September 3, 2024 - Pittsburgh City Paper by Pittsburgh City Paper

DAVID S. ROTENSTEIN

AMANDA WALTZ

PHOTO: MARS JOHNSON

CP PHOTO: MARS JOHNSON

A CLUB OF ONE'S OWN

Pittsburgh’s private ethnic clubs show how immigrants helped one another — and knew how to party

BY: DAVID S. ROTENSTEIN // INFO@PGHCITYPAPER.COM

There are few cultural institutions that connect Pittsburgh’s present to Pittsburgh’s past as thoroughly as the city’s ethnic social clubs. They are baked into yinzer DNA as firmly as they are rooted in the city’s neighborhoods. Their stories are individual chapters in Pittsburgh’s history of immigrants and industry.

The clubs occupy landmark buildings like the North Side’s Teutonia Männerchor, quotidian concrete block boxes like the South Side’s Kollar Club and Morningside’s Spigno Saturnia club, and repurposed homes like the FROGS clubhouse in Larimer. The clubs belonged to German, Slovak, Italian, and Black migrants from Europe and the Deep South. Though language and cultural traditions set them apart, they all share an origin story: the need to adapt and thrive in a foreign, sometimes hostile city. They also have evolved through time to become valued cultural assets in a post-industrial city.

CP PHOTO: MARS JOHNSON

A portrait of the first president of the Spignio Saturnia Italo-American Society, Paul Pampena

REFUGES AND COMMUNITY CORNERSTONES

Pittsburgh became the Steel City and Smoketown because of the industries that developed along the three rivers in the 18 th and 19 th centuries. The ironworks and, later, steel mills, glass plants, and tanneries attracted many workers from Europe and the Deep South.

“Virtually everybody in the city is an immigrant or the children of an immigrant,” says University of Pittsburgh historian Rob Ruck. “The clubs are vital to that community in a number of ways.”

explains. “People would join a club, they’d contribute a couple of cents a week, and there would be a death benefit, so that, when somebody died, they could have a proper burial and departure. Those groups often would provide some kind of insurance when people were injured and couldn’t work.”

Melissa Marinaro agrees. She directs the Heinz History Center’s ItalianAmerican Program.

“Mutual aid is a really important theme,” says Marinaro. “Because, at the time, we didn’t really have that built into the American system for

“THOSE GROUPS OFTEN WOULD PROVIDE SOME KIND OF INSURANCE WHEN PEOPLE WERE INJURED AND COULDN’T WORK.”

Ruck and his Pitt colleague Edward Muller recently wrote Pittsburgh Rising: From Frontier Town to Steel City 1750-1920, a book documenting the city’s early history. Bloomfield’s Little Italy was one of the stories they highlighted.

“They’re essential to the immigrant experience in Pittsburgh and elsewhere,” Ruck says.

“The reason that they started in the first place, in many cases, is simply to have death and health benefits,” Ruck

many of these laborers who were working some of the most dangerous and undesired jobs in the region.”

For South Side Slovaks who settled there in the 1880s, language was a major factor in establishing the John Kollar Slovak Literary & Library Society of Pittsburgh. Its 1913 charter laid out the club’s goals to create a society to “cultivate literature and music” and to raise “the moral standard and education among the Slovac [sic] youth and Americans of

Slovak descent.”

Slovak immigrants also struggled against significant ethnic biases.

“Hunky” became a despised and sometimes defiantly accepted ethnic slur. “They are not citizens, settle in colonies, and wherever they are there it is we find the most lawlessness,” wrote the Allegheny City (now, the North Side) Public Safety Director in 1892.

The Teutonia Männerchor, Spigno Saturnia, and Kollar clubs are among a handful of clubs with deep ties to Pittsburgh's history that have survived demographic and cultural shifts in the city. Since their founding, they have opened their membership rolls and social halls to wider groups of people.

Because many of them held precious liquor licenses, they were able to take advantage of Pennsylvania’s peculiar liquor laws. Social club halls became places where members and their guests could drink after bars closed at 2 a.m. and on Sundays. Those laws also made the social halls and club charters valuable commodities to entrepreneurs, who later operated after-hours clubs and nightclubs catering to the city’s LGBTQ communities.

Carnegie Mellon University historian Harrison Apple documented

the history of Pittsburgh’s LGBTQ club scene. He draws a straight line from early ethnic social clubs to Pittsburgh’s earliest LGBTQ clubs in the 1960s.

“The concept of the social club/ drinking club is a ubiquitous part of Pittsburgh’s urban working class social history,” Apple wrote in his 2021 CMU Ph.D. dissertation.

THE NEW ITALIAN VILLAGE

Spigno Saturnia is a town in southern Italy. It’s also the name of a social club founded in 1926. “The adjective for someone from Spigno is spelled Spignese,” wrote club secretary Chris Pirollo in an email to Pittsburgh CityPpaper

The Spignese settled in eastern neighborhoods, East Liberty and Larimer, where Pittsburgh’s earliest Little Italies formed. Marinaro underscored the importance of the connections between Italian towns to Pittsburgh clubs.

“From the Italian-American perspective, many of the clubs came out of a need for mutual aid,” Marinaro says.

“The socialization aspect of it was certainly important, but for many of the clubs, these were resources [for] Italian-Americans” who often originated from one town.

“In order to belong to our

PHOTO: COURTESY OF DAVID S. ROTENSTEIN Flag for the Ateleta beneficial association

CP PHOTO: MARS JOHNSON

Tony Spagno, President of the Spignio Saturnia Italo-American Society

organization, you must be able to trace your roots back to the town of Spigno Saturnia,” explains club president Tony Stagno.

Their club began with 13 men playing cards in an East Liberty home. “They took a gallon of wine, put their hands together in brotherhood … and poured it over their hands,” says Stagno. In its early years, the club provided medical care and burial benefits to members. Then came the picnics, parties, and meals — lots of meals. Like other social clubs, Spigno Saturnia used money made from its liquor license and events to fund the club’s charitable work.

Spigno Saturnia’s Morningside clubhouse is the club’s third building in a century. It’s what distinguishes them from many other Italian clubs in the city, which hold events in spaces owned by other organizations.

“One of the things that we have in our building is we have a bar and then we have a dining area, and the dining area holds about 120 people,”

says Stagno. “So what keeps us different is that we have a building and when other groups come in, they look around and they see the names, they see the pictures on the wall, they see the plaques, they see that we celebrate our past.”

THE CLUB IN HUNKY HOLLOW

“What was beautiful about this area is, first of all, it was called Hunky Hollow because of immigrants,” explains Kollar Club president Jessica Cieslak-Moore. “We still call it Hunky Hollow.”

lives in a home behind the club that she bought from her parents.

“It was to have a social meeting place for and to teach immigrants the language,” Cieslak-Moore says. The club drew its name from a famous Slovakian poet, Ján Kollár, who lived from 1793 to 1852, but “everybody thinks that John Kollar is a local.”

Since its founding in 1912, the club has had close ties with several South Side churches where men from the glee club sang. They had a baseball team that played in Kollar Field on a hillside overlooking what’s now a

“THERE’S STILL THE SINGING PART OF IT, BUT THE SOCIAL PART OF IT HAS KIND OF OVERSTEPPED THAT AT THIS POINT.”

Cieslak-Moore’s grandfather, Charles Cieslak, was a Kollar Club charter member. Her father grew up in a Jane St. apartment a few blocks away from the clubhouse, and she

Duquesne Light substation. Many of Hunky Hollow’s men worked in the J&L mill across the railroad tracks. In their off hours, they’d be at the club's bar, playing

baseball or shooting dice in the tunnel beneath the railroad tracks. In the club, members could buy a number from the neighborhood bookie, whose photo is in one of the club’s scrapbooks.

Gambling, drinking, sports, and socializing were the ways that Pittsburgh’s industrial workforce passed time.

To keep the Kollar Club alive, they continue to host concerts and other shows to get people in the door. Musician Bill Toms is a regular performer and a longtime member.

DEUTSCHTOWN SINGERS

The Teutonia Männerchor hall is a prominent half-timbered landmark for p eople entering the North Side from Route 28 and the 16 th Street Bridge. Translated into English, its name means German Men’s Choir. Founded in 1854 and incorporated in 1887, the Männerchor is one of Pittsburgh’s oldest ethnic social clubs. It’s been at the same site since

CP PHOTO: MARS JOHNSON

Tony Spagno, president of the Spignio Saturnia Italo-American Society

CP PHOTO: MARS JOHNSON

Tony Spagno, president of the Spignio Saturnia Italo-American Society, holds traditional neckware members wear for funerals.

then, and the surrounding neighborhood continues to be known as Deutschtown for its ties to the German community that coalesced there in the 1830s.

