FREE EVERY WEDNESDAY PITTSBURGH’S PGHCITYPAPER.COM PGHCITYPAPER ALTERNATIVE FOR PGHCITYPAPER NEWS, ARTS + PITTSBURGHCITYPAPER ENTERTAINMENT OCT. 18–24, 2023 SINCE 1991
HIMALAYAN HIGHWAY Bhutanese refugees bring unique food and culture to the Route 51 corridor BY COLIN WILLIAMS
IN THIS WEEK’S ISSUE:
12 COMMUNITY PROFILE
LGBTQ 04 Why doesn’t Pittsburgh
CELEBRATING 30+ YEARS
Bhutanese refugees bring unique food and culture to the Route 51 corridor
have a gayborhood? BY DADE LEMANSKI
SERVING PITTSBURGH SINCE NOV. 6, 1991 4 Smithfield Street, Suite 1210 Pittsburgh, PA 15222 GOT A NEWS TIP? E-MAIL info@pghcitypaper.com WANT TO PLACE AN AD? EMAIL rachel@pghcitypaper.com
PGHCITYPAPER
PGHCITYPAPER.COM OCT. 18–24, 2023 // VOL. 32 ISSUE 42
BY COLIN WILLIAMS
CP PHOTO: MARS JOHNSON
16 An elegy for the wonderfully weird FOOD AND DRINK
CP PHOTO: MARS JOHNSON
time capsule that was Cafe Sam
COMEDY 10 Joe Pera tests new material
PITTSBURGHCITYPAPER
BY RACHEL WILKINSON
on Pittsburgh audiences with Bottlerocket residency BY MATT PETRAS
Editor-in-Chief ALI TRACHTA Director of Advertising RACHEL WINNER Director of Operations KEVIN SHEPHERD A&E Editor AMANDA WALTZ News Editor COLIN WILLIAMS Staff Writer RACHEL WILKINSON Photographer MARS JOHNSON Audience Engagement Specialist STACY ROUNDS Graphic Designer JEFF SCHRECKENGOST Sales Representatives SIERRA CLARY, ALEISHA STARKEY, MARIA STILLITANO Digital Coordinator MORGAN BIDDLE Marketing Coordinator LEE HOOD Circulation Manager JEFF ENGBARTH Contributors KAHMEELA ADAMS-FRIEDSON, REGE BEHE, LYNN CULLEN, MEG ST-ESPRIT, MATT PETRAS, JORDANA ROSENFELD, JORDAN SNOWDEN National Advertising Representative VMG ADVERTISING 1.888.278.9866 OR 1.212.475.2529 Publisher CARS HOLDING, INC.
20
CP PHOTO: MARS JOHNSON
EVENTS
Pittsburgh’s top events this week BY CP STAFF
PHOTO COURTESY OF: MINDY TUCKER
CHECK THESE STORIES OUT ONLINE: FOOD AND DRINK
Every Sheetz sandwich, ranked BY EMILY CATALANO
22 Classifieds and Crossword ENVIRONMENT
Carnegie Museum of Natural History thinks inside the box with new exhibition BY AMANDA WALTZ
GENERAL POLICIES: Contents copyrighted 2023 by CARS Holding, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written permission of the publisher. The opinions expressed in Pittsburgh City Paper are those of the author and not necessarily of CARS Holding, Inc. LETTER POLICY: Letters, or e-mails must be signed and include town and daytime phone number for confirmation. We may edit for length and clarity. DISTRIBUTION: Pittsburgh City Paper is published weekly by CARS Holding, Inc. and is available free of charge at select distribution locations. One copy per reader; copies of past issues may be purchased for $3.00 each, payable in advance to Pittsburgh City Paper. FIRST CLASS MAIL SUBSCRIPTIONS: Available for $250 per year (52 issues), $150 per half year (26 issues), or $32 per six weeks. For more information, visit pghcitypaper.com and click on the Subscribe tab.
