It was a blisteringly hot day, and I had decided to go downtown. Niagara Falls was particularly misty, and it was an all-around pleasant sort of day.

Looking for a bathroom, I decided to stop into the Niagara Falls Culinary Institute. I had never actually been in the building, even though it took up one-third of the former Rainbow Centre, which I have a cult-like devotion to.

I walked into the air-conditioned wonder as the various scents of food drifted through the air. The building was actually quite nice. I continued to walk through the institute, I turned the corner to the elevator…

…and my jaw hit the floor.

It was the original Rainbow Centre elevator. It was the 1982, chrome and glass, everything under the rainbow one block from the Falls elevator.

I stood in silent awe for a solid five minutes. I didn’t move. I couldn’t move. History locked me in place.

Of course, some things have changed. The fountain is gone: a glass encasement surrounding the bottom of the elevator.

An addition I love is the Tron striping along either side. It has that Niagara 2042 vibe to it.

I literally rode the thing up and down for no reason other than to feel the 80s, and left the site on a nostalgia high for an era I can’t even remember.

It was priceless.

-Sheepie ❤