Transit Apparel

I am always struck by the connections our city has to the world.Would you have guessed that a wild west showman, famous for scouting the wilderness, hunting buffalo, serving for two American wars, and putting on a successful traveling exposition that traveled the world, would have such a strong connection to #Rochester? Buffalo Bill Cody, born in Iowa in 1846, and by the turn of the century was arguably the most famous celebrity in the world, lived here in #RochesterNY. W...ith his wife Louisa Frederici and their children growing tired of traveling, he rented a house on New York Street from 1874-1876, and lived with his family between shows (they were neighbors to #SusanBAnthony). He had friends in the city, became fond of a particular watering hole on Water Street, and regularly performed at Cook’s Opera House on South Avenue.His children even went to school at School No. 2, where Mary Anthony was principal. Tragically in 1876, their young son Kit Carson Cody died of Scarlet Fever at age 6, leading the Cody family to leave Rochester and head back west.#BuffaloBill eventually created his most well-known show in 1883: Buffalo Bill's Wild West. An exposition of sorts, the show celebrated the west with cowboy demonstrations, Native American raids, sharpshooters, and frontier pageantry. Bill and Louisa’s third child, Orra Maude, died that same year at age 11, and the family traveled to the #FlowerCity to lay her to rest next to her brother.Their two remaining daughters married and moved further west to start new families. Arta Louise, after being married less than a month, suffered Appendicitis and died in 1904.Her body was transported back to Rochester to rest with her two siblings. Buffalo Bill would continue his #WildWest show until 1910, performing at Rochester Driving Park annually. It is said that Buffalo Bill would return every year to his children’s graves to lay Christmas wreathes. The Cody’s youngest, Irma Louise, is the only child not buried at @mounthopecemetery, and rests in the Wyoming town of Cody, founded by her father. Buffalo Bill Cody died in 1917, and is buried with Louisa on Lookout Mountain in Golden, Colorado.

Soaring six stories, @MsShaftway muralist Sarah Rutherford has partnered with the @WillowCenterNY for a powerful mural to share the experiences of three survivors of domestic abuse. What is poignant about the location, is what I like to call a building's "shadow." This architectural phenomena is the result of two building being built with a party wall, a shared part of construction. This is a very common technique in cities as it saves space and materials. Rowhouses and most... commercial corridors are examples. When one building is removed, all that is left is the outline of the previous building, the "shadow." What was before, why it was removed, and what did it look like are all questions I ask myself when I see them in the wild. The Times Square Building has the unique history of having it's cornerstone placed on Black Tuesday, Oct. 29th, 1929, the final nail in the Stock Market collapse and harbinger of the Great Depression. The 2nd image shows a plat map location of the GVT building, and it's former neighbor, the James Field Company. Stationery and branding can be seen on the 3rd and 4th image. They specialized in tents, awnings, flags, among other woven items. The 5th and 6th images show the JFC building, the fifth shows the previous occupant of the spot in which the Time Square Building now stands. What is strange about all of this, is the JFC building doesn't match the height or silhouette of the shadow left on the side of the Times Square Building. Coincidently, not only is this a further mystery for urbanists and history seekers, it furthers the traumatic and powerful experiences of domestic abuse survivors, as we don't always know what created the lasting effects we see, only that they are there. Whether by providence or luck, the choice of canvas is profound, for it's scale and backstory, and prominent location near Four Corners. And this says nothing of the successful composition, vivid color choices, and macro-illustration hand skills. This mural will be completed in the upcoming weeks as October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month, I look forward to seeing it unfold and understand better the story it will tell.

#Rochesterpublicmarket today until 2. See you there!

Gearing up for a pop-up shop at the City of Rochester Public Market tmrw 6-3. See you guys there!

PRE-ORDER: www.transitapparel.com//rochester-history-of-growth-map-pr #Rochester History Of Growth Map Print 18"x 24" 80# cover stock... Limited Edition From the ancient Algonkin, to the mysterious Mound Builders, to the land steward #Seneca nation, to escaped slaves and wild frontiersman like Captain Sunfish and Ebenezer Indian Allen, to enterprising land speculators Oliver Phelps and Nathaniel Gorham, to Revolutionary War veteran southerners Nathaniel Rochester, Charles Carroll, and William F. Fitzhugh, #RochesterNY has transformed itself over the centuries to become a diverse, storied, historic, and complex city by the river. And we owe everything to the #Genesee. The Genesee River, and her four rushing waterfalls, have been the draw of all white settlers, seeking to harness her power for economic gains. It is even recorded as the first act of a white settler: building a grist mill to process and refine grain which Ebenezer Allen completed, and through further development and growth, garnered us our most popular city nickname: The #FlourCity. The map below features four ages of our great city: Competition, 1790s-1817: Ten competing settlements Legitimization, at 1845: The Lion becomes The Flour City Industrialization, at 1915: The Flower blooms in industry Reinvention, at 2017: A new direction for our city Against an unforgiving landscape, we survived early epidemic and strife, ushered in unrelenting prosperity, weathered economic uncertainty, and we’re just getting started. ________________________________________ #HistoryHappenedHere #ThisIsRoc #IHeartRoc #ExploreRochester #CelebrateCityLiving #VisitRochester #585 #KnowYourHistory #FlowerCity #knowyourhistory #ArtPrint

