Category Archives: Pro-PGH

Tell your favorite stories of Pittsburgh…

…or ask someone to tell you theirs!

StoryCorps has arrived in Pittsburgh, and will stay until July 2! I first heard about StoryCorps on NPR, and I love the concept. Here’s a blurb from their website www.storycorps.net to explain the project:

StoryCorps is a national project to instruct and inspire people to record each others’ stories in sound. We’re here to help you interview your grandmother, your uncle, the lady who’s worked at the luncheonette down the block for as long as you can rememberâ€â€?anyone whose story you want to hear and preserve.

We have two traveling recording studios, called MobileBooths, which embarked on cross-country tours on May 19, 2005. We’ve tried to make the experience as simple as possible: We help you figure out what questions to ask. We handle all the technical aspects of the recording. At the end of the hour-long session, you get a copy of your interview on CD. Since we want to make sure your story lives on for generations to come, we’ll also add your interview to the StoryCorps Archive, housed at the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress, which we hope will become nothing less than an oral history of America.

Sign-ups for the last two weeks of recording are open tomorrow – June 9 at 10:00 am. If you have someone in mind that you want to interview call 1-800-850-4406 or sign-up online at http://www.storycorps.net/participate/record_an_interview/locations/ Be sure to sign up right away. Time slots go fast!

Make your Pittsburgh story part of this great project!

Pittsburgh – with an H!!!!!!

“Patriotic Pittsburghers will assist in educating the public in the correct spelling of the name of their city. The “h” is all important, and distinguishes the Pittsburgh in Pennsylvania from other towns of the same name in various parts of the country.”

– “All May Assist Nation-Wide Campaign How to Spell Pittsburgh.” Reprinted from Pittsburgh First, the Official Organ of The Chamber of Commerce of Pittsburgh, 23 July 1921.

Indeed, the first thing you need to know about Pittsburgh is that it is spelled with an H. In 1891, after a printer (accidentally?) dropped it, the Post Office removed the letter, and it took 20 years of protest to the U.S. Board on Geographic Names before the city got it back. Yep, this H speaks to the pride, backbone and traditionalism that Pittsburghers have about their fair city…

In 1921, The Chamber of Commerce of Pittsburgh even wrote a series of national bulletins about it! Check it:

“How to Spell Pittsburgh.” Reprinted from Pittsburgh First, the Official Organ of The Chamber of Commerce of Pittsburgh, 23 July 1921.

Whether to write Pittsburgh or Pittsburg is a question which recurs with what seems surprising frequency until one remembers that each year the industries and other interests of Pittsburgh bring to the city large numbers of people who are not acquainted with the history attached to the name, or with the official decisions which have been made concerning the way in which it should be spelled.
Continue reading →

Call in Sick … Pittsburgh? On the cutting edge?!

One more media hit before the sun goes down.

Our New York correspondent (hi Sarah) sent along this article from Budget Travel online. The author dotes upon local favorites such as the Church Brew Works, Mattress Factory and Andy Warhol Museum, but also highlights local art collective, Art From Chaos. Out of towners – check out the article below hip spots and accommodation.

CALL IN SICK
Cutting-Edge Pittsburgh
It’s not an oxymoron: Does your local art museum have rock bands and a mixed-tape exchange?

Brian Raftery
Tuesday, May 23, 2006

It’s an unseasonably chilly Friday night in Pittsburgh, but inside the Andy Warhol Museum, a swarm of stylish 20- and 30-somethings aren’t letting that stop them from imagining themselves at a Factory party. Wandering around the lobby, wine glasses in hand, they gather around Pop Art prints. The museum’s theater has been temporarily turned into a concert space, and indie rockers The Mountain Goats can be heard tuning their guitars. It’s part of the museum’s weekly Good Fridays event; admission is slashed in half, and young folks gather from 5 p.m. to 10 p.m. for drinks and special programs, such as a mixed-tape exchange, in which participants swap cassettes they’ve made.
Continue reading →

Esquire + Dee’s sitting in a tree

I was in Carson News today and I saw another plug for the South Side … The June 06 issue of Esquire magazine profiles the best bars in America, among them Dee’s Cafe. Considering their modest prices, laid-back atmosphere, and oldies on the Juke Box, this may be a surprise to many old-time South Siders, I’m sure. 😉 But this is why we (and the country) loves the ‘burgh. They write:

dee's
Dee’s Cafe
PITTSBURGH
YOU’RE HAVING: Yuengling, late.
A twenty-three-ounce beer for only $2.25. Pool tables, three jukeboxes, and Ping Pong. Every ‘Burgh bar crawl goes though Dee’s. (1314 East Carson Street 412-431-1314)

As the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette recalls, “You might remember a few years ago Esquire ranked Pittsburgh as the No. 1 City That Rocks. They must have stopped at Dee’s along the way.”

Vote for Gabrielle!

A call to action for one of our own! Ms. Gabby Means (age 11) is > < this close to winning a complete refurbishment of Gladstone Field in Greenfield, but she needs our help! Gabby is a contestant in the Briggs & Stratton Diamonds in the Rough Contest; her heartfelt essay to this national organization has put her in the running for a $20,000 grand prize and baseball clinic from Hall of Famers Lou Brock and Carlton Fisk! She is competing against 15 other kids from around the country and she needs our help. You can read more about Gabby's story in the Post-Gazette article below. Please vote for her here – it only takes 2 seconds!

http://www.briggsdiamondsintherough.com/

Voting ends this Sunday, May 21st, so please vote today!

Softball player, 11, makes pitch for a field like the boys’
Wednesday, May 17, 2006
By Rich Lord, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

For Gabby Means, 11, it’s all about fairness. Fairness and fair balls, actually.

Gabby, of Greenfield, has long smarted at conditions on Gladstone Field, where her Pink Team plays in the Greenfield Organization’s softball league. It wouldn’t be so bad to play on an uneven, overgrown, rocky field, if it weren’t for the fact that the boys play on vastly superior Hammer Field, nearby.

“I’ve always felt it was unfair,” she said. “I think that everybody should have a fair chance of becoming as good as another person.”

When she saw an ad for engine maker Briggs & Stratton Corp.’s Diamonds in the Rough competition, she saw her chance to even the score. The company annually grants $5,000 for improvements to 16 youth ballfields nationwide, and another $20,000 to the grand prize winner, chosen through online balloting.
Continue reading →