NIagara Falls- Polish Platter

I grew up in a working class neighborhood on Buffalo's East Side.  It was a largely Polish neighborhood, filled with families supported by men who worked in factories that made steel or cars or other commodities.  My father worked at Westinghouse.  It was the kind of neighborhood where at 5PM you could see the men coming home from work swinging there black lunch boxes.  Many took the bus or car pooled so their wives might have the use of the family car during the day.

The houses were for the most part built in the early part of the twentieth century on small lots with small patches of grass in the front and small gardens and garages in the back.  They were well maintained, and the neighbors were friendly.  We were not Polish, but many thought we were because my Dad had played baseball on the Polish International Team, in his youth, before playing professionally with the Bisons and other minor league teams followed with the House of David traveling team.

My old neighborhood has been decimated by unemployment, poverty, dysfunction, drugs.  My old house must have burned down, as the last time I visited my block the lot was leveled.

So some of my visit to Niagara Falls was to drive through similar neighborhoods that have suffered the same sort of terrible decay or threat of decay.   In an odd way, I am comfortable in those neighborhoods.

I read about two places in an old Polish neighborhood where I could get a Polish meal. The first place is an old restaurant called Gadawski's.  I visited this spot a couple times.  It is in a section that may have lost much of its houses and still has some boarded up, next to a closed Polish Catholic church and school that is now preserved as a landmark and could have easily been built in my old neighborhood in Buffalo.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holy_Trinity_Roman_Catholic_Church_Complex_(Niagara_Falls,_New_York)

http://www.preservationnation.org/magazine/2008/todays-news/closed-niagara-falls-church-la.html

Gadawski's was to elude me this trip.  It was closed on Sunday.

So I went up the street a mile or so to Koban's because on Sundays they served a Polish platter special.  The neighborhood improved dramatically in just this short ride.

At first it looked like this was closed as well. the street was quiet except for some folks cheering the Bills in their game against the New England Patriots at a tavern across the street.  There was no sign on the building indicating hours, and it was very quiet all around.  However, someone was inside as the back kitchen door was open.
I wandered around to the rear of the restaurant.  Here, one of those very narrow roads gave the locals access to their tiny garages and in the one directly behind Koban's  some young men were working on bits of motors spread out in disarray. They told me that they thought the restaurant would open twnety minutes later at 4 PM and by the time I got back around to the front, a waitress, Mary,  was there at the door and she let me in to use the bathroom.
It was a hot day and I asked if I could wait at the bar and drink a beer until the cooking began.  And I was treated like family.
What followed was a long interview with the waitress who like to talk about the history of Koban's and who let me wander in the still deserted restaurant and take some photographs.  It was really a stoke of luck to arrive when I did.

The restaurant had been in the family for 33 years.  Ron Koban had established it.  He worked as a Social Studies teacher and played the organ in the  I visited when it was open and thriving.  Now his daughter and other family members ran the place. Mary, who talked to me, had worked there for 32 years.  She had been friends with one of the daughters since she was 16 and she felt like the restaurant was in her family as well.

She told me there had been a fine wedding there and the couple from Pennsylvania had written it up in praising tones.

http://www.tripadvisor.com.my/Restaurant_Review-g48261-d389484-Reviews-Kobans-Niagara_Falls_New_York.html

Just as it was odd to a reviewer of Gadawski's to find it decorated with fighting Irish memorabilia, it was a surprise to me to see this place decorated with boats.  Ron had a couple sailboats and customers and family started to give him paintings and wall hangings as gifts until the entire restaurant was decorated with them.

 These next four are actually made of small parts of wood, finished and arranged to depict sailboats.  They came from a vendor at the Allentown Arts festival who did this sort of work.

