【61】Three Float Ice Cream@Page Dairy Mart, South Side Pittsburgh

Few months back, when the summer just began this year, my boss +Michael Matesic at Idea Foundry, and my colleague and friend +Ruiying Yan went for a short sunny afternoon drive after a pleasant meeting in downtown Pittsburgh.

During the trip, Mike introduced his favorite ice cream growing up--Float, as well as a very special ice cream place in South Side Pittsburgh. Before heading back to our “smelly” office on Craig/Forbes right above bagel factory in Oakland, the golden corner of all time, Mike also showed us a suburb close to the ice cream place where he grew up . It was such an hearty experience.

We all ordered Float and felt happy about this early summer treat. Ice Cream, always good to lift spirits and sweeten memories. The Ice Cream place is called +Page Dairy Mart, which has been open since 1951. It is a family business and has gone through three generates within Page family to this day. We met Mr. Page, his wife and daughter in the store. Mr. Page even took some time and showed a wall full of the history of the shop and community behind his store. As he was vividly telling  old stories and pointing to those black and white pictures, I looked around and stepped into the old times thinking how magic time is and will always be. Behind the store, a huge bridge and some old factories are still there but have lost their old glories, yet this small store, a much vulnerable creature in size, is still enjoying prosperity after 60 some years. I wonder what the future would bring to this small yet delicious ice cream store as well as the mighty community it resides.

Visiting the neighborhood Mike grew up in was really Mike’s great intention to show Ruiying one interesting and signature part of American life--Suburbanity.  I enjoyed every minute of it. The old family house had been still beautifully maintained until recently was sold to a new family due to Mike’s mother moving into a nursing home. The house is so beautiful and I saw the family pride Matesic had growing up.  The community is well kept and gracefully holding the traditional American Pride. Mike even shared a story about his nickname amongst his friends growing up while passing a football field. I thought that was so sweet. Burger! Yeah, it seems that McDonalds has renewed their branding messages from a Kid’s fun restaurant to everybody’s favorite, since Mike’s affection for it as a kid. LOL . I think my nickname can be “Sugar Cone $0.47”.

Ruiying had a great time, so did I. We are very happy and fortunate to have a boss who cares people from his bottom of heart.

Now, looking back to have this experience entry, I wonder where did Summer go? Summer is almost over. So hurry up and go get some Page ice creams. Highly recommend Float, by the way.

Oh, Summer went camping.

Beer winning trivia @ Page Dairy Mart

Page Dairy Mart is currently located at the intersection of Beck’s Run Road and E. Carson Street, Pittsburgh, PA.  The Page family built a Gulf Service and Gas Station  in early 1910s. The family business went through ups and downs, including a flood’s destruction. In 1951, Page Dairy Mart opened. It is still prospering until today.

This Picture has significant value.  “Becks Run Road was eventually redirected under the railroad trestle approximately 75-100 feet south of where it appears in this photo.  The building that appears in this photo was known as the Ormsby Mansion and was the home of the Butterwick family.  Emma Butterwick was born here and grew up to marry Charles Alexander Page.  The building was destroyed in the Saint Patrick’s Flood and no longer exists.  It is interesting to note that the road is not paved but a wooden boardwalk is visible for foot traffic.  You can see what appears to be horse-drawn trolley tracks near the bottom of the photo (see the water-filled hoof marks between the tracks). There is a shadow of a telephone pole and power line coming up from the bottom left-hand corner. A gas streetlight is on the corner. This photo was probably taken in the spring and sometime near 1900.”

For more historical photos of this wonderful historical site, please visit HERE.

ID@South Side Pittsburgh

What are those cool government agencies located in South Side Pittsburgh? Let me start with FBI.

【30】A pursuit of healthful living and deep belief@ Schwartz Living Market , Sou Side

You can always find a group of people dedicating to their belief and vision regardless of the many setbacks along the journey. Elisa Beck and her team working on revitalizing Schwartz Living Market is such a group of people. I had the privilege to experience the project in April 4th, 2013.

It can be dated back to my connection with Pam and the GIS class I was taking at Heinz College. I am a firm believer that classroom should be expanded to community and real projects should be brought into classroom for students to work on while they are learning new skills. So when Dr. Will Gorr required a project for his GIS class, I contacted +Pamela Barroso (Pam) to seek a real project to work on. That's how I was first introduced to Schwartz Living Market project.

