Category Archives: Uncategorized

krayniks bicycle restoration

Kraynick’s Bike Shop & A Beautiful Bicycle Restoration Video

This video just popped up on the Pittsburgh subreddit and it is worth 5 minutes of your time. It is a beautiful little story about how the filmmaker, Dean Bogdanovic, purchased an old bike on Craigslist and fixed it up at Kraynick’s Bike Shop in Garfield. This video checks all of the boxes for me… pretty Pittsburgh pictures, check, a story about locally owned business, check, vintage bicycles, check (I have a hot pink one in my basement waiting for a restoration). This five-minute video is a delight to watch. Even if you aren’t a regular cyclist or bicycle collector, I think you will enjoy the scenery.

One little plea to the filmmaker and cyclists in Pittsburgh, please consider wearing a helmet when you are riding.

Nine years ago I wrote a post about how Mr. Kraynik fixes donated bikes for kids. Does anyone know if Mr. Kraynick or anyone else around town fixes up bikes for kids?

Raffle for 2 Tickets to Pens Game 5 to Support Surgical Elective Fellows from Zimbabwe

Pens Tickets for Game 5 Raffle

  • 2 tickets to Game 5, Pittsburgh Penguins vs. Ottawa Senators at PPG Paints Arena on Sunday, May 21st at 3 PM.
  • The seats are in Section 105, Row Q, Seats 3 and 4. 2 Lexus Club passes will also be included.
  • Raffle tickets are $30/each – purchase online via Eventbrite page.
  • Benefits Zimbabwean Surgical Elective Fellows Program in Pittsburgh.
    • Not only Zimbabwean surgical fellows, but WOMEN surgical fellows. There are only 108 registered surgeons in Zimbabwe. Of those, only 6 are women! We could help add 33% more women surgeons in Zimbabwe after one year.
  • Raffle will be drawn on Saturday, May 20 at 8am. Online ticket sales close before at 6am.

Pens Playoff Ticket RafflePens Playoff Ticket Raffle

I received an email about this raffle from a dear friend who is a hockey fan and a dedicated Pittsburgh citizen who has introduced me to some of the more interesting Pittsburgh traditions.

The Penguins Hockey team plays at the PPG Paints Arena, just 1.5 miles away in Oakland is the Magree-Womens Research Institue. You are probably familiar with Magee Womens Hospital. If you were born in Pittsburgh, there is a good chance you were born in Magee Womens Hospital. What I did not know until recently is that the Magee-Womens Research Institute, located right across the street from the hospital is the largest independent research institute in the U.S. devoted exclusively to women’s health.

I think this raffle highlights a unique thing about Pittsburgh. Where else in the US could you find a world class hockey team and world class medical research existing in the same 2 square miles, with passionate fans who support both. I love the idea of bringing together playoff hockey, surgical residents from Zimbabwe and the Magee Women’s Research Institute.

All monies raised for the Raffle will go to support the Zimbabwean Surgical Elective Fellows Program in Pittsburgh. This project was started by Mandela Fellow, Annete Bongiwe Moyo, who is a doctor training in surgery in Zimbabwe. Her dream is to bring 2 female Zimbabwean Medical Students to Pittsburgh to gain exposure to the cutting edge of surgery in the US and to support the participation of women in surgery in Zimbabwe. Of the 108 registered surgeons in Zimbabwe, only 6 are women, even though 33% of students in medical school are women. This program is hoping to get more women interested and exposed to surgical disciplines. Annete hopes to grow the number of students taking part in the program in future years. Help support this very worthy cause and outstanding individual. She will make you proud.

All funds will be donated to the Magee-Womens Research Institute and Foundation to administer for this program. The Drawing will be at Noon on Saturday, May 20th.

Raffle tickets are $30 and can be purchased on this Eventbright page. Help spread the word by inviting your friends to the Facebook event for the raffle.

Here is a message from Annete on the importance of supporting this program:

If you would like to support the Zimbabwean Surgical Elective Fellows Program, you can make a contribution directly to Magee-Womens Research Institute.

 

Primary Election Day: A Look at How Local Candidates Are and Are Not Using Twitter

Today, Tuesday, May 16, 2017 is Primary Election Day in the state of Pennsylvania. I am particularly interested to see how the turnout for this local election compares to previous primary elections that occur after a presidential election. Since November, there has been an incredible volume of posts on social media about getting involved in local issues. The turnout today will be an interesting metric of if posting about local politics translates into voting locally.

I have been following the election on Twitter all day and out of curiosity, I wanted to see what the candidates are tweeting about today. As I was building a Twitter list of candidates, I was a little surprised to find that many of the candidates on the ballot in the City of Pittsburgh are not on Twitter. I’ve put together a list of candidate that are on the ballot in Pittsburgh with their Twitter handles and # of followers today. Given that the current President of the United States uses Twitter on a daily basis, and that Twitter is used by many politicians in Washington to communicate with constituents, I expected that more of the local candidates would have Twitter accounts.

I have excluded the judicial candidates and magistrate races from this list. Of the 20 candidates listed only 11 have Twitter accounts, (handles are listed below) and not all of them are very active.

The only candidates that have posted at least one tweet today are @tkailsmith , @FifeMyers , @DanielGilman , @BillPeduto & @AshleighDeemer.

You can follow our Twitter list of Pittsburgh primary candidates here. Live stream of candidate tweets is included below.

