North Buffalo's location further from downtown than any other part of the city, as well as its poorly drained topography, conspired to make it the last part of Buffalo to urbanize. Being located at the foot of the Onondaga Escarpment in what was once the bed of a glacial lake, the marshy land of North Buffalo — or the Buffalo Plains, as the area was called in the early days — made it far less suitable for agriculture than the ground above that low ridge of flint. Cornelius Creek, which roughly followed the course of today's Hertel Avenue from its headwaters near what is today the corner of Parkside Avenue, traversed North Buffalo until sometime in the 1880s, when it was buried as part of the city's storm drain system. An outpost of civilization in this wilderness was the Great Iroquois Trail (today's Main Street), which was an important thoroughfare between Buffalo and points east such as Williamsville and Clarence Hollow that ran along the crest of the escarpment. Like the aforementioned hamlets, the farmsteads along that road played an important role in the War of 1812 as refuges for residents of Buffalo and Black Rock which were burned by the British in December 1813, and, in the case of Dr. Daniel Chapin's farm in what is now Parkside, as the site of the Flint Hill Encampment, where the Army of the Frontier under General Alexander Smythe spent that same winter. However, even as the city to its south grew astronomically, North Buffalo remained a rural backwater even well after 1868, the year Frederick Law Olmsted laid out the centerpiece of Buffalo's park system, Delaware Park, on land just south of here.

It was the construction of the New York Central Railroad's Belt Line in 1882 — a 15-mile (24 km) loop intended to enable residents of Buffalo's outskirts to commute to jobs downtown — that spurred the beginning of urbanization in North Buffalo. As early as 1876, Frederick Law Olmsted had planned to follow up the success of Delaware Park with a development he called Parkside, a verdant residential neighborhood adjacent to the park that would serve as a buffer between the pastoral park system and the bustle and congestion of the city. Now, with the construction of the railroad having driven up property values, construction of Parkside could begin in earnest. By the turn of the century, the ample houses of Parkside were occupied by a growing number of Buffalo's richest citizens — including Larkin Soap Company executive Darwin D. Martin, who moved into a substantial home on Jewett Parkway designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. Immediately north of Parkside, across the tracks of the Belt Line, local business magnate Lewis Bennett had success with Central Park, a similarly upscale neighborhood situated on his former estate that he developed beginning in 1890; further west, the first houses and streets began appearing in what is now West Hertel, just northeast of the corner of Hertel Avenue and Military Road.

It was not until after 1900, however, that the development of North Buffalo came to full fruition. Despite the success of Parkside and Central Park, when the Pan-American Exposition was held in 1901, the remainder of North Buffalo was still sparsely populated farmland. However, the presence of visitors who came by the tens of thousands to the Exposition — many of whom arrived there via the Belt Line — spurred real estate speculators to buy up farmland in preparation for the inevitable rush of new residents. The Pan-American Exposition, a World's Fair that was intended to show off Buffalo's industrial might, was held on a parcel of vacant land north of Delaware Park that Olmsted had earlier planned as a future western extension of Parkside. Afterward, beginning about 1920, the luxurious neighborhood known today as Park Meadow was laid out on the former Exposition grounds.

Elsewhere in North Buffalo, the University of Buffalo purchased the 153-acre (61-ha) site of the former Erie County Alms House in the far northeast corner of the city in 1912, moving its rapidly growing campus there from downtown and setting off a similar land rush in what is now University Heights. Hertel Avenue, for its part, was becoming the neighborhood of choice for Buffalo's Jewish community — mainly Orthodox Jews from Russia and elsewhere in Eastern Europe — who were gradually being displaced from their traditional homes on the Near East Side and in Hamlin Park by a growing African-American population.

World War II saw the last remaining bits of empty land in the city — including the area between Elmwood and Delaware Avenues north of the Belt Line, much of West Hertel, and along the south side of Kenmore Avenue west of Elmwood — eaten up with the construction of wartime factories and hastily-built housing for returning GIs. However, after the war, Buffalo, like many cities in the so-called Rust Belt, saw its formerly steady growth stagnate and decline. These were certainly trying times for North Buffalo; for instance, for the first time in its history the formerly posh neighborhood of Parkside found itself grappling with social issues such as slumlords and vacant buildings, which led to the foundation of the Parkside Community Association in 1963. But, by and large, North Buffalo was able to hang on better than other areas of the city. Aside from the construction of the Scajaquada Expressway in 1962 through verdant Delaware Park, the urban renewal that wrought havoc on other areas of the city left North Buffalo mostly unscathed — enabling the addition of the Parkside East Historic District and the Parkside West Historic District (i.e. Park Meadow) to the National Register of Historic Places in 1986. Meanwhile, the stabilizing presence of UB and its large and diverse student population did much to insulate University Heights from the ghettoization that ravaged adjacent East Side neighborhoods such as Kensington-Bailey and Kensington Heights in the 1960s and '70s.

