IheartPGH in the New York Times

9 Years Ago in the NYTimes “Turning to T-Shirts to Spiff Up Downtrodden Cities”

Pittsburgh t-shirt

This photo is from Podcamp Pittsburgh in 2006.

One of the many things on my to do list for the blog is to revisit the idea of our very own t-shirt shop. I have long had a little shop with Spreadshirt, but I am not comfortable trying to promote t-shirts that were not actually here in Pittsburgh. I have been pondering the future of the blog, it is about to turn 12 this fall and if it is time to retire or recruit new bloggers or what should happen next (I am open to any and all ideas so them my way)!

While I was in the shower this morning I was thinking about the t-shirt shop, I know that one of the first decisions to make would be what designs to sell. I was debating if the “Pittsburghers are tasty” design would still be popular. I got out of the shower, started my day and forgot all about the t-shirt design debate.

Then I looked at the “on this day archives” and 9 years ago today, July 13, is the day that IheartPGH was featured with our friends from St. Louis, STLStyle, in a New York Times piece on t-shirts and rust belt cities.

IheartPGH in the New York Times

Never in my wildest dreams did I think that t-shirts and sharing Pittsburgh pride would land me a mention in the New York Times.

First, a brief history of relationship between t-shirts and this blog…

  • I graduated from college and moved back to Pittsburgh after having sworn I would never move back home.
  • I had a mostly boring office job (I know know that working for the largest auctioneer of dairy processing equipment, is not really boring – ask me about stainless steel food processing equipment and my visits to Dodge Nebraska, and to bring it full circle to the t-shirts my sister still wears the t-shirt I bought in Dodge, NE).
  • I went to the Warhol Museum on a rainy Sunday afternoon and decided I would teach myself how to screen print.
  • The first t-shirt I printed was an “IheartPGH” T-shirt. I still have the screens, not sure if they are useable, but I’ve kept them in case I ever need to get back into the screenprinting business.
  • I picked up a flyer for Union Printing, what you now know as Commonwealth Press and likely sent an e-mail to Dan Rugh. This was back in the day of MySpace. I think it was even before texting. I was terribly shy and I sent Dan an email. We met for a coffee at the Beehive and talked about sustainable screen printing methods.
  • In 2005 I worked on Bill Peduto’s first campaign, we had no money for t-shirts, so we used donated t-shirts, turned them inside out and printed Peduto for Pittsburgh on them at open studio night at Artist Image Resources.
  • Commonwealth Press, which was located in Dan & Shannon’s house started printing all of the IheartPGH t-shirts.
  • In 2005, again out of boredom, I started a blog. Mostly because my new friend Dave (one of the founders of Libsyn.com and now BossJock App) had volunteered everyday on Bill Peduto’s campaign and told me I needed to have an RSS feed.
  • In the Summer of 2006, I was having lunch at the Union Project Cafe with my friend Pat. I asked him if he thought I could find work as a blogger. His reply “Don’t quit your day job.” In 2006, I was a regular at the Union Project Cafe which was run by the amazing Kate Romane. Kate went on to run e2, which was even more amazing and is now the proprietor of Black Radish Catering.
  • 2006, a reader of the blog left a comment about how this company Spreadshirt was hiring for a Wizard of Web 2.0. I quit my day job and started my social media career as a Wizard of Web 2.0.

What is even more amazing to me is how much has changed over the past 9 years. Pittsburgh has gone from being an occasional mention in a story about rust belt cities to being #1 on more lists about cities than I can even keep track of.

If you are new to Pittsburgh, or even nostalgic about Pittsburgh, take a moment to read the 2009 New York Times article – Turning to T-Shirts to Spiff Up Downtrodden Cities. It is an interesting comparison to how much has changed in the way we talk about cities (also some interesting changes in the businesses that existed and still exist today). No one would use the word “downtrodden” to describe Pittsburgh today.

