[PRCo] Re: 4th of July

[Jim Holland]

Good Morning!

> Harold Geissenheimer wrote:

> Independence Day/the 4th of July is a good day to
> be proud as an American.

> This reminded me of my first 4th in the Pgh area back
> in 1950.  I arrived from New York in Feb and
> was living in Dormont.

> Lets begin that Dormont was one of many streetcar
> boroughs.    Dormont was served by the 38 on West Liberty
> Ave and the 42 on Broadway.......
> Dormont was a pure streetcar borough. 
> No Commuter trains or mills.

> Fireworks then were very local.    There was no Point Park.
> Dormont's fire works were at the high school football
> field and came after a day at the neaby pool and a picnic
> in the park.

	Fireworks were staged in the swimming pool parking lot with
backup on the hill opposite the pool.    A  *Huge*  Public
Park bordered the swimming pool, Dormont Avenue, and ran up to
the High School and its  *Huge*  *Ball__Park!*
	The Dormont Swimming Pool itself was extremely large and very
well maintained in addition to being very popular.    Bought a
pass there every summer.    I believe the pool is still there.
	Inside the Park were the usual sand boxes and swings in
addition to an open air Dance pavilion  --  these located just
below the High School field.    This left one huge area for
picnics.
	The Whole Flam-Damly would come to the park for the fireworks
and spread blankets on the hillside above the swimming pool
parking lot.    Yes, trees sometimes blocked the view but for
a child, it was fantabulous!
	But the 4th was much more than this.    Dormont Park was
absolutely filled with concessions, rides, and games for the
Holiday.    Tickets were sold in advance to obtain Grab Bags
for the kids at the High School while the same allow
participation in competitive sports and games which were held
in the High School Ball Park.    A game late in the day
featuring the Dormont Baseball players against another borough
were not uncommon until the mid-1950s.
	Meadow Gold Milk gave away free Buttermilk and since we were
just 2-blocks from the park, I was traipsing back and forth
all day getting buttermilk for Grandma to bake with!
	Was just reliving some of these memories with a regular
passenger who grew up in Connecticut  --  *Up--East*  is what
we usually called it.    She said her experiences were very
similar  --  just in another locale!

> Dormont itself was a neat place in a Pittsburgh some
> place special.

> The borough was small.  You could walk every where. 
> The high school was in walking distance. 

	How about 1.5-blocks for me!

	There were two grade schools - 

		1.>--	Kelton, east of W.Liberty
		2.>--	Hillsdale, west of W.Liberty

	I went to Hillsdale, just 5.5-blocks and did come home for
lunch every day.    So did every grade schooler as the school
did not have a cafeteria.    Byt the late 1950s,
High-Schoolers were required to remain on campus for lunch.

> I lived on Glenmore between the 42 and 38 lines. 
> In the morning I walked down to the 38, in the afternoon,
> I walked down from the 42.  Never uphill.
> Both lines still used high speed yellow cars as well
> as PCC's.    The yellow cars were dirty and rusty. 
> Not really the kind of cars needed to serve downtown
> white collar workers.  The fare then was 3/25 tokens. 
> (The 42 is now the route of  PAT's LRT.)  Bigi buses from
> Bridgeville via Bower Hill or Cedar Blvd made the same
> stops on West Liberty (Now PAT 41-B & C).    The Bigi bus
> was an inexpensive Fitzjohn but it was clean, nicely
> painted and driven by a polite driver, often a Bigi family
> member or neighbor.    People often would just take the
> first to arrive but it should be noted that some
> preferred Bigi and passed up the streetcar unless it was
> a PCC.  Also some resented the many Pgh Rys strikes and
> lack of service.  If you were going to Oakland, you rode
> the streetcar with a special transfer.