Perhaps the greatest change to take place in North Buffalo at this time, however, was in its ethnic makeup. In the early and mid-1960s, as the Lower West Side fell to the wrecking ball as part of a misguided campaign of "slum clearance", many of the Italian-Americans who'd been evicted from those blocks began to drift into the vicinity of Hertel Avenue, displacing the Jewish community in that area which dispersed over the ensuing decades, largely into suburban Amherst. Even the Italian Village Festival, heretofore held on Connecticut Street in the West Side, picked up stakes and moved north in 1988, where it went on to become one of the biggest Italian-American street festivals in the nation. But by 2011, when the city government finally got around to officializing this change by festooning the streetlamps along Hertel with handsome red-white-and-green signs reading "Welcome to Little Italy", it was almost too late: the next phase of its demographic evolution was already in progress. The whole city was on an upswing at this time, and in its toniest neighborhood, the Elmwood Village, gentrification had proceeded to such a degree that small businesses could no longer afford the astronomical rents their landlords were charging. Many Elmwood shopkeepers and restaurateurs chose to move elsewhere in the city, and the already thriving but significantly less expensive Hertel strip was a prime destination for those displaced businesses. The result has been not only that Hertel has overtaken Elmwood as Buffalo's liveliest shopping, eating, and nightlife street, but also that Little Italy is getting progressively less and less Italian: the older pizzerias, bakeries, and wine bars are nowadays joined by a diversity of new shops and businesses catering to every taste.

The Parkside Community Association maintains a website that contains neighborhood news and event listings, and — most notably by far — is an extremely comprehensive resource for information about Parkside's rich history, with an extensive written history of the neighborhood spanning the 18th Century to the present day, descriptions of many old houses and historic sites on its leafy streets, historic maps, and a myriad of other resources.

The University Heights Collaborative's website contains information on restaurants, nightlife, community happenings, and other items of interest to those visiting University Heights.

The Scajaquada Expressway (NY 198) is a short highway that passes through North Buffalo, extending between the Kensington Expressway on the East Side and Interstate 190 in Black Rock. The Scajaquada passes through the south end of Parkside and traverses Delaware Park, after which point it enters the West Side. Interchanges at Main Street and Parkside Avenue provide access to Parkside, Central Park, the Vernon Triangle, and (further afield) University Heights, while Hertel Avenue and Park Meadow are best accessible via the northbound Delaware Avenue and Elmwood Avenue exits.

Hertel Avenue can be almost inarguably considered the "main drag" of North Buffalo, passing from west to east through the heart of Buffalo's "Little Italy" and ending at Main Street just past the south end of University Heights. In addition, Kenmore Avenue straddles Buffalo's northern border with the suburban communities of Tonawanda and Kenmore, and Amherst Street passes through the residential areas of Parkside, Central Park, and Park Meadow, at the southern edge of North Buffalo. Major north-south routes in North Buffalo include, from west to east: Military Road (NY 265), Elmwood Avenue, Delaware Avenue (NY 384), Colvin Avenue, Parkside Avenue, Starin Avenue, and Main Street (NY 5).

In the Hertel Avenue business district, parking can be hard to come by on Hertel itself as well as on side streets within a block or so of the main drag. Parking meters are in place on Hertel along essentially the entire length of the business district (from Wallace to Virgil Avenues); paid parking is in effect Monday through Saturday until 5PM, at a rate of 50¢ per hour up to a maximum of two hours. The two free parking lots provided by the Hertel-North Buffalo Business Association are often your best bet for parking on the Hertel strip. These lots are located, respectively, next to Terrapin Station near the corner of Virgil Avenue, and next to Hertel Avenue Poutine and Cream near the corner of Sterling Avenue.

Though finding a spot in the University Heights business district can be difficult, parking along Main Street between LaSalle and University Avenues is free (though limited to two hours). On-street parking on Main Street north of University Avenue is prohibited, but most businesses at the outer extremity of University Heights have their own parking lots, so this shouldn't pose too much of a problem. There are also three free parking lots on the north side of Main Street: at West Winspear Avenue behind the Mobil gas station, at Heath Street behind the 42.95249-78.8251161 Gloria J. Parks Community Center (this one is closed to the public during the community center's business hours), and at Englewood Avenue adjacent to the former P. J. Bottoms. Parking in these lots is limited to two hours. Perhaps your best bet for parking in University Heights, however, are the large, free NFTA Park-and-Ride lots at the University and LaSalle rail stations — see the By Metro Rail section below.

In Parkside, Central Park, Park Meadow, West Hertel, and elsewhere in North Buffalo, on-street parking is free and plentiful.

Public transit in Buffalo and the surrounding area is provided by the Niagara Frontier Transportation Authority (NFTA). The NFTA Metro system encompasses a single-line light-rail rapid transit (LRRT) system and an extensive network of buses. The fare for a single trip on a bus or train is $2.00 regardless of length. No transfers are provided between buses or trains; travelers who will need to make multiple trips per day on public transit should consider purchasing an all-day pass for $5.00.

Buffalo has made great strides in accommodating bicycling as a mode of transportation, with recognition from the League of American Bicyclists as a Bronze-Level "Bicycle-Friendly Community" to show for its efforts. Sadly, the bicycle infrastructure in North Buffalo is relatively underdeveloped compared to other parts of the city, and especially compared to other upscale neighborhoods such as the Elmwood Village and Allentown. However, this is not to say that North Buffalo is not a thoroughly enjoyable place to see by bike — the safe, quiet, and leafy streets of Park Meadow, Parkside, and Central Park are a cyclist's dream come true, with magnificent scenery to admire on the way to one's destination courtesy of the grandiose and architecturally distinguished housing stock of those areas.

