Pittsburgh’s South Side Sally

Yes, this is a self promotion.  I have decided that I am a jewelry artist.  Well at least I have achieved the following accomplishments:  lapidary, including , beading,  free form lapidary, cutting faceted stones.  I have worked with metalsmithing for seven years, tried pmc,  lost wax casting,  pearl knotting,  wire is my favorite media.  So I have acquired a reasonable number of skill sets with regard to jewelry.  Now I need to develop the artistic side:  drawing designs would be another thing I need  to develop  with a more understanding of color, light and architecture of design.

Well here is my segue to South Side Memories.

I love rocks a lot of different kinds.  I brought them home from various places like concrete gravel mixtures, the Basin, the Quarry limestone, calcite…but back then I didn’t know what they were called.  I even loved to go to the Basin and just stare at the hillside, cracks in the rocks wondering if there was something valuable inside.  Maybe arrowheads, fossils, or something.  I had heard somewhere when I was little that a diamond was made up of carbon under pressure.  So I thought if I took a piece of coal and put it under some heavy rocks it would turn into a diamond maybe in a month or so.  Of course I was little and my sense of time didn’t match mother nature’s geological clock for the formation of a diamond.  Oh well, now I am just like everyone else and am lucky, if I have something in a ring even totally less than a half a carat.  Oh the memories and fantasies of childhood.

Sara and I had coffee at the Beehive Cafe on the South Side South 14th and Carson.  The place is very electic.  I remember when this was Lando’s Rexall Drug Store.  Lando’s was there for what seemed like forever.  I remember going down to the drugstore on my bicycle to get stuff for my mom.  Back then you could park your bike on the sidewalk and leave it there.  No one would bother it.  I’m not sure of today.  I don’t think I would leave my bike outside a store today.

One of the big time fund raiser for the Catholic School I attended was selling Christmas Seals for use on Christmas Cards.  They had contests for prizes, contests between grade levels, and big prizes for the biggest sellers.  What marketers this group was way before marketing was the thing it is today.  Little did they know that I as a first and second grade, found, what I thought was a windfall and great way to sell my seals.  I went bar hopping.  Yes, there were so many bars near my house, because of the mill that I would be below the counter and hit up the guys at different shifts.  The bartenders were usually so busy and I was so short that I wasn’t noticed until after I made a big killing.  Now days this would be a big no-no.   I didn’t realize how really bad this idea was.  I kept my secret, of course, because I was getting money for the seals (supposedly called a donation)  won some prizes.  My mom and dad could not afford to buy bunches and bunches of these.  They got a book.  The seals were one cent each.  The guys from the mill in the bars would give me a donation for the school and say keep the seals.  This was from a little kid’s standpoint a great way to bring in the dough.   Yes  looking back 55years ago my parents and the nuns would have been mortified.  Now I can see why many parents don’t like fund raisers.  Kids sometimes resort to extremely creative ways to bring in the dough.  I sure did and I know the nuns wouldn’t believe this sweet little 6 year old would resort to these methods.

I remember walking up to the basin (Monogahela Park) through the shortcut on Edwards Way.  We called the park “the Basin” .  It had a ball field, a steep hillside that had been cut for the field.  On the side was a spring, people drank from the water.  It flowed freely and clear.  Apparently people drank from it for years.  I wonder if it is still used?  My brother and I would walk up South 28th Street pass Jane Street to the railroad tracks, then turn right at the tracks through the trestle up South 27th Street to Edwards Way, turn left all the way to the end of Edwards Way and up the hill path to Josephine Street, cross Josephine up the side of the hillside to the Basin.  I guess this is what “us kids” called a short cut.  Wouldn’t think  it now, over 60 years old.  Along the top of the hillside grew some apple trees.  I remember climbing down the steep hillside face.  What a foolish idea.  I was lucky, I didn’t fall and crash to the ground.

I remember going up the hillside with Ken and he showed me some of the local black and yellow spotted salamanders in the rocks.  I don’t ever remember seeing them anywhere else in the South Side.  I wasn’t usually the one who dug up bugs and stuff.

We spent lots of time there in the summer.

We most often had a live tree for Christmas, and at times one with the roots so it could be planted afterwards. When my brother and I were very young my mom and dad put the tree up when we had gone to bed so the next morning the tree, train and presents were all out. Boy what a miracle, I wonder how they did it, since I had my own family and know I couldn’t replicated this feat.

We had a two tier platform with a tree sized circle so the tree could stand through the second platform. We had the large gauge trains from Lionel. We were allowed to run the switch and make the trains run. It was great fun.

Christmas morning Ken and I wanted Mom and Dad to get up early because Santa had come. Remember though they were exhausted doing all that fancy footwork, wrapping our presents, the tree, decorations etc. Rose was born when I was 8 and this added another dimension to Christmas celebration.

We had our tree in the living room which faced Larkins Way. My dad would always get the neighbor guys to come in during the holiday for a shot and a beer. I don’t think I ever tried that combination. Maybe some day I’ll get brave enough to have the steel workers cocktail.