“It was a place for people to gather,” says Carole Ashbridge, the club’s historian. Her great-grandfather, Pastor Carl Weitershausen, was a founder. The club was a place where German traditions, including singing and beer culture, could thrive.

In its early years, the club hosted singing events and its members competed nationally in singing competitions. “The singers of the Teutonia Männerchor are in the first ranks of the German singing societies,” wrote The Pittsburgh Press in 1905.

“The entertainments given by the Teutonia Männerchor, of Allegheny, are always attended by a large part of the best German-American element of the North Side.”

The tradition continued through the 20th century and weathered anti-German sentiments that arose during the two World Wars. Throughout its long history, members provided financial support during multiple crises, including fires and floods that swept through the North Side in the 1800s.

It remains a vibrant part of Pittsburgh’s social world. One of many German singing clubs in the city, the Männerchor’s role later expanded.

“It transitioned from singing into becoming a real social club, which is what it is today,” explains Ashbridge. “I mean, there’s still the singing part of it, but the social part of it has kind of overstepped that at this point.”

FROGS, ELKS, AND MASONS

Black migrants to Pittsburgh frequently faced more challenges than their European co unterparts. They got the worst and most dangerous jobs in the mills, and Jim Crow practices pushed them into redlined areas such as the Hill District.

“Racism is structural, and it’s a structural force in society,” explains

ethnomusicologist Colter Harper.

“If you had a local branch of, say, the Elks or the Masons, those were segregated.”

Harper, a former Rusted Root guitarist, wrote a history of jazz in Pittsburgh. “I know more about this in terms of the musicians union, but you had two separate locals of the American Federation of Musicians because the white local would not accept Black members.”

Many of Pittsburgh’s early Black fraternal organizations became entertainment venues, booking bands and hosting dances for members and others. The Loendi Club was one of those venues. Founded in 1897, the club owned a hall in the Lower Hill District. Its members were drawn from Pittsburgh’s Black elite: doctors, lawyers, and business owners.

Urban renewal ended the Loendi Club’s run in the 1950s.

The FROGS Club is a survivor. Founded in 1910, it held its early meetings inside the Loendi Club building. In 1915, the club began holding annual summer celebrations that attracted revelers from around the country. FROG Week featured picnics, concerts, dances, and educational programs.

In 1990, the FROGS moved into their current East Liberty clubhouse: a funeral home where a Prohibitionera bootlegger and gambler had once lived. Its website is an archive of FROGS activities and photos of current members. A FAQ reads, “The high purpose of the FROGS Club is to have fun.” (The club didn’t respond to City Paper’s requests for an interview.)

Black residents also formed less exclusive clubs as branches of national organizations. The North Side Elks Lodge, which owned a building on Wylie Ave., opened its hall for public dances Wednesday evenings in the 1930s, according to a 1936 University of Pittsburgh study.

GOING UNDERGROUND

As memberships dwindled and club

leaders struggled to pay their bills, many organizations shut their doors and folded. Some sold their charters and buildings. Using Pennsylvania’s quirky liquor laws, which grant social clubs extended hours, some new proprietors turned the clubs into afterhours clubs where booze and drugs flowed freely.

ethnic clubs. Pittsburgh’s newspapers regularly reported on raids during and after Prohibition. The clampdown on drinking pushed some clubs into illegal drinking and gambling as their only activities.

Squirrel Hill’s Beacon Club was an early player in the city’s vice scene.

Heinz History Center archivist Eric

“IT BROUGHT ME TO TEARS HOW ALL THE OLD-SCHOOL SOUTH SIDE COMMUNITY REALLY JUST CAME TOGETHER AND JUST WAS LIKE, ‘WE CAN’T LET THE KOLLAR CLUB CLOSE.’”

The New Era Club in Sheraden was one of those clubs. Founded in the 1930s as a chapter of the Italian Sons and Daughters of America, the New Era sold its charter and clubhouse. It became an after-hours club that police raided in 1997. Club employees faced drug, liquor, gambling charges ,and weapons charges.

Vice, though, wasn’t new to the city’s

Lidji told CP that the city’s Jewish immigrants didn’t create secular social clubs like other groups. Pittsburgh’s Jews hewed closely to their synagogues and schools.

Except for the Beacon Club. “Beacon Club organized by Jews of City,” reported the Pittsburgh Daily Post in 1927. The club described itself as a group of Jewish voters. Its charter

said that it was formed to maintain “a club for social enjoyment, the study of political economy and the discussion of public questions.”

Within a decade, the Beacon Club had dropped any pretense of civic respectability. Between the late 1930s and the 1980s, it became a regular hangout for the city’s Jewish, Italian, and Black racketeers to drink and play cards.

Some of the clubs came full circle later in the 20th century as they grew into refuges for different types of marginalized people. They became havens for illegal gambling, bootleg liquor consumption, sex work, and a growing LGBTQ community.

CMU’s Apple wrote that the emergence of gay social clubs was a natural evolution from the ethnic clubs’ early history.

“I pointed toward the concept of a community counterpublics on the other side of the lodge door, where shared knowledge is part of what makes membership – even to a gay

social club – readily comprehensible,” Apple wrote in 2021.

ADAPT OR PERISH

Many of Pittsburgh’s ethnic social clubs were male-dominated spaces. Historically, only men could become full members and hol d leadership positions. Some clubs, like the Spigno Saturnia Club, spun off women’s organizations rather than admit women members, while others changed their charters.

Cieslak-Moore initially joined the Kollar Club as a “social member.” The club had two membership tiers: social members and charter members.

“You had to be Slovak to be a charter member,” she says. “We found that our charter members were dying off, moving away, and we were getting less and less financial support and active supporters.”

As a social member, she could help plan the club’s centennial celebration, but she couldn’t be an officer. Never one to pull her punches, she told the

CP PHOTO: MARS JOHNSON

Jessica Moore, president of the Kollar Club

club, “I think it’s time to change the bylaws.” They did.

Cieslak-Moore became the club’s first woman charter member, and then, six years ago, she became its first woman president.

Unlike the Kollar Club, membership in the Spigno Saturnia club is still only open to men. Women can join the Ladies Spigno Society, founded in 1937, but they still can’t join the original organization. “We’ve been approached about, why don’t we join together?” Spigno Saturnia’s Stagno explains. “We’ve kept it separate.”

Changing cultural values, aging memberships, and shifts in American society all contributed to the demise of many social clubs. Sociologist Robert Putnam documented how people have become disconnected from friends and social networks in his 2000 book Bowling Alone. Putnam included fraternal organizations and immigrant associations among the groups with decimated ranks. Besides shrinking memberships, many clubs struggle to pay bills and

maintain aging buildings, like the Kollar Club and the North Side Elks building in the Hill District. After more than two decades of responding to city and county tax liens slapped on the property, the city last year condemned and demolished the North Side Elks Lodge building. The North Side Lodge (not to be confused with the popular North Side lodge that stages weekly banjo performances) had been there since 1923 after moving from West General Robinson St. on the North Side.

Murphy Keller, the North Side Lodge’s Exalted Leader, says that his club is racing the clock to deal with its tax liabilities and get a new home before they lose their liquor license in 2025. The club has been meeting in a Centre Ave. masonic lodge.

Despite losing their century-old home, Keller says the lodge remains active in its charitable activities.

“We’re still doing that in spite of not having a building,” Keller says.

The COVID-19 pandemic lobbed an existential threat towards

restaurants, bars, and entertainment venues. The city’s ethnic social clubs were particularly vulnerable because of declining memberships.

Keller says the pandemic hit his lodge at a particularly vulnerable time. The Elks weren’t alone.

“It was a very difficult time for us,” says Cieslak-Moore. The Kollar Club used the downtime to give the clubhouse a facelift by refinishing floors, painting, and adding new outdoor social spaces.

Twenty-first century technology and organizing saved the 20th century social club. “We had a GoFundMe and a fundraiser,” Cieslak-Moore explains. “It brought me to tears how all the old-school South Side community really just came together and just was like, ‘We can’t let the Kollar Club close.’”

