[PRCo] Re: Knowing the neighborhoods

[Fred Schneider]

I wonder if this doesn't have a lot to do with which family or family members
achieved higher educational levels and / or higher  income jobs?  If we can work
for only the minimum, we don't go much farther than we can see.  If our calling
is ferrous metalurgist, then we might look at Pomona, Hamilton, Pueblo, Gary,
Pittsburgh, Johnstown, Steelton, Birmingham - Bessemer and so forth.

Only two of my dad's family ever left Marietta, Ohio ... an uncle who had a
pharmaceutical degree ran a drug store in Cincinnati and dad, with an
engineering degree, who lived in Cleveland, Pittsburgh and then Lancaster.  Only
two of my mother's family ever moved out of Pittsburgh, and both were the only
degreed members of the family ... beside her, the other one worked for
Carnegie-Illinois Steel in Gary.    I think the other basic rule is simply that
if are well fed, comfortable and have an acceptable job ... you stay put.  If
you are starving or tired of fighting someone elses' war, you move on.

Whether we like to admit it or not, perhaps our perspectives have roots in those
of our parents.  My parents were conservatives who liked to travel.   The seed
didn't fall far from the tree.

Bob Rathke wrote:

> An interesting parallel here, Howard.  I know a family who came to the U.S.
> in the the early 1900's and settled on the South Side - probably to be near
> the mill where the father worked.  By 1950, a couple of the children (adults
> by that time) made the big break and moved "up the hill" to Carrick.  They
> still live in Carrick, while the others continue to live on the flats. For
> years, the hilltoppers have traveled outside Pittsburgh, and by air all over
> the U.S., while the flatlanders don't go much beyond the river, and many of
> them probably haven't been outside Allegheny County.
>
> By contrast, my family settled on the North Side in the 1870's, but moved up
> to Spring Hill and then out the East St. Valley in the early 1900's.  None
> stayed on the flats.  My grandfather lived on Spring Hill, and worked in
> Rankin.  Not only did he cross the river every day, but he commuted to work
> using three PRC trolley lines - 5, 77/54 and 67.  He did this for nearly 30
> years, and never owned an automobile.
>
> Bob 3/5/05
>
> -----------------------------
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Howard Andrews" <hwandrews at wowway.com>
> To: <pittsburgh-railways at dementia.org>
> Sent: Saturday, March 05, 2005 7:25 AM
> Subject: [PRCo] Re: Knowing the neighborhoods
>
> > This chain has been rather though provoking for me.  I was born and raised
> > in
> > Pittsburgh but in my adult years have lived in Ohio and Michigan.
> >
> > As a Product Engineer for Ford I traved through out the United States,
> and
> > as
> > an IT Manager I've been to Europe too many times... sometimes I think of
> it
> > as my second office since I've had employees based in England and Germany
> > on many of my project.  I was also luck enough to spend time in Australia
> as
> > part of a Rotary Exchange program.
> >
> > My circle of friend and professional associates have also traveled
> > extensively
> > on business and personal trips.  And,  most of my professional associates
> at
> > Ford are from somewhere other than Michigan.  So I guess I live in a
> > unique social circle where mobility is the rule rather than the exception.
> >
> > Recently I renewed contact with a college friend.   She still lives in
> > Pittsburgh - in fact she grew up in Carrick, lived there most of her life
> > and just recently made the "big move" to Whitehall.  She's never been
> > out of the country - for that matter she's never been out of the state.
> > This puzzled me - how someone could go through their adult
> > life in isolation.  (Guess I should add, my Dad traveled for his
> > company - he was all thought he US and Mexico, and I saw
> > most of the eastern US with him).  Reading this chain makes
> > me realize I'm the exception and she's the rule.  No wonder as
> > a nation we have such a narrow view of the world!
> >
> > Howard Andrews
> >
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: "Bob Rathke" <bobrathke at comcast.net>
> > To: <pittsburgh-railways at dementia.org>