My parents were very kid oriented especially when we were young. During this Christmas season 2009, I must admit I really do miss them. They were great people.

My dad was very active in our church and helped build the outdoor Christmas display. He was a member of the Vincent de Paul Chapter at our Church. They do their work quietly and without lots of fanfare. He got furniture for people, at times fixed their furnaces etc. (Thats’ what he did for his real job.) At Christmas time they gave families gift certificates to one of the local grocery stores. He volunteered a lot. When the food pantry was established their, my dad and mom helped set up and distribute food to those in need. Just local folks quietly helping those in need. Can we get back to those values?

The local swimming pool at Ormsby near the 22nd Street bridge …. I remember walking down to the pool at times barefooted…the street was hot, we had our swim suits on so when we got to the pool we could shower and jump into the water.  There were scheduled times for kids, adults and families.  They also taught swimming.  I remember when I was about 6 years old, I tried to take swimming lessons and the life guard teaching the class pushed my head under water.  I stopped taking the lessons and was upset.  Good thing my friend Noreen helped me get use to the water again, going under water blowing bubbles and such stuff.  It must have worked, in high school I did learn how to swim better, mostly basic strokes.

Eventually I even became a life guard for the city pool program and taught swimming at the YMCA.  At times I even guarded swimmers at the very same pool, Ormby.

One summer I guarded  mostly at Schenley Oval Pool and Pymuting Lake for the city camping program. This was a part time paid guard-counselor position.  One day a week we went on a boat excursion to 9 mile Island, we waded off the island. We did some neat stuff like toured the Nationality Rooms at Pitt.  Alternating weeks we were stationed in Schenley Park with girls 8-12.  The following week we went to Pymunting Lake with girls 13-17.   This locations alternated with boys one week and girls the next .  Girl counselors with girls and boys with boys.  There were strange adventures, we worked hard and had lots of fun.  That summer I was able to save money.  I came home on Saturday mornings and left again on  Monday mornings.  I kept my stuff in a army green duffel bag.

Sam’s was located a half block from our home on the corner of Sarah and South 28 th Street. The building is still there.  I saw it on a street view on google maps.  In the front on Sarah Street was a neat soda fountain.  You could get real milkshakes, made right in front of your eyes with vanilla ice cream, milk and vanilla.  This has always been my favorite.  I guess even at 4 years old I was a purist as far as ice cream was concerned.  It is still my very favorite almost 60 years later.  Dad would take me and my bother, Ken there.  His favorite as I recall was a cherry coke.  In the back of the store was a billard room or as the locals called it the, “pool room”.  Sam’s was always a favorite of ours.  It was so close and neat to visit.

Another favorite was Bluestone’s Pharmacy .  They had neat coffee ice cream, which I acquired a taste for in my late teens.  They made homemade ice cream.  It was extremely good.  Their milk shakes could be malt.  They were good.  But I liked  the straight vanilla shake the best.  This building, I think,  is still there.  It’s located in the 2600 block of East Carson Street.  We would get many Rx there.   Little did I know when my mom sent me to buy her cigarettes that I was contributing to her lung cancer, but I was young and didn’t know any better.

Recently, my best friend asked me how come the  Hot Metal Bridge got its name.  Well those South Side People know emphatically it is because hot metal was transported across the river on this bridge.  Lots of memories from the mill only a block from my house:  rust on the clothes hung in the back yard,  sulfur laden skies and breathing that stuff on my way to school, literally  floods of men changing shifts at 8am, 4pm and midnight. The Pittsburgh Mercantile, the local mill store, where laborers could charge things to their account.

It’s a wonder that I am still here on this earth considering some of the things I did as a child.  On a hot summer day, great, great rain storm.. no lightning.  What did a bunch of us do, I think we were about 5 or 6 years old…we went outside, even put on our bathing suits and went out into the rain.   I think my mom was sleeping, because she worked late at night.  We ran barefoot from one rain spout to another, water streaming out.  It was great, but did I know about the dangers…I guess not.  I asked another friend if she wanted to come out.  Her mom was around and said no.  My friend told me her mother said, beware of lightning…so we went back inside.  But it was fun while it lasted.

When I grew up on the South Side ladies went out for a night on the town, many found Bingo to be there entertainment.  Church after Church had seasonal games.  There were a few regular weekly places.  The Serbian Club on Sarah Street had a night, can’t remember which day of the week.  The Luthianian Hall on Jane Street had one.

I went to some of these with my mom or aunt.  Specials were held every 5 games.  You paid extra for each markable card.  The regular admission was for the 25 or 30 regular games, then they had a special every so often.  Food was available most times.  Hot dogs, chips, candy bars, and fountain drinks.

It was a big thrill for me to win once in a while.  I remember winning $40. on a special.  My mom really needed the money.  I kept $5. and gave her the rest .  This was one of those nights I went with my aunt.  My mom was happy we had the extra money.   I remember praying to win.  It was so neat coming home to think I could help out.  I was 12 years old at the time.