Pittsburgh’s South Side Sally

Recently I went by the house where I grew up.  The new owners had resided it with wonderful slate blue wood, real wood siding.  It looks beautiful.  They had a flag up, potted plant at the side of the steps and a new fence.  Boy, the place really looks spiffy.  For a place that is well over 100 years old, the old place looks really nice.  I just had an inkling to comment on the fantastic job they did with the outside remodeling.

The last time it had been redone was when I was 21, my dad asked me for money to buy some kind of siding that reminded me of roofing shingles only it was suppose to resemble bricks.  He said he was getting too old to keep painting the house.  Well that was well over 40 years ago.  So yes the old girl looks great.

I’ll just say that it does give a senior citizen a nice feeling to see that the newer owners have upgraded my old homestead.  I have had just great memories growing up there.  Glad the current owners seem to like it too.

One of my best friends, Noreen would have us come over.  Her mom and dad had a small rectangle pool in their back yard.  We were about 5 or 6 at that time.   We would love to get wet and stay cool.  We also used the hose tied to a close line to run through.  This was of course another way to beat the heat.  So… cool.

Summer’s here and that brings back memories of the pool at 22nd Street Ormsby Pool.  The rec center and pool are there now but look different.  The pool configuration has changed.  Back in my good old young days that pool was just a rectangle shape.  The deep end had a diving board,  the low water started about 3 feet.

One could see the dusty street.  No one could take towels out.  We were restricted to time for girls, time for boys, then they had family time and adult time swims in the evening.  We’d line up in mass, back then no one except the Arcade Theatre had air conditioning.   Pool Time was a premium.   We started going down to the pool when we were about 6 or 7 years old.   Several of us would walk down together.  Things were seemingly different then.  For the most part, they were safer.  Girls had to wear bathing caps.  What a pain to remember them.  If you wanted to swim, you had to have one.  Well, I really didn’t swim as much as doggy paddle.  Noreen was trying to teach me to swim, she could swim underwater.  Boy did I admire that.  She also like to stay out and lay in the sun.   I always got sun burnt.  I think I did this to be with my friends.

Another place our families went to often was a place called “Mineral Beach” .   Can’t quite remember where it was located, but did I love piling up in the car with suits, towels, grills and food for a day at the beach:  Ken, me, Mom, Dad and Rose in our car.  Jimmy, Noreen and her parents in their car.

Trains  provided noise and rumble at night and hello’s during the day.  Late night trains rumbled atop the lane behind Jane Street and below Josephine Street.  The noise and rumble from the trains actually shook the house.  This I noticed very young, but apparently I got so familiar with it that as I grew older my brain blocked them out.  Around 5 pm every evening a train came by on the upper deck of the tracks.  I often walked or ran up to Jane Street and waved to the engineer on the red caboose…he always waved back.