Recreation
Parks
Visit a park downtown and you're bound to run into a softball game, an ultimate Frisbee match, or a flag football game. Here are some parks you're bound to enjoy:
- Highland Park - Not just for lilacs! Highland Park is accessible from several roads downtown, there's plenty of benches to relax and enjoy the weather, and you can catch a glimpse of the highland bowl.
- Cobbs Hill Park - One of the most popular parks downtown, Cobbs Hill is home to the city reservoir, tennis courts, baseball fields, and one of the best views of the city you can find.
- Genesee Valley Park - Visitors to this park enjoy hiking the many trails, renting out gazebos for parties and events, more baseball fields, and a community pool!
- Genesee Riverway Trail - Not really a park, but a gorgeous paved path that goes right along the river. Perfect scenery for bike riding, jogging, or walking.
- Manhattan Square Park - Truly an urban park. There's not much grass here, but what you do find is quite unique. This park is home to a great playground, a skate park, an old amphitheatre, and a reflection pool that's frozen in the winter for use as an outdoor ice skating rink!
- Seneca Park Zoo - Again, not really a park, but who doesn't love a zoo? Elephants, lions, tigers, monkeys, polar bears, penguins, they're all there. Make sure you smile at the otters, they love it.
Film
Rochester loves film. Especially foreign, American independent, and old films. Here's where you can expand your scope of cinema:
- The Little Theatre - Rochester's premier American independent and foreign film theatre, The Little has been on East Avenue in downtown Rochester since 1929. With 5 screens, there's always something for everyone. This is a theatre you must visit, especially during Oscar season.
- The Cinema - A single screen theatre, The Cinema is famous for their inexpensive prices, and double features. Nowhere else can you find a single movie ticket for these prices, let alone two!
- The Dryden Theatre - At the George Eastman International Museum of Photography and Film, the Dryden Theatre shows classic films that they store right there in the museum, in their vault. Each month they come out with a schedule where they show a different film every night, usually incorporating some kind of theme. Here, you'll see films you won't see anywhere else.
Landmarks
If you're one for history, Rochester has it in spades. Here are some of the historic landmarks and sites you can see in Rochester.
- High Falls - Historic High Falls is just gorgeous. Old Rochester still lives here; you almost expect to see a horse-drawn carriage when you're there. Walk the bridge and look at the falls, then stop in some of the local shops on the cobblestone and brick streets.
- Mt. Hope Cemetery - Resting place of famous Americans like Frederick Douglass and Susan B. Anthony, Mt. Hope Cemetery is one of the oldest in the country. Open daily, the cemetery is available to visit whenever you'd like. Or you can go on one of their guided walking tours, like the ghost tour in the fall.
- The Genesee River - You might say, hey, it's just a river. And well that may be true, did you know that The Genesee River is one of only two rivers in the entire world that flows south to north. The other? The Nile.
- Frederick Douglass-Susan B. Anthony Memorial Bridge - Known fondly as the Freddie-Sue Bridge, this is the largest bridge in Rochester. It takes Interstate 490 east and west over the Genesee River.
- The Wings of Progress - Four aluminum wings on top of the Times Square Building give the Rochester skyline it's most distinctive feature. Fun fact: the cornerstone of this building was laid on "Black Tuesday", the day the stock market crashed in 1929.
- East Avenue - Mansions line this street up and down, remnants from the early 20th Century. Today, they're filled with apartments, but can you imagine them as single family homes?
