Tuesday, September 15, 2015

Carving Cheese at the NY State Fair

Cheese Head Lady carved Hello Kitty holding a Minion doll.

Thursday, September 10, 2015

Four Historic Buildings in a Glorious Sunset

From back to front, left to right: the Niagara-Mohawk or NiMo Building; the former main US Post Office on Clinton Square; Soldiers and Sailors Monument within Clinton Square; and the Syracuse Savings Bank, also on Clinton Square. The top three floors of that last are to be made into luxury apartments within the next months.

Wednesday, September 9, 2015

Mandy's Drive-in, then Record Theatre, now a "dollar store"

...this 60s icon! First it was a restaurant.

These historical photos and information are at RoadsideArchitecture.com:
former Mandy's Drive-in (now Dollar Tree)
Syracuse, NY

This building originally housed Mandy's Drive-in. It was built in 1964. The restaurant specialized in roast beef sandwiches. It was a walk-up stand with no car hops or indoor dining. The sign which is gone now, the roof, and the ball on top of the building were all turquoise at that time. The building was designed by Toby Nadel and Edward Fisher. Mandy's closed in 1969 and briefly became "Archie's Drive-in".The box-like building was added later when the place was turned into "Kid's Town", a toy store. In 2003, the building houses "Record Theatre Audio & Video". It is now occupied by a "Dollar Tree" discount store. Dollar Tree removed the circular counter which I believe was original but left the wood ceiling. The ball on the roof is still illuminated at night. [info thanks Frank Hammon]  [map]

From a Syracuse newspaper on Sept. 4, 2003, this article by Donna Reynolds
Syracuse is home to several independent record stores - Record Theatre on Erie Blvd is one of my favorites. RT has been in business for fifteen years and currently carries about 30,000 titles. Their inventory includes new and used CDs, Cassettes, DVDs and vinyl. Record Theatre will also special order any title in their catalog and call you when that title comes in. I love their building, too. Once home to Kiddie City, the round building is reminiscent of a circus tent (at least to me). The staff at RT is helpful and know their stuff and the selection within both the new and used sections is awesome. I love to browse through their used dance CDs and have found some real gems in there for very little money. What is also cool is that RT offers up CDs from local artists too!  Record Theatre is located at 3130 Erie Blvd. East in Dewitt (690E to Thompson Road exit and take a left). 

Monday, September 7, 2015

Water Safari in Old Forge, Adirondacks

Your blogger finally got to go to Water Safari, with friends with kids! We had a blast! After all these years of deprivation!

It was a relatively hot day, sunny, and not terribly busy. Everyone wanders around in bathing suits. Everyone is happy and relaxed; everyone is playing! Highly recommended!

Sunday, September 6, 2015

The Community Store: The Adirondack's Own and Adirondack Owned, in Saranac Lake

When Wal-Mart was pounding on the door of tiny Saranac Lake, local people explored the idea of a locally owned store that would not compete with any other store in town, and that would be the place where folks could go for items for which they otherwise drove to Plattsburgh such as, made famous one year in the Winter Carnival Parade, underpants!
The group sold shares to raise enough capital to open and guarantee a cushion to get through the early years. Now, five years in, the store's future is looking very bright indeed. Cheers, to The Community Store! and to all who put so much sweat, elbow grease and investment into its success!
Oh, and Walmart went away.

Wednesday, September 2, 2015

Lunch Break at the Dew Drop Inn in Saranac Lake

The Dew Drop Inn, long thought to be falling shortly into the Saranac River, is shored up and will live again!