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You asked for it and the Reporter delivers. Due to overwhelming e-mail response to the first round of Niagara Falls trivia questions, we're back with another sampling of Cataract City brainteasers.
Many businesses and people have come and gone over the years in Niagara Falls. Since the last great heyday of the 1960s and '70s, numerous stores that helped make up the cultural landscape of Niagara Falls have closed their doors for good. How well do you recall these businesses and people?
Take the following quiz of 30 questions (10 each in the categories of easy, medium and difficult) to see how well you remember the way we used to be. Score one point for each correct answer.
EASY
1. This department store on Military Road has closed its doors for good -- twice! Name it for your first point.
2. These members of the British royal family took a ride on the Maid of the Mist in 1986. Can you name them?
3. What was the name of the two-screen theater that opened up on Military Road in the 1970s with the intent of screening only G-rated movies? Hint: Any Parisian will know the answer to this one.
4. This Main Street lock and key store was Niagara Falls' main outlet for Schwinn bicycles for decades. Name it.
5. What was the name of the nightclub, located inside Falls Street Station, that was home to three separate bars -- a sports bar, a dance club and a champagne bar?
6. The Niagara Falls Reporter is located inside an office building on Third and Niagara streets. When the building was dedicated in the early 1970s, it was home to a ceramics museum. What was the name of the building at that time?
7. A building on the corner of Cleveland Avenue and Main Street once housed both an Arby's and an Arthur Treacher's Fish and Chips. Do you know the last food business to open up shop at this location?
8. The Three Sisters Islands are named for what early Niagara Falls businessman?
9. This eating and drinking establishment was a fixture for years at the corner of Cleveland Avenue and Whirlpool Street. Its name is a reference to the code name for taverns during Prohibition. Do you know it for your next point?
10. Back in the days before faux furs and paint-splashing protests, what Niagara Falls furrier called the Main Street business district home?
MEDIUM
11. Name the grocery store that was open for business from the 1950s through the early 1970s at the current site of the Prime Outlets Mall.
12. What beauty pageant held its nationally televised competition, hosted by Bob Barker, in the Niagara Falls International Convention Center in the mid-1970s?
13. Name the pub on the corner of Willow Avenue and Main Street that was famous for its foliage during the 1970s and 80s.
14. What twirling ride at Fantasy Island theme park was as well known for making people vomit as it was for giving riders a thrill?
15. Can you name the Niagara Falls businessman who starred in a number of commercials in the 1970s for his business, Reed's Jewelers? In the spots, he was always shown with a jeweler's glass, looking intently at a sparkling diamond.
16. What national seafood chain used to do business out of the Main Street building that now houses Kentucky Fried Chicken?
17. Name the last minor league baseball team to play its games at Sal Maglie stadium on Hyde Park Boulevard.
18. Name the movie starring the late John Candy that filmmaker Michael Moore shot in Niagara Falls in 1993.
19. What was the name of the bar on North Avenue just off Main Street that was a favorite hangout for Niagara University students in the 1970s and 80s?
20. This submarine shop, famous for its steak-and-cheese bombers, had two different incarnations in Niagara Falls, the last being on Pine Avenue near 15th Street. Can you name it?
DIFFICULT
21. Can you name the two quasi-celebrities that proposed a theme park for Niagara Falls, Ontario that would feature a floating building?
22. What was the name of the luncheonette on 18th Street and Linwood Avenue that closed its doors in the mid-1990s after decades of service to the North End community?
23. For what former Adelphia Cable television host are the tennis courts at Hyde Park named?
24. Staying with tennis, the Industrial Tennis League -- which has operated for decades at the Hyde Park courts -- is named for what deceased Niagara Falls resident?
25. The Buffalo Bisons played most of their home games during the 1967-69 seasons at Hyde Park rather than at their War Memorial home park. Why was this switch made?
26. What do the following Niagara Falls streets have in common: Cleveland Avenue, 17th Street, Portage Road, 22nd Street, 39th Street and Center Avenue?
27. This North End tavern housed many local and national music acts during its heyday. Folk legend Dave Van Ronk played there in the mid-1980s. Can you name it?
28. Complete this phrase that was the motto of a Buffalo Avenue pizzeria: "You want your pizza plain, you want your pizza fancy. Then get your pizza from ..."
29. Of what school was former Niagara Falls Mayor Michael C. O'Laughlin principal before becoming mayor?
30. If you've been paying close attention to the Reporter, this last question won't be difficult for you at all. Senior Editor Rebecca Day mentioned in a column in the one-year anniversary issue of the paper what the original name of the Niagara Falls Reporter was going to be. Can you name it for your final point?
ANSWERS
1. Ames
2. Princess Diana and sons Prince William and Prince Harry
3. Jerry Lewis Cinema
4. Beeton's
5. Pleasuredome
6. Carborundum Building
7. Chubb's
8. Parkhurst Whitney
9. The Speakeasy
10. Feldman Furs
11. Acme
12. Miss USA
13. The Treehouse
14. Devil's Hole
15. Arnold Zimmer
16. H. Salt Fish and Chips
17. Mallards
18. "Canadian Bacon"
19. McQ's
20. Peg's
21. Maharishi Mahesh Yogi and Magician Doug Henning
22. J and J's
23. Bob Laurie
24. Les Nassoiy
25. Due to civil unrest on Buffalo's east side, War Memorial stadium was deemed unsafe for fans to come out and support the Bisons
26. They all were home to schools, now closed, in the Niagara Falls district
27. The Ontario House or OH
28. Joe Ganci
29. North Junior High School
30. The Niagara Falls Insider
Scoring Table
27-30 pts. You are a dyed-in-the-wool Niagaran. Congratulations.
20-26 pts. You know your stuff. Way to go.
15-19 pts. You win the 10th cigarette prize -- middle of the pack.
9-14 pts. You must have lost your long-term memory after drinking some bad Love Canal water.
0-8 pts. You're not from 'round these here parts, now are you?
| Niagara Falls Reporter | www.niagarafallsreporter.com | April 9 2002 |