Schwartz Living Market is a building revitalization project based on the very notion that a market should be a community gathering place where people can feel relaxed and close to each other. At the same time, the building that houses this market should be self-sustainable and green itself. Elisa started this project three years ago when her husband proposed to sell this family real estate. She told her husband “Wait, let’s see what we can do about it.” The rest became her journey in the past three years working with a group of volunteers to bring the healthy urban living concept into this building on 1317 East Carson street, South side.

The day, when I was in the building on the 4th of April, a brand new water fountain was just installed. An native Indian priest was invited to give a water ceremony for this accomplishment. Besides the water ceremony, there were several potential vendors in the market to showcase their products and services. Frankly speaking, everything was still under planning and nothing was established yet despite the high spirits and contagious enthusiasm of the project owner. However, the spirits around the audience was so welcoming and warm, which made me believe that something great was about to happen, sooner or later.

I received a music therapy treatment from musician Stephanie. While she was playing the harp, I laid on the bed that was connected to the music instrument. Besides hearing the music flow in the air, I felt the music and vibration move through my body. It’s such a relaxing session that made me think of those kids with special needs who I had attended back in China. They might be better off with music in their building, for the strong healing power in music notes. Stephanie told me that music therapy had been applied in many medical areas to treat patients.

The other experience I couldn’t help but sharing is the Native Indian water ceremony led by priest David Smith. The priest's voice was leading me go far away, away from stress, away from thoughts and to reach a state of tranquility. The words of the ceremony indicated the wisdom of the people who created them, their wisdom for managing the land, their wisdom for having a relationship with nature, and their wisdom for explaining visible and invisible aspects of each event.  As David said, “Water flows underground that you don’t see, but you can see the trees, the grass, and the flowers above the ground. Water frozen in the winter that you don’t see those life beneath it, but you see fishes jumping in the air when spring comes…..”

Frankly, I cried during the ceremony as if all my problems would be taken care of by the universe thereafter and I had no weight on my shoulder. I walked out of the Living Market as if I had a meditation. Energy had been restored in me and I can proceed and conquer again.

I also bought two flow-poetry (flow-etry) CDs from Kevin(Phil-osophical) and he trusted me to wire him the money after I got home with his CDs. One of the CDs was really good because that was created after his bicycle trip across America searching for the essence of sustainable urban culture. Traveling is also inspiring. It definitely showed in Kevin’s poem.

As of today, Schwartz Living Market has opened to the public. Many vendors have claimed their stands in the building. Elisa, the owner of the building as well as the driven force behind this project, has been busy as usual with organizing events, and writing blogs to raise the awareness of her project, especially the concept of healthy living in an urban setting. If you have chance to meet her, you would know her energy has come along way and will continue to proceed, further.

May the project the most success, for IT IS an oasis in the society jungle where people can shop, relax and feel close to each other, and ourselves again.

Beer winning trivia @ Living Building, Historic District, Sou side

1. There are two other Living Building Challenge projects taking place in Pittsburgh. The center for sustainable Landscape of Phipps Conservatory is working to meet the Challenge, so is the Frick Environmental Center, which will be rebuilt soon after a fire burned the building to the ground more than a decade ago. The Frick Environmental Center will be built in a historic area in Frick Park, but not an urban historical area.

2. In Sou side, 10th street to 17th street is considered a historic district, where all exterior building reconstructions or revitalization will need to follow certain building codes. This adds many challenges to some already challenging projects.

Your ID @ Schwartz Living Market

What’s the name of Elisa’s blog for this Schwartz Living Market?  Is it +1317EastCarsonStreet ? How many posts are there as of November 9th, 2013?

Note: Watch this video on Youtube and see the Living Market for yourself. :)

⑫Three internationals and our five neighborhoods @ Oakland, Squirrel Hill, Mt. Washington, Strip District, and Sou (th) Side

Unlike what the French is doing to their country’s immigrants, Pittsburgh Homeland Security officers might not “kidnap” kids from school and send them back to where they originated so that kids’ family would have to leave the country. However, there is still consequences if the law would be broken. So the point is that although Pittsburgh is a friendly city, as an international, maintaining a legal immigration status is still instrumental. For this very reason, +Sarosh Fatakia, +Albulena Krasniqi , and I met during an immigration workshop at university of Pittsburgh early 2012. Sarosh is a Scientist from India, Alb, a MBA and CPA candidate, now Ernst & Young employee to be, from Kosovo, and we soon found ourselves have a bond, through which we care for each other and support one another, especially when things didn’t go well as it now sounds to be.

We explored many neighborhoods together to make each other’s day.

