Tucked away in a remote corner of downtown, facing the back side of the Geva Theatre and surrounded on all sides by parking lots, stands this unassuming brick house. In downtown Rochester there are several lonely buildings like this one, still hanging on long after its neighbors have all been read their last rites.
I admire old little structures like this. Maybe it doesn’t have a glamourous story to tell. But it’s stuck it out for the last 150+ years – from Rochester’s boom, all the way through the toughest times this rusty city could throw at it. Whenever I’ve visited Geva Theatre I’ve taken notice of this one and wondered if it would find new life…
Today’s RocLink photo was taken by Chris Seward on April 3, 2010 in an abandoned building in Lockport. Chris says the three-story building was brimming with antique motorcycles and parts. According to this article the bikes made their way here from Kohl’s Cycle Salvage shop on the north side of the Erie Canal. The Mr. Kohl died in 2002, and the motorcycles were left here until the building crumbled around them.
And now, from local development to just plain news of the weird, here are your RocLinks for this past week…
You may have heard FSI Development of Rochester has purchased the empty lot at 186 Atlantic Ave (a.k.a. The Gleason Lot). Here at RocSubway we’ve fantasized about filling in this empty lot for quite some time. And although it’s not our original vision, the actual plan may be even better than how we dreamed it – primarily because it involves a local brew.
FSI is planning to build a brewery and tasting room on the southeast corner of the site to lease to Three Heads Brewery  of Honeoye Falls. Damn, why didn’t we think of this…
The image above was created by Tristan O’Tierney last October in the Rochester Subway. Tristan attached a common kitchen whisk to some string, put some fine grade steel wool inside the whisk, lit the wool on fire, and then swung the whisk around for a 30 second exposure. The result is perhaps the most beautiful version of spin art we’ve ever seen.
From local development, to just plain news of the weird, here are your RocLinks for this past week…
We brave the cold in this edition of Wear to Where to visit the oldest place in Monroe County – the Landmark Society’s Stone-Tolan House and their heirloom apple orchard…
Last summer Rochester developer and restauranteur, John Tachin called up RocSubway with a history mystery for us to solve. After four months of digging, we came up empty. But here’s hoping maybe YOU can help us solve the case of the stone lions.
Exciting News! Rochesterians voted and won the Hyped for Halftime / Hype Your Hometown contest sponsored by Pepsi! So many Rochesterians love their hometown that they got out and voted – as they did with the Pepsi Field of Dreams contest in 2012. I guess this means that Rochester really loves Pepsi. We are not Atlanta, Coke need not apply…
Sorry for the Tina Turner reference… it was all I could think of to describe the enormity of this big wheel. I’m talking 25 foot and 12 tons just under 20 ton*!! Um, ok so who are these hooded dudes, and just where do they think they’re going with our giant wheel? These strange photos were taken late Tuesday afternoon by Tom Dubois and Peter Simpson…
Welcome to Part 2 of Filling In: 37 Eagle Street. It’s been a while, so to catch you up, in Part 1 my wife and I bought an empty lot at 37 Eagle Street in Corn Hill. But the fun doesn’t stop there. We decided to build ourselves a house on it, and we’re going to take you along for the ride!
Today I want to talk about architects. Just for starters, we decided we did not want off-the-shelf plans and would instead pay (about 10% of the overall project budget) for a house to be designed from scratch…
The New York Museum of Transportation presents a 40-minute slide talk on the Rochester Subway. The show is at 1:00 p.m., Sunday, January 11, 2015 and is free with admission of $5 adults and $4 under age 12. Images from the museum’s vast photo archive portray the Rochester Subway from construction, through operation, to its abandonment almost 60 years ago. The presentation of B&W and color slides will be narrated by the museum trustee, Jim Dierks…
Happy Holidays! In this month of consumerism I thought I’d bring you a small update on some exciting retail changes coming soon or already open in the city of Rochester…
For those of us that have friends and family in town for the holidays, one of the most difficult things to explain to outsiders about this place may be Rochester’s grocery store obsession. In this holiday edition of Wear to Where, we stop in at the grocery store and pick up a few things…
Being called one of the most innovative reggae bands out there today , Giant Panda Guerilla Dub Squad is rocketing into 2015 with momentum. The group’s previous album In These Times earned a spot on iTunes “Best of 2012″ list. And their new album, Steady debuted this fall at #1 on the Billboard Reggae Chart, iTunes’ Reggae Chart, and Amazon’s Reggae Chart. Cider Magazine called it, “one of the best reggae albums ever made.”
