No thimbal-sized shot glasses for $8-$10.00 per shot. A shot should be an ounce, not 0.1-0.25 ounces, & it shouldn't cost you 10 bucks. If you ask for a shot, you'll get a FULL shot!

No outragous cover charges. Most evenings & nights there is no cover charge. When there is a charge, it's usually only 3 bucks... unless it's a special event.

No outragous prices. We're not the cheapest place in town, but we're reasonble. We have some expensive drinks too... if you want to splurge.

No smoker harrassment. We don't treat our smoking customers like second-class citizens. We offer a heated outdoor patio just for smoking.

No annoying DJs that yak on the mike every 1/2 hour about what's happening later, tomorrow, or next week. Just music... No commercials. We get enough commercials & ads already in our everyday life, we don't want them in the clubs.

No Elvis impersonators.

No Bee Gees, Barry Manilow, or Abba music marathons.

No hype. You don't have to get pumped-up, & dressed up just to go out for a couple drinks. Come as you are, & chill with us. No gangwear/street gear for obvious resons. I don't think they'll let you in with your pajamas on or just wearing your underware either.

No cliques. This is a blue-collar town! So many people don't want to come downtown early in the evening because the clubs are overwhelmed by people who just got out of work from downtwn offices & are wearing office or business wear (On the other end of the street, biker wear). They feel out of place. We require no suits or ties, & you're still cool if you're not a biker. Our staff & customers will treat you with the same respect no matter what you do for a living. Doctors, plumbers, lawyers, mechanics, secretaries, electricians, waiters, janitors, etc....everyone is welcome. Don't be afraid of bikers BTW, they scare the bums, & hoods away. (-:

No conformists. Here in Buffalo, alternative thinking is rewarding. People coming up with 100 ideas, 1,000 other people came up with before, simply won't work in Buffalo. That's why this city is in such bad shape.

A few years ago, Chippewa Street looked like a war zone, with most of the buildings boarded up or broken windows until ONE person decided to move in & do things much differently. I wonder if the city would have listened to him if Buffalo would be much better off today.

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Last Impressions: Mark Goldman
By PHILIP BURKE
6/6/2004

He comes from New York. He has never held office here. But Mark Goldman has become, in many hard-to-describe ways, the heart and soul of Buffalo. He is best known, of course, for bringing Chippewa Street back to life. Goldman looked at the street when it was a shabby red-light district and saw potential. He bought the Calumet building in 1988 and opened the Calumet Arts Cafe, an ambitious jazz club now sorely missed by music lovers. Other people soon followed his lead, opening bars and restaurants. One man had gotten the ball rolling for the renaissance of downtown.

That's how Goldman operates. He has been called reckless, restless and occasionally naive. But while other people talk, he takes action. He's intrigued by local history, so he went ahead and wrote several passionate books about it (including his doctoral thesis, which was on the history of Black Rock). He began leading tours. He loves diversity, so he played host to exotic envoys from other cultures, including French cabaret singers, Argentinian flamenco dancers and Cuban musicians from the movie "The Buena Vista Social Club."

Goldman has a dreamer's melancholy. He has lamented that more Chippewa bar owners haven't shared his artistic vision. "So you have more 20-year-olds getting drunk," he brooded, early on. He worries about Buffalo's relative homogeneity. "We've got to be the only city in the country that doesn't have a Chinatown. What the hell is that about?" he kvetched, memorably, last summer.

Conflicted as he is, though, he keeps at it. Not long ago, Goldman opened the Allen Street Hardware Company, an intimate little wine bar tucked into a historic building not far from Nietzsche's, near the corner of College Street. You'll find him there many nights. When you do, talk to him about Buffalo. No one knows more about us than he does.

Mary Kunz

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Think differently

Dare to be different.

Break the mold.

54 W. Chippewa St. 716-842-2787