Oakland is always a meet up spot, from where we start our precious time together. Squirrel Hill is the place where we dined, window shopped, Sarosh watched a lot movies and got his two pairs of glasses with a super great discount. Mount Washington is the place we had the most fun outdoor yet without spending a penny! The grand view avenue scenery, the panorama of downtown Pittsburgh from the bronze statue, and the Incline are all fun and interesting. Plus burning some healthy energy through walking is always a great satisfaction. Then we went Strip District put up some fat back without any hesitation, for those delicious Vietnam food was just irresistible.  Sou (th) Side? Yeah, that’s where I was grabbed again for some bourgeois pastime. This time it’s not for a drink, but for Cheese Factory’s dessert.

Well, it’s nice to treat yourself a piece of delicious cake in a nice environment, once a while, as if you deserve it, it helps to remind you of what you have missed, therefore regain a sense of purpose, however superficial that might be. After all, if we stay in a bathroom without ventilation for too long, we would eventually forget about how stinky it is, we get used to almost everything! But adaptability, like everything else is a double-edge sword......I am just justifying spending money when it's short.....So.... consumption at Cheese Factory is justified.  

Beer winning trivia @Squirrel Hill, Mt. Washington, Strip District, and Sou (th) Side

1. “Squirrel Hill” might be an Native Indian name. Pittsburgh officially divided this neighborhood into two, Squirrel Hill North and Squirrel Hill South. But we people only know one Squirrel Hill. Its original development in 18th century was focused on Mon riverfront. Many famous historical houses were built at that time. Mary Schenley’s grandfather James O’Hara ended up buying the third eldest house in the neighborhood built by Robert Neil at around 1787. Since 1889 Mary Schenley donated a lot property, including land and this house to the city of Pittsburgh, it’s opened for a time for the public. However, by 1969, the condition of the house was very poor that Pittsburgh Historical Landmark Foundation dismantled and rebuilt it. Now the house is only open for tours  in July during the Vintage Grand Prix.

2.  In 19th century, two major things happened that accelerated the overall development of Squirrel Hill neighborhood, the shift of focus from riverfront to the area that’s close to Oakland and Shadyside; and the operation of an electric trolley installed in 1893. The trolley line ran via Forbes Avenue and Murray Avenue to its final destination in Homestead, and was replaced by buses in 1958.

3. In 20th century, the open of Blvd of the Allies in 1927 further advanced the prosperity of Squirrel Hill due to its more convenient transportation to Downtown Pittsburgh. In 1953, Parkway and Squirrel Hill Tunnel opened, which provided easier and quicker access to surrounding neighborhoods. However, Squirrel Hill Tunnel also became many people travelling into Pittsburgh’s nightmare. Why people will subconsciously slow down BEFORE driving through the tunnel?

4. On the 27th of February in the third year of 21st century, a famous Squirrel Hill resident died. His name is Fred Rogers, the host of Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood, a children show, in which any movement on the TV is slow compared to nowadays’ hype active Chi-WA-WA style TV shows or movies.

5. Strip District locates between Lawrenceville and Downtown Pittsburgh hugging the Allegheny River.  This parcel of land was first owned by Mary Schenley's grandfather James O'Hara and George A. Bayard.  In 1814, the pair established the area naming it "Northern Liberties of Pittsburgh."  It was more commonly known as Bayardstown.  In 1837, the area joined the city, becoming Pittsburgh's fifth ward. With its ideal location, the area soon became a thriving industrial center.  Foundries, mills, and factories moved in. One interesting saying about this neighborhood is that “Strip District has had more identities than an undercover agent.” Two blows this neighborhoods suffered in 1930s was St. Patrick’s Day Flood in 1936, and great economic depression around world world war II.

6. From Mount Washington Pittsburgh you see the grand view of man-made civilization and prosperity. From the Mount Washington New Hampshire, you would be in awe to the nature’s creation. Same name, different view, something completely to think about. Isn't it interesting?

7. South Side, local call Sou Side, has the most concentrated liquor licenses in city of Pittsburgh. SouthsideWorks is an open-air retail, office, entertainment, and residential complex located on the South Side of the city of Pittsburgh and just across the Monongahela River from the Pittsburgh Technology Center and the University of Pittsburgh. I watched a movie called Connected there during 2012 St.Patrick’s Day, followed by a group discussion led by two professors at Pitt. It’s a great occasion. I was very much amazed by how green the neighborhood can be in such an early spring gloomy day!

Your ID @ Mt. Washington

What’s the story behind the bronze statue shown in the picture (above)? To be exact what is the conversation, George Washington was having with the Seneca tribe leader Guyasuta, about?

What’s the name of local media featured an article claiming that from this statue, you would have “The Best View in Town”?