COVER PHOTO: MARS JOHNSON
SHEETZ PHOTO: J. MICHAEL JONES/SANDWICH PHOTO: EMILY CATALANO
2
WWW.PGHCITYPAPER.COM
PHOTO COURTESY OF: MATT UNGER, CARNEGIE MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY
FREE DENTAL, VISION & HEARING CLINIC Services include free dental care, eye glasses, hearing aids and more! Open to adults and kids ages 2 & up • No eligibility requirements
October 27th & 28th
David L. Lawrence Convention Center
Visit MOMPGH.org to learn more!
PITTSBURGH CITY PAPER OCTOBER 18-25, 2023
3
LGBTQ
CP PHOTO: MARS JOHNSON
Former home of New York, New York
4
WWW.PGHCITYPAPER.COM
s ’ e r e h W s ’ h g r u b s tt Pi ? d o o h r o b Gay A city the size of Pittsburgh should have a proper queer headquarters. Why don’t we? BY DADE LEMANSKI
S
oon after 5801 opens at 4 p.m., light still streaming through the bar’s plate glass windows even on the briefest of December days, it’s already hard to get a seat.
Men from the neighborhood, all white and ranging in age from 50 to perhaps 70, are drinking Iron Cities and catching up, shouting to the bartender, who shouts right back. One of them says something racist in a nonchalant way, which goes unacknowledged. It’s an incredibly ordinary Pittsburgh scene, except for the fact that these men are gay. 5801, named for the building it occupies on Ellsworth Avenue, and which was once a piano bar
called New York, New York, is the only gay bar left in Shadyside, but the crowd it draws indicates something about the social fabric of the neighborhood. For decades, Shadyside has been where Pittsburgh gay life rests a little more comfortably within the white middle class. In his essay “Aroused from Hibernation” in The Bear Book: Readings in the History and Evolution of a Gay Male Subculture (1997), Scott Hill,
who grew up in Beaver County and graduated from the University of Pittsburgh in 1980, wrote about moving “to an apartment in Shady Side [sic] with three male classmates” during his sophomore year of college. “I remember,” Hill continued, “how funny my mom’s voice sounded when I called to tell her, excitedly, where I was moving. It took a while for me to realize that many of us lived in the neighborhood, a fact that obviously went through her head long before I figured what kind of neighborhood I had moved into.” In addition to New York, New York, Hill’s apartment would have been an easy walk to the Tender Trap and its basement disco, the Trapease — mainstays
of Pittsburgh’s gay nightlife scene between 1967 and 1986 — as well as the Metropolitan Community Church, a nondenominational Christian church that explicitly welcomed gays and lesbians. It also, at the time, hosted the Gay and Lesbian Cultural Center (GLCC), founded in 1979, in the basement. Today, if you google “Pittsburgh gayborhood,” Shadyside is what comes up; there are still gay businesses along Ellsworth (special appreciation for the much-beloved, queer-owned Eons vintage clothing store), and in 2019, the city tried to solidify this assignation by painting a rainbow crosswalk on Ellsworth in front of 5801 — an act that was bemoaned as a facade of allyship. But while middle-class,
WHERE’S PITTSBURGH’S GAYBORHOOD?, CONTINUED ON PG. 6
PITTSBURGH CITY PAPER OCTOBER 18-25, 2023
5
WHERE’S PITTSBURGH’S GAYBORHOOD?, CONTINUED FROM PG. 5
by comparison, had only 60.) In the late ‘70s, the bar Mother Russia, rumored to have the priciest drinks in town, operated at 814 Liberty Ave, and during the same period, The Loose Balloon at 942 Penn Ave was “popular with transvestites,” according to the same Press article. Nearby were Schume’s Liberty Baths, the Venture Inn, and many other gay venues, some of which lasted only briefly. Others like Pegasus at 818 Liberty (replacing the Copa Club, 1948-1979), became an anchor of the scene soon after opening in 1980, and remained one through its move to the North Side in 2009, and until its closure in 2012. The building that housed the club, which
