Downtown Rochester - May 2009

A trip home would not be complete without some travels around the downtown area of Rochester. I do, after all, call myself Rochester Slim and I seem to need to connect with the city from time to time. Much of my past and legend begins and ends there.

The photo above is looking south at the Genesee River. To the left above center is the 1905 Lehigh Valley Railroad station, now the Dinosaur Bar B-Que.

In 1940, Rochester was the 23th largest city in the U.S. and in the late 40s and early 50s even had an NBA team - the Rochester Royals (now the Sacramento Kings). By 1990, it had shrunk to 66th. From 1927 until 1956, it even had its own subway system. I had heard about it, but never knew that some ruins of the abandoned system still exist downtown. So it was very cool to be able to sneak down into the old station along Court Street.

The Gannett Building, with the distinctive Times Square Building and its deco-style "wings" behind. When I was young, the city had two newspapers, one evening and one morning. Now, like most cities, they have sort of 1/2 of a newspaper.

The High Falls.

The Genesee Beer brewery. I helped keep them in business through the years.

Sadly, the Rochester Red Wings were on the road while I was in town, so I didn't get to go to a game.