One question

well this was a sunday, to be honest I'm not sure which businesses are open during the week and which have closed up for good...on a sunday the bars are on all the windows in this neighborhood.

I'll be honest, this stretch was pretty rough. Lots of "latin" businesses, very cultural...and certainly not a place to take your girlfriend for a sunday walk. lol

but to answer your question...YES, they are operating in those buildings.

This photo is a couple of blocks of Niagara Street, which make up the Western border of my neighborhood, the West Village. I live less than 2 blocks away from here, and yes, most of those businesses still operate. Two of them are pizza shops, and I think one of them is a pawn shop. There is a little deli in there too, but it's real dirty. I walk to that Sunoco (gas station) on the corner almost daily, and fill up my SUV on my way to work.

Here's a link to the website maintained by our neighborhood group: http://WestVillage-Buffalo.com

Lots of photos of the adjacent neighborhood, including one of my house on the "HOMES" page.

LOL. I know what you mean about the Niagara Center. It does leave something to be desired, IMO. However, the residents of the West Village who live on Rabin Terrace (a street within the preservation district's boundries, despite the houses all being built in the 1980s) love that new building...as well as the parking ramp behind it. Maybe they see it as a wall, or some kind of shelter between their quiet street, and the downtown activity. I don't know...

I have to admit that I do love "Sue's New York Deli" which is located inside the building. Whenever I play hookie from work and am home during the day, I try to go over there for lunch.

Anyway, thanks for the compliment about the website. It has been a learning experience, to say the least, since I didn't know anything about putting up a website when I got started. I have to admit though that I was very involved in the beginning, back in January, but the real credit should go to the Director of the WVRG, because she really took the ball and ran with it. So she really has done most of the recent work, paricularly on the Blog...which I love!

NYC007 said:

This photo is a couple of blocks of Niagara Street, which make up the Western border of my neighborhood, the West Village. I live less than 2 blocks away from here, and yes, most of those businesses still operate. Two of them are pizza shops, and I think one of them is a pawn shop. There is a little deli in there too, but it's real dirty. I walk to that Sunoco (gas station) on the corner almost daily, and fill up my SUV on my way to work.

Here's a link to the website maintained by our neighborhood group: http://WestVillage-Buffalo.com

Lots of photos of the adjacent neighborhood, including one of my house on the "HOMES" page.

Click to expand...

Dude.... all of those houses on that "HOMES" page are awsome, which one is yours?

Roc, thanks for the compliment. This might make me sound a bit paranoid, but I'd rather not say exactly which house is mine, because I'd hate to piss someone off in one of these threads, and then tell him exactly where I live. LOL. Maybe I'll show you guys around the West Village during one of our meet-ups, and I could maybe show you guys my house. (Any excuse for a party on the deck!) It's still sort of a work in progress. It was completely rehabbed a few years ago, and you wouldn't even have wanted to live there. It was converted back to a single-family home, after several years as a chopped-up double. It's finally getting there, but it's a lot of work.

As a side note, it's still possible for any of you guys to buy some of these homes in the $100K range. And if you're willing to live on the blocks just outside of the preservation district, you can buy them for $30K, or sometimes less. I'm telling you, the West Village is an awesome place to live. The neighbors are so cool and very friendly. Whenever I go out of town, for example, I always get offers from people to housesit or watch my dog. And we always have small parties at each others' homes. We're going to start a "real estate" page on our site where people can look for places on the market, for sale or rent. Watch for that in the future, if you're at all interested in living in this 'hood.

Buff, I remember our conversation. Just email or PM me any time.