 It was a comfortable bar and the Molson's was a tasty way to wash out the heat of the day.  I had spent a good bit of time walking around the Canadian Falls and the cool was comforting.  I happened to be there just at the end of the exciting Bill's game as the score went from one broken tie to another.  Finally, just as the clock was running down, Fred Jackson was so close to a touchdown that it required a review where it was declared just inches too short.  Buffalo ran the clock down to 3 seconds and 4th down right on the goal line, and then kicked the field goal for the victory of 34-31 over the undefeated Patriots.  I am not a football fan, but this was a classic game and it certainly was cool to be watching it in a Polish bar and in a neighborhood that very much reminded me of my old Buffalo neighborhood.

Finally my meal came, a huge platter with one breaded veal cutlet, one link of kielbasa, one large meatball with cabbage (what they called inside out glomki) ,sauerkraut and a few good chunks of boiled potato.  It was all good.  Salad and a nice slice of rye bread came with it.  All for about $15.

While I ate at the bar, I talked to Ron's grandaughter Christy who was just finishing her studies to become a special education teacher.   We talked about how hard it is now to find a teaching job, of how much being a substitute might set her up in a school, and about whether she was willing to travel for work or needed to stay home and be around the family.

Once the Bill's game was over, folks started to come in for Sunday dinner.  I talked to a fellow poker player at the bar for a while.  And then it was time for me to head back to the casino.

I guess this is the best tavern experience I have had this year.  I'll certainly return if I get the chance to make that trip again.

Niagara Falls- the Falls

Both sides of the Falls are interesting for different reasons.  Most visitors probably prefer the Canadian side.  It is much better developed, and because we can look across at the various sections of the Falls, rather than down at them from above, it is in some ways a better view.

However, I started my looking early one morning, finding a free 2 hour parking spot and an uncrowded park and viewing area.

I walked back to see the rapids.  There is a bridge to Green Island and I walked across, but did not have time to walk all the way to the point of the island where a viewing platform has been erected for better viewing.

Here is the bridge I crossed

It is one of those sad bridges.  It could be just wonderful, but for some reason the original structure was built over with this iron girders that block the view, and then an ugly wire fence in front of them.  So the view was obscured.  There were small peeks through the girders, but they were disappointing.

and taking a photo was impossible.  Here is my attempt with the camera held up above the girder.

I don't know if this is for structure or to stop people from falling off the bridge.  It does get slippery and they have a fine yellow rope strung as a railing, but perhaps they also wanted just to protect people.  I am against all this protection.  Too many fences; too many signs.

Look at how ugly warning signs have made this delightful little stone structure at the beginning of the bridge.

Here is the walkway along the rapids in the park area.  The guard rails are low and decorative.  Those along the Canadian walkway are nice to look at also and there are not  a hundred signs.

Does anyone coming to the Falls not understand that if they drop off the edge of land, they are most likely going to die?

I remember when the Japanese student recently sat up on a railing and for some reason fell.  Some folks then called for more signs.  I call for fewer people sitting on railings.  Rather than a sign, hire a few people to watch the crowds.

Within the park there is a very small garden that was pleasant and even contained blooming flowers this late in the year.

In the garden were some remembrance of Native Americans who were at the Falls long before white eye looked and decided to develop.  It must have been quite a wonder in those olden days.

THE CANADIAN SIDE

I had thought of staying on this side as there is a casino there as well, but they only deal no limit poker, so I am happy I did not plan to do that. I'd have had to cross the border every day to play cards.   More development on this side makes it a better vacation destination, but not an easy place to have a quick look at the Falls away from crowds.  

I first drove along the shoreline as long as I was near the water.  Parking is very limited and expensive.  I turned right and wound my way up to Portage Street and was amazed to find some free parking with no limitation except not to park on the grass.  Views along the walkway were limited. Too bad as this would have made a great place to view from up high.  Trees blocked the view. 

 I suspect that no one wanted to clear a view in this area.  Here were hotels that had captured that view, so giving it away would not be profitable.  This is one of the strangest viewing buildings I have ever seen.  I am curious as to what is inside.

 A short distance away I found the for $2.50 each way I could be lowered and brought back up and get an interesting view along the way.  American money was accepted as far and American change given.

