The Statler

(originally published August 2009, I somehow put this back into "draft" status by mistake, and discovered that fact while looking for it for something else...will see if this now counts as "new"...one of my favorites, anyway)

When the historic Statler in Buffalo was put up for auction a few weeks ago I wandered over there to take a few pictures, thinking that this was the perfect opportunity. Wrong. Too many people and too many television cameras were in the immediate area. Then it occurred to me that the building was still open to the public and all I had to do was come back some other time. So I did. Twice.

The former Statler Hilton is located on McKinley Square near City Hall; it was built on the site of a former home of President Millard Fillmore. The view is here is from Franklin Street.



The doorway to the famed Golden Ballroom is to the left and up a few stairs when entering from Delaware Avenue.



Bars at both ends beckon as soon as one walks inside. The present was immediately interspersed with the past, reminding me of the movie The Shining.



With only a point and shoot camera in hand, it was difficult to capture the essence of the ballroom and elsewhere since the chandeliers throw the lighting off. Upon leaving I saw that the doors were labeled "push", much like the signs today that everyone notices after they pull:



Across the way is the Terrace Room. Somehow I could just picture Jack Nicholson sitting at a table, busy typing his "novel"....



Then up the stairs to the mezzanine level, where work had been started in a large area.



From there a stairway led to the 2nd floor. Totally deserted...or was it?





Even though there are many more floors on the Delaware side, I think I was in the lower section so I had topped out. Just as well. After the fact I thought about how hobos or anyone could have been roaming about. If anyone had come up behind me and said "boo" I would have totally freaked out.

Truthfully, I didn't get the feeling that it was haunted, but then again, I'm not a medium either. All I know is that I didn't get too far from the stairwell on the second, worrying that I would lose my bearings. I could just imagine getting lost in the many floors that raise above Delaware, and eventually turning up in an old time picture :)



The End.

The Statler Revisited

Last August I roamed around the Statler on Delaware taking pictures and compared them here to some stills from The Shining. This past week I decided to revisit it before it is possibly "mothballed" which is the equivalent of a death knell in the City of Buffalo. I mean, it worked out so well for the Aud.

The pictures are finally loaded to my Statler page on Picasa, labels to come at a later time. More chandeliers are included, even though it annoys me that I can't capture them exactly how they appear to my eyes...


...and even the ladies room off of the Golden Ballroom where it's apparent New Year's Eve was in its recent past.


Outdoors shots too, even though that will be there to enjoy for a while.


Some pictures are a bit pixelly, but my point and shoot did the best it could...and you wouldn't throw out pictures of a treasured friend just because they weren't coffee table book quality, would you? Well, I hope not anyway.


At the bottom is a video shot by WGRZ that shows the Golden Ballroom "live" with the couple that will soon to celebrate their newly wedded life there. Enjoy!

Terrace Room

The doors were locked, so I made do with the angles I had.

Wordless Wednesday - Delaware Side (on the left, and on the right)

Chandelier

I think I could take a better picture than this, even with my mere point and shoot, as long as the chandelier wasn't lit anyway. That throws my auto everything way off. Practice makes perfect, right?



I took over 80 pictures the other day and it's taking me a while to look through them all and go "eh..."

Different

I think this looks neat, or at least "different", even though it doesn't come off looking anything like it appears at first glance on the wall. I have a few other pictures that I wish had turned out differently too. Maybe I'll go back and try again tomorrow.


(aficionados will know where I was hanging out, camera in hand...)