What specialized bike infrastructure there is in North Buffalo is largely centered around Delaware Park. Meadow Drive, the 1.8-mile (2.9 km) ring road that circumnavigates the Delaware Park Golf Course and passes within view of the Buffalo Zoo and the some of the grand old mansions of Park Meadow, is delightful for walkers, joggers and bicyclists alike. Though 1.1 miles (1.7 km) of Meadow Drive — from Agassiz Circle to Meadow Road — is also open to automobile traffic, traffic is generally quite light and speed limits for cars are very low (15 mph, or 24 km/h) and enforced strictly. Additionally, the Scajaquada Creekside Trail, also known as the Jesse Kregal Bike Path, begins in Park Meadow near the corner of Lincoln Parkway and Nottingham Terrace (a pedestrian bridge over the Scajaquada Expressway provides access from the Hoyt Lake trail) and proceeds 2.4 miles (3.8 km) along the north bank of Scajaquada Creek, passing the Japanese Garden and the Buffalo History Museum on its way into the West Side, where it ends at the Shoreline Trail in Black Rock.

Away from Delaware Park, University Heights boasts North Buffalo Rails-to-Trails, a network of paved multi-use trails, 1.4 miles (2.2 km) in total length, straddling the former Erie Railroad right-of-way. The main branch begins at the back end of the Park & Ride lot at LaSalle Metro Rail Station and extends along the west side of the old railroad embankment, with access to Shoshone Park near its south end. On the opposite side of the embankment is the 42.951924-78.8323157 Minnesota Linear Park, which (along with a short spur west to Taunton Place) converges with the main line near the west end of Merrimac Street. From there, the route continues further northwest to the city line at Kenmore Avenue, whenceforth the Tonawanda Rails-to-Trails leads into downtown Tonawanda, with a further extension planned to connect to the Erie Canalway Trail. The entirety of the network is open to both cyclists and pedestrians, but the former are better off sticking to the straighter and better-maintained main line, while the latter are safest in the Linear Park, which unlike its counterpart is outfitted with security cameras.

You'll also find infrastructure for cyclists on many of North Buffalo's streets themselves. In Park Meadow, a pair of bike lanes extends along each side of Lincoln Parkway leading north from Delaware Park, between Nottingham Terrace and Amherst Street. As well, you'll find "sharrows" (pavement markings on roads too narrow to accommodate dedicated bike lanes, indicating that drivers should be aware of bicyclists on the road) along Main Street between Bailey Avenue and Humboldt Parkway, extending westward from the North Buffalo Rail Trail along Brinton Street and St. Lawrence Avenue as far as Campbell Avenue, and extending westward from Nottingham Terrace along Amherst Street out past the edge of the neighborhood and into Black Rock.

GO Bike Buffalo, the local organization that promotes and advocates for cycling and other sustainable transportation alternatives in Buffalo, operates a 42.944109-78.8573525 Community Bicycle Workshop at 98 Colvin Ave in Park Meadow. There, a range of used bicycle parts and complete refurbished bikes are available for sale, as well as special programs periodically throughout the year; unwanted bicycles can also be donated (tax-deductible). The Community Bicycle Workshop is open Tu 6PM-9PM and Su 1PM-5PM, and also Th 6PM-9PM during summer only.

Bike sharing

[edit]

North Buffalo has six Reddy Bikeshare racks:

• on the north side of Hertel Avenue between North Park and Norwalk Avenues, in front of the North Park Theatre
• on the east side of Parkside Avenue at the corner of Hertel Avenue, alongside M&T Bank
• on the north side of Hertel Avenue at the corner of Parker Avenue, in front of the Daily Planet Coffee Company
• adjacent to Delaware Park, in the back of the parking lot of St. George Orthodox Church at the corner of Amherst Street and Nottingham Terrace
• on the south side of Amherst Street at the corner of Parker Avenue, in front of the entrance to the Amherst Street Metro Rail Station
• on the west side of Main Street at the corner of LaSalle Avenue, in front of the LaSalle Metro Rail Station

In addition to the above, UB Bikeshare ^{[dead link]} is a presence on the South Campus. Though these bikes are part of the Reddy system, you'd be forgiven for thinking otherwise: for instance, UB bikes are of a different model and sport a blue-and-white color scheme that's starkly distinct from the fire engine-red color of normal Reddy bikes, and their spokespeople are on record as saying the UB network is intended for use by students and generally try to steer non-students away from campus bikes. Nonetheless, if you're in a pinch, the UB bikes are fully accessible to ordinary Reddy members and work the same was as any other bike in the network. You can even drop them off at off-campus racks (though, again, the folks at Reddy prefer that you don't). UB Bikeshare racks can be found:

• on the north side of Goodyear Road, at the entrance to Goodyear Hall
• at the back end of Main Circle, in front of Abbott Hall
• near the corner of Hayes and Winridge Roads, at the west end of the Pharmacy Building

Being a more spread-out area with attractions often spaced a good distance from each other, North Buffalo is relatively less amenable to pedestrians than other upscale Buffalo neighborhoods such as the Elmwood Village and Allentown. Exceptions include Hertel Avenue and Main Street in University Heights, both boasting dense and lively concentrations of shops, bars, restaurants, and other attractions. Also, the safe, verdant streets of Parkside, Park Meadow and Central Park are pleasant places for a leisurely stroll.

