[PRCo] Signs on Fifth Ave.

[Bob Rathke]

U.S.Steel moved from the Wm. Penn Place building to the Grant St. building in 1970 (my office was on the 39th floor and faced south toward Mt. Washington). USS corporate policy was not to identify its buildings as "U.S. Steel" but to use the street addresses, such as 525 Wm. Penn Place, 600 Grant St., Muriel St. (the computer services building on the South Side) and 71 Broadway (financial headquarters in Manhattan). 

Before USS moved into the 525 Wm. Penn Place building in 1952, some of its offices were across Fifth Ave. in the building that subsequently became Kaufmann's Annex. I have a photo of the temporary bridge that was constructed over Fifth Ave. and - using rolling carts - allowed the transfer of office files and equipment from around the 6th floor of the Annex building to the new building. 

----- Original Message -----

From: "Brannon, Herb" <hrbran at cavtel.net> 
To: "List, Pittsburgh" <pittsburgh-railways at mailman.dementix.org> 
Sent: Friday, May 2, 2014 9:21:21 AM 
Subject: Re: [PRCo] Signs on Fifth Ave. 

I remember him from the 1970s. Running the trolley on Grant Street I would 
see him but never had the time to fully read all the wording on the several 
signs he carried. In the 1970s who occupied the US Steel Tower on Grant 
Street? I thought US Steel moved all of their offices into 600 Grant Street 
after it opened in 1970. I know the old US Steel Building (on William Penn 
Place) was always referred to as the "Mellon Bank Building" or "old US 
Steel Building" back then. 

Also, I always liked the 2400-series GM buses. They had a different style 
interior with double-seats on one side of the aisle and a long bench seat 
on the other side between the front and center doors. The rear end was a 
standard seating arrangement. There were also lots of upright stanchion 
bars throughout the whole interior. Their only drawback (and also the 
2500-series) was the "skinny" steering wheel. I liked the "fat" steering 
wheels. You got a better grip and much better control with the heavier 
wheel. 


On Thu, May 1, 2014 at 10:22 PM, Bob Rathke <bobrathke at comcast.net> wrote: 

> Bear with me on this post - there are a couple of PAT connections here 
> that keep it on topic. 
> 
> I took the attached photo on Fifth Ave. at Smithfield St. during lunch 
> hour on 8/7/73. If you worked downtown in the 1970's you'll remember seeing 
> this man carrying large signs on Fifth Ave. and around the U.S. Steel Bldg. 
> which at that time was located at 525 Wm. Penn Place. He sometimes wore a 
> bandage around his head, always walked continuously and never spoke to 
> anyone. It was only after I took this photo and made a print that I was 
> able to read all the words on the signs. It seems that he had a grievance 
> with U.S. Steel and the United Steelworkers Union, but I never heard that 
> the grievance was settled, and the man was no longer seen downtown after 
> around 1980. 
> 
> The PAT connection? One morning in 1974 I was riding the PATrain from 
> McKeesport when this man boarded the train. It took him a while to store 
> his signs and wooden poles behind the coach seats and then he was off to 
> Pittsburgh for a day of silent protest. 
> 
> The other PAT connection? PAT bus 2455 is on Smithfield St. in front of 
> Kaufmann's. 
> 
> Bob 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
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-- 
Herb Brannon 


*In Pittsburgh.............................A City And.........A State of 
Mind * 
Let's Go Pens 
Let's Go Bucs 



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