Though established separately by very different groups of people, a common thread ties all of these clubs together: finding relevance in a world that’s very different from when their founders first came to Pittsburgh. .

PHOTO: COURTESY OF DAVID S. ROTENSTEIN

Demolition of Northside Elks Club, 2315 Wylie Ave.

BRICK BUDS

BY: MATT PETRAS

Two 11-year-old boys at Dutch Ridge Elementary School in Beaver County receive plastic tubs of Lego pieces and mutually decide, given the provided green and brown colors, to make a jungle scene together. The boys begin by placing pieces for the ground to establish some verticality.

“SOCIAL EMOTIONAL LEARNING IS REALLY THE FOUNDATION FOR ALL OF THIS.”

“We need some elevation,” Roman matter-of-factly tells his buddy Nolan.

“Should we build a cave?” Nolan replies.

In less than a half hour, the boys have built a lush jungle, complete with trees, wildlife and a cave with patches of moss.

This represents an average activity during Matt’s Maker Space’s Brick Clubs, which use team-building exercises with Lego-building to encourage social and emotional development for kiddos who may need some help socializing.

Matt’s Maker Space, a nonprofit organization focused on STEAM/STEM-based creativity and learning, began in 2016 in the Mt. Lebanon School District. The club was started by Noelle Conover, whose Lego-enthusiast son, Matt, passed away from cancer at the age of 12 in 2002. The loss inspired her to start a program to help others learn and develop through Lego building and similar activities.

Conover tells Pittsburgh City Paper that she loves when children ask her who “Matt” is and appreciates the opportunity to tell youngsters his story.

The Maker Spaces — featuring activities such as 3D printing, crafts, and robotics, in addition to Lego building — have come to a wide variety of organizations throughout the Pittsburgh area, including Western Psychiatric Hospital, Point Park University, and the Mt. Lebanon

CP PHOTO: MARS JOHNSON

The Lego Brick Club at Dutch Ridge Elementary School in Beaver, Pa. helps kids with problem solving, patience and working in groups.

CP PHOTO: MARS JOHNSON

Nolan Bruce and Roman Herrera, grade 6, work together to build Lego bricks at Dutch Ridge Elementary

Public Library. Most of these spaces serve children, but some include adults.

The Brick Clubs follow a national trend and models the Brick-by-Brick program created in official collaboration with Lego by Play Included, an organization based in the United Kingdom. So far, Matt’s Maker Space has established Brick Clubs at the Mt. Lebanon School District as well as Dutch Ridge Elementary School, and Conover plans to expand their reach even further.

The clubs offer obvious STEMbased educational benefits, but, as Emily Sanders, assistant-superintendent for Beaver Area School District, tells City Paper , that’s not the main focus.

“They’re making something, right? And they’re using some of those terminologies that you would in a STEM,” says Sanders. “But this is really about human connection, building friendships and that social, emotional learning.”

Play Included research originally found strong results among neurodivergent students who may have difficulties making friends and forming bonds with their peers, but Brick Clubs now cast a wider net, Sanders says. At Dutch Ridge, the program welcomes all kids who would like to attend, and it’s said to be about evenly split between girls and boys, despite the marketing of Lego historically leaning more toward boys.

“As COVID came, and kids were isolated for a year or more, we really started looking at, how could this really work in the mainstream, with all kids, not just neurodivergent learners?” Sanders says.

The Brick Club at Dutch Ridge takes up half of a so-called Zen Den classroom — on one side of a partition, students can relax and write poetry in a bean bag chair or blow off steam on an elliptical bike, and on the other side, students find themselves

in a Lego utopia. A painted mural spells out “Brick Club” in 3D lettering, images from Lego set boxes adorn the walls, and colorful chairs circle the white tables used for building.

The club enlists students in two main activities: freeform building and structured building following an instruction manual. For the more structured building, students work in groups with three roles: one person who reads and explains the instructions, one person who gathers pieces, and one person who builds. This encourages students to work together and talk with each other in pursuit of a shared goal.

“Social emotional learning is really the foundation for all of this,” Sanders says. “Teamwork and realizing what they need to work on. When we say, okay, what can we work on next time? They might say, ‘I need more patience.’”

After a successful build, students award each other with badges based on their individual performance. Examples of badges include “Creative Genius,” “Cool Communicator,” “Brilliant Builder” and “Mighty Mate.”

Nolan and Roman carefully scanned the badges and had an easy time complimenting each other. The two formed a friendship before the club and grew closer by building together. Both will be sixth-graders this school year, making them among the oldest at their school. Both tell CP they would be interested in mentoring new students who join the club.

As the new school year begins, new kids will get the opportunity to make friends, polish their social skills, and pat each other on the back. Nolan and Roman have proven themselves to be seasoned veterans.

“I picked ‘Clever Problem-Solver’ for Roman because he found that one piece,” Nolan says.

“I would pick Nolan for the ‘Mighty Mate,’” Roman says. .

CP PHOTO: MARS JOHNSON

Counselor, Jeremy Selepec, left, works with Roman Herrera and Nolan Bruce, far right, to build a Lego set.

CP PHOTO: MARS JOHNSON

Emily Sanders, Dutch Ridge's Assistant Superintendent, brought her dog Kimber to the Brick Club.

CP PHOTO: MARS JOHNSON

The Lego Brick Club at Dutch Ridge Elementary School in Beaver, Pa. helps kids with problem solving, patience and working in groups.

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We are the nurses of West Penn Hospital, and we are united and determined to stand up for our patients.

At West Penn, nurses welcome thousands of babies, care for our region’s sickest infants, treat rare and aggressive cancers, and provide life-changing surgeries. We have been there for our patients and for our hospital through some of the most difficult times: the loss of a newborn, the grind of chemotherapy, the near-closure of our hospital, and of course the COVID-19 pandemic.

Through it all, we are proud to have made West Penn the first Magnet hospital in Pittsburgh.

Our patients–the generations of Pittsburgh families who are born here and return here for care and to have children of their own–are the reason we became nurses. And they are the reason we must speak up now.

The nursing profession is in crisis–at West Penn and across the country.

Our patients are sicker than ever. The care they depend on is more complex and requires greater technical and clinical expertise than ever before. Yet the people at the center of that care–nurses–are fleeing the bedside in record numbers.

We’re losing experienced nurses with decades of service and new nurses just a couple years into their careers. Pennsylvania has one of the worst nursing shortages in the country, with 20,000 unfilled nursing positions projected in 2026.

The reasons are the same: stress, short-staffing, and a nationwide rise in violence against healthcare workers. Most of all it’s the moral injury that results from an inability to provide the quality and compassionate care that motivated nurses to join the profession.

THE ALLEGHENY HEALTH

GREATER PITTSBURGH REGION

This constant turnover and drain on experience has consequences. It means your nurse is more likely to be new to the unit or new to nursing or even a temp. It also means you’re more likely to be waiting in an emergency department because there aren’t enough nurses on the inpatient units to open all the beds.

These challenges may not be unique to West Penn or to Pittsburgh, but our patients are counting on us here to take them on.

That’s why as a nurse union we want to partner with the Allegheny Health Network to break this cycle and lead our region by negotiating historic investments in the nurse workforce that will ensure skilled and experienced nurses at the bedside.

Last fall, the union nurses at Allegheny General Hospital achieved a landmark agreement with AHN that included significant pay increases for senior nurses and an unprecedented $40 minimum nurse wage. As a result, AGH has been able to both hire and retain nurses to the point where the hospital is back to pre-pandemic staffing levels.

Sadly, AHN has been so far unwilling to commit to the levels of investment we know are essential to stop the hemorrhage of nurses and stabilize the profession across the region.

That’s why we stand united and prepared to take action–including a strike–to protect our patients.

None of us wants to strike. We have dedicated our careers–be that a few months or several decades–to caring for our community. And that dedication is why we won’t stand by now and watch the nursing crisis pull us further down.

So we are resolute that if AHN fails to make the investments needed for our patients and our profession, we will go on strike to protect them.