was also sold to the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust, was once owned by real estate developer Leon F. Thorpe, raised in Shadyside and a graduate of Shadyside Academy. The last vestiges of the downtown gay club scene are Tilden, now a straight after-hours bar, and the gay bar Lucky’s, beside the 16th Street Bridge. One reason Pittsburgh doesn’t have a gayborhood is because, like many other American cities, its gritty downtown was gentrified and redeveloped in the late 20th century in the name of “family values and safety,” to quote gay writer and cruising documentarian Samuel Delany, creating a Cultural District where once there had been
CP PHOTO: MARS JOHNSON
Club Pittsburgh, on Penn Avenue
middle-aged, and older cis gay men, most of whom are white, might own more houses in Shadyside than elsewhere in the city, Shadyside is not, and never has been, the only place where Pittsburgh gay life happens. It’s just where gay life is made most visible and palatable in the daytime — those plate glass windows! — for liberal passers by. At night in the late 1970s, when Hill was in school, Downtown would have been the place to be. The blocks of Penn and Liberty, now owned by the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust, where Heinz Hall, SPACE Gallery, and the August Wilson
6
WWW.PGHCITYPAPER.COM
Center currently sit, were once a constellation of gay bars, strip clubs, massage parlors, and porn theaters. Then, the city undertook a project of urban redevelopment with the purpose of making Downtown palatable to visitors. David’s, a gay bar that operated at 632 Penn Ave beginning circa the 1960s, was just down the block from the Cinema Follies Club, a porn theater that showed primarily gay films and, according to a 1979 article in the Pittsburgh Press about gay life in Pittsburgh, boasted 13,000 members. (The Metropolitan Community Church,
CP PHOTO: MARS JOHNSON
Former home of Pegasus Lounge
CP PHOTO: MARS JOHNSON
Former home of the Pittsburgh Eagle
culture. Without that initiative, Downtown could have been it. Bu t eve n a t i ts gay p e a k , Pittsburgh was a city of neighborhoods; queers don’t like to cross a river or a color line more than any other yinzer, and most queers in this town are yinzers. The first recorded hubs of queer Pittsburgh nightlife were clubs in the Hill District in the 1940s; the Black jazz and performance scene was not specifically queer, but was more welcoming to queer life than white bars of the period. In the 1980s, several lesbian bars and restaurants were operating on the South Side, while camp and leather reigned on the North Side at the Crossover Lounge, the Pittsburgh Trucking Company, and the Home Circle Club. In 2019, City Paper reported that “Pittsburgh’s urbanized areas are the oldest, whitest, and most
native-born in the nation.” This means that, unlike other larger cities, which are hubs for gay migration from smaller towns, Pittsburgh’s gay population is from around her,e too — and likely have closer ties with their families, childhood friends, and neighborhoods which are not specifically queer, and which dissuade them from cordoning off their social worlds. Even the Tavern Guild, a business association that, in the mid1980s, took out advertisements in queer newspapers across the Northeast and Midwest proclaiming Pittsburgh to be “Gay America’s Best Kept Secret,” relied more on place-based relational ties than geography. A network of police and mafia protections, cultivated by Pittsburgh nightlife anchor Robert “Lucky” Johns and then shared among the bartenders and nightlife
WHERE’S PITTSBURGH’S GAYBORHOOD?, CONTINUED ON PG. 8
PITTSBURGH CITY PAPER OCTOBER 18-25, 2023
7
WHERE’S PITTSBURGH’S GAYBORHOOD?, CONTINUED FROM PG. 7
"BUT EVEN AT ITS GAY PEAK, PITTSBURGH WAS A CITY OF NEIGHBORHOODS; QUEERS DON’T LIKE TO CROSS A RIVER OR A COLOR LINE MORE THAN ANY OTHER YINZER, AND MOST QUEERS IN THIS TOWN ARE YINZERS." CP PHOTO: MARS JOHNSON
