When the East MobileBooth stopped in Buffalo, New York this past summer, Jennifer Gayles, 31, came to listen to her mother Diane Gayles, 58, tell childhood stories. Having grown up on a farm, Diane had quite a few to tell.

On one occasion, Mrs. Gayles was playing in the bed of an old pickup truck when her brother shouted for her to run. Suspecting a trick, she was unmoved by her brother’s increasingly insistent pleas. However, when he took off at top speed himself, she figured the situation required further investigation.

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Buffalo, New York has many names. In the 1840s Buffalo was dubbed “The Queen City” because it’s the second largest city in New York State, behind New York City. “The Nickel City” is another moniker and is derived from the appearance of a bison on the back of the Indian Head nickel. Contrary to popular belief, however, there are no buffalo in Buffalo. The name “Buffalo” may be derived from the French phrase beau fleuve (“beautiful river”), a description of Buffalo Creek and the Niagara River.? The matter is uncertain, but it is clear that there were no buffalo in the area. One name which will always describe Buffalo is “The City of Good Neighbors!” In reflecting on MobileEast’s six-week stay in Buffalo it is easy to see how the city has earned the name.

Buffalonians welcomed the MobileEast team to their city with open arms. WBFO 88.7 and the Buffalo Public Library could not have been more gracious hosts, and the MobileEast team attended many concerts, plays, outdoor barbecues, dinners, parties and tours! Every day and in every way, Buffalo embraced StoryCorps and we will miss our new friends in “The City of Good Neighbors” more than they know.

Bye Bye, Buffalo!

That old black magic has me in its spell, that old black magic that you weave so well.
- Johnny Mercer

Buffalo and all of Western New York is a region that is rich in it’s musical heritage and appreciation. One prominent member of the Buffalo music scene and community at large is Jimmy Lyons. An early stage performer and promoter from the mid 1950s through the late 1960s, Jimmy Lyons became Buffalo’s very first African-American disc jockey. Lyons conducted his own rhythm and blues show, “The Lyons Den,” on WXRA, later WINE. JoAnne Lyons-Wooten, James Lyons Jr, and Gail Lyons-Hawkins came to the StoryCorps booth to pay tribute their father and share their recollections of his many contributions to Buffalo.

Recording artists like Sammy Davis Jr., The Marvelettes, Grover Washington, and Little Stevie Wonder sought out Jimmy Lyons whenever they made their way to The Nickel City. “For me, going to the radio station was heaven,” says James. “The biggest thrill was he’d let me sit next to him when he was on the air doing his [show] Lyons Den. He would let me push the button for the commercials. He’d say, ‘OK champ, standby. OK, now.’” According to Gail there were plenty of perks to being the children of a DJ. “[He had] all the latest music and we didn’t have to buy any because he had the demos! It was years before we had to go to a record store!”

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Some days in downtown Buffalo, the smell of Cheerios fills the air. On a hungry afternoon I followed the smell to General Mills, one of the few remaining factories in production along Buffalo’s waterfront. Other giant industrial monuments stand as a testament to a part of Buffalo that is no longer. At one point, these monolithic structures made Buffalo the largest exporter of grain in the world, and by way of the Erie Canal, made New York City the major port of the United States.

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After Steve and his grandmother Evelyn came to record a conversation at the booth in Buffalo, we started talking pie. Evelyn become known for her pie when her grandson Steve, a writer for the Buffalo News, published a special on her delicious desserts. After the interview, we started talking about our favorite kinds of pie and Evelyn invited us over to try her recipe.

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Don’t waste, buy defense stamps in haste and, “Keep ‘Em Flying”
- A.T. Hapke, Advertising Manager, Bell Aircraft Corporation

For years the engines of industry in Buffalo were known by names like Bethlehem Steel, Trico and Bell Aircraft. The third and last name in this trio of giants, the Bell Aircraft Corporation, employed thousands of Buffalonians throughout the 30s, 40s, 50s, and 60s. The company was founded by Lawrence Bell, who was a general manager of the Glenn L. Martin Company, then a manager of the Consolidated Aircraft Corporation. When Consolidated moved to San Diego in 1935, Bell stayed in Buffalo to start his own company.

Virginia Stephan and her daughter Katie Mattison

StoryCorps participant, Virginia Stephan was 18-years-old when she started working at Bell Aircraft. Having started business school in 1936, Virginia quickly realized that she wanted a different path. “I didn’t like shorthand, so I didn’t want to be a secretary,” says Virginia. “So I went to Bell Aircraft and got a job making 65 cents an hour.” A real life Rosie the Riveter, Virginia helped build Bell Aircraft’s single engine P-39 Airacobra fighter. Called a “Cannon on Wings,” the P-39 placed the engine in the center of the aircraft, with the propeller driven by a long shaft through which a 37 mm, anti-tank cannon was mounted. The Airacobra fired armor piercing and explosive shells directly out of the propeller’s spinner. Virginia worked at Bell Aircraft’s Main Street location helping to build these so-called sky tanks before enlisting in the Navy and joining the WAVES during World War II.