Hailey Lane

Audrey Rose Abarquez

Alysa Peltz

Taylor Froehlich

Declan Allwein

Tara Bowman

Tatiana Reif

Rebecca Krabill

Grace Bajus

Kayla Cunningham

Stephanie Chulack

Kasey Kaczorowski

Savanna Shrum

Kathleen Hurley

Nasim Mostaghimi

May Liz Cruz

Kaylin Martella

Erin Dowds

Rachel Dickinson

Malena Mozeyko

Jaelyn Aguglia-Laird

Kelly Dukes

Ryker Crow

Resan Siegert

Kathryn Blocker

Sloane Santillan

Madison Janovich

Kelli Starr

Julia Giannandrea

Lauren Tonkovich

Allison Seymour

Ellie Burke

Samantha Gaskill

Emily Bolton

Lauren Camp

Ravyn Johnson

Elizabeth Puffenberger

Brittany Eckberg

Shannon Dutton

Natalia Goldin

Panagiota Tsilfides

Janaya Kennedy

Seth Pochron

Diana Slifer

Taylor Warner

Katlyn Clayton

Megan Stefko

Emma Marsland-McCann

Alex Trocano

Airadajha Yancey

Rachael Myers

Dharmendra Jha

Casandra Wolff

Erica Massie

Karen Alberts

Josie Valvo

Natalie Inzinga

Elizabeth Johns

Nathan Malachowski

Amanda Howard

Elena Yarosh

Nicolas Joseph

Natasha Dobransky

Madison MacHmer

Hanan Alshammari

Victoria Pierce

Jen Stevens

Kaylie Hutzell

Andrew Secrest

Anneliese Marshall

Katherine Malinak

Kathryn Sullivan

Melody Kalu

Lindsey Stover

Kim Bodura

Ivy Graham

Nicole Abrams

Julie Carothers

Courtney Diflauro

Kayla Wodarek

Caroline Agentowicz

Alyssa Lapusnak

Desiree Marghella

Kristy McGaughey

Abigail Beilstein

Jonathon Suydam

Hannah Elnyczky

Rachel Murphy

Simon Diehl

Olivia Heider

Jessica Groat

Mikayla Gorman

Miranda Williams

Veronica Phillipson

Justin Johnson

Amber Brown

Natalie Whiteside

Anna Webster

Lindsay Chamberlain

Danielle Sellers

Theresa Smith

Daniela Oneil

Baylee Phillips

Bailey Ayers

Cocoa Lindley

Tess Keele

Grace Lishing

Kiara Mattern

Emily Smart

Ella Marconi

Jenna Gorsich

Rachel Mejalli

Morgan Oleary

Kathleen Jae

Jodi Faltin

Lauren Sines

Binto Mohamed

Richard Franklin

Alexis Cain

Brittany Morris

Amy Elling

Juliet Ilik

Austin Connor

Jessica Winchell

Rebekah Roewer

Nathan Lukac

Mark Anthony Espinoza

Cassandra Friday

Jayde Resnick

Kathlene Abbott

Melinda Tober

Timothy Mahoney

Cameron Stevens

Julia Duncan

Sidney Giordano

Miranda Sadler

Olivia Tomec

Kaitlyn Doherty

Alaina Page

Lyndsay Edmondston

Lily Slagle

Theresa Forrest

Jailece McCracken

Jaimi Araujo

Brooke Dingel

Krista Lemons

Kellie Miner

Jill Dawson

Shara Baldani

Ann Wolfe

Jacob Reiss

Kassidy Walker

Emily Kamats

Courtney Kubiak

Corrinn Assenti

Tuny Zonana

Margaret Laffey

Jacob Slattery

Taryn Kelly

Dora Offei

Marlorie Pierre

Libby Cataldo

Cydney Francis

Chloe McCalmon

Domenique Stauffer

Akire Hoots

Arkeela Nelson

Morgan Shockley

Alexandria Weiblinger

Ekaterina Whitney

Stephanie Cowan

Lauryn Graham

Nataja Phillips-Noel

Natasha Hibler

Itzel Diaz

Stephanie Vidra

Lilli Mason

Jamie DiLeonardo

Sarah Sommers

Mary Schultheis

Reyna Reyes

Stephanie Ruggiero

Sophia Cottone

Shannon Roche

Kaila Young

Corinne Powell

Connor Hanlon

Amy Fix

Amy Jones

Heather Mullins

Hailie Cass

Jonathan Wulfsberg

Jennifer Zeigler

Madison Mussey

Tina Fox

Ashley Olivieri

Elizabeth Milko

Carly Berube

Debora Bodog

Logan Armitage

Emilee Jack

Sara Kammermeier

Santana Cardona

Jennifer Kelly

Aaron Hoover

Emily Golacinski

Angelina Lamonica

Brittney Balzer

Anna Han

Emily Brown

Natalie Hilton

Gina Winward-Green

Amy Dorsey

Emily Essel

Charles Taylor

Tara Craig

Heather Jones

Sarah Shelly

Alexis Oklota

Ping Yuan

Tyler Bradley

Tayler Derringer

Heather Cain

Kristian Fiscus

Sydni Goodwin

Clara Soko

Camryn Brown

Ramie Obrien

Malina Hall

Kennedy Tabor

Brittany Stone Jenkins

Haley Grenesko

Reema Daud

Tracy Stubbs

Peter Woshner

Hannah Vogel

Brooke Leopold

Ashley Harbold

Alexis Barger

Emily Coblish

Jasmine Symms

Alexandra Abbott

Jamie Lappe

Tiera Alston

Haley Sahr

Chelsey Kabel

Teja Brown

Katherine Sanders-Duerring

Mary Uguz

Kayla Villella

Shaleena Garner

Morgan Lowe

Kaitlyn Hanlon

Jenna Babay

Chelsy Anne Carlos

Leah Marks

Ruby Watson

Samantha Holland

Daniel Barbieri

Britney Kowal

Elliot McDade

Chloe Schrecengost

Christina Smith

Kelsy Levendosky

Shelby Kutrufis

Abigail Rose

Marissa Iacovelli

Ashley Hooman

Sara Strittmatter

John Robinson

Lauren Sladic

Jessica Menezes

Lauren Troiano

Emily Grunstra

Ohemaa Boateng

Alexandra Barron

CUDDLE BEAR

Crystal’s Cuddle Therapy club meetups encourage play and consensual, non-sexual touch among adults looking to connect with others

BY: AMANDA WALTZ // AWALTZ@PGHCITYPAPER.COM

and television shows and as toys, are splashed across her various social media platforms and websites. Users will also find images of Cavitt smiling and hugging Care Bears and other plush toys.

Cavitt tells Pittsburgh City Paper that, in addition to serving as a marketing tactic, the Care Bears hold personal and practical significance to her practice.

“I know that for my first cuddle event, I brought my childhood Care Bear stuffed animal, and I was petrified,” Cavitt, a self-described professional cuddler, platonic touch practitioner, and cuddle event leader, explains. “As somebody who’s experienced trauma, I thought, ‘well, what is this going to be? It literally could be anything.’ And so, walking into it, I felt what most of my current community members feel the first time they come in, which is fear, trepidation, stepping into the unknown.”

Since 2018, Cavitt has organized cuddle club events, primarily in Sharpsburg and the South Hills. The gatherings, usually promoted on sites like Meetup and Eventbrite, invite those looking to explore nonsexual touch and intimacy with others in a safe, calm atmosphere achieved by utilizing “quilts, blankets, squishy materials, snacks” and stuffed animals — hence the Care Bears.

When first looking into therapeutic cuddling, a practice that encourages and facilitates consensual, platonic touch among adults, questions certainly arise: What is involved? Who does it benefit? How do you find a cuddling event in your city?

For Crystal’s Cuddle Therapy, a local service run by Crystal Cavitt, another, less obvious question may arise — what’s up with all the Care Bears? The colorful characters, which gained popularity in the 1980s through animated films

Cavitt believes the childlike imagery also helps cuddlers feel safe to open up in ways not possible in other communities, even in more accepting kink or fetish circles.

“I think most people are afraid of vulnerability,” she explains, adding that, in her experience, cuddling can be intimidating to many. “And I think that cuddling is really, honestly the foundation to start to love oneself, and then to start to move into being able to love another … I want to honor that play is important, that foundational self-love is also important, and that a lot of people who may be interested in exploring other realms of their sexuality are certainly welcome to my events, but that’s not what it’s about.”

CP PHOTO: MARS JOHNSON Professional cuddler Crystal Cavitt poses for a photo in Etna.

Though relatively new to Pittsburgh, therapeutic cuddling has been around for years. In 2016, both Vice and the New York Times ran articles about cuddle therapy, with one detailing the writer’s time at a cuddle party (similar to Cavitt’s Care Bear, the article points out how one woman at the event “clutched a stuffed, life-size Garfield”).