	I lived on Greenmount just 0.5-blocks from the 42-line,
3-blocks from the 38-line and about 5-blocks from the 42-line
wye and junction with the 38-line.    The lot between
Biltmore, W.Liberty and the 42-line was undeveloped, quite
overgrown, and a fabulous place to play.    Spent many hours
there.
	The evening rush hour was quite spectacular.    So much
equipment here that cars were backed up down the hill from the
wye, across Biltmore and even across Raleigh.    Regular
service cars would back deep out of the wye to allow trippers
to back out in front of them and head on back to the Barn.   
In spite of being hand operated, or maybe because of it, the
operators on these cars were quite deft and made quite a
speedy turn around!
	When I attended the PRMA meetings at the *Y* in downtown Pgh.
in the evenings, I would walk up to the wye in the hopes of
catching an interurban returning to the yard over the
38-line.    Did so a couple times and taking this ride at
speed downhill on W.Liberty was quite spectacular!    At one
point near a broad sweeping curve, a Cadillac  (THE  Luxury
car of the day)  was pulling out of a service station to cut
across our path.    The motorman hit the bell which was
ignored.    The motorman hit the horn which was IMMediately
obeyed!    Thank You, Sir, for recognizing the Interurban!
	It was also here where I first recognized that PRCo was doing
something to trucks of the City 17s.    City 17s were scarce
in South Hills since 25-Interurban-17s were based here  --  24
of same after May-1955.    A city-17 was on the 38-line and
when it hit the switchwork of Dormont Jct. it rode quite hard
and did not give the usual slow-motion bounces and rolling.   
I ran to catch this car and the ride was hard  --  not at all
like the wonderful cloud-soft ride of the typical
Clark--B2B.    It wasn't until I joined the Navy and wrote to
Clark and obtained the drawings for the cars that I realized
the reason for this super soft ride.

> Dormont itself was a neat compact community.   Near
> Potomac & West West Liberty there were two movies, the
> borough bldg, the library, an Isalys, a Sear's store, a
> masonic lodge, several churches, many stores and
> restaurants and even a few bars. (an later, an Eat'n'park).
> All within walking distance of every one.  Dormont could
> be the model for DOT-FTA's new transit village.
> Other borough's were equally vibrant.  They owed their
> existance to the streetcar and served their residents well.

	There was another Isaly's in Dormont on W.Liberty immediately
across from the 42-line wye.    Chipped Ham for sandwiches was
a favorite here in addition to the ice cream cones for
dessert.
	On this end of the Borough was a Methodist and Lutheran
Church on W.Liberty and just across the line in MtLebanon was
the huge Presbyterian church.    Bars on ths end as well  -- 
can't escape them!
	A pharmacy  --  or should I say, General Store (which is what
Pharmacy's were in those days)  --  was across the street from
the wye as well.    But Potomac Pharmacy on the northwest
corner of Potomac and the 42-line (Broadway) was significant
in my life.    Worked there before the soda fountain was taken
out and for several years afterward.    Owned by a Jew who was
a hot and cold individual  --  you either liked him or not 
--  I liked him and got along with him quite well.    Two
pharmacists manned the store 7-days a week from 8-AM till
11-PM except Sunday when the store closed at 6-PM.    In those
days, I loved to run and when Henry sent me on an errand I
would be back in no time at all  --  to the dismay of the
other workers but I found it pleased the boss.    Found that
if I kept the candy counter stocked full that candy would sell
faster.    Got to the point where I was doing the ordering for
candy and I tripled the sales!    Henry and I would compete
with each other for sales at Christmas, each of us bragging
about the amount of our most recent sale!    Henry would often
give me the keys to his car and have me take his sister and
Mother, who suffered from Parkinson's, out for a drive  -- 
all on the payroll!    My brother succeeded me and the
pharmacy became an extension of home.

> It was a good part of my life and I enjoyed it.

> Just wanted to share this with you.  The fireworks were
> excellent and the concept of a streetcar borough
> worked well.

> Happy Independence Day.

> Harold Geissenheimer

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Waiting for a bus is about as thrilling as fishing,
	with the similar tantalisation that something,
		sometime, somehow, will turn up. 
			George Courtauld

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James B. Holland

Holland  Electric  Railway  Operation....... 
___"O"--Scale St.-Petersburg Trams Company Trolleycars and...
______"O"--Scale  Parts  mailto:pghpcc at pacbell.net

______Pennsylvania Trolley Museum http://www.pa-trolley.org/
___Pittsburgh  Railways  Company  (PRCo),   1930  --  1950
N.M.R.A.  Life member #2190; http://www.nmra.org

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