A classic working-class South Buffalo Irish pub, but with a side order of neighborhood history. Founded in 1896 as an outgrowth of the long-gone Lakeview Brewery, Daly's is not quite as old as the former Swannie House, but it's old enough, and retains enough of its original vibe, to be a frequent stop on the Forgotten Buffalo Tours of blue-collar old-Buffalo remnants. Knock back an ice-cold beer or cocktail while perusing photos and memorabilia on the walls that rep every era of the bar's history, in an ambience utterly free of pretension.
Ask locals about Cazenovia Park Falls and you'll likely get little more than quizzical looks: even more so than Buffalo's other natural waterfall, Forest Lawn Cemetery's Serenity Falls, this is truly a hidden gem. Strange, because it's easily the more impressive of the two — by comparison with its counterpart which is little more than a series of rapids, the horseshoe-shaped Cazenovia Park Falls is a six-foot (1.8-m) vertical plunge along Cazenovia Creek over a ridge of dark, oil-rich shale. The scene at the falls is a very changeable one — after heavy rains the falls might be temporarily submerged again, and during the dry summer months the flow often slows to a trickle, but come at the right time and you'll bear witness to a lively affair of trout or bass jumping up the cascade as anglers try their luck.
Straddling Cazenovia Creek in the southeast corner of the city, Cazenovia Park is most famous as the site of an eponymous 9-hole golf course that's arguably the finest in the city. More than that, though, this is a place of wooded walking paths, serene creekside views, and friendly games of pickup baseball on well-manicured diamonds. There's also a swimming pool and an ice rink. When the park was first built, the creek was dammed to create the large Cazenovia Park Lake, on the shore of which stood a pleasant, airy lodge (still in existence today as the Peter J. Crotty Casino) with charming views over the water from the veranda. Athletic fields, a carriage concourse, a bandstand, and gardens almost as extensive as South Park's rounded out the original offerings. In 1925, Cazenovia Park's size was almost doubled by the addition of a golf course to its east end; though not designed by Olmsted, the seclusion of the new portion from the rest of the park means that the divide between Cazenovia's two halves seems nearly seamless. Aside from the lake, which was drained in 1965 due to persistent problems with flooding and pollution (revealing the previously submerged Cazenovia Park Falls; see below), the park remains mostly true to its original design and is in better shape than many of the other Olmsted parks in the city.
Shoppers at this thrift shop know their money is going to a good cause: "Living Arrangements for the Developmentally Disabled" is the acronym of the charitable organization that runs it. Though prices here are among the best you'll find at any local secondhand shop, the selection at LADD — which consists of the usual thrift-store fare such as books, kitchenware, toys, Franklin Mint-style decorative knickknacks, and above all, clothes — is usually unimpressive. It's worth trying your luck, though: interesting items do happen along occasionally. If you see something you like, don't delay, because good stuff goes quickly.
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