[PRCo] Isaly's -- Then & Now

Bob Rathke bobrathke at comcast.net
Wed Sep 3 21:11:05 EDT 2014 

I took the attached photo of the Isaly's store in Evans City in August, 1956 while pulling out of a parking space. Not the greatest photo I ever took. 

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

From: hrbraninpgh at gmail.com 
To: "List, Pittsburgh" <pittsburgh-railways at mailman.dementix.org> 
Sent: Saturday, August 30, 2014 7:51:02 PM 
Subject: Re: [PRCo] Isaly's -- Then & Now 

The West View store does sell the same products. The actual company name of 
the current Isaly's franchise in West View is I.S.A.L.Y.S., which they 
translate into I Shall Always Love You Sincerely. That way they could keep 
the name. The products have always been available through a food 
distribution company named Penn Mac located on Smallman Street in the Strip 
District in the city.  There is also a store in Turtle Creek. Check out the 
website <www.isalys.com> and you will see that the company does exist 
today. On that website you may sign up to receive email news items from the 
company headquarters in Evans City, PA and you may also click a link to 
"like" Isaly's on Facebook. I guess Wikipedia will never come up to the 
standards of Americana or Britannica. www.isalys.com 

Here is a paragraph from the Penn Mac (Pennsylvania Macaroni) website: 
The one and only *Isaly's Chipped Chopped Ham* - Yinz know this is the best 
of the best! Sliced "Pittsburgh Style," and we ship in a authentic Isaly's 
boat, then we ship in a plastic container so it doesn't get smashed.   (end 
quote) 

Thank FWS III for today's "buzzkill". 


On Sat, Aug 30, 2014 at 8:35 PM, Fred Schneider <fwschneider at comcast.net> 
wrote: 

> Isaly's does not exist.   The family sold the name.   Read this: 
> 
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isaly's 
> 
> 
> 
> On Aug 30, 2014, at 7:47 PM, Dwight Long wrote: 
> 
> > 
> > Amazing.  I did not know any still existed.  We had one in my home town 
> of Beaver—it’s long gone.  My last memory of Isaly’s was eating lunch at 
> the one in Homestead in the very last year of the trams in that town. 
> > 
> > I will be in the area in a couple of weeks, but will be at Arden on 
> Friday and Beaver/Newell, W.Va. on Saturday.  Do you know of any that are 
> open down that way?  I doubt I would have time to go to West View although 
> I agree it would be a pleasant return to yesteryear. 
> > 
> > Dwight 
> > 
> > From: Herb Brannon 
> > Sent: Saturday, 30 August, 2014 12:33 
> > To: Western PA Trolley discussion 
> > Subject: [PRCo] Isaly's -- Then & Now 
> > When I was growing up a big treat was to go to the Isaly's store near our 
> > house. One of my many favorites from them was a vanilla milkshake. They 
> > knew how to make them. One "perk" of going to get one at Isaly's was that 
> > all of the milkshake would never fit into the paper "take-out" cup. It 
> was 
> > always the policy at our neighborhood Isaly's that the clerk would pour 
> the 
> > excess into a glass and tell me to finish it off. A real treat back then. 
> > 
> > I now work for Allegheny County on Perrysville Avenue. For lunch, last 
> > Tuesday, I decided to go to the Isaly's on Perry Highway near Center 
> Avenue 
> > in West View. It was close, I could get the chip-chop sandwich and a 
> > vanilla milkshake to go and still have time to finish it back at the 
> > workplace. So I ordered and they began frying the chip-chop and the 
> > milkshake machine sprang to life making that familiar high pitched 
> buzzing 
> > sound. I was looking at the scores of photographs on the wall of this 
> > Isaly's of old West View Park, the PRCo streetcars and other things when 
> > the lady at the counter called me over. She said, "Here drink this up, it 
> > all won't fit into the take out cup".  It was deja vu, all over again. 
> > 
> > This Isaly's is very much worth going to. Still the same outside 
> storefront 
> > and still the same counter with round stools and the same booths on the 
> > opposite side of the store. Same food cases with Isaly's meat and cheese 
> > products and really great photos on the walls. Well worth going to West 
> > View to see and enjoy. 
> > 
> > Also, much to my surprise, is much of the original PRCo/PATransit Route 
> > 10-West View trolley tracks are still hanging around. The place where the 
> > cars left Perrysville Avenue, past Bascombe Street, is still there with 
> the 
> > rails embedded in cobblestone. Much of the north end of that section of 
> > private-right-of-way for the 10 and 11 was taken with the construction of 
> > the Parkway North, aka I-279. Then, just past Ross Bus Garage the 
> > side-of-the-road tracks can be seen gleaming in the sun just even with 
> the 
> > grass growing around them. This goes on all the way to Center Avenue. I 
> > have yet to drive down Center Avenue to see what still remains. 
> > 
> > Like I said, it's worth the trip to see the right-of-way and visit 
> Isaly's. 
> > 
> > -- 
> > *Herb Brannon* 
> > 
> > *In Pittsburgh...........A City and * 
> > 
> > 
> > *..........................A State Of Mind* 
> > 
> > *Let's Go Bucs* 
> > 
> > *Let's Go Steelers* 
> > 
> > 
> > 
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-- 
*Herb Brannon* 

*In Pittsburgh...........A City and* 


*..........................A State Of Mind * 

*Let's Go Bucs* 

*Let's Go Steelers* 



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