> > Sent: Friday, March 04, 2005 11:51 PM
> > Subject: [PRCo] Knowing the neighborhoods
> >
> >
> > > Fred,
> > >
> > > I continue to be amazed at how often I meet people who have lived in
> > Chicago
> > > all their lives, but have no idea of the areas just a few miles beyond
> > their
> > > neighborhoods.
> > >
> > > I've lived here since late 1983, and I think that by early 1984 I had
> > > studied the street maps and I had a good idea where neighboring towns
> were
> > > located.  I even went out and visited some of these neighborhoods, just
> to
> > > see where they are and what they look like.
> > >
> > > Yesterday I had a meeting with a business professional in the Loop who
> has
> > > lived here nearly all his life, but he has never been in Union Station,
> > nor
> > > does he know exactly where it is located.
> > >
> > > I still remember the New Yorker I met when I was living in Manhattasn in
> > > 1968.  I told him that I was from Pittsburgh, and he replied, "Isn't
> that
> > in
> > > the Poconos?"
> > >
> > > Bob 3/4/05
> > >
> > > -----------------------------
> > > ----- Original Message -----
> > > From: "Fred Schneider" <fschnei at supernet.com>
> > > To: <pittsburgh-railways at dementia.org>
> > > Sent: Friday, March 04, 2005 5:55 PM
> > > Subject: [PRCo] Re: 94 Sharpsburg - 62nd Street Bridge
> > >
> > >
> > > > Back in the late 1960s I spent a miserable two years teaching in a
> > public
> > > high
> > > > school in the Lancaster area ... best thing I ever did was leave and
> > find
> > > > something I loved to do.  One of my impressions during that period is
> > that
> > > most
> > > > of the kids I worked with considered a long vacation trip to be a
> > Saturday
> > > > journey to the Delaware Park Race Track in Newark, Delaware.  The
> > teacher
> > > of
> > > > Pennsylvania history had never been west of Harrisburg ... you should
> > have
> > > heard
> > > > him trying to pronounce Monongahela.
> > > >
> > > > And when I was awaiting the ship for Germany in 1959, the army
> detailed
> > me
> > > to
> > > > the finance office at Fort Dix to type up payroll vouchers for those
> > chaps
> > > > coming back home from Europe.  I was stunned.  Most people had no
> > interest
> > > in
> > > > seeing Germany or France or wherever it was we had placed them.  We
> were
> > > paying
> > > > almost every one of them (somewhere over 90 percent) for every single
> > day
> > > of
> > > > vacation they accumulated while in Europe.  (I let them pay me for
> zero
> > > days
> > > > when I came home.)
> > > >
> > > > Railfans are an odd lot in more ways than one.  Few "normal" people
> I've
> > > met had
> > > > the comprehension of maps that the average railfan does.  Isn't it
> > great?
> > > >
> > > > Bob Rathke wrote:
> > > >
> > > > > Many people in Pittsburgh have never left "their" side of the river,
> > let
> > > > > alone travel out of the state.  So, some people on the South Side
> > would
> > > > > never know that Brady Street was on the other end of the South 22nd
> > St.
> > > > > Bridge :-)
> > > > >
> > > > > Bob 3/4/05
> > > > >
> > > > > -----------------------------
> > > > > ----- Original Message -----
> > > > > From: "Derrick J Brashear" <shadow at dementia.org>
> > > > > To: <pittsburgh-railways at dementia.org>
> > > > > Sent: Friday, March 04, 2005 10:44 AM
> > > > > Subject: [PRCo] Re: 94 Sharpsburg - 62nd Street Bridge
> > > > >
> > > > > > On Fri, 4 Mar 2005, John Swindler wrote:
> > > > > >
> > > > > > >
> > > > > > >
> > > > > > > Interesting.  I never heard it referred to as the 22nd St.
> bridge,
> > > but
> > > > > then
> > > > > > > I lived in the East End.  I would tend to link a numbered street
> > > with
> > > > > the
> > > > > > > strip district and routes 87 and 88.
> > > > > >
> > > > > > South 22nd st, but that's commonly left out. Remember the 10th st
> > > bridge
> > > > > > goes from 2nd Avenue at the Armstrong Tunnels to the South Side.
> > > Really it
> > > > > > is the south 10th St bridge. Some old maps still call the new
> bridge
> > > the
> > > > > > 22nd St Bridge. Of course, 22nd St is *next to* the bridge, but...
> > > > > >
> > > > > >
> > > >
> > > >
> > > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> >
> >
> >