Without a doubt, Giant Panda has become one of Rochester’s hottest musical exports…
IT’S THE WEEEEEEEKEND! Here are a few fun things to do this Friday, Saturday, and Sunday as sent in to us by YOU RocSubway readers. We’ve got a unique worship service at Cinema Theater, a very tasty Holiday Market at Hart’s, and one hilarious food drive for Foodlink…
The transformation at the Carriage Factory building has been nothing short of amazing. Located at 33 Litchfield Street in the Susan B. Anthony neighborhood, the former factory building that was close to the landfill has been reborn as seventy-one affordable and special needs apartments. The rehabilitation of the building was a long time coming and was not without its challenges and delays…
It was nearly five years ago when I and a small group of RocSubway readers came together with a single goal; to strengthen our community by working to grow sustainable transportation options across our region. Together we formed Reconnect Rochester, Inc…
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After the Erie Canal was rerouted south of downtown Rochester, the Rochester
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changed, and highways replaced the railroads, the Rochester subway gradually
became a relic of a bygone era. In 1956 the subway was abandoned and much of
its route was converted into Interstate 490 — built to connect Rochester
with the New York State Thruway (I-90). Read more about the history of the Rochester Subway.
RochesterSubway.com exists to help spark
public dialogue around how we can better connect the neighborhoods of Rochester
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future is written in her past. Let's rediscover it.
![Tucked away in a remote corner of downtown Rochester, facing the back side of the Geva Theatre and surrounded on all sides by parking lots, stands this unassuming brick house. [PHOTO: RochesterSubway.com]](http://www.rochestersubway.com/images/photos/st-marys-place-01.jpg)
of downtown, facing the back side of the Geva Theatre and surrounded on all sides by parking lots, stands this unassuming brick house. In downtown Rochester there are several lonely buildings like this one, still hanging on long after its neighbors have all been read their last rites. 
![Motorcycles in an abandoned warehouse in Lockport, NY. [PHOTO: Chris Seward, Flickr]](http://rochestersubway.com/images/photos/lockport-motorcycles-chris-seward.jpg)
![Tristan O'Tierney creates a fiery version of spin art in the Rochester Subway. [PHOTO: Tristan O'Tierney, Flickr]](http://rochestersubway.com/images/photos/rochester-subway-sparks-tristanotierney.jpg)
![We brave the cold in this edition of Wear to Where to visit the oldest place in Monroe County – the Landmark Society’s Stone-Tolan House and their heirloom apple orchard. [PHOTO: Clarke Condé]](http://www.rochestersubway.com/images/photos/rochester-fashion-wear-to-where-stone-tolan-orchard-01.jpg)
![Here's hoping maybe YOU can help us solve the case of the stone lions. [PHOTO: RochesterSubway.com]](http://www.rochestersubway.com/images/photos/benvenuto-stone-lions-rochester-ny-01.jpg)
![From local development to just plain news of the weird, here are your RocLinks for this past week... [PHOTO: Martin Frost]](http://rochestersubway.com/images/photos/roclinks-2015-01-10.jpg)
![Rochesterians voted and won the Hyped for Halftime / Hype Your Hometown contest sponsored by Pepsi! [PHOTO: Joe Philipson, Flickr]](http://www.rochestersubway.com/images/photos/pepsi-halftime-show-rochester-03.jpg)
![The triphammer water wheel in High Falls, Rochester NY being removed from its housing so it can be restored. [PHOTO: Tom Dubois]](http://www.rochestersubway.com/images/photos/rochester-high-falls-triphammer-water-wheel-01.jpg)
![RocLinks for 1/3/15. [PHOTO: liz west, Flickr]](http://rochestersubway.com/images/photos/roclinks-2015-01-03.jpg)
![Happy Holidays! In this month of consumerism I thought I’d bring you a small update on some exciting retail changes coming soon or already open in the city of Rochester. [PHOTO: Steve Vogt]](http://www.rochestersubway.com/images/photos/rochester-retail-benrus-01.jpg)
![RocLinks for 12/27/14. [PHOTO: psyberartist, Flickr]](http://rochestersubway.com/images/photos/roclinks-2014-12-27.jpg)
![In this holiday edition of Wear to Where, we stop in at the grocery store and pick up a few things. [PHOTO: Clarke Condé]](http://www.rochestersubway.com/images/photos/rochester-fashion-wear-to-where-mise-en-place-01.jpg)
![Giant Panda Guerilla Dub Squad's new album, Steady, debuted this fall at #1 on the Billboard Reggae Chart, iTunes' Reggae Chart, and Amazon's Reggae Chart. [IMAGE: LivePanda.com]](http://www.rochestersubway.com/images/photos/giant-panda-guerilla-dub-squad-01.jpg)
![RocLinks for 12/20/2014. [PHOTO: Allie Osmar Siarto and Matthew Denker]](http://rochestersubway.com/images/photos/roclinks-2014-12-20.jpg)
![This weekend's events include a unique worship service at Cinema Theater, a very tasty Holiday Market at Hart's, and one hilarious food drive for Foodlink. [PHOTO: M J M, Flickr]](http://www.rochestersubway.com/images/photos/cinema-theater-rochester-ny.jpg)
![Carriage Factory, Rochester NY. [PHOTO PROVIDED BY: Preservation Studios]](http://www.rochestersubway.com/images/photos/rochester-cunningham-carriage-factory-south-side-before.jpg)
![ROC Transit Day, 2014. [PHOTO: John Derycke, Motorsports Photography]](http://rochestersubway.com/images/photos/reconnect-rochester-2014-01.jpg)
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