Is Rochester NY a nice place to visit?

[bigdaddy]

I friend of mine lives there for grad school, and I'm going to visit at some point. Out of the blue he kind of invited me to move in there for a little bit. Anyways, what's there to do? Anything unique to the city?

We are both in our early 20s and gay, so I hope there is some type of gay community because I'm trying to get him to meet new people. He's rather shy, and frankly in a way so am I.

I like being outside (yes I know it's cold), so parks and gardens I would love, I'm assuming there are some along the lake, community gardens and such. I know it's 20 degrees now, I'm not sure when I'm going so there might be things growing by then!

Good places to eat? I like pizza, chicken fingers, prime rib, lasagna, steak, and anything different like Thia, Vietnamese food, I'll try almost anything once.

Bars or clubs? How is the night life?

Any activities to do? Arcades? D&D clubs?

Used bookstores? Any neat little shops?

Or is the whole area just a complete shit hole of doom!?

 

[Dingle Fritz]

Well we have Garbage Plates, which can be found at various places... I recommend Empire Hots in Webster.

Rochester Museum And Science Center has stuff going on all year 'round call 'em up and find out what's what.

Seneca Park Zoo... Well it's a zoo.

Depending on what time of year you come up Seabreeze Amusment Park might be open.

Lyle Ave is where you go for hookers and blow if that's what you are into...

From my point of view the place is a shithole of epic fail, but then again I never had any positive experiences there. On the other hand the city does get positive ratings from various orgs... so YMMV.

 

[bigdaddy]

I live in a shithole so I have extremely low standards in cities.

So Lyle Ave... need to remember that!

That garbage plate thing sounds good! I love food thrown on a plate. If you can't tell I enjoy food.

 

[JonathonWally]

Or is the whole area just a complete shit hole of doom!?

This

 

[Dingle Fritz]

I live in a shithole so I have extremely low standards in cities.

So Lyle Ave... need to remember that!

That garbage plate thing sounds good! I love food thrown on a plate. If you can't tell I enjoy food.

Dunno if Nick Tahous is still open that's where you get the real from.

A garbage plate consists of two hotdogs or two hamburgers served over home-fries, baked beans, mac salad and sometimes slaw. This is topped with onions, peppers, and hot meat sauce. Every place has a special recipe.

If you get the hotdog version you need to know that Zwilgles is the local brand that's what you ask for. There are two kinds: Red Hots, which is beef based... and White Hot, which is pork based.

Anything else?

 

[bigdaddy]

I looked it up, he is now only open 8am to 8pm! I want a place for like 2am!

Pork hot dogs... ewww.... I like mine to be mystery "meat".

 

[TorontoTrekker]

We are both in our early 20s and gay, so I hope there is some type of gay community because I'm trying to get him to meet new people. He's rather shy, and frankly in a way so am I.

I don't know how active the community is, but I have three friends who are in their 20s or 30s (I can't remember how old they are) whom I've visited there. All three are gay men, and two were a couple until a couple of years ago, and they've taken me out to a bar to go dancing. So I know there's at least one place where the two of you will be comfortable when you go out, and perhaps you'll meet some guys there.

If you meet Ken, Todd and Paul, tell them Lance says hi and where the hell have they been lately?

 

[sidious618]

Or is the whole area just a complete shit hole of doom!?

This

I can confirm.

 

[snakespeare]

I can tell you. I have a gay friend in Rochester. The leather men go to the Forum. They have a custom leather for gays shop in Village Gate Square. There is a gay men's choir. The white collar gays have a bar on Monroe Ave. they favor. And the dancing gays used to go to Jim's, but that may have closed. Their newspaper is the Empty Closet. They do have a gay pride parade. It's a fairly tight little gay activist community.

Literature is good there. They have a literary arts center called Writers and Books that gives workshops constantly. If it's science fiction, you may get to take a workshop from Nancy Kress. The poetry they like is mostly postmodern, but they also support all local efforts.

Music is great there, especially if you're into classical. They have the Eastman School where you can hear faculty recitals, or even senior recitals. Other musical groups would be the Oratorio Society who puts on things like Haydn's Creation or Berlioz' Requiem. The Bach chorus is the longest running original instruments only ensemble in the world.