Dixie Sherwood poses for a portrait before performing at 5801 in Shadyside
workers he trained and supported in their careers, was what allowed gay bars across the city to operate relatively undisturbed by the raids and harassment that plagued other cities in the 1960s, ‘70s, and ‘80s. But most of all, the locations of gay bars have been determined by liquor licenses because the state of Pennsylvania does not issue new ones. Pennsylvania only allows
8
WWW.PGHCITYPAPER.COM
those already extant to be bought, transferred, and sold, so anyone in Pittsburgh hoping to open a new nightlife venue needs to find someone with a liquor license who is willing to sell. Harder yet, operators of after-hours clubs, like Donald Thinnes of the Norreh, known later as Donny’s Place, bought out club charters from previous members, and as a
result, inherited whatever location and facilities already belonged to the the social clubs, which in the first half of the 20th century were mostly organized by neighborhood. Which brings me to Wilkinsburg, where I live. It’s a dry borough, and despite being the home of the GLCC from 1985-1990, it’s not much known as a gayborhood; the nearest gay bar used to be the
Traveler’s Club, “Lucky” John’s afterhours anchor in Larimer, the site of the only recorded location of a police raid on a gay nightlife venue (February 14, 1988) in Pittsburgh; but it closed in 2006, much to the relief of some neighbors. And yet, without a bar to its name, Wilkinsburg, anecdotally, has one of the densest trans populations in the city. (This is likely in
CP PHOTO: MARS JOHNSON
Mural at Club Pittsburgh
part because the housing is cheap, and being trans often prevents a person from making money.) From my house, I can walk to the homes of three different exes, and dozens of friends, acquaintances, and frenemies. Nearly everyone is sober, or nearly. If I want to go to a bar, if I want to be among people who are queer and gay and trans in an atmosphere that facilitates making friends for a night and forgetting them in the morning, I head to the late-night nightlife desert that is Butler Street,
where, even on a Wednesday at midnight, the Blue Moon is roaring. It’s open stage, which means drag performers — the supportive old guard along with nervous first-timers. In terms of age, gender, class, and race, it’s by far the most flexible and diverse of any of the gay bars (and very cheap if you convince a cute stranger to buy). Which, to its credit, is the ideal microcosm and, perhaps, a guiding light for how to dream of a neighborhood where queer life can thrive. •
PITTSBURGH CITY PAPER OCTOBER 18-25, 2023
9
PITTSBURGH CITY PAPER STAGE
3PM-8PM
DJ FEMI
FRIDAY, OCT. 20 JOIN US FOR HAPPY HOUR!
MARKET SQUARE King’s Ransom WEDNESDAY, OCT. 18 5:00 PM – 7:00 PM
Z-Town Street Band THURSDAY, OCT. 19 5:00 PM – 7:00 PM
PHOTO: MINDY TUCKER
Joe Pera
MELLON SQUARE Get Your Lunch From:
TUES. OCT. 17 11:00 AM – 2:00 PM + LIVE MUSIC!
11:30am-1:30pm – Craig Veltri HAPPY HOURS IN THE PARK!
OCT. 17 5 - 7 PM
ORANGE MUSIC
HAPPY HOURS IN THE PARK!
OCT. 18 5 - 7 PM
ELYSE AND RYAN DUO
DOWNTOWNPITTSBURGH.COM
10
WWW.PGHCITYPAPER.COM
COMEDY
JOE PERA JOKES WITH YOU Joe Pera tests new material on Pittsburgh audiences with Bottlerocket residency BY MATT PETRAS // INFO@PGHCITYPAPER.COM
I
MMEDIATELY AFTER COMEDIAN CONNER O’MALLEY PERFORMED AT WHAT WAS THEN PITTSBURGH’S UP-AND-COMING COMEDY VENUE BOTTLEROCKET SOCIAL HALL, HE TEXTED HIS FRIEND JOE PERA.
In an interview with Pittsburgh City Paper, Pera, an alternative comedian known for his television series Joe Pera Talks With You, recalls O’Malley texting, “This place in Pittsburgh is great. Good size venue, and you’d like the style there.” Pe ra re ce n tly b o o ke d th e Allentown venue and Pittsburgh welcomed him with open arms with two quickly sold-out shows. “That was wild,” Pera says. Those two sold-out shows have since expanded into something more.
