[PRCo] Re: Pittsburgh---Then___And___Now

[Harold Geissenheimer]

Greetings
About the Braddock Ave shopping area.

This was a street for furniture stores.  The father in law of one of my
National Guard Sgts had a store here for decades.  Kalabus Furniture.
Old man was of Croation descent.  Mostly Croation customers for many
generations..  Good man, good furniture.  He sold me mine in 1965...I still
have most of it. 

In the 1968's riots, he sat in the store window with a rifle daring an 
attack.
He was in the Austrian army in World War I.

He was tough, so tough that his son went to be an airline pilot
for US Air and Joe went to Westinghouse rather than
keep the furniture store.  Part of Pittsburgh's ethenic heritage.

The father of another Sgt was of slovak descent and lived to be
over 100.  Had 14 kids.  Andy was the last, his oldest brother
was 15 years older.  They both commanded the same National
Guard iunit 15 yers apart!  He lived on Carson street opp South
High School.  We once stopped a fan trip there and took the old man
for a ride.

Davd I McCahill owned the Harmony Short Line.  He never forgot
his poor heritage, funded the Bloomfield Boys Club.  His business
associate was Morris Glick, my old boss, from Squirrel Hill.

On the North Side there were many of german descent.  I attended
church with railfan Charles Dengler at a German Evangelican church on
Madison Street.

Room for every one.

Another thing that made Pgh some place special.

Now only freeways and redevelopment.

Derrick J Brashear wrote:

>On Wed, 24 Dec 2003, Jim Holland wrote:
>
>  
>
>>Good Morning!
>>
>>
>>	This book has been discussed here before.
>>
>>	Is there another book which shows specific buildings in
>>Pittsburgh  --  re, Isaly's, Dimling's, Stouffers, Kleins, etc.,
>>etc., etc.  --  or is this the one and same book?
>>    
>>
>
>There is a paperback by Brian Butko about Isaly's... a decent book, tells
>the story well of how they fell off the top. Some pictures of some of
>their storefronts around the area.
>
>Not Pittsburgh-specific: Isaly's was scattered about Ohio and PA.
>Certainly some along carlines, the one in Braddock which closed in 1987
>(according to the book) is still on Braddock Avenue... the roof has
>obviously caved in. But, nothing really about the car lines in the book.
>
>
>
>  
>