STLStyle is still printing out St. Louis gear, if you find your self in St. Louis stop by and say hi to Jeff and Randy, I can assure you there are some Pittsburgh stickers on the wall at their shop. Commonwealth Press is still printing t-shirts and has recently moved to a much bigger location in the Allentown Neighborhood. The Mayor of Pittsburgh is now featured in the New York Times on a regular basis.

What is most striking to me, is the change in the language we use to describe Pittsburgh. No one would use the word “downtrodden” to describe Pittsburgh in 2017. Are there any cities that are currently described as “downtrodden”? The recent presidential election highlighted the distinct shift between the urban and non-urban areas of the country. I am curious how the way we talk about a place, impacts that place. This blog was started as a way to create a different narrative of Pittsburgh in 2006, to share the stories of the people and places that were here and thriving, even if those outside saw it otherwise.

While I never thought I would move back to Pittsburgh, I also never thought of Pittsburgh as a place I couldn’t come back to. I almost always ask people who didn’t grow up in Pittsburgh if they would ever move back home. The answer is almost always no. I think that Pittsburgh has benefited from people coming and going, leaving for a bit before they boomerang back with some new ideas about other places do things. Was Pittsburgh every really downtrodden or is that just how non-Pittsburghers saw it from the outside?

I would love to hear your thoughts on how Pittsburgh has changed over the past 9 years. I would also like to know what your favorite Pittsburgh t-shirt is and if you would buy a “Pittsburghers Are Tasty” t-shirt.

This Sunday Take an Urban Hike Around the Upper Hill & North Oakland

From the Sharpsburg Urban Hike

Urban Hike is another one of the best kept secrets in Pittsburgh. For over a decade a group of faithful volunteers have been mapping and researching routes around different Pittsburgh neighborhoods.

This Sunday, join the Urban Hike crew for a 2 hour walk around the Upper Hill and North Oakland. The hikes are usually on paved surfaces, but sometimes off road was well.

 

Pop-up Urban Hike in the Upper Hill and North Oakland

Date: Sunday, July 16, 2017
Time: 10am-Noon
Location: TBD. Keep an eye on the Facebook event page for updates.
FREE
RSVP – not required but it is helpful to reply to the Facebook event.

Past Urban Hikes

Some of the previous Urban Hikes have traversed…

And those are just the Urban Hikes that we have posted about here on the blog. Visit the Urban Hike website to see a list of previous hikes.

The best way to learn about upcoming hikes is to follow Urban Hike on Facebook.

If you are headed to the hike or out for a stroll in your neighborhood, keep an eye out for some neighborhood bars and share them with the #NeighBARhood hashtag. We are working on building a list of the best neighborhood watering holes.

Ice Cream Sundays at East End Brewing

One of the best kept patio secrets in Pittsburgh, is the patio at the East End Brewing Brewery in the Larimer neighborhood. Last year they transformed the parking lot into a delightful beer garden.

The East End Brewing Brewery has always been a family-friendly spot for spending an afternoon. The patio makes this a great place for everyone to spend a hot summer afternoon with a cold beer (or root beer, which they usually have on tap). Just a heads up that East End Brewing also has a location in the Strip District, the East End Brewing Taproom, so make sure to point your GPS to the East End Brewing Brewery on Julius Street if you are looking for ice cream.

Ice Cream Sundays at East End Brewing

Well the good folks over at East End Brewing have come up with a way to make Sunday afternoons even better… ice cream. Starting this Sunday, July 9, there will be a different ice cream vendor at the brewery.

Here is the line up of tasty frozen treat vendors….

Keep an eye out for some limited-edition beer-inspired flavors of ice cream and my sources say there may even been some beer & ice cream floats.

If you aren’t an eat dessert first kind of person, the Tango Food Truck will be on site each week* so you can have something savory before a sweet treat.  *(Tango food truck will not be at the Brewery on August 6.)

