Just a look back at a much more calm day. This is the China Lighthouse at the entrance to the Buffalo River.

These very modern door bollards belong to the entrance at Rotary Rink. This is where you can sit and change into your skates or buy a hot chocolate after skating. In the summer it is cool reflecting pond and in the winter a very nice place to skate the day away

Here is a very nice marine bollard that stands out with the yellow paint job. This is along the Erie Canal. The white bollard above it is a combination tie up and power source for docking boats.

I just wanted to highlight the USS Little Rock that is a staple at the Naval and Military Park on the Buffalo River. Two very large marine bollards keep the ship anchored. The port anchor is on display at the park.

Here is a nice set of bollards protecting some widows along Washington St at Roswell Park. Notice how they had to cut one shorter than the others so the fire standpipe could be accessed.  

In some future posts I will be featuring the many gates that were built to protect large homes or are simply ornamental in nature.

This gate is will be very familiar to those of you that live in the area. It is on Franklin and Edward St's. The large gargoyle's that are placed on the top of gate posts are pretty cool.

Here is a set of fence bollards along North St. There is some very nice detail on them including the pineapple, a longtime symbol of hospitality.   

Special Post Today

Last Friday the Buffalo Sabres dedicated Alumni Plaza in front of The First Niagara Center. The centerpiece of the plaza is a statue of the famed French Connection line from the 1970's. Quite a nice addition to the up and coming Waterfront and Cobblestone districts.

Well another hitching post sighting. This one was hiding behind parked cars. This is on Norwood Ave. This is a nice example of a well cared for sandstone hitching post with the hardware attached.

These two regular looking bollards are on Hamburg St. They are protecting this hydrant that happens to be at the entrance of a trucking facility. At a closer look they are two very large pipes filled with cement, they look like they have been here a while.

I just wanted to highlight a cool project along the waterfront. The Erie Canal Harbor Development Corporation held a demonstration last week to see if the grain elevators would work as backdrop for a video show. The plan is to light up all or most of the elevators at night with a giant video program. Everyone agreed it was a success, now it's time to buck up and get it done. This was done at the Pool Elevator on Fuhrmann Blvd. The top two photos are from the ECHDC and the bottom two are mine.

These very large bollards are placed in front of the Edward A. Rath County building. They are used for a security device in front of the old parking ramp exit. They are concrete with a plastic top, I would guess that these are hollow with sand in the center.

To close out the week here is a nice shot of The Cuyahoga coming up river from delivering grain at the Lake & Rail Elevator on Childs St. At 620 feet long it is quite impressive coming around the bend of the river.

This very nice corner bollard is attached to the former Phoenix Brewery on the corner of Washington and Virginia. Here is the back story from The History of Buffalo web site.

Phoenix, along with Schreiber's brewery, was designed by Otto Wolf of Philadelphia who was both a mechanical engineer and an architect. Its base is also Medina sandstone. If you look carefully at the top on the Washington side, you can see the date 1888. The left, shorter side of the building was the brewery office; it is now a fitness center. The other part of the building was the cold storage facility and is now occupied as a warehouse by Lazy Boy furniture. This is resourceful usage of an old industry.
Unfortunately, many of the remaining breweries are now vacant and if not utilized soon may be fall victim to the wrecker's ball.
Phoenix's story is a fascinating one. It began as the Albert Ziegle brewery in 1850 on Genesee St. From 1855-1887, it was located on Main St. On July 21,1887, it burned to the ground. When they rebuilt it, they renamed it Phoenix after the Egyptian mythological eagle figure that rose from the ashes to symbolize immortality.
Albert Ziegle, like many brewers, was politically active. Ziegel campaigned for President Grover Cleveland in 1884.

These bollard/lights have a nautical theme to them. They are new and really set off the surroundings of Riverfest Park on Ohio St. This is a newly created park along the Buffalo River. A reclamation of old industrial land into a nice place to launch a kayak or just sit and relax on the wharf.

100th Post!

Today marks my 100th post so I am posting  pictures of a place I spent a lot of time at when I was a kid as I lived quite close by.  I stopped by The Buffalo Zoo one day recently, unfortunately a little late in the day to go in so I walked around the outside and took some nice photos.

Wow this is cool, this is at the Jewett Pkwy entrance to the zoo. I am guessing this was part of a gate at one time. There is just one of these standing, it is made out of cast iron. It did not have any stamping of where it was made or how old it is.

These concrete sculptures are at all the gates. They only use one gate now because of the admission charge but when I was young you could walk in at any gate for free.

This of course marked the entrance closest to the 

Elephant House.

Very playful looking bears, of course they are not as someone snuck in one night in 1979 and found out the hard way. 

Otters? They just built anew exhibition for otters.

And this one of course marks the entrance to the lion house, they have expanded that area also.

The primates and reptiles were connected and nearby these gates.

The seals always put on a good show for the kids.

The Zoo is doing it's best to do with what they have as it is landlocked, they have just broken ground for a new visitors center and main entrance.

Here is another upping stone I found on Porter Ave near Symphony Circle. It looks as though it was moved to this spot because the concrete is new. It has the hardware attached to it where you would tie your horse up.