[PRCo] Re: (No In-Reply-To: <E28CF3F3-5419-4712-B1C1-0D2B59B4636D at comcast.net>

[Fred Schneider]

For those who are not tuned in to corporate politics, my father was  
taken aside by his mentor at Gulf Oil Corporation in the later half  
of the 1930s and asked several relevant questions.   They were, "Who  
owns Gulf Oil?"   Dad, of course answered that the Mellon family  
owned Gulf Oil.   The next question was, "Who built paid to erect the  
new East Liberty Presbyterian Church?"   Again, Dad searched his head  
and remembered hearing that it was called Mellon's stairway to heaven  
(or Mellon's fire escape).   And the third question was, "So where do  
you think you should be seen worshiping on Sunday morning if you  
expect to advance in this company?"    Needless to say, I grew up  
being hauled off to Sunday school at East Liberty.   My father built  
and installed the sound system in that church and he operated it  
every Sunday until we moved to Lancaster.   I think the head  
minister's name, at that time, was Skinner.   And the man who served  
as my father's mentor and friend later became a vice president in  
Gulf's Philadelphia office.   He obviously understood how to climb  
the corporate ladder.

I understand that, considering the change in demographics in East  
Liberty (or "Sliberty) that the church has been having a difficult  
time living within the endowment funds that the Mellons provided.    
When I went there it was not an interracial congregation ... it was  
as lily white as Mellon's shirt.

On Feb 21, 2007, at 8:44 PM, Richard Allman wrote:

> yes, my son, Steve as per Fred is a seminarian @ Pittsburgh  
> Theological
> Seminary which he assures me is in Highland Park. He attends East  
> Liberty
> Presbyterian Church, which he describes as a vibrant interracial
> congregation in a wonderful old building with stirring music which  
> he highly
> recommends. And he is unequivocal: it's in East Liberty!
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Joshua Dunfield" <joshuad at cs.cmu.edu>
> To: <pittsburgh-railways at dementia.org>
> Sent: Tuesday, February 20, 2007 12:27 AM
> Subject: [PRCo] Re: (No In-Reply-To:
> <E28CF3F3-5419-4712-B1C1-0D2B59B4636D at comcast.net>
>
>
>>
>> Fred Schneider wrote:
>>> I love that Derrick.   Fifteen years ago ... maybe even  
>>> longer ... My
>>> sisty ugler (her term) told me she wanted to take me out to this
>>> wonderful restaurant she knew in Shadyside.  When we got there I had
>>> to ask, "If this is Shadyside, how come I'm looking up at the  
>>> steeple
>>> of East Liberty Presbyterian Church?"   That long ago no body in the
>>> restaurant business wanted to admit that they were actually in East
>>> Liberty.    And Rich Allman's son is in the Presbyterian  
>>> seminiary in
>>> Pittsburgh and he lives in what I used to call East Liberty but he
>>> calls it Highland Park.
>>
>> I thought "Eastside" was supposed to be the (kind of silly) name for
>> a specific new development on the border of East Liberty and  
>> Shadyside,
>> which they got by combining "East-" and "-side".  Maybe it's progress
>> that *part* of the name admits to being in East Liberty.  The  
>> suburbanites
>> can pretend that "East" just refers to "East End".
>>
>> I don't know how many restaurants would admit to being in East  
>> Liberty
>> today, besides Abay, where it would be a selling point.
>>
>>> Why just pick on Pittsburgh.   That's not fair is it.   Here in
>>> Lancaster we used to have streetcar routes and later bus lines that
>>> were identified by the political wards they served: 7th Ward (and
>>> later the Duke St. - 7th Ward bus), 6th Ward (and later the 6th Ward
>>> - Laurel bus), and the 8th Ward - McCaskey bus.    Well, we no  
>>> longer
>>> have a 7th Ward bus.   We still have a bus that goes to through the
>>> 7th Ward but now its called "Southeast Lancaster" because everybody
>>> knows "The Ward" is such a horrible place.
>>
>> Heh.  Sometimes I wonder if, eventually, half of Philadelphia will be
>> called Center City.
>>
>> -j.
>>
>>
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