• 42.94118-78.8577341 Nichols School Gallery, 1250 Amherst St. (Metro Bus 32), ☏ +1 716-332-6300. Hours vary. Located in the foyer of the Glenn & Audrey Flickinger Performing Arts Center on the campus of one of Buffalo's foremost private prep schools, the focus here is on works in a wide range of media by local artists (especially current Nichols students and alumni, much of whose work is displayed at the adjacent SEEARTRUN Gallery) or whose themes are relevant to Buffalo, Western New York, or the surrounding region. The Nichols School Gallery also hosts a range of travelling exhibits, workshops and visiting artist lectures. Free. 
• 42.947552-78.8555792 Revolution Gallery, 1419 Hertel Ave. (Metro Bus 11 or 23), ☏ +1 716-322-7656. Th noon-6PM, F Sa noon-8PM, Su 11AM-4PM. A longtime fixture in the Buffalo arts community whose untitled illustration graced the inaugural issue of The Public, Craig LaRotonda opened Revolution Gallery in December 2016 along with his wife, fellow artist Maria Pabico LaRotonda, after a successful Kickstarter campaign. LaRotonda's own style is a sort of noir surrealism, and that's the aesthetic he's going for with this gallery — to borrow the words of the website, the emphasis is on works by local artists (including, of course, the LaRotondas themselves) that are "provocative and imbued with dark beauty, emotion, and mystery" and are executed in a variety of media: drawings, paintings, photography, and sculpture but also handmade jewelry and postcard prints offered for sale. As well, Revolution Gallery augments their permanent collection with a regularly scheduled slate of temporary and travelling exhibitions by local, national, and international artists including their inaugural one, Inception: a multimedia exhibit of work by artist Damien Echols, famous as one of the exonerated "West Memphis Three" falsely convicted of murder in 1994. Free. (updated Dec 2016)
• 42.948996-78.827343 St. Andrew's Sculpture Garden, 3107 Main St. (Metro Bus 8; Metro Rail: LaSalle). Opening hours vary by exhibition. The Buffalo arts community first took notice of the once-forlorn empty lot behind St. Andrew's Episcopal Church in University Heights in 2013, when it was pressed into use as a staging area for the University Heights Art Crawl. Owned now by the University Heights Art Association — the community group that's behind that annual event as well as many of the outdoor murals you'll find on area buildings — the space has been transformed into a beautifully landscaped, intimately scaled outdoor garden centered on a stone-paved courtyard of ten platforms where sculptures and other works of three-dimensional art are displayed on a changing basis. St. Andrew's Sculpture Garden is open for temporary exhibitions as well as poetry readings, live music performances, and other events. Free. (updated Dec 2015)
• 42.95697-78.8296574 UB Anderson Gallery, 1 Martha Jackson Pl. (Metro Bus 5 or 8; Metro Rail: University), ☏ +1 716-829-3754. W-Sa 11AM-5PM, Su 1PM-5PM. The home of the University of Buffalo's permanent art collection, the Anderson Gallery was donated to UB in 2000 by David Anderson, the son of prominent New York City gallery owner Martha Jackson and a noted art collector in his own right; before that, Jackson had operated the gallery on his own since 1991. This state-of-the-art exhibition space contains selections from a collection of over 1,200 works of art in various media that represent a diversity of cultures and traditions, including many works by local artists. The UB Anderson Gallery also houses the complete archives of the Martha Jackson Gallery, covering the years 1952-1969, and of pop artist and UB alumnus Allen D'Arcangelo. An exciting selection of temporary and traveling exhibits are also displayed at the UB Anderson Gallery. Free. 

• 42.935426-78.8762635 Buffalo History Museum (Formerly the Buffalo & Erie County Historical Society Museum), 25 Nottingham Ct (Metro Bus 20 or 32), ☏ +1 716-873-9644. Tu-Sa 10AM-5PM, W until 8PM, Su noon-5PM, Resource Center by appointment during business hours, Research Library W-Sa 1PM-5PM. Located just off Elmwood Avenue in Park Meadow, adjacent to Delaware Park, the newly renamed Buffalo History Museum has by far the most extensive collection of artifacts relevant to the history of Buffalo and Western New York from pre-Columbian times to the present day. Originally built for the Pan-American Exposition in 1901, it is perhaps not surprising that the Exhibition is a particular focus of the exhibits at this wonderful museum. A Pierce-Arrow roadster built in Buffalo, the medal presented by George Washington to Chief Red Jacket, prototypes of the cardiac pacemaker invented by Clarence native Wilson Greatbatch, and artistic renderings of historical scenes and people flesh out the collection. Further historical records, manuscripts, photographs, and personal documents are housed at the Research Library. The Buffalo History Museum is also an invaluable resource for local residents interested in genealogy. $7, seniors and students 13-21 $5, children 7-12 $2, members and children under 7 free. Research Library $7, free to members.  
• 42.938687-78.8736066 McKinley Death Rock, Fordham Drive (Metro Bus 20 or 32). On the center island in the middle of Fordham Drive, in Park Meadow on what once were the grounds of the Pan-American Exposition, is a small rock with a historic plaque marking the spot where President McKinley was standing when felled by the bullet of his assassin, Leon Czolgosz. (Well, not the exact spot, which is now inside the living room of the house at 29 Fordham, but close enough.) (updated Feb 2020)

