[PRCo] Re: Pittsburgh-Some Place Special

[Dennis F. Cramer]

    I am younger than most on this list (born 1953 in McKeesport) and left
that area when I was 9, but I do remember quite a bit of what Harold
describes.  We lived in Liberty Boro, outside of McKeesport, and went into
town regularly.  One vivid incident is when my older brother got his shoe
caught in the rails where PRCo crossed the B&O with a train coming towards
him.  There was not much left of the shoe after my mother frantically untied
it to free him.  I guess that is where I got my early fascination with
streetcars and railroads.
    My father used to coal the Capitol Limited in Versailles, but never took
a picture.  How sad.  My parents did know enough to take my brother and I on
a streetcar ride (wish I could remember where) because they told us we were
going to move and the streetcars were not going to be around forever.
    My paternal grandmother lived on Taylor Avenue in the Northside and we
used to walk down to West Park to play.  Trolleys everywhere and the PRR in
that great big ditch!  It is amazing that two little boys could wander most
of the North Side and be safe.
    People tend to forget what holiday shopping was like prior to the malls.
Some big cities still have the feel.  Chicago and the Loop in December is
magical.  My students just performed "Silver Bells" in their winter concert.
It was written in the early 50's and I tried to explain to them what it used
to be like.  "City sidewalks, busy sidewalks dressed in holiday style.  In
the air there's a feeling of Christmas."  I do not get the same feeling in
malls.
    Movie theaters have changed also.  Going to the movies in McKeesport was
an event.  Seeing Ben Hur on that huge screen was breathtaking.  Today's
movie theaters could always be recycled as truck repair garages.  Cement
blocks and narrow rooms.
    Thank you Harold (and others) for the wonderful trip to the past.

Dennis F. Cramer--Teacher-Trombonist-Historian-Conductor
www.geocities.com/armconband