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SLICE OF WNY
Main Street between LaSalle and Englewood
By Lisa Kane; photos by kc kratt
New York City seems like the center of the universe to some, if you’re taking the whole universe into account, but if you narrow the focus to Western New York, then everything seems to revolve around Elmwood. Maybe that’s just me, but then I have gone to school, lived, worked, and hung out on and around this street for the last quarter of a century. Right now, Elmwood is probably as good as it has been in a long time in a lot of ways, but I do sometimes remember the old Elmwood with a bit of nostalgia. It was a little less posh, a little more bohemian, a little more influenced by the students at Buff State. It felt more like a college neighborhood.
These days, Main Street between LaSalle and Englewood—the strip just south of UB’s South Campus, University Heights—feels like the old Elmwood. If you’re long out of school like me, it can be a nostalgic trip back to your college days. In addition to the college-influenced Main Street business district, there are nice residential pockets to walk through—a mix of owner-occupied homes and student housing and other rental properties—and some pretty churches to admire. And, of course, this section of Main Street is currently a super-popular destination for dining and cocktails.
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Starting a walk heading north from LaSalle, you’ll pass two venerable University Heights businesses: Famous Doughnuts (which sometimes smells like heaven and isn’t easy to walk past) and Broadway Joe’s Bar & Grill. The next block, between Minnesota and Lisbon, is home to the supermarket Aldi, an auto dealer, and a few small businesses. Past Lisbon, the west side of the street is great for eating—there’s the casual Doctor Bird Caribbean Restaurant and Gusto Unidos Cuisine (“Spanish/American and other ethnic styles, etc.”) and the more upscale Havana House and Sangria Lounge.
Your walk may get derailed for awhile on the next block, above Highgate, which is home to the original Talking Leaves Books, but once you manage to tear yourself away, you can reward yourself with a milkshake across the street at Lake Effect Diner. More reading opportunities are waiting in the next block, between Northrup and Winspear, at the comic book-centric Queen City Book Store. This is also where you’ll find the curiously named hair salon Love Is Love.
Parkside Candies, with its lovely, old-school interior, sits at the corner of Winspear and Main, and past Merrimac is another gorgeous interior, belonging to the long-standing O’Connell’s Clothing. This is also the block for another, albeit younger and more vegan-friendly, classic: Amy’s Place. If you don’t fill up there, the last block of our walk offers other options, including Shango, and coming soon (as of this writing), Kabab & Curry Express.
Kelly Herod, who has lived in the neighborhood for five years and is considering opening a business here, often walks with her young sons Liam and Aidan to Parkside Candies and Amy’s Place, and with her dog Keena around the UB campus. She likes the area for its energy and diversity, and because it’s a place where “city meets suburbia.” I like it for these reasons, too, and for an occasional dose of college-town vibe.
Lisa Kane is a freelance writer who walks around the city. A lot.
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