[PRCo] Re: Pittsburgh-Some Place Special

[Derrick J Brashear]

> -     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.

Rainbow Gardens had been served by the West Penn until that line was
abandoned. The park lasted until PennDOT condemned it for a highway to
parallel route 48 that never happened. There's a shopping center there
now, and some land along route 48 a bit south which is still Commonwealth
property. The shopping center happened in my memory.

>         platforms are.  PRR had a station in East Liberty which was even
>         used by Greyhound.  B&O had a train shed off of Smithfield

And one in Wilkinsburg, which is still there, empty, and which proposals
come and go to fill.

> -       PRR trains to St Louis used the Panhandle Bridge and the
>         track thru the West End, Carnegie, McDonald to Steubenville
>         and the west.  

Some of this is the West Busway now; A bit beyond Carnegie, it's a bike
trail which looks like it's being extended toward another at the Weirton
end.

> -       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.

Fred's reply was:
> But Eat 'n Park was there before you came to
> the city in 1950 ... the first one dates to the late 1940s and I think
> is still open ... on the north side of old route 22 out in Monroeville. 

And I should point out that E+P is gone. The one at Monroeville Boulevard
and Stroschein Road is newer, and still there. That one has been replaced
by "Park Classic Diner", which is the E+P parent company's venture into
"diner-themed" food. Another stands on the site of the old E+P on route 30
in the Lincoln Heights part of Jeannette. Monroeville Boulevard,
incidentally, was Northern Pike before the current William Penn Highway
severed the alignment at the intersection where the original E+P was.

> -       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 Denis is still there. I saw a movie there a few weeks ago.

> -       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.

The Squirrel Hill tunnel opened in 1951. The contracts for the Fort Pitt
tunnel weren't let until 1954. The Parkway East ended at Bates Street for
a while before the portion along Second Avenue to connect with the reused
Water Street Bypass and the new lanes where the B&O station at Smithfield
was opened.

>         Homestead, the old Rankin Bridge (which  included a
>         traffic circle for trolleys), and bridges across the Alleghency

The new Rankin Bridge, with the partial interchange with trolley tracks in
the ramps, opened in 1951.

> -       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.

Rialto Street was always a Street, and the incline to Troy Hill was
just slightly west of there. There's no street where it was.

>         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?)

http://trfn.clpgh.org/incline/pghchron.htm claims 19, 3 of which were coal
inclines. 
http://web.archive.org/web/19990508050741/http://www.sgi.net/marbles/may96/incl2.html
lists 15, including none of the coal inclines.

> -       And the Breweries.  Duquesne on the South Side (with sign),
>          Fort Pitt, Iron City and small German breweries on the NS.

One is the old Eberhard and Ober Brewery, now the Penn Brewery restaurant.
The old Duquesne Brewery building has an artists' collective in it. The
newer building, with the curved front facing the railroad branch, and with
the clock on it, is being converted to apartments. 

> -       And on TV, only the Dumont Network station.

Clarke Ingram, a well-known Pittsburgh radio personality, has done a web
site on the history of the DuMont network:
http://members.aol.com/cingram/television/dumont.htm

You might be amused to know that after DuMont largely folded the remaining
assets became MetroMedia, whose broadcast assets were later purchased by
Rupert Murdoch as the genesis of his new Fox network.

Jumping back to what Fred said:
> But hurry ... it appears that VCR
> tapes are rapidly going the way of eight-track tapes.       

Best Buy has the "CyberHome" DVD player for about $70 this weekend,
comparable to VCR pricing. DVD picture quality is better, DVDs last longer
under heavy viewing, and DVDs are cheaper to make in any quantity (with
tapes, you *must* essentially record every one. With a DVD, you have a
blank you press, pour resin over, and let it dry.)

DVD recorders that you'd use to record TV exist, but not at a price level
that will cause you to run out and buy one. I probably will soon anyhow.