Pera will develop new material during a residency at Bottlerocket, performing six shows across five days at the end of October. The residency follows the early October release of his firstever comedy special, Slow and Steady, available for free on YouTube. “So then, now that I filmed the special and gotta start creating material, I thought it would be extremely fun to try to start developing a new hour there,” Pera says. Pera will, from Tue., Oct. 24-Sat., Oct. 28, perform once per day, with
two shows happening on Saturday. As of publication, Bottlerocket has completely sold out of residency tickets, each of which went for $20. Pera, a Buffalo, N.Y. native now based in New York City, has performed stand-up comedy for years but became well-known thanks to his strange, sweet, and thoughtful Adult Swim comedy series Joe Pera Talks with You, which ran for three seasons, from 2018 through 2021, before being canceled. In each of the show’s 11-minute episodes, Pera speaks directly to the camera about a given subject, such as grocery stores, fireworks, and beans, all while a story plays out about a fictionalized version of Pera and his family, friends, and neighbors.
Pera describes his special as being more focused on comedy but still familiar to people already acquainted with the vibes of the television show. “I wanted them to think, ‘Oh, that’s funny and interesting,’ but really have some good, solid laughs and a fun night out,” Pera says. When Pera did stand-up before the release of his television show, he had to introduce audiences to his unique persona, and much of the set spun out of that “tension,” he says. Pera speaks slowly, in a way that implies he’s carefully and thoughtfully choosing his words. When he toured after the cancellation of his show, Pera, now known and with a dedicated audience, used audience reactions to evolve his craft.
man Fern. As he became more of a household name, comparisons of Pera to Pittsburgh icon Mister Rogers have become commonplace. Pera doesn’t look to Rogers as an inspiration, though. “It’s fine, but I’m not doing a children’s show,” Pera says. “I think he had a lot of good qualities that, if they come across in my comedy, that’s great, but I’m not trying to be Mister Rogers.” Viewers will find that Slow and Steady is both a great show and a distillation of Pera’s stand-up comedy vision. It garners big laughs about topics ranging from open relationships to Pera’s similarities in looks and mannerisms to late serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer. The last 10 minutes
“THE AUDIENCE IN PITTSBURGH WAS KIND OF ROWDY IN A VERY FUN WAY.” “Before the tour, I’ve always been very writing-focused. I would get the perfect, most concise joke. I had to get every word right,” Pera says. “And I think there were moments on tour where I loosened up in a way that kinda shocked myself and just had fun with the audience in a more present way than I had ever been on stage.” Pera performed at Carnegie of Homestead Music Hall in May 2022 and enjoyed the crowd. “The audience in Pittsburgh was kind of rowdy in a very fun way,” Pera says. “They were excited to see me, and it was fun to kind of have a playful back-and-forth with them doing crowd work. And I wanted that energy to be in all of the live shows that I do.” Pera skyrocketed in popularity following his show. He had a small role in the latest Pixar film, Elemental, in which he played the tree-like
or so veers into more emotional territory as it utilizes the same kind of whimsical storytelling and sweetness of Pera’s television series. The special also serves as a compelling thesis from Pera about the kind of environment he wants to create with his stand-up comedy: a shared space where the audience can laugh and be happy together amid a metaphorically sweltering world. Later this month, Pittsburgh audiences will get to watch Pera figure out what he wants the next chapter of his stand-up career to be. “I think it’ll have a large part in shaping where the next special goes, and the type of stuff that I’m gonna talk about, and the new things to try out,” Pera says. “So I’m equally nervous, afraid, and excited about trying to figure it out with an audience.” •
Radial Survey Vol.3
Opening Gala Thu, Nov 2
Sponsored by Sprezzatura and Two Frays
Symposium Fri, Nov 3 Sponsored by Adda Coffee
Exhibition Nov 2-Feb 3
Silver Eye’s biennial features some of the most exciting artists working with photography today, creating exceptional and important work that explores photography’s possibilities in original ways. Radial Survey Vol.3 is supported by The Leonian Foundation and Henry Simonds Tickets & registration:
silvereye.org Lisa Toboz, Ghost Stories, Chapter 4, 2021
Silver Eye
It’s fun shopping for scrubs at s&b. Try-on the latest trends that will have you looking good & feeling great. Shop our locations at the Miracle Mile Shopping Center, The Waterfront, and Life Uniform at McIntyre Square.