 In a sense it seemed a shame to put a building right in the line of sight here.  An underground visitor center might have made more sense. This building looks great from all angles except the incline.
From this angle only this part really reflects the architecture of the fine stone building.

Still it was fine to sit and wait for the incline to start and get an interesting look back behind the Falls while the cool mist coming up from the Falls cooled off the heat of the day.

I made the visitor just in time to practice my  retirement hobby.  In the bathroom I found the most unusual amenity I have ever seen.  Are these common in Canada?  I laughed because it seemed odd to have a place to wash your feet at the Falls.  There is no sandy beach and were you to go swimming, you would not come back to rinse sand off anyway.

 Along the large walkway there were many spectacular views.

 And here are the railings.  I liked these better than the more modern railings on the American side.  I saw one sign warning people not to climb on them.  Some did.  One young fellow was having his photo taken leaning out from the top.  Seemed risky to me.

It was rather cool to see the casino where I played poker across all this water and Falls and all.  

To take this photograph I am standing  in an elevated grassy section on this side of the road designed so that we can see views of the Falls over the heads of the streaming tourists. Here the great inventor Nikola Tesla is celebrated in the Les Drysdal sculpture  He was born in Serbia and some of the reason he is celebrated here is due to the work of Servians throughout Canada,; however Tesla himself was an American, a contemporary and outspoken critic of Thomas Edison. The artist Les Drysdal is Canadian.

He is an interesting character. He is not personable like Edison.  He is much more like the poker players at the no limit table that I wish to avoid.  He speaks critically often of his contemporaries.  Had he and Edison been friends instead of enemies together they might have achieved much more in their lifetimes.

On the other hand, he loved pigeons and so we have that in common.  And he and my favorite author Mark Twain were friends.

http://www.teslasociety.com/victoria.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikola_Tesla

I did walk up to the Canadian casino and it was very nice inside.  I'd say it compares to a Vegas strip casino.  But they had not had any limit poker in a long while.

This greets us walking into the casino

And this is quite an interesting fountain that also reflects the development of electricity using water and honors Tesla.

In every way the Canadian side is much more upscale, better attended, much better planned. The American side still suffers from the decay of neighborhoods.   I am certain the reason for this is complicated.  For one thing, in the past the American dollar in comparison to the Canadian dollar had more value.  That has changed.  I think of the American side as similar to the downtown section of Vegas.  That is experiencing renovation in the face of Recession with just a promise of slow recovery in sight.  Perhaps that will happen to the American side of the Falls. 

On my way  back to the Rainbow Bridge I drove down the Falls view road and could see that up in that area parking could be had for $5 day, so I think I'd go up there on a future visit.  

Also I passed through a long street of tourist places where every inch along the street and up two stories was packed with colorful advertisement of decoration. The entire street was a collage of color.  It was really a fun view.

When I come again, I will consider parking on the American side and walking across the bridge, especially in a more busy season.  I have read it is easier to go through customs.  And if I found free all day parking close enough on the American side,  it would be a good bit cheaper and easier to walk it.

If I wanted a long hike, I did see places to park far back  along the rapids on the American side.  It would be a good long hike, but on a nice day it would be a way to make a day along water that is the opposite of serene, seeing first the American rapids and then the Falls from the top, then crossing the bridge for a panoramic view and a walk up tourist avenue.

On the Canadian side there are inexpensive hotels along Lundy's Lane, but I did not drive up there and look because I won't stay on that side when I go.  Now I'll be looking for good deals around Brantford Ontario.  My wife is saying that she and her friend might like to do Toronto and would not need a car to do it, so that would free me up to do a night or two in Brantford.  

Gregg's game just before the Falls trip

Well, I was brushing up on my game so that I am ripe for Niagara Falls.
So I bought in this $20 game for $110.
Some brush up.
More like a brush off.

The new rebuy in rules are just great.  Gregg did a find job making it more like a casino, easy enough to bank and fair enough to let the rebuy guy into the game again.  I know.  I came back.   The new rules are: one row or less, buy in for $10.  No chips, rebuy for $20.  No busted Aces or Kings advantage.