“I’ll have people reach out sometimes and say, ‘What’s the gender dynamic like? Do you have a percentage?’” she says. “First off, I’m not able to disclose everything, I don’t always know before the event how many people and of what gender they will be. I do see a lot of beautiful, amazing [people who identify as male] that are struggling with touch, but it’s a pretty

“I WANT TO HONOR THAT PLAY IS IMPORTANT, THAT FOUNDATIONAL SELF-LOVE IS ALSO IMPORTANT, AND THAT A LOT OF PEOPLE WHO MAY BE INTERESTED IN EXPLORING OTHER REALMS OF THEIR SEXUALITY ARE CERTAINLY WELCOME TO MY EVENTS, BUT THAT’S NOT WHAT IT’S ABOUT.”

The articles point to cuddle clubs attracting a wide spectrum of people, something Cavitt says is commonplace at her events. She says that the two to four events she hosts each month vary wildly, attracting “men, women, and those identifying as trans.”

diverse group.”

Cavitt says she prefers to host smaller cuddle groups of anywhere from three to 10 people and offers one-on-one cuddle therapy sessions. She relies on organizations like Cuddle Sanctuary, a national cuddling professional network that

provides training, therapy certification, and ethical guidelines, to ensure events are trauma-informed and safe for all who attend. Cavitt says participants are not required to cuddle and “go through a series of exercises that include building connection and trust.”

“Some of those exercises include practicing how to say ‘no’ and continually doing that throughout the event and then celebrating those,” she says. “In our society, we’re often told by bosses or loved ones that we have to say yes to something that we have no desire to say yes to and it starts from our time as kids. And so trying to work against that, that conditioning, and then also attempting to just build a self-care type of vibe.”

Cuddlers can also retreat to a “solo salon” when touching and socializing become too much. “If someone says ‘I’m full’ — [although] they don’t have to speak verbally at all — they can just go into that space and be present with us, but not touch. And

I usually make sure to repeat about 1,000 times during my events that no touch is required for this event, that is not the purpose of the event.”

She says that while cuddle club events require a fee, she will work with anyone struggling to afford it.

Cavitt intends to build on her practice through additional education and training — she’s currently earning a bachelor’s degree in psychology from the University of Pittsburgh and looking into the need for more research on the benefits of non-marital and platonic touch.

She understands that while the term “cuddling” and, in her case, the Care Bear imagery, may strike some as odd or juvenile, it also works.

“The cuddling really does market itself, like the word ‘cuddle,’” she says. “I’ve actually wanted to get away from it because of how childlike it is at times and I recognize how it still is eye-catching. So even if they think weird about it at first, at least it gets them thinking.” .

RUBBING ELBOWS

The

Duquesne Club and Rivers Club have served Pittsburgh’s Downtown elite for generations, but in very different ways

BY: RACHEL WILKINSON // RWILKINSON@PGHCITYPAPER.COM

The idea of a social club or “clubbing” — in this case, meaning a select group of men getting together to dine and drink — dates back as early as the 1660s. But as with many staid institutions, it arrived in Pittsburgh by way of the region’s industrial elite.

In the 1860s and ‘70s, the club movement, borne from benevolent societies, fraternal organizations, and post-Civil War groups, proliferated in Pittsburgh. Private gentlemen’s

clubs opened, modeled after those created by British aristocracy, situated away from industrial centers. They offered camaraderie, a convenient place for like-minded professionals to talk business, and a refined Downtown lunch. The trend became so widespread among wealthy industrialists that, by 1912, Henry Clay Frick belonged to 27 different Pittsburgh clubs, even founding his own private club (located on the top floor of the Frick Building on Grant St.).

A couple members-only city clubs remain

in downtown Pittsburgh today, only blocks away from the Pittsburgh City Paper offices. They tout a suite of amenities tucked away above street level, and because of their exclusivity, retain an air of mystery. Given cultural shifts toward greater inclusion, the rise of remote work, and plans to transition Downtown into a more residential neighborhood, we were curious to see who still frequents these clubs and what appeal they hold for their members.

PHOTO: GREGG LIBERI

Reading Room, Duquesne Club

THE DUQUESNE CLUB

The Duquesne Club was not Pittsburgh’s first club, but stands as the oldest operating private membership club in the city, established in 1873. Long reputed for its secrecy, asking about its happenings is apparently evergreen at City Paper; in 2003, a reader wrote to Chris Potter about what goes on inside “that mysterious hulking building on Sixth Ave. with well-dressed people going in and out.”

“Human sacrifices,” Potter joked in reply.

The quip touches on the nature of the club’s founding by a who’s-who” of 19th-century industry captains and the outsized influence they exerted on Pittsburgh’s development.

K. Moorehead, president of the Monongahela Navigation Company, a lock and dam engineering firm that opened the way for transportation on the rivers; and several prominent attorneys, including the club’s first president.

A 38-year-old Andrew Carnegie was an early club member, as was Frick — who’s commonly misremembered as a founder, but was later written into the club’s charter — who dined at the Duquesne Club with banker Andrew Mellon.

“THE HISTORY IS PALPABLE, AND THERE’S NO DENYING THAT.”

“The big picture is that Pittsburgh was building wealth and industry at a scale that had never been seen before,” Duquesne Club historian and archivist Rachel Colker tells CP “That was incubated at the Duquesne Club through conversations and poker games and lunches and dinners. And there’s no denying that while it was a social club, that kind of activity impacted the city, which, in many ways, impacted the world. It’s kind of lofty, but I don’t think it’s far from the truth.”

Founding membership, says Colker, was mostly younger men in their 30s, along with a few seniors, largely of Scotch-Irish, Scottish, and Presbyterian heritage. Black, Jewish, and Catholic members were excluded into the 20th century, and though women frequented the club and a designated ladies dining room as guests, they were not admitted as members until 1980.

Original Duquesne Club members with names still recognizable around town include John Weakley Chalfant, vice president of Etna Iron Works and later a founder of Allegheny General Hospital; Thomas Chalmers Clarkson of Farmers National Bank; Maxwell

Given this roster, one can only imagine the machinations behind closed doors (the Allegheny Conference on Community Development, which reshaped the city through Renaissance I , formed there). The building has historically been the site of protests due its proximity to the wealthy and powerful.

“The club definitely has a mystique to it because of that and a reputation,” says Duquesne Club's director of communications Gregg Liberi. In 2016, when Liberi created the then-143-year-old club’s first social media accounts, “we got a lot of feedback from people saying, 'What, they have a culinary society? There are families there at Christmas? It’s not just a bunch of old white men sitting reading a newspaper in the front room?' Even other employees were surprised.”

The Duquesne Club rarely gives public tours, and Liberi tells CP that it doesn’t receive many media requests. The club of approximately 2,300 members remains invitation-only. Admission requires recommendation by three current members, a one-time entrance or initiation fee topping $10,000, and annual dues (reportedly $4,000$5,000) corresponding to different levels of membership.

Even getting past the front door as a non-member, it’s difficult not to feel awestruck.

“The history is palpable, and

there’s no denying that,” Colker says. Liberi adds it’s the reason some members join.

“There’s a sense of tradition that does appeal to a lot of people,” Colker adds. “As the world changes so rapidly, it is a place [where] there’s a reverence for tradition.”

The castle-like Duquesne Club has six stories for its clubhouse alongside a 12-story hotel, and its grandeur eclipses even Pittsburgh’s Gilded Age mansions . Inside the clubhouse, there’s an oak-paneled cigar bar, billiard room, reading room dotted with luxe wingback chairs, executive lounge, library with 1,500 books on regional history and culinary arts, a world-class wine cave, and a Founders Room with portraits of Carnegie and Frick that face each other, their placement rumored to be a nod to the pair’s deathbed feud (though Liberi and Colker couldn’t find any archival evidence of this).

The Duquesne Room, formerly named the Crystal Room after its collection of chandeliers that were recently taken down and “meticulously cleaned” piece by piece, Liberi says, is sought after for its formal dining with a live pianist and views of the Trinity Cathedral churchyard across the street, home to some of the oldest marked graves on the East Coast.

Arguably the heart of the club is its 25 private dining rooms, including an all-season garden patio that looks like an Impressionist painting. Membership has “always kind of reflected the business profile in Pittsburgh,” Colker says — in other words, people who lunch — and at the height of the post-World War II era, the club served 1,200 lunches per day.