scrubsandbeyond.com
*Valid in-store only. Expires 12/31/23. Exclusions apply. Excludes clearance. See store associate for details.
*Save 50% on one top, pant, or jacket! use code in-store only - tpjdeal
PITTSBURGH CITY PAPER OCTOBER 18-25, 2023
11
COMMUNITY PROFILE
HIMALAYAN HIGHWAY
CP PHOTO: MARS JOHNSON Narayan Dhakal, owner of Namaste Momo Corner
Bhutanese refugees bring unique food and culture to the Route 51 corridor BY COLIN WILLIAMS
12
WWW.PGHCITYPAPER.COM
P
CP PHOTO: MARS JOHNSON
Narayan Dhakal, owner of Namaste Momo Corner
a. Route 51, flanked by strip malls and suburban development, is the primary thoroughfare for residents of communities like Brentwood, Whitehall, and Pleasant Hills. It is also the “Main Street” for some of Greater Pittsburgh’s newest residents — around 7,000 refugees from Bhutan have made their home along the busy corridor.
Many of these Nepali-speaking Bhutanese nationals, or Lhotshampa, were forced from their homes in southern Bhutan during a period of ethnic cleansing. After being resettled in Pittsburgh far from their home in the Himalayas, many of these refugees and their families have built new lives and put down roots in the region. They’ve brought with them cultural heritage that includes a unique culinary tradition Pittsburghers can taste at the restaurants and shops lining Route 51. Khara Timsina, executive director and co-founder of the Bhutanese
Community Association of Pittsburgh, or BCAP, says Bhutanese refugees began arriving in Pittsburgh in 2008. Many spent time in refugee camps prior to this, having been expelled from their homeland by the government of former Druk Gyalpo (“Dragon King” in Bhutanese) Jigme Singye Wangchuck. “[Wangchuck’s regime] adopted numerous national policies targeting Nepali-speaking Bhutanese citizens,” Timsina tells Pittsburgh City Paper. “The Nepali-speaking Bhutanese are predominantly Hindus, and Hindus were not allowed to practice many of
their religious norms by their government once they imposed those rules.” Persecution led unhappy Nepalispeaking citizens to organize into political groups. What followed was a massive crackdown during which Timsina says men were jailed without trial, women were raped, and many Lhotshampa were denied the basic means to earn a living. Timsina says most of the community was forced to sign away th e i r ci t i z e n s h i p o n fo rm s i n English or Bhutanese that many couldn’t read. “Some were forced to sign at gunpoint; that’s what I
was told growing up,” Timsina says. “Some had to flee overnight.” The end result was that Timsina and others were sent to refugee camps. Some spent 15 years in exile before joint action by the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees and the U.S. Department of State paved the way for resettlement abroad. Timsina says as many as 97,000 Bhutanese refugees ended up in the United States. Narayan Dhakal, owner of the Namaste Momo Corner restaurant in Brentwood, says that “when we were resettled, we didn’t really have a choice of where to go.” Dhakal HIMALAYAN HIGHWAY, CONTINUES ON PG. 14
PITTSBURGH CITY PAPER OCTOBER 18-25, 2023
13
HIMALAYAN HIGHWAY, CONTINUED FROM PG. 13
“TRAUMA AND DISLOCATION LEFT MANY OF THESE REFUGEES IN NEED OF SERVICES RANGING FROM MENTAL HEALTHCARE TO ASSISTANCE WITH A NEW COUNTRY’S BUREAUCRACY.”
