Kenmore, New York in the 1970s ROCKED!

By Jerry Kranitz (October 3, 2024)

A couple years ago I participated in a sales conference. The attendees represented a range of generations, from Baby Boomers to Millennials. One of my fellow boomers was raving about life in the 1970s, and his tone was a bit mocking as he went on about ‘how great things were back then’. He wasn’t providing much in the way of specifics so, finally, one of our younger colleagues called out, “What was so great about the 70s!”

I’d been quietly observing from the back of the room. But hearing that question I shouted, “I’ll tell you what was so great about the 70s! Double… Live… Albums!” That got laughs from the boomers and blank looks from everyone else.

Talkin’ ‘bout my generation!

I came of age in the 1970s and life was GREAT! I had loads of fun growing up during that era in Kenmore, New York, which is part of the greater Buffalo area. Given my positive experiences, I’ll admit I am 100% BIASED! 😊

But I firmly believe that I benefited from a magical combination of Place, Time, and People. The people were a key component of my life then and through the present day. Over 50 years later, the friends I made in that era are still my closest friends today. We lived our lives playing outdoors and working. I had my first job at age 13 when my friend Greg found employment painting houses and passed his Courier Express newspaper delivery route to me. I worked continually from then until retirement this year. (‘Retirement’ means I get to write all the time!)

Phone and Social Media use are hot topics these days. It’s generally agreed that generations coming of age with smart phones and the internet spend an inordinate amount of solitary time in front of screens and precious little face-to-face with friends. My friends and I spent hours each day with each other! We all worked jobs, even while still in high school. And we worked at several of these jobs together.

Thanks for the memories… again, and again, and AGAIN!

I’m far from alone in my sentiments about life in 1970s Kenmore, New York. The posts I see on multiple active Facebook groups demonstrate a widespread warmth for that era in Kenmore, Tonawanda, and Buffalo in general.

All it takes is a Scirri’s Pizza post on the ‘Growing Up in Kenmore, NY’ group and the Comments will be flooded with, “Best pizza ever!”. “I loved their lasagna!” “My brother learned how to cook working at Scirri’s!” And if someone posts about Scirri’s again the next week people will merrily pile in with the Comments all over again. And that’s just one example.

The ‘Former Buffalo Restaurants & Bars’ group is a lively one, with joyously endless posts about restaurants and bars from the recent and distant past. The posts often include pictures of the establishments, menus, matchbooks, and other memorabilia. The Comments with reader memories are often extensive and always heartfelt.

Perhaps most revealing is the ‘Buffalo Expatriates’ group. People who haven’t lived in the area, some gone for decades, post fond memories of growing up in Buffalo.

And there are more such groups. The desire to share and discuss memories of the past in the Buffalo area is palpable.

I had to tell my story

The memories my friends and I endlessly share, and the never tiring of memories I observed on the Facebook groups inspired me to tell my own story. After two years of writing, my memoir was published on September 15, 2024. The title: Putt-Putt Abuse: And Other Zany Tales of Growing Up in 1970s Kenmore, New York.

Writing the book was incredibly fun and rewarding. A critical component was drawing my friends into the process. As an experiment, once I got to a certain point, I sent a draft to one of my friends. He surprised me by responding by email with a detailed list of feedback, including elaboration, corrections, and reminding me of things I had completely forgotten about.

That’s when I knew I had to repeat the exercise with the rest of the gang. Everyone dove in enthusiastically! With each update I sent the new draft to the next friend. It was funny how each chose to respond. A couple would send me text messages as thoughts occurred to them while reading. Others would call me periodically as they read, and I would record their feedback.

This resulted in quotes by all my friends throughout the book. It means so much to me that there ended up being a collaborative element to the final narrative.

People love it!

My goal with the book was to strike a balance. I was transparent about all our juvenile, moronic, drunken behavior, while telling the story with the hindsight of guys now in our 60s. My hope for the reader is that people will laugh themselves silly and/or be wistfully nostalgic, recognizing at least some of their own experiences of that era in ours.

I don’t think our experiences were dramatically different from many of our Kenmore contemporaries. I just happened to organize and articulate our story in a book.

I’m writing this just over two weeks after publication and initial reader feedback has been exactly as I’d hoped. Here are a couple examples:

Are you curious?

The book is available in paperback and eBook editions from Amazon. Click the logo to purchase. If you’re in the Buffalo area, Talking Leaves bookstore in Elmwood Village has the paperback in their online store. Click their logo for in-store pickup or mailing.

I was interviewed by a reporter from the Ken-Ton Bee for an article that appeared in their edition published September 25, 2024.

If you read the book, I would LOVE to hear from you! Just click the Contact link on the menu above.