December 1995....TABLE of CONTENTS

Letters to the Editor

Any takers on Victor Hugo’s?

To the Editor:
Early last summer I had inquired about the property at Delaware and Edward, formerly known as Victor Hugo's. The attorney with whom I spoke and owner of the long-neglected mansion, said the interior was gutted and would require a million dollars to refurbish. He planned to turn the place into offices within a few months.

Well, here it is, late fall, and nothing has been done. I am outraged that a stately, historic property can be allowed to sit vacant and neglected. Will this be another Central Terminal?

Suzanne Pfleger


Buffalo Diners attract couple with stainless steel stomachs

To the Editor:
Way after the fact we'd like to extend compliments on ”New England on 15 Diners a Day” in the Aug./Sept. issue. My wife Polly and I have a great interest in diners, and have dined two or three times with Randy Garbin of Roadside.

What we most liked about your piece was your description of the scene of all these diner nuts piling into some place and literally disrupting business to satisfy their own peculiar manias. Really, it was a brave tone to take, and I commend you not only for taking it, but for bringing it off so well.

I've copied the article and sent it off to several friends.

You may not know of Jill's 412 Diner at 412 Oliver St., North Tonawanda, one of only three of its kind in the country. Other authentic diners in the area include (and stop me if you know this) the  — Main St. Diner in Westfield; the under-reconstruction Steve's in Silver Creek; the built-on-site Woodlawn Diner near Lackawanna; Jill's in North Tonawanda; the good-looking but food-poor Robert's in Depew and Conklin's 4-11 in LeRoy.

Conklin’s name includes the hours of operation, 4-11 a.m. In the afternoon, the owner repairs vacuum cleaners, presumably retaining the leftovers for the following day's hash.

Last fall (’94) Polly and I did 40 diners in 17 days on a looping second honeymoon trip toward the Canadian Maritimes; one day last fall we, Randy Garbin, and my brother did seven in one day. Also last fall, a couple of English entrepreneurs hired our services for an exploratory tour which covered 13 in 66 hours.

We also greatly enjoyed your story [A Buffalo Urban Legend] of the red-headed waitress. We've got to stop at that place some time.

Doug Smith
Grand Island


Superstores a problem in cities

To the Editor:
I am disturbed that media stories treat superstores as a purely exurban problem.

Superstores are a threat to urban neighborhoods, just as they are to small towns. For example, New York City recently approved plans for a Pathmark supermarket in Harlem, a huge 65,000-square-foot store built with government subsidies, despite protest from local store owners that it would destroy their businesses and that the neighborhood already had several moderately sized supermarkets and many small grocery stores.

This sort of superstore creates the same environmental and social problems in the city as it does on farmland. It generates more automobile traffic than small stores and destroys the social cohesiveness that small, independent storekeepers provide. The superstore replaces a neighborhood shopping street with an impersonal store surrounded by a parking lot that is a hole in the urban fabric.

Urban superstores are a problem all over the country. If we do not stop them from destroying urban neighborhoods, people will keep leaving the cities to escape from their impersonality and traffic congestion and flee to the suburbs,causing even worse sprawl. If we do not protect cities from superstores, we will not be able to protect small towns and the countryside.

Charles Siegel
Berkeley, California