I found jazz worth hearing, but it is hard to find. Pop music is just as prevelant as any other medium sized city.

Sports, you have to go for the hockey. If you want any other sport, you have to drive to Buffalo, for the footbal, of course.. College basketball tends to favor the Orangemen over in Syracuse. If you like minor league baseball, the Red Wings are pretty cool. They had a young fella on their team just a few years ago named Joe Mauer. If you've never heard of him, then you're probably not a baseball fan.

Whenever I go back there I take my wife up to Niagara Falls.

Art sucks in Rochester. The Memorial Art Gallery has some good stuff, but they rarely put it out. This is another case where you'd want to drive to Buffalo, to the Albright-Knox, which is dripping with masterpieces. Well, Rochester does have the Visual Studies Workshop, which focuses on art made from photographic materials, but your mileage may vary.

If you like Italian food, you are on your way to heaven. Rochester has a huge Italian community. The most popular Italian Restaurant is Red Fedele's on Ridge Road.

Oh yeah, they have malls. Lots of malls.

Anyway, as I say, if you're gay and you sing you can meet a lot of people throught the gay men's chorus. http://www.thergmc.org/

 

[bigdaddy]

I can sing just about as well as I can dance... not at all.

So far it seems 90% of the people think it's a craphole and the other 10% say "ehh" to it.

 

[snakespeare]

It's not where I would live, i can tell you that. I lived there from 1956 to 1998, and I left. I only go back to see my grandchildren, or go to family funerals and such.

But if I were staying with a friend, then I would go to the things I mentioned. If I were gay, I would be able to make friends. If I were going to school for music or medecine, I could end up there for a few years. It's not Hell, exactly. It's too cold for that.

 

[bigdaddy]

It's not Hell, exactly. It's too cold for that.

That is an awesome quote!

I hate where I live now, I hate it, hate hate hate hate hate it! However where I would like to live I can't find a job because I don't drive, I'm really bad, and don't have any good friends to stay with. What people consider friends is a joke, but that's another topic.

So I want to move away even if just for a year or so and just meet new people and then figure out where I want to go from there. If he was serious I might think about it more, but he isn't so a visit will do.

Which brings up one other thing, bike trails? Is the a decent walkable area? Is it easy to get around by walking or biking? I'm assuming there are buses.

 

[snakespeare]

They just opened a new bike trail in early December. (Was there for my Dad's funeral.) The answer is yes. They have a lot of parks. The one they just opened goes along Lake Ontario State Parkway. But you don't have to stick to trails, as the outlying areas have less traffic. I used to peddle along the shoreline on Lakeshore Drive.

Best of all, you can peddle the old mule path along the Erie Canal. It's 400 miles long and open to the public.

 

[bigdaddy]

They opened a bike bath in December? That's almost as bad as them finishing the town pool here in September.

 

[snakespeare]

They opened a bike bath in December? That's almost as bad as them finishing the town pool here in September.

Yeah. There were actually more politicians at the ribbon cutting than attendees.

 

[Major Chord]

I don't live in Rochester, but from the times I've been there, and from what others are saying, I can definitely advise a visit. I mean...it may not be the best place in the world, but there's stuff to do. And what you can't find in Rochester is normally only an hour drive on the Thruway here to Buffalo.

 

[backstept]

Garbage plates are amazing
also Letchworth State Park is amazing

 

[Harvey]

As far as places worth visiting, Rochester wouldn't be on a top ten list, no. Nor a top 100 list.

 

[bigdaddy]

As far as places worth visiting, Rochester wouldn't be on a top ten list, no. Nor a top 100 list.

Mine neither, but will I get shot there?

I mean I can think of a ton of places I rather go, this is a free place to visit, and I'm trying to get my friend to me more social. He just moved to the city 5 months ago. Plus the city has 200,000 people so it should be a little easier for me to get some.

The amount of waterfalls is really neat!

http://www.nyfalls.com/lowerfalls.html

 

[Hoser]

I love Letchworth State Park. And we used to hang out at the Distillery in Henrietta.
I haven't lived there for almost a decade though, so things may have changed.