[PRCo] Pittsburgh-Some Place Special
Harold Geissenheimer
transitmgr2 at earthlink.net
Sat Jan 18 01:06:33 EST 2003
Greetings
The group has had a lot of recent conversation about the
Pittsburgh downtown of the past. I agree with these comments.
Mark missed not only the days of full PCC operation but also the
period after World War II when the Renaisance was underway.
They were good days for Pittsburgh and Alleghency County.
I moved to Pittsburgh in Feb 1950 and went to Chicago's CTA in
March 1976. The Pittsburgh I moved to had about twice as many
citizens as now. Here are some comparisons with today.
- Downtown, there were five department stores. Also stores
in East Liberty and North Side.
- Downtown, there were five major movies (Plus a Burlesque
house on Forbes Ave) (Mark..what is this?)
- Gateway Center was just started. Mellon Sq was only a
dream. Parking garages just starting.
- There was no Civic Arena. Hockey was played in the Gardens
on Craig Street. The Civic Light Opera was outdoors at Pitt
Stadium.
- The Pirates and Steelers were in Oakland at Forbes Field.
- There were two major amusement parks, Kennywood and
West view. There was a smaller park out in White Oak.
School Picnics by trolley and bus covered the county.
- The County Agricultural Fair at South Park was a major
Labor Day event. PRC handled large crowds very well.
- There were major business and shopping districts thru out
the County. East Liberty-Penn & Highland, North Side-
Federal & East Ohio, Oakland-Forbes Ave, South Side-
Carson St, Squirrel Hill and Shadywide to name a few.
- Smaller districts in Lawrenceville, Bloomfield, Hazlewood,
East Ohio Street among others. Also on Homewood Ave,
Centre Ave and 5th Ave before the riots.
- Outside the city, McKeesport and Homestead were
major centers. Each community (like Dormont, Bellevue,
Avalon, McKees Rocks, etc) had such districts
- Penn & Highland and Federal & East Ohio Street were major
crossings of PRC trolley lines. (the streets went thru before
redevelopment). Later URA became a bad word.
- PRR trains used a major train shed where the present Amtrak
platforms are. PRR had a station in East Liberty which was even
used by Greyhound. B&O had a train shed off of Smithfield
Street. P&LE/B&O shared the station across the Mon River.
- PRR trains to St Louis used the Panhandle Bridge and the
track thru the West End, Carnegie, McDonald to Steubenville
and the west. B&O trains to the north went thru the hollow
behind the Carnegie Museum to their bridge about 32d street.
- The Greyhound Terminal was at Liberty & Grant where the
Federal Reserve is now. Trailways was first across Liberty Ave
at 10th Street and then moved to the new Union Bus Terminal
at Smithfield & Water Street. (A nice modern place, replaced
by Blue Cross). Harmony Short Line was at 10th & Penn.
The Greyhound Terminal sold PRC Interurban tickets.
- The Fort Pitt Hotel was a business man's hotel also at
10th & Penn. There was no Convention Center.
- The Hilton Hotel at Gateway Center was not yet built.
The Pittsburgher (now an office) was on Forbes across from
Kaufmans. The Henry Hotel was where Mellon Sq is.
The Roosevelt Hotel was at 6th & Penn (Now a senior
residence).
- A real Pittsburgh gem were the Isaly Dairy stores in many
neighborhoods. One of the recent photos showed one on
East Ohio Street. The main store was on the Blvd of the
Allies in Oakland. Many an evening out ended up with
ice cream here.
- Eat-n-park was yet to be established. An early one was
Dormont on West Liberty Ave. I lived on Glenmore Ave
just behind this restaurant.
- There was a theatre organ in the South Hills theatre on
West Liberty Ave in Dormont. (I believe that John Bagiensky
helped restore this). Dormont also had the Hollwood movie
Potomac and Mt Lebanon had the Dennis Theatre on West
Liberty.
- The first drive-in was on Rt 22-30 West in Moon Run,
Robison Twp. (Across from the Montour bus garage).
There was another drive-in on Spring Garden.
- There was no Fort Pitt Bridge or Tunnel. All traffic went
via the West End Circle. No Ft Duquesne Bridge either.
And no East Street or Beaver Ave roads. No Parkways.
- Street cars were every where: The old West End Bridge to
Carson Street, the Smithfield Street Bridge to the trolley
tunnel and to Carson Street, the 10th Street and old 22d Street
bridges to the South Side, the old Hazlewood Bridge to
West Homestead, the Homestead High Level Bridge to
Homestead, the old Rankin Bridge (which included a
traffic circle for trolleys), and bridges across the Alleghency
at 6th, 7th, 9th, 16th and 52d Streets. Quite a network.
- I believe there were still five inclines...Monongahela and
Duquesne still operate. The Castle Shannon, Mt Oliver and
17th street inclines are gone. Origoinally I believe there
were a total of 13 inclines including one to Troy Hill, now a
street. The Mon and the Duquesne were private companies.
PRC operated the Castle Shannon and Mt Oliver Inclines.
I am not sure about the 17th Street one. Autos and wagons
could be carried on the Castle Shannon one and I think on
17th Street. (Question to PTM-Arden, How many inclines
and how many PRC operated?)
- And the Breweries. Duquesne on the South Side (with sign),
Fort Pitt, Iron City and small German breweries on the NS.
- And the newspapers. Pgh Post Gazette (published at Grant
and the Blvd in what became a City building), The Pgh
Press (afternoon) in the present newspaper building and a
Hearst owned paper (I dont remembe the name or where
they were located). Tarentum, Mckeesport and Homestead
had daily papers.
- And on the radio. Rege Cordic started on WWSW, then
went to KDKA. KDKA had a unique early talk radio show
called Party Line with Ed & Wendy King. You could only
hear the Kings, not the other person.
- And on TV, only the Dumont Network station.
- And at the Universities...CMU had not yet merged CIT
and Mellon Institute.
- Steel Mills every where.
- A responsible government partnership between Mayor/Gov.
Lawrence and Richard King Mellon. Also a good county
goverment under Commissiond McClelland. Good Governors
of both parties without todays hate...Lawrence, Scranton,
Shaffer.
- PRC met in the downtown YMCA on Wood Street and then
across the street at the YWCA.
- The PRC Second Ave barn is now a police station. The
Ingram barn is now a church. And the Manchester and
West View barns are now part of PAT. The Harmony
Short Line garage at 2900 Liberty Ave is now a commercial
property and the Harmony (ex West Penn car barn) in
Tarentum is a tire dealer.
- There were National Guard Armories in East Liberty (Hunt),
Oakland (Logan-now closed, a Uof Pgh building there now)
and the Negro Penn Ave Armory in Oakland-now closed.
Pitt built the Guard a new Armory on Crane Ave, Beechview
in exchange,
- The best trolley rides in my opinion were:
- Rt 56 to McKeesport
- South Hills routes to Overbrook, Drake, Library
and before that the interurbans to Charleroi and
Washington
- Fineview on the NS and West View
- Noblestown Road and the Carnegie route
in the West End.
- Rt 87 Ardmore to East Pittsburgh
and I always liked the high speed street operation on
West Carson and East Ohio Streets.
This a a good place to stop these historical memories. Mark
will enjoy tracing some of these events and places. They were
what Pittsburgh was all about.
Lets hear from each of you on your memories. Pittsburgh
was "Some Place Special". Nice people lived there and many
are still friends.
Harold Geissenheimer
1-973 292 2916
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