I don't think it was my play. My lost hands were close hands in one way or another. On the real stupid draws I got lucky.  It was the solidly played hands that lost.  No flops. No turns. No rivers.  I guess I used up all my luck getting the pickerel and the quiet morning air off the dock.

What a group Gregg draws.  Even with Bruce home we had 11 at the table. Blowers made a rare visit and pumped up the action, the mucka jucka, the actual mathematics which is often mucka jucka to me and a few very important sounding cell phone calls.
Jim, Charlie, Peter, Gregg, Bill, Slink, Phil, me, Ron, John - 10 at the table.
I had quad nines and was first to act, and no one bet on the river.  I should have bet a bit.  I counted on an all-in bluff.
Charlie had quad tens and pushed all in early, a huge pile of chips.  He won the pot.  He lost a bundle.

Peter played some fine poker just as he did at Blowers.  I'm happy.  I don't see him any longer as destined to be aggressive until bankroll death.

Gregg got hammered again.  Ron left with some money.  Phil played a nice game and left with money.  Bill was sick and could not catch a draw.  Jim got bad rivers....again.  Slink faked all-in bets and laughed and did the 222222222222222222's genuflection.  Ron more than doubled up and went home early.  I don't remember too much.
I caught an inside draw and took John for 15-15-15.

I was wired again on the coffee, clumsy as a drunk, had one of the Smuggler's whiskey.
Afterward Peter and I went for a meal and a talk at a new Mexican place on Central, Fiesta.  On Wednesday 2 people get an appetizer (spinach casadia) entre (chicken fajitas) all from $20.  Nice.
Good to have some father-son time to talk as well as play.

Thanks Gregg.  You sure can pack them in.  Now if you can only fleece them.  I guess you got too rusty over the summer growing all those tomatoes.  Hey, save me some green ones.

See ya next week.

Pirate Poker

Well, John wanted a much better write up than this one.  However, having virtually no memory left for anything, I can just write an overview.

I left for the game totally disorganized and forgot my Somali-Useful Phrase book. Too bad.  I could have been the affirmative action player with pirate phrases like, " istaag ma waan ku tooganayaa" ha ooyin" or bet with the numbers.  I have all the numbers.
On the way I had no voice in the GPS so I was often on the side of the road with my blinkers on.
On the way home the voice came back, but in Africaneer.  Wow!  given I'd forgotten the Somali phrasebook, that was a bit eerie.
I did bring what I could pass off as doubloons, those silver strike rings with the silver missing.  The guy I bought the rings from "pirated" in one sense the silver.  John's kids liked the rings.
John splashed the pot (or is it "loaded the chest") with plenty of treasure.  There were pirated books and cups and shot glasses.   He won one of his own books about three times before it went to Peter and so he got his money back.  I chased the books. So John would splash the pot with the book which would build the pot and then he would take the pot down.  New pirate poker strategy.
Peter did the best.  I was happy.  I staked him.  He started at the 20 dollar table and with one buy in cleaned that out, then he came to the $100 table and did a nice job winning the most money he has ever won at poker. Shiver me timbers!
Once he layed down a straight because he knew he was beat and he was.
Once he called Todd's  $20 raise holding only a pair of nines and won.
Once he folded to Todd's strong hand and did not lose.
He seemed to just read the player's well.
I think Peter was also ahead on the booty he took home.
I did my usual.
I did fairly well in the beginning and then it drained and drained and I had to rebuy.  I took a decent pot and so ended down $14.

Ed has the worst luck.  A fellow called his $30 preflop raise holding just 2-4 offsuit and after other decent bets proceeded to catch a wheel on the river.
Then I tried to push Ed off with an all-in bet on my bare pocket queens, and he must have seen that.  He called with his bare pocket jacks.



