What’s the true story behind the “buffalo” wing, and why do Buffalonians refuse to call it that? Where is the nature preserve that was once an outlaw colony? Which obscure shop on the city’s East Side produces hats for Hollywood? Find the answers to these questions and many more in Secret Buffalo, a guide to the mysteries, surprises, and incredible stories of this Gilded Age hub. Now known for its architecture, food, and natural beauty, Buffalo’s history hides more than a few gems to astound visitors and locals alike. Learn about an early motion picture theater, the first woman to run for US president, the first Olmsted-designed park system, and more. Discover Buffalo’s hidden public art, travel the Underground Railroad, and make a bucket list of hidden parks to enjoy. It’s all here, and with local author Elizabeth Licata’s lifetime of exploration to guide you, you’ll be well on your way through the weird and wonderful sides of the Queen City. Uncover the secrets of a city you thought you knew.

Buffalo's rich architectural and planning heritage has attracted the attention of several prominent historians, whose work here is accompanied by over 250 illustrations and photographs. For its size, the city of Buffalo, New York, possesses a remarkable number and variety of architectural masterpieces from the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries: Adler and Sullivan's Prudential building, H. H. Richardson's massive Buffalo State Hospital, Richard Upjohn's Sr. Paul's Episcopal Cathedral, five prairie houses by Frank Lloyd Wright, and building by Daniel Burnham, Albert Kahn, and the firms of McKim, Mead, and White, and Lockwood, Green and Company, among others. These structures by prominent "outsiders" served to spur the efforts of local architects, builders, and craftsmen, and all of them built within the context of the city-wide park and parkway system designed by Frederick Law Olmsted. In addition, the city and its environs exhibit representative works by more recent architects, among them Eero and Eliel Saarinen, Walther Gropius, Marcel Breuer, Paul Rudloph, Minoru Yamasaki, and the firm of Skidmore, Owings, and Merrill. Buffalo's rich architectural and planning heritage has attracted the attention of several prominent historians, capable of the challenge of evaluating its significance. Reyner Banham is one of the world's leading authorities on the theory and practice of architecture, and he has written extensively on design in the industrial age (and Buffalo's innovative manufacturing plants and grain elevators are important exemplars of such design). Charles Beveridge, whose essay covers the park and parkway system, is editor of the Olmsted papers at The American University. And Henry Russell Hitchcock is the dean of American architectural historians, and the organizer of a 1940 exhibition on Buffalo's built environment. Their essays are followed by seven sections that delineate the city's neighborhoods, each provided with a map, neighborhood history, and a full complement of photographs with descriptive building captions. An eighth section, "Lost Buffalo," describes demolished buildings, chief among them Wright's great Larkin administration building, while the remaining sections venture out of town, exploring Erie and Niagara Counties, other parts of Western New York, and southern Ontario.

How did Omaha get its nickname, “The Gateway to the West” and where can you gawk at the footsteps of the first human to walk in space? Just scratch the surface of a city best known for Warren Buffett, college baseball, and a great zoo and find far more than meets the eye. And Secret Omaha: A Guide to the Weird, Wonderful, and Obscure is just the book you’ll need to uncover all the stories of Nebraska’s lone metropolis. Omaha rises up out of the low broken bluffs along the west bank of the Missouri River and sprawls west across what was once the prairie grasslands of the Great Plains. The buffalo wallows have been replaced by a more urban mix of grit and gentrification, with tree-lined avenues, boulevards, and varied communities that hold on to their heritage for generations. There’s a giant fork in Little Italy and stories told in stone around what was the world’s largest livestock market. There’s an old blues song by Big Joe Williams about an Omaha intersection that’s now on the National Register, and Irish Nationalists erected a grand monument to the Fenian who invaded Canada twice. Anyone in Omaha can take a gander at Goose Hollow or visit a haven for herons, but now author and Omaha enthusiast Ryan Roenfeld takes you on your own behind-the-scenes tour of the Big O. With his book as your guide, you’ll discover a whole new side to the city that’s inspired him for years.

here do the tunnels under the Colorado State Capitol go and why were they dug there in the first place? What is the backstory behind Tom’s Baby, the largest piece of gold ever unearthed in Colorado? Denver may be known worldwide as the Mile High City, but its elevation is just one item on a long list of anomalies. In Secret Denver: A Guide to the Weird, Wonderful, and Obscure you’ll find many more quirks and mysteries to explore. Learn why Lakeside is one of the most historic amusement parks in the nation. Discover cemeteries repurposed as parks, streets once paved with radium, elves hiding in museum dioramas, and a seemingly endless parade of ghosts. Local journalists David Lewis and Eric Peterson tackle these conundrums and many others in the city they call home. With their combined experience traveling the trails less taken and the questions rarely asked, Secret Denver is bound to illuminate the city from an unexpected perspective.

Oklahoma City was called “A City Born Grown” after it went from a population of a handful at Oklahoma Depot to over 10,000 on its first day. Nobody seems to mention how the streets were laid crooked and took 80 years to fix by tearing up half of downtown and that two rival city governments aimed guns at one another until the Supreme Court sorted out who was in charge. And that was only its first six months! Secret Oklahoma City: A Guide to the Weird, Wonderful, and Obscure shares the places and stories that you won’t hear in History class, though you probably should! Learn about the Chinese Tunnels that housed hundreds of immigrant workers underground. Visit the Overholser Mansion and see if the lady of the house is still in, sixty years after her death! Gain new respect for animal heroes at the American Pigeon Museum. Find out what a giant milk bottle is doing on top of an old grocery store off 23rd. Speaking of groceries, did you know the grocery cart was invented on the south side of town? Or that the parking meter got its start in downtown Oklahoma City? Oklahoma farm kid-turned-professor Jeff Provine has spent more than a decade learning the lesserknown tales of OKC. Come with him on a tour of the unexpected side of Oklahoma City.

What happened in 1954 at the Chisca Hotel in downtown Memphis that sparked a worldwide musical phenomenon? How did an eccentric businessman living in a pink mansion invent the first self-service grocery store, forever changing the way Americans shop? Where did notorious gangster Machine Gun Kelly enjoy his final moments of freedom before spending life in prison? Uncover these stories and more tales from a soulful river city in Secret Memphis, a guide that takes you beyond the basics and into the deep waters of Memphis culture and history. As Memphis author Holly Whitfield leads you through the most surprising, intriguing, and marvelous locations in the city, you'll discover places you never knew existed and the unexpected stories behind familiar sites. From a glass-and-steel pyramid on the banks of the Mississippi River to a park populated by bison, from mounds built by Native Americans centuries ago to the birthplace of the Queen of Soul, Secret Memphis unearths this authentic, lively city's mysteries one by one.