Visiting Buffalo

A guide to Goo Goo Dolls landmarks in Buffalo. I've grouped the sites into four areas: Downtown & Allentown, Delaware Park, John's neighborhood and Robby's neighborhood. Except where noted, all pictures were taken by me in July 2007.

Downtown & Allentown

1. City Hall (pictured below) - 65 Niagara Square. Where the famously rainy Live in Buffalo DVD was filmed in 2004.

2. Dunn Tire Park (formerly Pilot Field) - 275 Washington Street. Baseball stadium where the "There You Are" video was filmed.

3. Century Grill - 320 Pearl Street. Let Love In was written in the space above this restaurant and bar.

4. Shea's Performing Arts Center - 646 Main Street. Historic theatre where the Goos played three sold-out homecoming shows in December 1999.

5. Continental Club - 212 Franklin Street. Punk club (closed since summer 2005) where the band got its start.

6. Milkie's (formerly Elmwood Lounge) - 522 Elmwood Ave. Lance Diamond lent his vocals to several Goo songs over the years such as "Never Take the Place of Your Man" and "Down on the Corner." Lance passed away in 2015 but you can still see his star on the sidewalk in front of the club.

7. Trackmaster / Chameleonwest Studios (pictured below) - 564 Franklin Street (in the beautiful Allentown neighborhood). Pieces of every album through A Boy Named Goo were recorded here. "Two Days in February" was recorded outside the studio's front door - listen and you'll hear the same "whooshing" from the cars going by that's in the background of the song. Check out a video of one of the takes of "Two Days" here.

Delaware Park

8. Delaware Park - North of downtown on Delaware or Elmwood Avenue. 350 acre park designed by Frederick Law Olmsted and referenced in "No Way Out." Also the site of the Albright-Knox Art Gallery (1285 Elmwood Avenue) where the Goos performed a surprise concert shown on MTV.

9. Amigone Funeral Home - 1132 Delaware Avenue (and other locations throughout Buffalo). Where the Dizzy Up the Girl song gets its name.

10. Buffalo State College - 1300 Elmwood Avenue. As John says, "I spent three years there, all freshman."

11. McKinley High School - 1500 Elmwood Avenue. John's high school, named after President William McKinley, who was assassinated in Buffalo.

12. Medaille College - 18 Agassiz Circle. Robby's alma mater.

13. Caribbean Experience - 2987 Bailey Avenue. Featured in the Superstar Car Wash liner notes and still serving up Caribbean cuisine.

John's neighborhood

14. Superstar Car Wash - Corner of William St. & Pine St. Sadly, the car wash is closed and the sign is gone, but you can still visit the building from a little 1993 album you may have heard.

15. Broadway - The casual listener thinks it's a song about New York City. The fans know better.

16. Superman Corner - Corner of Clark St. and Kent St. What John and his sisters called the intersection just up the street from their childhood home. John later named his song-publishing company Corner of Clark and Kent Music.

17. Corpus Christi Church - 199 Clark St. John's Catholic grade school, where his mother also taught.

18. Buffalo Central Terminal - 495 Paderewski Drive. Train station, abandoned in 1979, where John broke some windows as a kid. John takes a tour of it on the Live in Buffalo DVD and sees the current restoration efforts. Photo credit: buffalocentralterminal.org.

19. Edwin's Music Store - 1515 Broadway. Where John got his first instrument, an accordion. He soon switched to the drums because playing the accordion meant getting beat up.

Robby's neighborhood

20. West Seneca East Senior High School - 4760 Seneca St. Robby's high school.

Related links

Forgotten Buffalo - A nice site detailing Buffalo's overlooked history. Includes entries on Superman Corner, Buffalo Central Terminal and Corpus Christi Church.