• 42.934401-78.8650627 Delaware Park, Parkside Lodge, 84 Parkside Ave. (Metro Bus 8, 11, 20, 25, or 32; Metro Rail: Humboldt-Hospital), ☏ +1 716-838-1429. Dawn to dusk. With an area of 234 acres (93 ha), Delaware Park is the central node in Buffalo's park system, by far the largest park in Buffalo, and one of the largest and best-preserved examples of Frederick Law Olmsted's landscape architecture anywhere. All the classic Olmsted features are present here: a large, grassy Meadow that is now the site of the Delaware Park Golf Course, thick stands of trees, and Hoyt Lake, the 46-acre (18.5ha) pond in the southwest corner of the park that Olmsted originally named "Gala Water". An essay by Charles Beveridge on the Olmsted park system in Buffalo describes how well Delaware Park continues to fulfill its intended role as a place for Buffalonians to experience nature and greenery without leaving the city limits; Delaware Park, as per his essay, is "the only public space designed by Olmsted in Buffalo that met his definition of the term 'park' — a setting of pastoral scenery extensive enough to provide complete escape from the artificiality and noise of the city." Delaware Park is popular year-round, but is most often enjoyed during the warm months, when walking, bicycling, jogging, tennis, golf, and basketball are popular activities. Delaware Park is also the site of the Buffalo Zoo, described in more detail below.  

• 42.938768-78.8525078 Buffalo Zoo, 300 Parkside Ave. (Metro Bus 11 or 32), ☏ +1 716-837-3900. Summer: Sa-Th 10AM-5PM, F 10AM-7:30PM Winter: Daily 10AM-4PM. Accredited by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums, the Buffalo Zoo is the third-oldest zoo in the United States (founded in 1875 on the former site of the Deer Paddock at Delaware Park) and is second in popularity only to Niagara Falls among tourist attractions in the Niagara Frontier, welcoming 400,000 visitors each year. The 23-acre (9.5-ha) Zoo boasts exciting thematic displays that play host to 1,200 different animals, such as elephants, bears, otters, sea lions, hyenas, and of course, bison. Some of the animals, such as a resident peacock, are allowed to roam freely on the walkways, allowing visitors to get closer to nature than they would in most zoos. In 2002, a new Master Plan was unveiled that will see the Zoo thoroughly modernized over the next 15 years. Under this framework, the Vanishing Animals, EcoStation, Otter Creek, Sea Lion Cove and South African Rainforest exhibits have already opened, with a new Children's Zoo and other exhibits slated for the near future. $10, students and seniors $8, children 2-14 $7, children under 2 free. Parking $3.50. Train and carousel rides $2.  
• 42.935522-78.8752949 Japanese Garden (Metro Bus 20 or 32). Inaugurated in 1974 as a gesture of friendship between Buffalo and its sister city of Kanazawa, Japan, Delaware Park's Japanese Garden is located on six acres (2.4 ha) on Hoyt Lake, behind the Buffalo History Museum. This beautifully manicured oasis of greenery slopes gently down from Nottingham Terrace to the shore of the lake, also encompassing three small islands in the lake connected to the mainland by a lovely ornamental footbridge. Over the past years, the Buffalo Olmsted Parks Conservancy has been hard at work restoring and maintaining the more than 1,000 plantings of ornamental trees, shrubs and plants in the garden, including a large stand of Japanese cherry trees, and also have added or will soon add a stone garden and an authentic karesansui waterfall. Amid it all there are many benches and other sitting areas perfect for serene contemplation of one's peaceful natural surroundings. 
• Public art. There are a number of installations of public art peppered around the grounds of Delaware Park. These include: 

• 42.932385-78.85515710 The Indian Hunter. A bronze figure of a boy in American Indian garb crouching over next to his dog, bow and arrow in hand, The Indian Hunter is a replica of the statue of the same name that's on display in New York City's Central Park. According to the plaque on its pink granite pedestal, Buffalo's Indian Hunter was donated to the city in 1926 by Ella Spencer Darr in memory of her husband Marcus. The original sculpture is the work of artist John Quincy Adams Ward, and was cast in 1866. 
• 42.93452-78.87358311 Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (Located adjacent to Hoyt Lake and Scajaquada Creekside Trail near Buffalo History Museum; Metro Bus 20 or 32). The first installation of public art to be placed in Delaware Park and one of the first in the entire city, this 4-foot (1.2-m) bronze bust of the most prolific, prodigious and influential composer of the Classical era was sculpted by Olin H. Warner for the Buffalo Liedertafel — a fact that bears testament to the profound importance of the German-American community in Buffalo's history, who made up more than half of the city's population when the statue was dedicated in 1894. The statue's pink granite base contains a number of bronze plaques inscribed with biographical facts about Mozart's life, the titles of some of his important works, and honorifics. Today, Mozart serenely overlooks Hoyt Lake from a spot near the Buffalo History Museum. 

• Though Delaware Park is far from the only Frederick Law Olmsted-designed park in Buffalo, by comparison with other areas of the city North Buffalo is sadly lacking in green space. Though all of Buffalo is crisscrossed by Olmsted's park and parkway system^{[dead link]}, only one of those parkways — the northern extension of Lincoln Parkway through Park Meadow, between Nottingham Terrace and Great Arrow Avenue — passes through North Buffalo. In fact, it's arguable whether this portion of Lincoln can really be considered a "parkway" in the Olmstedian sense: though his plans for the neighborhood did include Lincoln Parkway, as actually constructed the street's ambience is much less open and pastoral than true Olmsted parkways like Chapin and Bidwell, and the setback between houses and street is not nearly as great. 42.948821-78.83353812 Shoshone Park is the only other park in North Buffalo of any note; it's on 16.5 acres (6.6 ha) of land at the east end of Hertel Avenue about midway between Little Italy and University Heights, Shoshone Park boasts six baseball diamonds, a playground, and a swimming pool.