Office Candidate Twitter # of Followers
1 Mayor of City of Pittsburgh Bill Peduto @BillPeduto 57,123
2 Darlene Harris @Darlene4Pgh 1291
3 John Welch @welch4mayor 124
4 Allegheny County Sheriff Bill Mullen
5 George Satler
6 Pittsburgh City Council District 2 Theresa Kail-Smith @TKailSmith 1583
7 Pittsburgh City Council District 4 Anthony Coghill @CoghillAnthony 28
8 Ashleigh Deemer @AshleighDeemer 1245
9 Pittsburgh City Council District 6 Daniel Lavelle @RDLavelle 3260
10 Pittsburgh City Council District 8 Daniel Gilman @RDLavelle 6001
11 Allegheny County Council Jim Ellenbogen
12 Robert J. Palmosina
12 Pittsburgh School Board District 1 Sylvia C. Wilson @SylviaCWilson 30
14 Pittsburgh School Board District 3 James Myers @FifeMyers 436
15 Sala Udin @SalaUdine 200
16 Pittsburgh School Board District 5 Terry Kennedy
17 Ghadah Makoshi @G_Makoshi_PGH 10
18 Pittsburgh School Board District 7 Cynthia A. Falls
19 Pittsburgh School Board District 9 Veronica Edwards
20 Carolyn Klug

Schenley High School & The Schenley Experiment

Next up in our series on historic buildings for Preservation Month is Schenley High School and the release of a new book about the school.

Aerial view of Schenley High School, Pittsburgh, Pa.
I have been interested in learning more about the Schenley High School building for quite sometime. I have never been in the building, but it has been a place that have been wanting to learn more about. Beyond being a beautiful building, Schenley High school served as a model for integrated schools.

I have friends who attended Schenley who incredibly fond of this building and their time spent inside. I know there was quite a debate about closing of Schenley High School, which closed for good in 2011 and was sold to PMC Property Group. As I have been learning more about historic preservation and community spaces, I am interested to learn more about how this went from a top high school to an empty building.

The Schenley High School Building has been in the news recently for a few reasons. It will soon reopen as an apartment building with rentals starting this summer.

The Schenley Experiment

The other reason you may have heard about this building is that it is the subject of a new book, The Schenley Experiment: A Social History of Pittsburgh’s First Public High School (Amazon affiliate link), by Pittsburgh attorney Jake Oresick, who attended Schenley High School. Both the City Paper and NextPittsburgh have published profiles of Jake Oresick and his new book.

If you are interested in hearing more about The Schenley Project, Jake Oresick and a panel of former Schenley High School teachers will be the subject of the Pittsburgh Arts & Lecture’s Made Local event on Monday at the Carnegie Library Lecture Hall in Oakland. The event is free to attend with registration.

A Look Inside Schenley High School

Schenley High School, 1916, Main Entrance Hall

The trailer for the book includes several historic images of the building as well as lots of facts about Schenley High School.

I was hoping to, but unable to find some photos of the pool, which I believe was added at a later date. According to a recent NextPittsburgh article about the apartments, the pool has been replaced by a parking garage.

I am looking forward to reading Oresick’s book and learning more about this building and how it came to be that it went from a model for public education to a financial liability for the Pittsburgh school district. It is interesting to see how much Pittsburgh has changed over the past 6 years since Schenley closed.

Do you have some photos of Schenley High School to share? We would love to post them here on the blog and share with Preservation Pittsburgh. Leave a comment below or send an email to info-at-IheartPGH.com

May is Preservation Month

Check out some of the other historic buildings and preservation groups we have posted about for preservation month:

Urban Hike Heads to Allegheny Center & Deutschtown (Jane’s Walk Pittsburgh)

Urban Hike is a free guided walk around one (or several) of Pittsburgh neighborhoods. The guided hike is led by a group of volunteers who carefully research each route and invite experts from the neighborhood to come speak to the group on local history and neighborhood development. If you like history, exploring or you are looking for a way to learn more about Pittsburgh, then Urban Hike is for you.

I have attended many of the past Urban Hikes, which has led to discovering all kinds of secrets about Pittsburgh. The John Woods House, aka the 2nd oldest house in Pittsburgh which I posted about earlier this week was a find from the Urban Hike in Hazelwood two years ago.

The first Urban Hike of the 2017 season will be exploring Allegheny Center & Deutschtown. If you aren’t familiar with these neighborhoods, they are on the Northside, just North of the area where PNC Park is located.

Urban Hike = Jane’s Walk Pittsburgh

English: Mrs. Jane Jacobs, chairman of the Com...

English: Mrs. Jane Jacobs, chairman of the Comm. to save the West Village holds up documentary evidence at press conference at Lions Head Restaurant at Hudson & Charles Sts. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

This Saturday’s Urban Hike coincides with Jane’s Walk. Jane’s Walk is an annual event in celebration of Jane Jacobs, author of the book The Death and Life of Great American Cities (Amazon affiliate link), which many consider this book to be the bible of urban planning. Jane’s Walks are free walking tours talking place in cities across the globe to support walkable neighborhoods and to encourage people to learn more about their communities. Pittsburgh has hosted several Jane’s Walks over the past decade and this weeks Urban Hike is currently the only Jane’s Walk scheduled for Pittsburgh.

Interested in learning more about Jane Jacobs? Pittsburgh Filmmakers will be showing the documentary Citizen Jane: Battle for the City from May 12-May 18, 2017.

Urban Hike: Allegheny Center & Deutchtown

  • Date:Saturday, May 6, 2017
  • Start Time: 9:30am
  • Starting Point: Arnold’s Tea on East Ohio Street

Check out the email from Urban Hike and the Facebook event for more information and parking suggestions.

Follow: @UrbanHikePGH @JanesWalk