Page 7 - GC-May-June-2023

From cigars to hair care to a hotel, the Kirsts did it all

t’s that time of year again; time ladies the latest styles Al- Wanting to live clos- history with fire Al joined the
Ito get my summer buzzcut. fred secured the famous er to the lake that they Lakeview Volunteer Fire Depart-
Since I just get it all cut off I’m not Mr. Campbell from the enjoyed so much Al sold ment and to keep his business from
particular about which barber I go Master Hair Shop. the barbershop and in being over regulated became a
to, but if I was walking down Gene- GREGORY Campbell made a 1953 the Kirsts pur- member of the WNY Innkeepers
see Street in the early 1950s, Alfred WITUL name for himself with his chased the Highland Association. On Sept. 17, 1964 Al-
J. Kirst’s shop is the one I would Marcel Permanent Wave Lodge Hotel on Old fred J. Kirst passed away after suf-
step into. with ringlet ends, and the Lake Shore Road in Lake fering a heart attack at the hotel.
Born to Frank and Catherine Nuhairlife system to deal View, NY. In time the Highland Lodge Ho-
Kirst in the waning days of 1898, as a barber. In 1915, the same year of with alopecia. To generate Built in 1926 and tel would become the Hausbeck's
Alfred entered into a prominent his father’s death, Alfred added a another income stream opened July 31, the Bavarian Chalet. Owned and oper-
family of Buffalo’s German East barber pole to the front of the factory Kirst began teaching hair- Highland had 20 rooms ated by Al Hausbeck the Chalet was
Side. Frank Kirst, a Bavarian native, building at 862 Genesee. In the next cutting at the same time. for visitors, a stage for known for its fresh yellow pike,
was a well known cigar manufactur- year, his brother Herman joined him After a year, Campbell re- bands, a full kitchen and potato pancakes, sauerbraten,
er who was involved in Democratic in cutting hair while the rest of the turned to Master Hair bar, and a menu that spe- kassler rippchen, frikadelle, and a
politics in Buffalo’s 18th Ward. family ran the tobacco business. In Shop and Al went back to cialized in chicken and fine selection of beers. Surprisingly
Frank was able to greatly ex- time this company would become being a barber shop. steak dinners. The hotel both 862 and 855 Genesee are still
pand his tobacco empire due to his the E. P. Kirst & Sons, a regional For the next 20 years was hopping for the rest standing, with the brick building at
low labor cost, employing his 12 convenience store supplier and dis- Kirst would cut hair at 855 of the 20s and much of the corner of Genesee and Fox ap-
children to various parts of the oper- tributor that ruled the market for earning $35 a week and be the 1930s. In 1940 a fire pearing to be the better of the two.
ation. One of the middle children, almost a century. an active member of the gutted the two story Do you have an interesting piece
Alfred started working for his father In the late 1920s Al moved his Buffalo Barbers' Union. In the late building but Daniel Gold would re- of German American history you
as a stripper, someone who removes shop across the street to 855 Genesee 1930s Alfred began escorting Miss build the structure to its former glo- wish to know more about? Send a
the thick center stem of tobacco leaving his brother behind. As the Mildred M. Otto to the annual ball ry. photo and brief description to
leaf, resulting in two useable sides Great Depression set in, Kirst decid- of the Ismailia Temple of the With the popular vacation lodge, stainedglassbuffalo@ gmail.com or
of leaf. ed that he needed to expand his cli- Shrine and the Ad Club Dances. Alfred proved to be a skilled bar- mail the item to Gregory Witul c/o
A laborious and menial position, entele and rebranded the store to the The couple eventually became en- tender and competent manager. Buffalo Standard Printing, 3620
Al wanted more and began training Kirst Beauty Shoppe. To serve the gaged and were married by 1942. Knowing that the building had a Harlem Road, Cheektowaga, NY
14215 and it may appear here.
German places you should know about:

St. Gerard Church, Buffalo

by Martin Ederer selected popes along the nave above While the diocese promoted the
ev. William Schreck and the the side aisle arcades. The stained St. Gerard relocation project as an
Rprimarily German Catholics of glass was produced locally by Otto imaginative approach to cultural
the Bailey-Delavan section of Buf- Andrle. preservation, not all the local com-
falo organized St. Gerard in 1902. By the 1990s, St. Gerard was munity were impressed. Disassem-
The Gerhard Lang family (of brew- beginning to struggle. Parishioner bly, shipment and reassembly could
ery fame), which owned a sizable numbers began to dwindle in a be both technically unworkable and
amount of land in that part of the neighborhood that had become pre- economically prohibitive. And
city, donated land for the new dominantly non-Catholic. Growing there was still the issue of a local
church. The first Mass took place in crime problems in the area com- cultural heritage that would be lost
a grocery store at 1191 E. Delavan pounded the difficulties. to Western New York. Admittedly,
Ave. The store remained the By the 2000s, the Lyceum was few stepped up to press that issue for
church, school and rectory until a renovated into housing for single long.
combination church/school and rec- mothers. A soup kitchen served the As things turned out, complete
tory were built. growing indigent population in the relocation did not work out, but the
A trolley line down Kensington area. In the end, the diocesan Jour- windows and artworks of St. Gerard
Ave. to Bailey would have opened ney in Faith and Grace restructur- did get shipped to the Atlanta area
up the area to Buffalo’s rapid ing program in 2007 determined for Mary our Queen, which approx-
growth were it not for nearby Sca- that St. Gerard should close. The imated St. Gerard in a suburban
jaquada Creek, which frequently parish was to merge into Blessed setting.
flooded. Rev. Schreck helped to get Trinity. The shell of St. Gerard in Buffa-
the city to remedy the problem by But what would become of the lo has been repurposed as a mosque,
channeling the creek through under- building? St. Gerard was one of Masjid Al Salam.
ground conduits. Western New York’s finest ecclesi-
As a result, Scajaquada Creek The architectural firm of Sch- replica of the Basilica of St. Paul- astical structures. A solution even-
vanished from the East Side land- mill and Gould designed the new Outside-the-Walls in Rome, the tually surfaced that promised both
scape, only to resurface in Forest Indiana limestone church. The cor- new St. Gerard church was built demolition and preservation. Mary
Lawn Cemetery. After the creek nerstone was laid in September piecemeal. our Queen Catholic parish near At-
was “buried”, the area grew rapidly, 1911. Designed to be a miniature When the first level was com- lanta approached the Diocese of
requiring a bigger Catholic church. plete, a temporary roof capped it to Buffalo about the possibility of dis- January - February
make a usable church until more mantling St. Gerard Church, trans- March - April
funds came in. The incomplete porting it to Georgia, and May - June
July - August
Conductor with WNY ties church was dedicated in 1913. The reassembling it there. The parish September - October
there had been interested in design-
clerestory and the campanile were
releases new Mozart CD completed in 1931. In 1936, two ing a church very much like St. November - December
Gerard.
bells were added to the tower to
supplement one existing bell.
atthias Manasi, international- Meanwhile, Schreck had also
Mly acclaimed opera and sym- established an Italian mission – St.
phony conductor and citizen of Lawrence – in 1914 for the stone-
Berlin, who graced Buffalo with his workers settled near Pine Ridge
artistry as opera conductor has re- Cemetery. Schreck – who learned
leased his new CD with Štátny ko- a passable Italian – served that
morný orchester Žilina of Mozart’s community from St. Gerard, in part
Symphonies Nos. 34, 35 and 36 on to prevent Protestant inroads from
hänssler CLASSIC label - available the Italian Edison Street Baptist
worldwide for purchase and to Church among Catholic Italians in
stream on YouTube, Spotify, all the the area. Since Schreck was such a
usual platforms. good customer of Schmill &
Maestro Manasi said, “I am Gould, they drew up plans for a
thrilled about the release of my new komorný orchester Žilina (Slovak simple wooden church there free of
recording with the brilliant Štátny Sinfonietta) on April 7, 2023. Mo- charge.
zart's magnificent, riveting and St. Gerard was exquisitely dec-
sparkling Symphonies Nos. 34, 35 orated with granite columns donat-
and 36 are virtuosic and colorful ed by two parishes in Germany,
The views of columnists and
letter writers do not necessarily showcases for the orchestra and I and an Italian marble altar. Note-
reflect the views of the German am excited to present these master- worthy also were the apse mural of
works on my new recording with
Citizen. Letters to the editor are hänssler CLASSIC.” the Coronation of Mary, the Pietà
welcome at mail@the For details visit https://haenssler by Professor Heinrich Schmitt of
germancitizen.com or by mail: Canisius College as well as the
The German Citizen 3620 Har- profil.lnk.to/HC22078 stations of the cross, also by
lem Rd., Cheektowaga, NY Schmitt. Also faithfully repro-
duced from St. Paul-Outside-the-
14215.
Walls was a series of portraits of