NIAGARA FALLS: I Remember When...........

If one thing's for certain, there sure have been a lot of changes down at The Falls since I was born.  My early year visits to Niagara Falls itself were relegated to the backseat of a car, surrounded my older relatives.  At the age of 8, as luck would have it we moved close enough to the falls to hear it's droning thunder.  A few years later I finally had the nerve to sneak down to the Falls and begin exploring by myself.  As a teen, our entire social lives hinged on the weekend 'action' on Clifton Hill and other tourist pockets.  As an adult I began to tour guide.  I love every minute of it!  When I pass by and talk about many of the sites, I secretly can't help but 'go back' to a time when THINGS WERE JUST DIFFERENT...That's all. 

I remember a time when.....................

The Skylon Tower- The entire upper floor was converted into a rollerskating rink.  It was the place to be!  I loved everything about it except for the rollerskating part.  I was horrible and being as short as I am, I often felt like I was dodging bullets as the cool kids whizzed past close enough to create the breeze necessary to re-feather my bangs.  They also had an indoor amusement park of sorts on the bottom floor.  The rink didn't last too long, as someone probably thought better about marketing solely to teenagers.  Now, every time I take my tour groups there I secretly want to start belting out "My Sharona" while swaying from side to side to mimic rollerskating. For more information on the Skylon Tower check out my article The Skylon Tower.

(From the Niagara Falls Public Library)
Maple Leaf Village on the site of the present Casino Niagara

Casino Niagara-What the tourists see is the first of our two casinos.  I still see Maple Leaf Village.  When 'The Village' as we called it, opened in Niagara Falls it revolutionized the whole teenage experience! The  outside of The Village was an amusement park with the largest ferris wheel in North America as the highlight.  Inside were arcades and concession shops and t-shirt shops (as silk screening was the new rage back then).  I thought it would be cool to get a few friends together to call ourselves 'The Maple Leaf Village Gang'.  We weren't a gang but I figured if people thought you were, they wouldn't mess with us.
  It was apparently a really lame idea as it never did catch on.  It didn't even produce a rival gang.  It was a pretty innocent time and I think that the worst thing that any of us did was to drop the odd slug into the pinball machines.

Oakes Garden Theatre-One of the funnest things for kids to do was to roll or somersault down the sloping hill.  I don't see that happening much these days.  I secretly want to roll down it again.  I'm not so sure about somersaulting down it again.  I'll let you know before I do it, just in case anyone else wants to jump in.  Perhaps a group roll down the hill at Oakes Garden Theatre is akin to my Maple Leaf Village 'gang' idea.  Just throwing it out there.

(From the Niagara Falls Public Library)
The old Niagara Falls Museum
now the Bird Kingdom

Bird Kingdom (The Niagara Falls Bird Aviary)-Just past the Rainbow Bridge, you will pass by or local Bird Aviary.  For many Niagara Falls locals and tourists alike, this brings back memories of days gone by when this building was home to the Niagara Falls Museum.  Prior to 1957, this building was the Spirella Corset Company.  It was a perfect place for the old collections of Thomas Barnett who founded the Niagara Falls Museum in 1827.  New owners had all the space they needed to showcase his one of a kind and often bizarre collections.  I would visit almost every Saturday, right after collecting from my paper route.  For less than a buck of my weekly profits,  I could wander around the creepy and creaky old museum for hours.  Often, there were few people there.  Sometimes it was just me and the ghosts.  Thomas Barnett had an eye for the bizarre and really dug taxidermy.  So did my father at that time so I felt right at home with all the dead mounted animals.  The best one was the Skipper, the two legged dog.  He was apparently Barnett's own pet.  The two headed calf with eight legs was quite memorable as were all the exhibits in his 'Freaks of Nature' Exhibit.  I must admit that being alone with the Egyptian mummy was a bit unsettling from time to time.  Sure, birds are cute but this stuff was downright fascinating for a youngster!!!

I know that many of you reading here will have your own "I REMEMBER WHEN......." stories and I invite you to leave your memories in the comments section under this blogpost.  It's great fun turning the clock back--if only in cyberspace:-)