PRE-ORDER https://www.transitapparel.com//pre-order-rochester-neighb #Rochester City Neighborhood Names Print... 18" x 24" 80lb #French cover stock Diving into the world of paper with a new print I've been working on. Inspired by the many conversations I've had with people over the years of doing what I do, I set out to stake a claim and formalize the neighborhoods of #RochesterNY, and give a little history on how their names came to be. The levels of passion and opinions people have on neighborhood names and borders has been awe-inspiring for me, and I wanted to be sure I was getting this right. The boundary map I feature is from the City Of Rochester, 2017, and I don't know of a more official source than that. Names and stories come from a variety of sources, from neighborly first hand accounts, to history books and maps going as far back as the mid 1800s. Pre-Order period ends April 18th, and will shift over to regular ordering and shipping times after pre-orders ship out. ________________________________________ #ExploreRochester #ExploreNY #ExploreUpstate #FlourCity #FlowerCity #Genesee #CraftyCommunity #ShopHandmade #Screenprint #ThisIsRoc #IHeartRoc #585 #MadeForRochester #ParkAve #CornHill #SouthWedge #Neighborhoods

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Sifting through #vinyl, and found this rare bird: In 1910, #Rochester commisioned an official songbook, a civic celebration of the city, serving as an official and permanent collection of official songs. This was the first attempt of its kind for any American city, and in Mayor Hiram Edgerton's words "encourages the 'Rochester Spirit,' and adds to the enthusiasm of our people for their own city." ... Songs are organized into four sections: songs of the #Genesee, songs of Rochester, patriotic and fraternal songs, and school/college songs. As you can see on the back of the sleeve, song names are almost instantly recognizable to any #Rochesterian, and quite specific to our little slice of paradise. In 1980, a group of local musicians got together to give the songbook its recording due, and put needle to vinyl. The songbook finally took form as an audible record of municipal pride and civic ambition. It's worth a second look if you ever come across this in a record store or thrift shop, a rare, and strange, bit of local history. ________________________________________ #RochesterNY #ThisIsRoc #Roc #585 #ExploreRochester #VisitRochester #VisitRoc #IHeartRoc #ILoveRoc #WhatsGoodInRochester #FlourCity #Kodak #SamPatch #RareAlbums #ExploreTheCity #ExploreUpstate #ILoveNY #ExploreNY #RareFinds @ Rochester, New York

Just finished the last show of 2019 on a hell of a high note, now shifting focus to life and family. I make a point not to post anything on holidays as I hope not to be staring at my phone at those times, and hope you won't either. So in honour of the spirit of giving this season bestows in us, my December post comes early. Tis the season for small miracles and big hearts: -Embankment Station of the London Tube- Just before Christmas 2012, staff at Embankment Tube station ...Continue reading

#RocHolidayVillage this weekend for the last show of the year. Find your favorite #Rochester shirts Friday 4-10, Saturday 11-10, and Sunday 11-6.

Watching the Netflix #TheMoviesThatMadeUs episode about #Ghostbusters, and I never realized the connection to Rochester: One of Dan Aykroyd's biggest influences for writing the Ghostbusters story was his and his family's interest in spiritualism. He specifically mentions the Fox Sisters, major celebrities in the movement. They were raised in a small village called Hydesville (present day Newark, NY), where they started hearing "rappings," interpreting them as messages from t...he dead. As their popularity grew, they moved to Rochester, where they continued holding séances and demonstrations of their communication skills, so far as performing in the great Corinthian Hall downtown, in front of a paying audience. Celebrities started visiting as well, legitimizing the skill of the sisters: James Fenimore Cooper, Sojourner Truth, and William Lloyd Garrison as examples. After an internal struggle and split amongst the sisters, their fame faded, and the movement passed on without them. Fascinating to see a pop culture phenomenon influenced by a former cultural phenomenon, and it so directly having to do with Rochester (although, sadly, Netflix and Aykroyd make no mention of Rochester, only New York). Now I don't want to see any of you on top of the Time Square Building, trying to summon Gozer!

Watching the 1947 Miracle On 34th St (this IS the season) and JUST realized theres a bit of Rochester in it: Right as Doris finishes adding her note to Susie's letter to Santa, she drops it in a Cutler mail chute, a #Rochester invention!

Land speculators and pioneers drawn to the #Genesee Valley shared a similar vision of prosperity, eyeing a unique natural resource, easily positioned for industrial potential: the #GeneseeRiver. More directly, they saw the might of the original four waterfalls, and quickly went about creating raceways and mills (even blasting away one of the waterfalls in the process). These mills fashioned lumber, iron, textiles, and other materials for commerce and export. Chief amongst tho...se exports, was flour. Cereal grains from all over the region made their way by ox, cart, barge, and barrel to #HighFalls for grinding into flour. The small city quickly gained an international reputation for it’s production, reaching even the tables of the English Royal Family, and gained the moniker: The #FlourCity. To recognize this historic prestige, the City Of Rochester commissioned a logo in 1970 to represent itself in official capacity, leading to one of the most recognizable symbols in the region. To recognize the history culture and pride of #Rochester, this featured design is an illustrated circle of life for cereal grains: harvested plants like barley wheat rye and millet were reaped and collected, the kernels were separated and transported to the mills, the waterwheel would convert the river’s kinetic energy, the gears and driveshaft would move the grist stone, and process that grain into flour for bread biscuits rolls pretzels and beer. Live on the site and in the flesh at the next art show! https://www.transitapparel.com/rochester/the-flour-city-logo

Got to sit down with The Urban Phoenix this weekend to talk about representing your city with apparel, and how it leads to feeling better about where you're from, and where your city is going. Have a listen!

I'd love to show the author around Rochester, as I'm not sure they've actually been here. I'll try not to be too warm and inviting though, wouldn't want to crack that hardened emotionless shell these new yorkers are so proud of!