Good Beer, Delicious Ice Cream, Really Nice Neighbors

I can’t say enough good things about East End Brewing. Scott Smith who is the owner as well as everyone who works there could not be nicer. This is by far one of my favorite businesses in town and they also make some great beers. If you have not yet had an ice cream sandwich from Leona’s Ice Cream, you are missing out. Last week I arrived at the market in Aspinwall, Feast on Brilliant, just as they were closing for the day. I was determined to pick up some Leona’s ice cream sandwiches. So I talked the poor clerk into letting me come inside to buy some ice cream sandwiches before they locked the door. Like Scott Smith, the owners of Leona’s are also incredibly nice people. Leona’s is also local, just down the street in Wilkinsburg, they have been an active participant in some of the redevelopment activities.

The best way to keep up on the Ice Cream Sundays at East End Brewing and all of the other food vendors that stop by the brewery is this “Come Hungry” calendar on their website, which is also a Google calendar you can subscribe too as well.

What’s that you say? You need a better way to keep track of tasty cool treat happenings? How about a twitter list of ice cream shops in Pittsburgh! You can find that list right here.

 

The Ladies’ GAR Home in Swissvale: How would you repurpose this building with a Civil War history?

This postcard of the GAR Home is available for sale on Ebay.

This spring the Post-Gazette published an article about the Ladies’ GAR Home in Swissvale. (“Diana Nelson Jones’ Walkabout: Swissvale home has history on its side, but little else” Post-Gazette, March 13, 2017). The online version of the article doesn’t have a photo, but I knew that if this building was visible from the train, it was worth learning more about.

It is so oddly ob­scure that a very ob­ser­vant and his­tory-lov­ing Barry Al­fonso, a writer who lives in Swiss­vale, saw it for the first time on an Am­trak train. The tracks pass along what used to be the front gate.

The Ladies’ GAR Home — GAR stands for Grand Army of the Re­pub­lic — was built for in­di­gent fe­male fam­ily mem­bers of Union Army vet­er­ans. The orig­i­nal struc­ture was a 12-room home built in 1890 that burned down in 1900. A 53-room fa­cil­ity was built to re­place it. In 1937, a 30-room ex­ten­sion was built.

Mr. Al­fonso con­tacted the Pitts­burgh Post-Ga­zette hop­ing to give it some ex­po­sure in case some­one with ex­tremely deep pock­ets might con­sider a fu­ture for it. That’s un­likely, though. Bor­ough man­ager Clyde Wil­helm said liens go back to 2003.

Photo credit: Love Place Photography

More photos of the GAR Home in Swissvale are available from Love Place Photography here.

Ever since I read the article about this building, I have been thinking that there has to be use for this historic building. Before the LGAR moved to a new facility in Turtle Creek in 1996, this building was home to some 80+women.

Could this become offices? Artists studios? Micro apartments? A hotel? If it could be saved, what would you like to see in this building in the future?

 

Location of GAR Home in Swissvale

National Negro Opera House in Homewood.

National Negro Opera Company House: The Most Historic House in Pittsburgh You Probably Have Never Heard Of

National Negro Opera House in Homewood.

National Negro Opera House in Homewood. Photo taken April 2016.

If there is one house you learn about from our month long series for historic preservation month, the The National Negro Opera Company House in Homewood is the house to remember. This house needs some love and unlike the other properties that I have posted about this month, I don’t know what the future holds for this place. I believe there is a huge opportunity for this building, but it is also a huge challenge.

The house, located at 7101 Apple Street in the Homewood Neighborhood, was built in 1908.

Three Reasons the National Negro Opera Company House is Important

  • This building was home to the first African-American opera company in the United States.
  • The house belonged to Woogie Harris, brother of photographer Teenie Harris.
  • It is rumored that the Steelers franchise was won in a card game in the basement of the house.

Learn more about the National Negro Opera Company House

Photo credit: Secret Pittsburgh.

For an in depth look at the history of the National Negro Opera House, check out this post on Secret Pittsburgh. (Also, how interesting is it that Pitt offers a class called Secret Pittsburgh? Another fascinating thing I learned while writing about historic Pittsburgh places). The Curbed post from May 2016 offers some more information on efforts to save this building.

Location of the National Negro Opera Company House