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At the cusp of WWII Britain began Operation Pied Piper, evacuating children from large cities to the surrounding countryside for safety. My interest in the evacuation grew from the myriad of children’s stories featuring the event (The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe, Bedknobs and Broomsticks, Lord of the Flies). This event obviously makes a wonderful premise for children’s books because it places children in new and exciting environments, away from mom and dad and ready for adventure.

Joan McKernan came into the MobileBooth in Buffalo to share her real-life evacuation story. She remembered growing up in London and indulging in salted peanuts and ice cream. Ms. McKernan was readying to enter high school in 1939 when the evacuation began, and she was sent out into the country to live with strangers. She stayed with a couple who had a swing, a greenhouse, and a car, who took her to the movies once a week, a pleasure she rarely had at home. While the adults were worrying about the terrors of war, Joan was distracted with being young and having fun.

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If you don’t like the weather in Buffalo, wait five minutes.

- Mark Twain

Photo by Laura Snyder

Being in Buffalo this summer I have learned the wisdom of Mr. Twain’s advice over and over again! The weather in the winter, however, appears to be a bit less fickle, but what it lacks in diversity it more than makes up for in intensity! Buffalo holds the record for the snowiest city in the country, maintaining the all-time high for snowfall in a single season with 199 inches (about 16.5 feet!), all of which accumulated during the winter of 1976-77. As a Southern boy, I’ve been more than content to experience the blizzard of ’77, and more recent storms, vicariously through the recollections of our StoryCorps participants. For Buffalonians, though, it appears that the blizzards are much more than just dangerous and inconvenient meteorological occurrences. For the Buffalonians I’ve met, the blizzards are a chance to reassess that which they truly value.

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Buffalo is concerned about its future. Like many cities, Buffalo has seen its industry decline and the people move farther and farther away from the city center into the suburbs. While the city’s ghosts are still very visible in neighborhoods (where red spray paint marks houses for demolition) and in business districts, there are also visible signs of growth. During our stay we are fortunate to not only see Buffalo, but also hear its stories from the people who know it best.

Most people we speak to truly love their city and are eager to see it reemerge with a growing economy and engaged community. And many people are actively working towards progress here. Ani Difranco, a musician and Buffalo native, has toured the world and still calls Buffalo home. When Ani and her manager, Scot Fisher, realized a church in downtown Buffalo built in the late 1800′s was slated for demolition due to years of neglect, they bought the building from the city. Millions of dollars and years of renovations later, the church has been transformed into a beautiful music hall that still retains its original grand beauty. Rechristened Babeville, it now houses the Righteous Babe offices, a gorgeous performance hall, an art gallery, a cinema, and a soon-to-be bar.

We were lucky enough to receive a grand tour of Babeville, including a long climb up the bell tower.

Babeville offers a beautiful venue for the Buffalo arts community to enjoy and for performers to visit. And like many of Buffalo’s historical landmarks, the church is “no longer simply a static reminder of Buffalo’s bygone glory, it’s a promise of things to come. “

I found I could say things with color and shapes that I couldn’t say any other way–things I had no words for.
- Georgia O’Keeffe

Pen and ink drawing by Jeremy Pratt

Across the street from the giant church dubbed Babeville there is a little place called the Starlight Studio. The studio opened in August 2005 and since day one has been a home to adult artists with disabilities. Created by the Learning Disabilities Association (LDA) of West New York, Starlight provides an open-art studio environment with individualized guidance, goal setting, technical assistance, demonstrations, and critiques for the cultivation of artistic expression. I had been hearing about Starlight since arriving in Buffalo and on a recent day off I wondered into the studio for, of all things, a leather work demo being given by artist and Starlight participant Ricky Hogan.

Artist Ricky Hogan gives a demo to fellow artists Mary Hunt, Sonya Lewis, Lisa Kobis, Donald Brown and volunteer Patricia Cosgrove.

The first thing I noticed was the vibrancy and energy of the studio. There were artists working on drawings, sculptures and other mediums. There was a group of artists gathered around the table where Ricky was meticulously demonstrating the process of moistening the leather and imprinting various lines and shapes into the surface. One lesson he reiterated again and again was the need to take one’s time learning how to use the tools properly. That seemed to me to be a great metaphor for the work done at Starlight Studio where artists are the given time and encouragement to learn and grow.

Collage by Marie Malinowski
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