<– Day 34 – Thurs. June 6th: Carousels and Awards | Trip Overview | Day 36 – Sat. June 8th: Escape to the Movies –>

Forrest Gump was right: Life is like a box of chocolates; you never know what you’re gonna get. When I began this trip I never expected to be on the front page of a town’s newspaper. As I mentioned yesterday, I feel fortunate it was a slow news day! I did note there were a few quotes attributed to me worded in a way that I’d never do, but that’s the good/bad of being interviewed.

On Friday morning Ann and I were scheduled to visit the Wurlitzer Building in North Tonawanda and enjoy a brief tour by the president of the company that owns and operates it. The building is huge (I can’t remember the exact size), but at one point it employed over 3000 people. You can read a fuller history of the Wurlitzer Company in North Tonawanda from 1892 to 1942 here.

While many square feet have been turned into office space that’s leased to companies, thousands of square feet remain empty, awaiting a reason to transform back into something leasable.

Below are a few photos:

This is only part 1/5 (?) of the Wurlitzer building in North Tonawanda, NY. It’s the entrance.

Here is organ restoration specialist Jeff Weiler and I in front of the entrance. Ann and I plan to meet up with Jeff and see his restoration shop in Chicago during our trip back home.

This is President of The Wurlitzer Building Tom Austen, who showed us around a portion of the building.

This is one wing of the 3rd floor that is empty (except for some file storage).

This third story wing was where some of the theatre organs were built.

Another empty wing of the third floor. This is only a part of the factory. Can I say ‘huge’ too many times?

A reader named John suggested that many some people might not have heard the different types of organs Wurlitzer made. So, here are a couple links to videos of a carousel band organ and a theatre organ.

Following our tour of the building, we tried a local seafood shack at Old Man River. It had some good atmosphere and good food.

After lunch, we met up with a new reader named TJ. He operates TJ Hirsch Enterprises, a company that specializes in auto storage.

A long time car enthusiast, TJ started the company by storing just a few cars in a small warehouse space. Over the last few years he has successfully expanded beyond storage to detailing, appraisals, garage construction and more. As you can see from the cars TJ houses, there are many customers who have a great deal of confidence in his ability to care for premium vehicles. Here are a few of the cars he stores at his place in Getzville, NY:

One thing TJ didn’t know a lot about was vintage jeeps. After doing research for a customer, he found eWillys and asked me to drop by and take a closer look at the jeep he had for sale. It’s one of those pleasant surprises where the quality of the build matches the pictures which were posted. It’s a slightly modified 2A that looks well built. For the right person it should make a good jeep.

Thanks to TJ for showing us around and explaining what he does. It’s not a bad day when you get to hang around with these beautiful cars (and a jeep).

Saturday we will be part of a house tour in North Tonawanda. There likely won’t be much to report from that. On Sunday we’d been scheduled to see a concert, but that felt through. My wife wants to  go to Canada for the day to locate some Canadian Maple Syrup and get some pictures of Niagara from that side of North America. It’s best that she get to do something she wants to do. I hope they let us back into the US!

<– Day 34 – Thurs. June 6th: Carousels and Awards | Trip Overview | Day 36 – Sat. June 8th: Escape to the Movies –>