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Jessica Keltz

An attorney and former journalist, Jessica Keltz works as Downtown Living Coordinator at Buffalo Place Inc. She grew up in Bradford, Pa. but now makes her home in the Klienhans neighborhood on Buffalo’s West Side.

My favorite activities include

I love Buffalo's strong ethnic heritage -- from Juneteenth to Dyngus Day to the St. Patrick's Day parade to the Hellenic Festival at the Greek Orthodox church, there's always a chance to sample someone else's culture and cuisine. Hitting up festival after festival has definitely become one of my Buffalo pastimes. I also love to explore the neighborhoods here. If anyone needs some Polish-language supermarket tabloids, huge bottles of Thai fish sauce, or the best prices on imported cheese, just ask me, because I've stumbled upon them in my travels.

5 Things I love about Buffalo

1. The built environment: from simple 3-bedroom houses to mansions to parks to vacant industrial buildings to office buildings, so much of the way this city looks is simply breathtaking.
2. My ability, as a young working person, to own a piece of it: Despite a mountain of student loan debt and the salary that comes with a non-traditional legal career, I’ll have a down payment on a historic home saved up before I turn 30. In my neighborhood, there are still plenty of bargains available for less than $100,000 – at least for now.
3. The old Central Terminal on the East Side. Whatever event is hosted in this hauntingly beautiful vacant old relic, go, just to get inside. You won't be disappointed.
4. Summer patio season and the way people here do not waste a beautiful day
5. Bars close at 4 a.m.!! This is probably not good for my health, but hey, the smoking ban helps a lot in that regard.

My favorite local hidden treasures you shouldn’t miss

Rust Belt books on Allen Street: great used books at great prices (not the picked-over leavings you get in many college towns) plus a wonderful selection of magazines and 'zines too. Rust Belt’s back room also plays host to locally written performances and plays. It’s everything the used bookstore in an artsy neighborhood should be, but even better thanks to Buffalo's unpretentious charm. Guercio's: This isn't hidden from many Buffalo natives, but transplants or visitors might not hear about it right away. It's an old-school Italian market in a old-school formerly Italian neighborhood that now teems with immigrants from around the globe. You'll see African women in traditional dress picking out produce next to Elmwood Village yuppies and Puerto Rican families, all out on the sidewalk - a little slice of Queens. Also it's very inexpensive.

My perfect day spent in the Buffalo-area

On Saturdays, I like to get up late then “make my rounds” – grab my dry cleaning from Eco-Friendly Cleaners on Elmwood Avenue, stroll on to Café 59 for some coffee or lunch, pop into the Allen Street Dress Shop to socialize with the shopgirl, maybe say hi to my stylist at East End Salon. Later I’ll walk to the TOPS on Niagara Street for groceries (who says you need a car to live in Buffalo?), and in the evening have dinner at India Gate with my significant other. At night it’s time to meet friends for a glass of wine at Allen Street Hardware, watch a Sabres game from a Staples of Allentown barstool, or see an indie rock show at Nietzche’s or Mohawk Pace. What was I saying about not leaving my neighborhood for weeks at a time? I guess downtown Buffalo has everything but mattar paneer.