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Category Archives: Old History
Imagination Plus Great Generosity
The following is the second in an occasional series of posts drawn from Generation to Generation, a website I helped compile for the Rauh Jewish Archives at the Heinz History Center. The website profiles more than 150 Jewish families in Western Pennsylvania. Baruch … Continue reading
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Freda Lazier’s Big Break
The following is the first in an occasional series of posts drawn from Generation to Generation, a website I helped compile for the Rauh Jewish Archives at the Heinz History Center. The website profiles more than 150 Jewish families in Western … Continue reading
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714 Fifth (1861-1937): J. & J. B. Milholland Co.
The businessmen who once operated along Fifth Avenue were primarily merchants and primarily Jewish, but not entirely either, as the J. & J. B. Milholland Co. proves. James and John B. Milholland were born in old Allegheny in 1836 and … Continue reading
Posted in Old History, The Fifth Avenue Project
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1400 Fifth (1892-1915): Herman Obernauer & Co.
Before Prohibition, the liquor trade was a popular occupation among German Jewish immigrants in Pittsburgh. The president and first vice president of the national Wholesale Liquor Dealers’ Association were both members of Rodef Shalom Congregation, and several early families of … Continue reading
Posted in Old History, The Fifth Avenue Project
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“Old” 215 Fifth (1883-1892): Abraham Shenkan
The following is part of the Fifth Avenue Project, an ongoing effort to document the world of wholesaling merchants who operated along Fifth Avenue in Uptown Pittsburgh from 1880 to 1980. This article explains the project. I’ll be giving a talk on the history … Continue reading
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1000 Fifth (1893-1901): J. Shapira, the Pittsburg Cheap Store
The following is part of the Fifth Avenue Project, an ongoing effort to document the world of wholesaling merchants who operated along Fifth Avenue in Uptown Pittsburgh from 1880 to 1980. This article explains the project. I’ll be giving a talk on the history … Continue reading
Posted in Old History, The Fifth Avenue Project
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1227 Fifth (1926-1955): Albert Cazen of Cazen’s Meat Market
The following is part of the Fifth Avenue Project, an ongoing effort to document the world of wholesaling merchants who operated along Fifth Avenue in Uptown Pittsburgh from 1880 to 1980. This article explains the project. I’ll be giving a talk on the history … Continue reading
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824 Fifth (1905-1922): Oscar Simon of Oscar Simon pants
The following is part of the Fifth Avenue Project, an ongoing effort to document the world of wholesaling merchants who operated along Fifth Avenue in Uptown Pittsburgh from 1880 to 1980. This article explains the project. I’ll be giving a talk on the history … Continue reading
Posted in Old History, The Fifth Avenue Project
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819 Fifth (1910-1958): Sol Caplan of The S. C. Leather Co.
The following is part of the Fifth Avenue Project, an ongoing effort to document the world of wholesaling merchants who operated along Fifth Avenue in Uptown Pittsburgh from 1880 to 1980. This article explains the project. I’ll be giving a … Continue reading
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1037 Fifth (1931-1971): Jacob Fienberg of Fienberg and Siff
The following is part of the Fifth Avenue Project, an ongoing effort to document the world of wholesaling merchants who operated along Fifth Avenue in Uptown Pittsburgh from 1880 to 1980. This article explains the project. I’ll be giving a … Continue reading
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“It is growing worse every day.”
The following is an excerpt from an article I recently wrote for the Heinz History Center Library & Archives blog. It’s about a noteworthy trans-Atlantic correspondence between a Pittsburgh couple and a Vienna couple in the months leading up to … Continue reading
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Mr. Rubb Compromises
The following story comes from a 1998 recording made for the NCJW Oral History Project. It doesn’t have anything to do with Friendship Park. It’s just a lovely Pittsburgh story I discovered while doing some research this evening. I felt compelled … Continue reading
Posted in Old History
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The Sound That Wasn’t There
The following is an excerpt from a piece I recently wrote for the online journal Wake about Pittsburgh’s quiet influence on American popular music over the past 150 years. “Usually, midsized American cities invade the national musical landscape when several … Continue reading
Posted in Old History, Uncategorized
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Ongoing History: Building a Better Robot
Before it took over Pap’s Bar on Penn Avenue last fall, The Mr. Roboto Project spent 10 years in Wilkinsburg, hosting shows for “free-thinking weirdos” of all ages. Building a Better Robot tells the story of that first decade through … Continue reading
Posted in Old History, Ongoing History
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Oaks of Oakland: Samuel Rosenberg and Andrey Avinoff
In Pittsburgh, “history” is often a euphemism for “loss,” a way to talk about what we had, but two retrospectives currently on display celebrate what the city got from the greatness of its past. “A Painter’s Legacy,” at the American … Continue reading
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Welcome to Knox’s Pierogi House!
NOTE: The Post-Gazette ran an article today about Barbara Johnstone, a CMU sociolinguist dedicated to studying the wild evolution of Pittsburghese. I interviewed Johnstone last year for an article on the history and culture of Pittsburghese. The publication didn’t run … Continue reading
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The Ongoing History of Pittsburgh 