To mark the Duquesne Club’s 150th anniversary last year, Colker wrote a book, An Illustrated History of the Duquesne Club, giving the most comprehensive look inside since a

RUBBING ELBOWS, CONTINUES ON PG. 18

sanctioned 1989 history.

Part of the club’s legacy for her was uncovering the history of its staff, many of whom worked and have stayed working at the club for decades. (Staff currently numbers around 260, with more, including local college students, hired on for holidays.)

Membership coordinator Theresa Hopkins tells CP , “In a private club, I think it does become like a very family situation, where [members] feel attached to us and we feel attached to them.”

“[There] is this kind of upstairsdownstairs story [that is] also a really interesting, truly Pittsburgh kind of narrative that I’m trying to uncover,” Colker says.

The club did not employ an American chef until the 1980s, “so it was always this European-trained, highly sophisticated, exceptionally elegant culinary experience,” she adds, and “the club built a reputation on that. It was these chefs that really had an imprint.”

Its signature macaroon cookie,

made with specially sourced almond paste and without coconut (which CP staff got to try, and one rightly described as “fire”) was created by French chef Abel Bomberault, employed at the Club from 1931 to 1961. Bomberault also introduced Pittsburgh to shepherd’s pie, vichyssoise (soup), and Virginia spot, a fish dish and still a Club favorite.

There are some modern touches. Today’s club has corporate suites — cubby-like nooks where you can take video calls, because even the Duquesne Club futzes with Zoom — and perhaps, most notably, a gym.

The state-of-the art health and fitness club was added in 1994, today equipped with a cardio floor, pilates studio, hair salon, massage rooms, full-room golf simulator, and a dining area.

“For some [members], this is the Duquesne Club,” Liberi says.

Asked if he feels the Club’s 151year history, health and fitness director Ryan Kostura points out he’s the only member of the executive staff

In a sense, its fate was tied to the Duquesne Club: while those members had steered Pittsburgh’s industrialization for the century prior, steel had reached an economic crisis point. Renaissance II, the follow-up to the Allegheny Conference’s original project, launched in response to rediversify the region’s economy, redevelop Downtown, and construct the 45-story tower on Grant St. that would house offices, upscale shopping and dining, and the Rivers Club. Today’s club still occupies the same location, sitting atop the Tower’s parking garage with three stories including a lobby level, an athletics floor and cafe, and a social and dining floor with event spaces and boardrooms.

“Hidden surprises: Oxford Centre’s plain exterior deceiving,” reads an April 1983 Pittsburgh Post-Gazette headline. The article goes on to say, “One Oxford Centre’s answer to Monroeville Mall’s ice skating rink is The Rivers Club, complete with a pool, jogging track, racquetball and squash courts, and Nautilus equipment.”

who gets to wear shorts.

“I feel [it] talking about the history and how prestigious this place is, but I get a little bit of the New Age vibe as well,” Kostura tells CP

In addition to pioneering the Club’s social media, Liberi also added a digital sign displaying upcoming activities — sushi and Mexican food nights — resembling something you’d see at the convention center or a runof-the-mill conference hotel.

Initially thought to be vulgar and modern, the sign is “completely useful,” Liberi says. “Nobody complains. It’s just that’s the value of tradition, an example of how [these changes] are all sort of considered and methodically plodding along.”

RIVERS CLUB

Sitting three blocks away from the Dusquesne Club, the Rivers Club prides itself on its accepting culture.

The private business and social club, owned by Dallas-based lifestyle company Invited (formerly ClubCorp), opened at One Oxford Centre in 1983.

Initially, the new members-only health club was advertised as “recreation for the rich,” inviting a select list of people to join for a $1,700 initiation fee and $70 monthly dues ($5,368 and $221 today). There was talk of “sweating in style” in oak-paneled locker rooms and “neo-deco decor.”

More than 40 years later, Rivers Club is still membership-based, but not invitation-only, and, in contrast to its neighbor, leans heavily into its profile as an ultra-sociable city club.

“We’re just very laid back,” says Rivers Club general manager Rosie Fisher. “I had heard different connotations of the club and how it was kind of an uppity, stuffy feel, and at first I wasn’t sure if I would fit in. But then the moment that I walked [in], I knew that this wasn’t what people think it is.”

Fisher says that a point of pride, touted on the Rivers Club website, is that it was the first private club in Pittsburgh to admit women and people of color as members. (The Duquesne Club also admitted its first

CP PHOTO: MARS JOHNSON

Concierge Yolanda Wingate poses for a portrait at the Rivers Club.

accepted when they walk in the doors, no matter what they’re wearing, no matter where they came from,” Fisher, who became the Club’s first female general manager in January, tells CP.

The club also puts on a roster of very 21st-century-sounding events like a Bridgerton charity ball, wine dinners, and soul food and jazz food nights, some of which are open to the public.

At the entrance to the Rivers Club sixth-floor restaurant, Yolanda Wingate-Wheaton has worked as a concierge since 2004. She’s the first person club members see, starting at 5 a.m., and apparently, many of them say they’ll quit the club when she does.

“They have my cell phone number,” she says. “I’ve known some of [them] for over 20 years, and they know me.”

“She knows not only their names, but their spouses’ names, their birthdays, their grandchildren’s names,” says Fisher.

explains. “[And] I’m one of those people, what they talk to me about stays with me.”

Truly a family affair, WingateWheaton’s husband has worked at Rivers Club as a banquet manager since 1999, and their 28-year-old daughter, who works at PPG Plaza, is also a club member, along with her boss.

“Yolanda is a staple,” Fisher emphasizes, “We cannot operate without her … [and it’s] because she treats everyone the same, no matter whether she has met you one time or 100 times. You get Yolanda [as] the same person every single day.”

In her 20 years at Rivers Club, Wingate-Wheaton says she’s hobnobbed with the elite as much as “regular people.” When she first started, members invited her to the club’s parties and she’d work double shifts to attend.

Private clubs are common stops for U.S. presidents (the Duquesne Club once welcomed Ulysses S. Grant). Wingate-Wheaton has helped host former president Barack Obama

president Art Rooney II was a Rivers Club member, and once scolded Wingate-Wheaton, originally from Maryland, for her Baltimore Ravens screensaver.

“I don’t get all wishy-washy when famous people come,” she says. “They’re people, and you just have to learn how to talk. That’s just my personality.”

Proximity to the courthouses always led me to assume Rivers Club was frequented by judges, and while there are several, alongside lawyers, the membership of 2,200 encompasses a cross-section of Downtown workers looking for a “convenience factor,” as well as some college students, Fisher says. That morning, she overheard one of the club’s 96-yearold regulars giving job advice to a 21-year-old Duquesne student.

Adjusted for inflation, Rivers Club membership costs less than it did in 1983, averaging $165 per month for a household with discounts for Oxford Centre tenants, university staff, Downtown residents, and

and the club’s fitness floor is packed with workout rooms, a yoga studio, basketball and racquetball courts, an indoor track, and one of Downtown’s only lap lane pools with views six stories up.

The “million-dollar question” says Fisher, is are members still joining for gym access or for what they view as a social club?

“I do believe what people find is they come here for the gym, and then they realize we’re not a gym, and then they get acclimated into the whole club and into the community,” she says.

She notes the club’s demographics have skewed noticeably younger in the last couple years, with members aged 35-49 recently overtaking 51-65, and Downtown and remote workers who use the club more often.

