not the side with the post office, the other and I could walk there - and to the T and to the pizzeria (papa ginos), the liquor store, the gym etc etc - wow - what a great place!!!! Sorry to hear about the crime going up in the area - it was so damn convenient... now parking, well that sucked...
I used to be a corporate trainer and gm for Papa Ginos back in the days when it was run by the ?Valario? family if my memory serves me correctly......
Yes I know Mountain Avenue. I attended the Chester W. Holmes Elementary School (now just a preschool), which was on the other end of Mountain Avenue (beyond the post office and Main Street). And yes you are right, Papa Gino's Pizzerias, which is still around, is run by the Valerio Family. Michael Valerio, the founder of Papa Gino's emigrated from Italy and graduated from East Boston High School.
Oh yeah, the landscape architect who designed Delaware Park in Buffalo (and Central Park in NYC) also designed Boston's Emerald Necklace, a series of parks that are joined together. It starts off as the Back Bay Fens, and follows a riverway down to Jamaica Pond in Jamaicaway, and then continues to the Arnold Arboretum and Franklin Park. If you look at it on a map, you can tell that it is similar in shape and design to Delaware Park.
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in the area - it was so damn convenient... now parking, well that sucked...
Frederick Law Olmstead