More and more, Buffalo's exquisite and well-preserved architecture has grabbed the attention of locals and tourists alike. As of March 2020, there are 12 historic neighborhoods in Buffalo listed on the National Register of Historic Places, as well as 11 additional ones that have been granted landmark status by the Buffalo Preservation Board. Three of those districts are located in North Buffalo:

• The Parkside East Historic District. Bounded by Main Street on its southeast, Humboldt Parkway on its south, Parkside Avenue, Amherst Street and Colvin Avenue on its west, and the Belt Line railroad on its north and northeast, this district comprises pretty much the entirety of the neighborhood Buffalonians know simply as "Parkside". Though located within the city limits, Parkside was one of the first neighborhoods of Buffalo that might be called "suburban"; its architectural significance comes not only from the leafy, curvilinear layout of its streets — as described in the History section, the work of eminent landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted — but also from the large two- and three-story wood-frame houses that occupy those streets, constructed in styles typical of upper-class residential architecture from 1870 through 1930 such as the Queen Anne, Bungalow, Craftsman, and Colonial Revival styles. Prominent among the historic and/or architecturally notable buildings of Parkside include the William Sydney Wicks House at 124 Jewett Parkway, the Walter V. Davidson House at 57 Tillinghast Place, and — of course — the Darwin D. Martin House, described in detail at the end of this section. (updated Sep 2017)
• The Parkside West Historic District. Though it's located in the neighborhood Buffalonians know as Park Meadow, this district is so named because it was originally intended by Frederick Law Olmsted as a western extension to Parkside. The neighborhood is much newer than Parkside — no meaningful development occurred there until after the Pan-American Exposition, with most houses in the area constructed between 1920 and the beginning of World War II — and the degree to which the motley patchwork of real estate companies that developed the neighborhood kept to Olmsted's original plan is inconsistent (especially the further you get from Delaware Park). Thus, the Parkside West Historic District is not nearly as significant for its landscape design as for the architecture of the buildings themselves — the neighborhood is a veritable showcase for some of Buffalo's best examples of aristocratic mansions in styles popular during the interwar period, such as the French Château, Tudorbethan, and Colonial Revival. These include the Howard Kellogg House at 12 Middlesex Road, the Mary Goodyear House at 115 Meadow Road, and the breathtaking Annie Lang Miller House at 175 Nottingham Terrace. (updated Sep 2017)
• The 42.956407-78.8234113 University Park Historic District. Located on 45 acres (18 ha) of land in University Heights, bounded roughly by Main Street, Capen Boulevard, Kenmore Avenue, and the rear property line of the houses on the west side of University Avenue, University Park was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2011 as part of the Suburban Development of Buffalo, New York multiple-property submission - and it is indeed distinctly suburban in character; a remarkably intact example of a planned residential subdivision of the 1910s and '20s, complete with ornate entrance gates of the same type that can be found along Main Street in the adjacent early suburbs of Eggertsville and Snyder. The attraction of University Park for architecture buffs is not the presence of any outstanding individual buildings (though the Edward Diebolt House at 62 Niagara Falls Boulevard was listed separately on the National Register in 2006), but rather the leafy, verdant streetscape, designed as a quiet respite from the bustle of city life, as well as the homogeneity of its housing stock, which consists of single-family Colonial Revival, Craftsman, American Foursquare, and Bungalow homes which, though stylistically similar, are somewhat less ornate and more modest in size than the houses of Parkside. (updated Sep 2017)

Additionally, though it is not listed on either the local, state or national historic registers, another neighborhood that's noteworthy for aficionados of history and architecture is 42.956407-78.8234114 Central Park. This neighborhood immediately north of Parkside, across the Belt Line tracks, was laid out beginning in 1890 by Lewis Bennett, who worked his way up from canal boat repairman to owner of the immense Bennett Limestone Quarry, which was located just across Main Street in the East Side neighborhood now known as Highland Park, Central Park's streets are filled with some of the finest housing stock in Buffalo. Examples include the Bayliss-Oishei House at 360 Depew Avenue, the old Central Park Station, the only former station of the Belt Line railroad still standing, at 10 Starin Avenue, and the Edward Barcalo House at 371 Depew Avenue (yes, the man who invented the Barcalounger). (updated Sep 2017)

Parkside is also the home of what is undoubtedly the premier attraction in Buffalo for architecture buffs:

• 42.936335-78.8481115 Darwin D. Martin House Complex, 125 Jewett Pkwy. (Metro Bus 8 or 11; Metro Rail: Amherst Street), ☏ +1 716-856-3858. Basic Tours leave M W Sa 11AM, noon, & 1PM; Su 12:30PM, 1PM & 1:30PM; In-Depth Tours leave M W F Sa 11AM, Su 12:30PM. The most important work of the first half of Frank Lloyd Wright's career, and the first commission for that renowned architect outside of Chicago, the Darwin D. Martin Complex is one of the crown jewels of Buffalo's huge architectural cornucopia. The complex includes not only the Darwin D. Martin House itself — built in 1904-05 for the president of the Larkin Soap Company and Wright's longtime friend and benefactor — but also the George Barton House, where Martin's daughter and son-in-law lived, the Gardener's Cottage, and three buildings — a carriage house, conservatory and pergola — which were demolished in 1962 and reconstructed according to Wright's original blueprints in 2007, the first Frank Lloyd Wright buildings ever to be rebuilt after demolition. Following over half a century of neglect, vandalism, and decay, the complex was purchased by the Martin House Restoration Corporation in 1994, with the extensive restoration process finally completed in 2010. For many local residents, the rebirth of the Darwin D. Martin House symbolizes the increased attention Buffalo's citizens are paying to their city's world-class architecture. A one-hour Basic Tour is offered, as well as a more extensive two-hour In-Depth Tour. Basic tour $15, $13 seniors, $10 students, members free; In-Depth Tours $30, $28 seniors, $25 students and members.  

The Darwin Martin House is not the only Frank Lloyd Wright-designed house in North Buffalo. Another one, the 42.942056-78.85385916 Walter V. Davidson House, can also be found in Parkside. Located at 57 Tillinghast Place in the northwest extremity of the neighborhood, the Davidson House was designed for its namesake, who was an executive at the Larkin Company between 1906 and 1913, thereafter founding the Davidson Shoe Company. Though it's noticeably smaller and more unassuming than the Darwin Martin House — the smaller budget Wright worked with in constructing the Davidson House was perhaps a forerunner of the "Usonian" houses he designed for middle-class clients toward the end of his career — its modest scale belies a stunning two-story living room dominated by a massive bay window at its east end. Sadly, the Walter Davidson House is privately owned and not open for tours.

• 42.952971-78.81659617 UB Museum of Neuroanatomy, 360 Biomedical Education Building, UB South Campus, 3435 Main St. (Metro Bus 5, 8, 12, 13, 19, 34, 44, 47 or 48; Metro Rail: University), ☏ +1 716-829-3081. Open for guided tours by appointment. Otherwise known simply as the "Brain Museum", the UB Medical School's Museum of Neuroanatomy is the only one in the United States dedicated exclusively to the human brain. Since 1994, this unique collection has comprised over 80 of these organs preserved in formaldehyde — both healthy specimens whose internal structures, such as the cerebellum and hippocampus, are clearly displayed and labeled, as well as pathological ones showing the effects on the anatomy of the brain of Alzheimer's disease, aneurysms, and other maladies. Exhibits are engagingly designed and accessible to everyone from the layman to the academic. Free. (updated May 2015)

• 42.93653878.856781 Delaware Park Golf Course, 84 Parkside Ave. (Metro Bus 8, 11, 25 or 32; Metro Rail: Humboldt-Hospital), ☏ +1 716-838-1249. Opened in 1930 on the site of Delaware Park's Meadow, the Delaware Park Golf Course is arguably the most popular golf course in the city. Golfers can enjoy playing a full 18-hole game in a beautifully landscaped environment; the course is par 68 and its longest tees have a yardage of 5,359 yards. The 42.932653-78.8527672 Parkside Lodge is a lovely 1914 Craftsman-style building that houses a snack bar and the course's pro shop. Weekend green fees $15.00. (updated Sep 2017)
• 42.956014-78.8106033 Grover Cleveland Golf Course, 3781 Main St. (Metro Bus 5, 8, 12, 13, 19, 34, 44, 47 or 48; Metro Rail: University), ☏ +1 716-836-7398. Located at the far northeast corner of the city, across Bailey Avenue from UB's South Campus, this 18-hole, par 69 course is not only one of Western New's most challenging, but also one of its most historic: as the home of the Country Club of Buffalo from 1900 until its move to the suburb of Williamsville in 1925, the course was the site of the first airplane flight in Western New York, which took off from here in 1910, played host to the 1912 U.S. Open, and contains on its premises the 42.958166-78.81153818 Schenck House, the second-oldest extant building in the city (built in 1822, four years after the Coit House in Allentown), now used for storage and office space. The Grover Cleveland Golf Course boasts a practice green, men's and ladies' locker rooms, and a clubhouse and concession stand. During winter, cross-country skiing and snowshoeing is permitted from 7AM-dusk. $16, $18 weekends and holidays, $11 seniors and youths (weekdays only, proof of age required), cart rental $24, club rental $10.  

• 42.951876-78.866144 North Buffalo Ice Rink, 156 Tacoma Ave. (Metro Bus 11, 23 or 25), ☏ +1 716-873-8481. Open skate M & Th 11AM-1PM, Tu-W 4:30PM-6PM, F & Su 7PM-9PM, Sa 5:30PM-6:30PM (Sep-Mar); M-Th 3PM-5PM, F 8PM-9PM, Sa 7:30PM-9PM, Su 4:30PM-6PM (Apr-Aug). $2, children 5-17 $1, children under 5 free, skate rental $2. 