“They work Downtown, they live Downtown, [and] they come here on the weekends, evenings, mornings,” Fisher says. “But [the] more universal effect is, ‘I want to be a part of a community in every aspect.’” •

CP PHOTO: MARS JOHNSON

The Rivers Club in Downtown Pittsburgh

WED., SEPT.11

THU., SEPT. 5

LIT • OAKLAND

Pittsburgh Arts and Lectures presents Jan Beatty. 6 p.m. Carnegie Library Lecture Hall. 4400 Forbes Ave., Oakland. Free. Registration required. Livestream available. pittsburghlectures.org

MUSIC • OAKLAND

Calliope presents The Grubbs 7 p.m. Schenley Plaza. 4100 Forbes Ave., Oakland. Free., $15 suggested donation. calliopehouse.org

FILM • DOWNTOWN

Harris Theater explores a very different kind of final frontier with screenings of The Time Masters. The 1982 sci-fi feature by French animator René Laloux follows the fantastic, perilous space adventures of an orphaned boy, who, along the way, encounters angels and monsters, and beings able to bend reality. Fans of cult cinema and Mœbius should not miss this on the big screen. 7:30 p.m. Continues through Tue., Sept. 10. Harris Theater. 809 Liberty Ave., Downtown. $9-11. trustarts.org

FRI., SEPT. 6

FESTIVAL • SHADYSIDE

A Fair in the Park 1-7 p.m. Continues through Sun., Sept. 8. Mellon Park. Fifth Ave. and Shady Ave., Shadyside. craftsmensguild.org

FESTIVAL • RANKIN

Pittsburgh Irish Festival 4-11 p.m. Continues through Sun., Sept. 8. Carrie Blast Furnaces. 801 Carrie Furnace Blvd., Rankin. $10-24, free for kids 12 and under. pghirishfest.org

MUSIC • OAKLAND

Meghan Trainor: Timeless Tour with Chris Olsen. 6:30 p.m. Petersen Events Center. 3719 Terrace St., Oakland. Tickets start at $24. peterseneventscenter.com

DANCE • DOWNTOWN

The Pillow Project dance company marks its 20th anniversary with a deeply personal work from its founding artistic director Jaka Pearl Porter (formerly Pearlann Porter). The Long Dream is described as exploring in dance, and in Porter’s own spoken narrative, “the evolution of their work, and now their identity.” Experience this combination of movement, spoken word, and “sweeping symphonic music” at the August Wilson African American Cultural Center. 8 p.m. Doors at 7:15 p.m. Continues through Sat., Sept. 7. 980 Liberty Ave., Downtown. $15-20. pillowproject.org

SPORTS • ALLISON PARK

F.N.B. Corporation presents the Family House Polo Match 11 a.m. Gates open at 10 a.m. Hartwood Acres. 4000 Middle Rd., Allison Park. $51.25-147.68, free for kids 12 and under. familyhouse.org

ART • DOWNTOWN

Kim Bond: We Are Not Alone. 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Continues through Jan. 12, 2025. 707 Gallery. 707 Penn Ave., Downtown. trustarts.org

FAIR • LAWRENCEVILLE

Housing For All Resource Fair. 12:30-3:30 p.m. Goodwill of Southwestern Pennsylvania. 118 52nd St., Lawrenceville. Free. instagram.com/lvilleunited

PARTY • HOMESTEAD

The Glitterbox Theater Grand Reopening. 1 p.m.-1 a.m. Glitterbox Theater. 210 W. Eighth Ave., Homestead. Free. theglitterboxtheater.com

SUN., SEPT. 8

MARKET • NORTH SIDE

Misfit Market. 12-4 p.m. Allegheny City Brewing. 507 Foreland St., North Side. Free. instagram.com/alleghenycitybrewing

OPERA • DOWNTOWN

MUSIC • MILLVALE

Martyna and the Sinners with Capono 8 p.m. Poetry Lounge. 313 North Ave., Millvale. $5. poetrymillvale.com

MUSIC • UPTOWN

Nicki Minaj: Pink Friday 2 World Tour 9 p.m. PPG Paints Arena. 1001 Fifth Ave., Uptown. Tickets start at $56. ppgpaintsarena.com

SAT., SEPT. 7

OUTDOORS • DOWNTOWN

2024 Pittsburgh Recovery Walk: More Than Just a Walk 9 a.m. 1201 Waterfront Pl., Downtown. Free. Registration required. pghrecoverywalk.org

COMMUNITY • MILLVALE

Stitch-A-Thon 11 a.m.-3 p.m. Millvale Community Library. 213 Grant Ave., Millvale. Free. givebutter.com/ millvale-community-library

The scandalous life of a French actress comes to life in the latest production from Pittsburgh Festival Opera. Featuring a full orchestra and “renowned opera stars,” Adriana Lecouvreur is described as following its titular heroine through a

PHOTO: ANITA BUZZY PRENTISS

The Pillow Project presents The Long Dream at August Wilson African American Cultural Center

PHOTO: JOAN MARCUS Hamilton at the Benedum Center

MON., SEPT. 9

MUSIC • NEW KENSINGTON

Mortiis with Brighter Death Now, Sombre Arcana, and Hillsfar. 6:30 p.m. Doors at 6 p.m. Preserving Underground. 1101 Fifth Ave., New Kensington. $22-25. preservingconcerts.com

TUE., SEPT. 10

MUSIC • STRIP DISTRICT

Sierra Green and The Giants

7:30 p.m. Doors at 6:30 p.m. City Winery. 1627 Smallman St., Strip District. $20-25. citywinery.com

WED., SEPT. 11

FASHION • DOWNTOWN

Fashion Night in the Backyard with Megan Paullet 5-7 p.m. Backyard at 8th and Penn. Eighth Ave. and Penn Ave., Downtown. Free. trustarts.org

MUSIC • NORTH SHORE

Descendents and Circle Jerks with Surfbort. 6:30 p.m. Stage AE. 400 North Shore Dr., North Shore. $42.50-75. promowestlive.com

THEATER • DOWNTOWN

Pittsburgh Public Theater presents Dial M for Murder 7 p.m. Continues through Sun., Sept. 29. O’Reilly Theater. 621 Penn Ave., Downtown. $56-103. ppt.org

THEATER • DOWNTOWN

PNC Broadway in Pittsburgh presents Hamilton. 7:30 p.m. Continues through Sun., Sept. 29. Benedum Center. Seventh St. and Penn Ave., Downtown. $49-249. trustarts.org

us for Your Night to Shine—Steel City's most dazzling event of the year! Step into a world of glitz and glamour with a red carpet entrance, chic decor, and unforgettable star-filled moments to celebrate the Best of Pittsburgh!

PHOTO: CURTIS KNAPP

Sierra Green and The Giants at City Winery

PHOTO: PETER BESTE

Mortiis at Preserving Underground

STANLEY, M. DECEASED OF PLEASANT HILLS, PA No. 022404842 of 2024. Zach Mitchell Extr. 1300 Cattail ln, Sewickley, PA 15143.

MARKET PLACE

PUBLIC AUCTION

Extra Space Storage, on behalf of itself or its affiliates, Life Storage or Storage Express, will hold a public auction to sell the contents of leased spaces to satisfy Extra Space’s lien at the location indicated: 111 Hickory Grade Rd. Bridgeville PA 15017, September 18, 2024 at 12:30 PM. Michael Darnley 1017, Robert Gallocher Sr 3052, Jonathan Barzanty 3241. The auction will be listed and advertised on www.storagetreasures.com.

Purchases must be made with cash only and paid at the above referenced facility in order to complete the transaction.

Extra Space Storage may refuse any bid and may rescind any purchase up until the winning bidder takes possession of the personal property.

PUBLIC AUCTION

Extra Space Storage, on behalf of itself or its affiliates, Life Storage or Storage Express, will hold a public auction to sell the contents of leased spaces to satisfy Extra Space’s lien at the location indicated: 1212 Madison Ave, Pittsburgh, PA 15212. September 18th, 2024 at 1:30 PM. John Brown 1064, Nikkena Luster 3081, Justice Marsh 4026, Jeremy Clay L93, Damarious Nix 6031. The auction will be listed and advertised on www.storagetreasures.com.

Purchases must be made with cash only and paid at the above referenced facility in order to complete the transaction.

Extra Space Storage may refuse any bid and may rescind any purchase up until the winning bidder takes possession of the personal property.

PUBLIC AUCTION

Extra Space storage, on behalf of itself or its affiliates, Life Storage or Storage Express, will hold a public auction to sell the contents of leased spaces to satisfy Extra Space’s lien at the location indicated: 110 Kisow Drive, Pittsburgh, PA 15205 on September 18, 2024 at 11:15 AM. My Dad’s Cleaning Company LLC. 211, Eric Clark 28, Keith Steed 344. The auction will be listed and advertised on www.storagetreasures.com.

Purchases must be made with cash only and paid at the above referenced facility in order to complete the transaction.

Extra Space Storage may refuse any bid and may rescind any purchase up until the winning bidder takes possession of the personal property.

PUBLIC AUCTION

Purchases must be made with cash only and paid at the above referenced facility in order to complete the transaction. Extra Space Storage may refuse any bid and may rescind any purchase up until the winning bidder takes possession of the personal property.