I made lots of mistake.  I misread cards and remembered cards and overbet.
Perhaps it was the pirate movie:  Pirates of the Carribean:On Stranger Tides which John had playing in the background.  Much of it was boring pirate and old English talk or Johnny Depp being cute, or long marches through jungle like, watery, mountainous terrain with bits of dialogue like, " We have to keep going."
Well, yeah Jackass, the movie has to be long enough for folks to eat a couple popcorns.
But this one mermaid played by the French actress Astrid Berges-Frisbey caught my attention.  And I had John play the movie twice.  French actress with a Spanish parent.  Sweet!
And I love vampires anyway.
Most of the mermaids were vampires.
No manatee inspired this movie.


Rich played a fine game, then got no cards, then went to sleep, then cashed in.  I was glad Rich was playing tired.  He was good.  I was in three good pots with him and each time we held the same hand.  You would have liked him Gregg.  He straddled every time.
Did I mention he was to my left?
Bilge sucking Scalawag!!
I tried to get him to move to my right, but even the promise of seeing Astrid-Berges-Frisbey  without turning around was not enough to entice him to move.


John played his usual aggressive self and won money.
And books!!  Did I mention he won books??  His own books??


John's girlfriend Danna was the only women at the gathering at either table.  She was sweet and very hospitable.  Nice to meet you Danna.  She played a while and then saw to it we were fed and then I guess she was sleepy.
In Jeopardy we had a category, "People named Danna"
Well, the kids were prepared for that one at least once.

John put out a spread of food: munchies, two kinds of lazana, pizza, fruit, veggies, and this huge platter of meats and cheeses all nicely collated.  It never seemed to empty. and we had a fine lunch while we tried to do Pirate trivia on Pirate jeopardy.
This is not my game.
Rich, the good poker player, once won on Jeopardy and he was very good.  Our team just stumbled along.  I stumbled and fell.  I did know the pirate joke, however,
"What is on each side of your buckin' head?"
"Your buccaneers!!"
This was the extent of my knowledge of pirate trivia.


"Did they want to use another letter in that question?" asked one of John's kids.
"No, why would you say that?"

And off the kids went with their Mom.

Rich was very helpful because he had just played at Niagara Falls (American) and I am going this month for three nights.  He gave me a sense of the no limit games and I may play them.  I told him where I intended to stay, and he told me I might get mugged there.  But I really don't think he has a good sense of Niagara Falls Blvd. motels, left from pre-Thruway days, when that was the main highway to the Falls.  Let's hope he is right about the games, and wrong about the mugging.
I also asked about seeing the Police in Vegas, playing at the Riviera in November.  I wondered if they would be too loud for me.  Todd and others discussed this group and then I mentioned I only knew the songs like "YMCA" and the table looked at me in disbelief.  Finally, they told me it was the Village People sang that song, and yes, they would be very loud.
"Right, " I answered, "It is the Village People who are playing in Vegas."
After that people just made fun of me and I could not get a straight answer from any of my questions.

I explained that I did not really know any names much after Bix Beiderbecke.  Then I realize I was rude not to answer Danna's question about who he was. Sorry.
I listen to a lot of old jazz, especially since I bought an internet radio that works off the wifi and pulls in about a thousand stations.
On WGBH Boston they play 24/7 Ray Smith Jazz Decades.  It was my favorite radio show years ago when Ray was a alive and being the DJ  just an hour a week on NPR.  It focuses on 30-40's jazz and Ray gives a short introduction to each set of tunes.  Often they play rare, even one of a kind, tapings.  Ray was an expert who talked about these players like some guys talk about baseball players.  He had been a drummer and got interested in collecting old jazz.  Lots of Bunny Berrigan and Jack Teagarten.  Some of the tunes were created much later, but still reflect that era of jazz before it became abstract and disharmonic. And sometimes he will play older jazz, perhaps the first in a particular style.
I go to sleep to this every night.

Someone had quads.  I forgot.
It was a very pleasant game without the action of the last one.  No one bought in for $600 (John) like last time.
But then last time I took home over $1000, my largest lifetime poker win.