• 42.928557-78.8558575 Kaleidoscope Theatre, 18 Agassiz Circle (Metro Bus 8; Metro Rail: Humboldt-Hospital), ☏ +1 716-479-1587. With a mission of enriching and enlightening audiences through the power of live theatre, the Kaleidoscope Thratre is an independent, award-winning production house dedicated to high-quality original material produced in-house, as well as occasional performances of classics such as Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change. Kaleidoscope shows three plays per year, usually with a run of two weeks each, at the Lecture Hall Theatre in Medaille College's Main Building. 
• 42.942405-78.8763336 Subversive Theatre Collective, 255 Great Arrow Ave (Metro Bus 20 or 32), ☏ +1 716-408-0499. The Manny Fried Playhouse, named after a former Buffalo theatre actor, union organizer, and political radical and located in the former Pierce-Arrow Factory Complex in Park Meadow, is the new home of the Subversive Theatre Collective. This bold new troupe's mission is to present provocative works of drama that are "dedicated to the needs, concerns, and aspirations of those who are oppressed, exploited, and disenfranchised by the existing social order". The Subversive Theatre Collective has staged performances of works such as Maxine Klein's The Furies of Mother Jones and Bertolt Brecht's The Mother, and has traditionally been an integral part of Buffalo's annual Infringement Festival. 

• 42.958715-78.8166677 Dipson Amherst Theatre, 3500 Main St., Amherst (at University Plaza; Metro Bus 5, 8, 12, 13, 19, 34, 44, 47 or 48; Metro Rail: University), ☏ +1 716-834-7655. Owned by Dipson Theatres, a local chain of movie houses, the Amherst Theatre is located at the University Plaza at the outer end of University Heights. It features three screens showing an interesting mix of indie and arthouse films, Hollywood blockbusters of the more high-concept variety, and the occasional foreign film. 
• 42.947882-78.8553068 North Park Theatre, 1428 Hertel Ave (Metro Bus 11 or 23), ☏ +1 716-836-7411. Almost inarguably the most distinctive movie theatre in the Buffalo area, the North Park was built in 1920 as an old-fashioned silent movie palace and still boasts an exquisite (and newly restored) Baroque interior with Art Deco flourishes. The single screen shows indie films almost exclusively. The North Park Theatre is also famous as the site of the world premiere of Buffalo '66, the critically-acclaimed directorial debut of local native Vincent Gallo, which took place here in June 1998.  
• 42.952669-78.8766479 Regal Elmwood Center, 2001 Elmwood Ave (Metro Bus 20 or 23), ☏ +1 716-871-0950. 16 screens showing standard big-name Hollywood fare. 

• 42.940759-78.87893410 Voelker's Bowling Center, 686 Amherst St. (Metro Bus 20 or 32), ☏ +1 716-876-6020. M-F 6PM-4AM, Sa noon-4AM, Su 9AM-4AM. Situated at the corner of Elmwood Avenue and Amherst Street and especially popular with students of nearby Buffalo State College, Voelker's may seem like it was plucked from another time. Behind a lively bar redolent of old-school Buffalo — the kind of place where you might see Pabst Blue Ribbon being drunk by rough-around-the-edges blue-collar types, rather than ironically by hipsters — are 36 bowling lanes, as well as three pool tables and a few dartboards. Open daily till 4AM, Voelker's is the place to go for late-night bowling in Buffalo. 

• 42.947537-78.87211611 Hippodrome Billiards, 975 Hertel Ave. (Metro Bus 11, 23 or 25), ☏ +1 716-874-1802. M-Sa 1PM-3AM, Su 4PM-1AM. The oldest continually operating billiard hall in North America, Hippodrome Billiards opened in 1914 in the Theater District; through its early years of operation, some of history's great pool sharks, such as Minnesota Fats and Willie Mosconi, were regulars here. Sadly, Hippodrome is situated today in a nondescript suburban-style strip mall at the southwest corner of Delaware and Hertel Avenues. Despite the unfortunate location — and its spacious, bright and clean ambience that runs counter to the stereotype of pool halls — Hippodrome manages to conserve some of the old-school feel with chairs, cue racks, and several billiard tables retained from the original property. And, for those who'd rather skip the history lesson and just shoot a few games of pool, Hippodrome's rate of $4 per person per hour is hard to beat. 

The Hertel strip is the place to go in Buffalo for antiques, furniture and housewares, and quirky gifts.

Music

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• 42.947596-78.86288828 Jam Records, 1225 Hertel Ave. (Metro Bus 11 or 23), ☏ +1 716-213-7604. M W Th noon-7PM, F Sa noon-8PM, Su noon-5PM. The merchandise on the racks here is the basically the same as at Revolver Records down the street: a vast, diverse, and well-organized collection of mostly used vinyl, accurately graded and generally in good condition. But in terms of ambience and clientele, Jam Records skews older and tones down the hipster factor a bit: picture veteran scenesters who saw the Ramones play at Buffalo State College in '77 versus twentysomething rich kids wearing $99 designer-label Ramones t-shirts. In keeping with that old-school identity, Jam is also a place to pick up reasonably-priced vintage audio equipment such as turntables, amps, and speakers. (updated Oct 2018)
• 42.94755-78.85439329 Revolver Records, 1451 Hertel Ave. (Metro Bus 11 or 23), ☏ +1 716-213-7604. Tu-Th noon-7PM, F noon-8PM, Sa 11AM-8PM, Su noon-5PM. As has become the rule among the new crop of record shops that have lately sprung up around Buffalo, vinyl is the name of the game at Revolver Records: on offer is a gargantuan yet carefully-curated kaleidoscope of over 15,000 titles spanning all genres and time periods from the 1950s to the present and representing some of the most interesting, obscure, sought-after, and above all, best music on the planet; everything from popular favorites to hard-to-find imports to offerings from Buffalo's local music scene, all accurately graded. There's a limited selection of music on CD and other formats too. (updated Sep 2018)