PUBLIC AUCTION

Extra Space Storage, on behalf of itself or its affiliates, Life Storage or Storage Express, will hold a public auction to sell the contents of leased spaces to satisfy Extra Space’s lien at the location indicated: 141 N Braddock Ave, Pittsburgh PA, 15208 on September 18th 2024 at 11:00 AM. 2048 Paul Schupp. The auction will be listed and advertised on www.storagetreasures.com. Purchases must be made with cash only and paid at the above referenced facility in order to complete the transaction. Extra Space Storage may refuse any bid and may rescind any purchase up until the winning bidder takes possession of the personal property.

PUBLIC AUCTION

Extra Space Storage, on behalf of itself or its affiliates, Life Storage or Storage Express, will hold a public auction to sell the contents of leased spaces to satisfy Extra Space’s lien at the location indicated: 700 E Carson St, Pittsburgh, PA 15203. September 18, 2024 at 12:15 PM. Terry Atkins 2002, Alivia Hurd 2005, Essence Muhammed 2167, JohNaya Horton 4128, Tanisha Turner 4200. The auction will be listed and advertised on www.storagetreasures.com. Purchases must be made with cash only and paid at the above referenced facility in order to complete the transaction.

Extra Space Storage may refuse any bid and may rescind any purchase up until the winning bidder takes possession of the personal property.

PUBLIC AUCTION

Purchases must be made with cash only and paid at the above referenced facility in order to complete the transaction.

Extra Space Storage may refuse any bid and may rescind any purchase up until the winning bidder takes possession of the personal property.

PUBLIC AUCTION

Public notice is hereby given that property placed in storage by the following persons at the following locations will be sold via public sale to satisfy Guardian Storage liens for unpaid rent and other charges. Bidding for property of persons renting space at the following locations will be held online at www.Storageauctions.com ending on September 17, 2024 at 12:00 pm, and day to day thereafter until sold at which time a high bidder will be determined.

350 Old Haymaker Road, Monroeville, Pa 14146: Unit #1712 Terrashea Patterson, Unit #3314 Ashley Beley

4711 William Penn Highway, Monroeville, PA 15146: Unit #22208 Horace Scott, Unit #22606 Nathaniel Bowens, Unit #23403 Richard Nzau, Unit # 23408 Erica Moore

1028 Ridge Road, Tarentum, Pa 15084: Unit #21137 Valentina Ramirez

5873 Centre Ave Pittsburgh, PA 15206: Unit #4708 Lehta Robinson, Unit #5107 Nadine Thompson, Unit #607 Devaughn Jemison

2839 Liberty Ave, Pittsburgh, PA 15222: Unit #2511 John Vietmeier, Unit #3805 Lisa Kowalczyk, Unit #3907

Michele Mahon, Unit #4106 Mechele Hayes, Unit #6102 John Miller, Unit #6204 Scott Yesner, Unit #6605 Tracy Trent

1599 Washington Pike, Bridgeville, PA 15017: Unit #2104 Marc Kaye, Unit #2405 Gareth Richards, Unit #53618

Juan J Salas, Unit #6108 Shirley Freker, Unit #6329 Lisa Slaby

1300 Lebanon Church Road, West Mifflin, PA 15236: Unit #13412 Victoria Uhme, Unit #42113 Samantha Mordecki 401 Coraopolis Road, Coraopolis, PA 15108: Unit #12607 Alyssa Boris, Unit #13014 Michael Vasquez, Unit #13101 Donna Morris, Unit #13210 Jeffrey D Smith, Unit #13316 Krystal Shaw, Unit #21329 Mark Follen 922 Brush Creek Road, Warrendale, PA 15086: Unit #1247 Mikayla Klemm

Purchases must be made with cash and paid at the location at the above referenced facility to complete the transaction. Guardian Storage has the right to refuse any bid and may rescind any purchase up until the winning bidder takes possession of the personal property.

PUBLIC NOTICE

A petition for Involuntary Transfer of Ownership of a Vehicle has been filed by Sakala, James, Case No. GD-24-8687 for a 2019 Mercedes Benz E300, Vin#WDDZF4KB2KA682880.

A hearing is scheduled on the 20th day of September 2024, at 11:00 a.m. before the Civil Division Motions Judge of Allegheny County.

STUDY SMOKERS WANTED

The University of Pittsburgh’s Alcohol & Smoking Research Lab is looking for people to participate in a research project. You must:

• Currently smoke cigarettes

• Be 18-49 years old, in good health, and speak fluent English

• Be right handed, willing to not smoke before two sessions, and to fill out questionnaires Earn up to $260 for participating in this study. For more information, call (412) 407-5029

APARTMENTS FOR RENT IN PITTSBURGH For more information on the available properties and locations, please contact us at 412-626-6111.

BACK UP A BIT

house 20. Cabinet door handle

21. Third canonical hour / Put the pedal to the metal

That, to a Nuyorican

Munich mister

Spice ___ / Fold-up sleepers 31. Scale’s reading

“That’s disgusting”

36. Concerns of voters 38. Othello, for one 39. Some are controlled 41. ___ PreCheck 42. Model Hadid

Swerve

Rugged mountain range

Maningcast brother 47. Wholly absorbed

49. Well-known / Mushroom heads

51. French fashion house

53. Temple paper?

54. Throat infection / Element #54

59. Concerning phrase

63. Screen persona

64. Hurricanes are formed here

65. Beginning of a case

66. Commonplace

67. Four-stringed instrument

68. Con artist Charles with an eponymous scheme

69. Loses it

70. “I thank God I was raised Catholic, so ___ will always be dirty” (John Waters)

71. Stood petrified DOWN

1. Mistake on the mound

2. Spy novelist Furst

3. Vegas alternative

4. It comes between Papa and Romeo

5. The drip, e.g.: Abbr.

6. Rock used in Oriental art

7. One to grow on

8. Shape of a character, in typeface

9. Current amount

10. Arab royal /

Metaphorical sticking point

11. Not quite closed 12. Hoped in an Uber, say 13. Fudge alternative 21. Word files 22. Makes a tuck 24. Dynafit products

26. Start a rally 27. YA target audience

28. Titled person 29. Italian wine commune 30. Artful dodges 32. Automaton of Jewish folklore 33. “Yo, dawg” 34. Wedding gown part 37. Wyatt and the Cowboy War 40. Unit of Time? / Zip around

42. “St Matthew Passion” composer

44. “That’ll do”

45. Playboi Carti songs

48. Google phones

50. Script doctor

52. Picture puzzle

54. Bird beaks

55. Arabian Peninsula sultanate

56. Grandma

57. Humiliated people step on one

58. Lethal killer with tiny arms

60. Prefix with plastics and medicine

61. Modern-day style

62. City roughly halfway between Buffalo and Cleveland

65. Coppertone bottle letters

Many Americans are fortunate to have dental coverage for their entire working life, through employer-provided benefits. When those benefits end with retirement, paying dental bills out-of-pocket can come as a shock, leading people to put off or even go without care.

Simply put — without dental insurance, there may be an important gap in your healthcare coverage.

When you’re comparing plans ...

 Look for coverage that helps pay for major services. Some plans may limit the number of procedures — or pay for preventive care only.

 Look for coverage with no deductibles. Some plans may require you to pay hundreds out of pocket before benefits are paid.

 Shop for coverage with no annual maximum on cash benefits. Some plans have annual maximums of $1,000.

Medicare doesn’t pay for dental care.1

That’s right. As good as Medicare is, it was never meant to cover everything. That means if you want protection, you need to purchase individual insurance.

Early detection can prevent small problems from becoming expensive ones. The best way to prevent large dental bills is preventive care. The American Dental Association recommends checkups twice a year.

Previous dental work can wear out.

Even if you’ve had quality dental work in the past, you shouldn’t take your dental health for granted. In fact, your odds of having a dental problem only go up as you age.2

Treatment is expensive — especially the services people over 50 often need.

Consider these national average costs of treatment ... $222 for a checkup ... $190 for a filling ... $1,213 for a crown.3 Unexpected bills like this can be a real burden, especially if you’re on a fixed income.

PRT is improving transit for every rider. We’re adding QR codes to bus signs so you’ll know when your bus will arrive. We’re making it easier to get on board with our new Ready2Ride® mobile ticketing app. And, we’re investing in all electric buses to help reduce emissions today-to help improve air quality tomorrow. Yes, PRT is making changes. But more importantly, we’re making a difference.