Gregg's Birthday Game

I had such a great run of luck at this game this week.  It seemed I could not lose.  If I bet to bluff, everyone folded or called me with less than I held.  I started with great cards often and they won, even my pocket jacks.  I only remember losing one hand that I bet on the river.  I was trying to push Bruce out.  I had a pair of fours and he had a pair of nines.  Plenty of better hands out there, but I could not get him to budge.
Here is how I wrote the game up in an email:

There are those days when it just seems that losing is impossible.

I cleared actually $303 in profit, but still I think that is a record for me at Gregg's.  

No matter what I did my opponents seemed to be second best.

I played a few minutes of head-to-head with Gregg before the real game.  When we do this, we cash out afterwards so everyone starts even. I lost $16 dollars in just those few minutes.  A few hands in an all-in with Gregg brought all that back.

In one hand I held junk.  The flop gave me 3-4-5-6.  I bet $2.  The turn gave me a 7.  Bruce had a king and Jim had a king and the river put two on the board.  They bet, raised, reraised and it put Jim all-in and Bruce close to that.  I figured I'd lose to a full house.  Nope!

I won twice with pocket jacks, catching the third on the flop once.

I tried to push Gregg off the river with an all-in bet when I held just 10-J of diamonds with Q-9-X on board and two diamonds gave me both a flush and a straight draw.  I was very disappointed when Gregg called me, but he had 5-6 of diamonds.  Nothing developed, and I beat him just on the high card.

I won once in a hand where I was behind with Gregg until the river gave me a Queen that made my two pair into a full house and overcame his flush.  I had out-Gregged Gregg.

Jerry was mentioned because there was a huge debate on rebuy rules.  Gregg wanted to rebuy twice in a row with no hands in between because his first rebuy gave him just $10 in chips, the old limit.  The new rule is $19 in chips or less so a guy can't just fold a small blind and rebuy.  Of course, anyone can fold a preflop call and rebuy, so it has not changed actual practice much.  However, I am not concerned since by next game, that rule will certainly change once again.  The basic rule is that all rules must change and most of those changes need to be initiated in the middle of a hand, if possible, but at least in the middle of the game.

Once I tried for my own rule change.  I was dealing but had no cards, and I decided that after the hand was over the dealer ought to be able to take either the winning player's cards or his winnings.  Phil thought this was an ill advised rule and made me give back the pot stack.  It seemed a good rule to me, as long as it was changed back again after I followed it once.

Slink, who is now a professional dealer has decided that it is wrong to stack the chips when the pot is collected after any round of betting.  If we stack them on his deal, he will destroy all that pot order.  So, chips are collected after a round of betting, stacked by some helpful player, unstacked by Slink and then restacked once again by the winner.  

But then poker is more about playing with chips than actually efficiently playing cards.

I'm certain that next game, Slink will decide on his deal that the cards too need to be mixed up and redealt just before the river.  Whenever that happens, Gregg can rebuy.

So the suggestion was that Jerry be contacted by video phone and become the new skyped poker rules Czar.  

At the end of the game I discovered why I had won.  The  card protector that old Alligator Louisiana Mudgriff Dan's daughter sent me after Dan died had been left last week in the box that is the bank.

Thanks, Dan.  

And thanks to all the rest for an enjoyable rainy day.

Oh, and Gregg:  Happy Birthday!!

I hope I can play this well and be this lucky in Vegas.  Sure does boost my ego.

photo from wikimedia commons in public domain in the US

Gregg's first game of the season

Autumn is here because Gregg started up the poker again.
Players were Ed, Jim, Bruce, Phil, Charlie, Gregg, Dewey, and Robin.
I build up a profit of over $100 and lost it all back.  I left down $8.  Gregg left about even.  Charle took about $40.  I don't know the other scores.
Nice day.  Nice game.  I won with pocket Aces twice and both won and lost with trips.
I felt I played well, but I suppose I got tired toward the end and lost my discipline.