CP PHOTO: MARS JOHNSON
Khara Timsina, executive director and co-founder of BCAP
landed in Colorado because his dad had fond memories of the mountains surrounding Thimphu, the capital of Bhutan, and requested placement somewhere similar. Family eventually drew Dhakal, Timsina, and others to Pennsylvania. “Later on, when the older generation was here, all the younger generations out there wanted to be closer to their parents or grandparents,” Dhakal tells City Paper. He moved to Southwestern Pa. via Columbus, Ohio to join his grandmother. Trauma and dislocation left many of these refugees in need of services ranging from mental healthcare to assistance with a new country’s bureaucracy. Initially, new arrivals to Greater Pittsburgh clustered in several large apartment complexes in Baldwin, Whitehall, Castle Shannon and other nearby communities, including Pittsburgh’s Carrick neighborhood. At that time, Timsina says BCAP was focused on providing help with literacy and citizenship
14
WWW.PGHCITYPAPER.COM
applications — with the community now better established and more spread out, the organization’s services have evolved. “We gradually transitioned into specific skill development and leadership that includes youth programming, women’s empowerment, mental health support, civic engagement, and general informational and educational programs,” Timsina says. Since 2019, the organization has also worked with older individuals to help them navigate Social Security and Medicare.
careers and purchased homes. A large number now work in healthcare. But others have opened businesses that serve the refugee community and locals more broadly. Dhakal purchased Namaste Momo Corner in the summer and has been tinkering with the menu since taking over. “I always wanted to do something on my own,” he says. After moving from Colorado to Columbus in 2015, Dhakal helped manage an acquaintance’s restaurant — “during that time, I felt that, hey, this was some-
“AROUND 7,000 REFUGEES FROM BHUTAN HAVE MADE THEIR HOME ALONG THE BUSY ROUTE 51 CORRIDOR.” Dhakal, who volunteered at a similar organization in Columbus, says many Bhutanese refugees in Greater Pittsburgh have found stable
thing that I must do down the road,” he tells CP. He visited Pittsburgh, and the rest was history. Namaste Momo Corner occupies
a small storefront where Route 51 changes names from Saw Mill Run Boulevard to Clairton Boulevard. As the name suggests, their signature dish is the momo, or handmade dumplings. The restaurant serves momos in a variety of styles. There are steamed and fried dumplings full of meat or veggies, but there are also crisp, beetred “C-style” chili momos with a kick; Sadeko momos, served with a hearty sauce and homemade slaw; and Jhol momos, which arrive in a savory broth. All come with traditional dipping sauces, some made in house. Also offered are Nepali-style chow mein, grilled meat dishes, curries, fried rice, and fragrant hot chai. Dhakal is planning to add a thali, or mini-buffet, in the near future. He estimates that as many as 75% of storefronts in the surrounding plazas are now owned or managed by Nepali-speaking Bhutanese refugees. Importing these culinary traditions has provided continuity for Nepali-speaking Bhutanese
CP PHOTO: MARS JOHNSON
Namaste Momo Corner
Pittsburghers. Timsina estimates there are eight restaurants in the area serving Himalayan cuisine, including Himali Kitchen and Everest Kitchen not far from Namaste Momo Corner, Nepali Asian Restaurant in Carrick, and Taste of the Himalayas in Baldwin. (Subba in Deutschtown is another longtime local destination for Himalayan food.) Groceries, boutiques, and convenience stores also serve the community.
Does my grandpa’s happiness count?” Even in the face of tragedy, this resilient community still finds ways to celebrate. Many Bhutanese refugees are now U.S. citizens, but observance of holidays keeps tradition alive. BCAP, which has now been active for 11 years, stages a public celebration of the Teej holiday — this year’s gathering took place in September. “The Teej festival used to be more of a religious thing back in Nepal and
"FOOD IS AN IMPORTANT PART IN ALL OF THESE FESTIVALS." There are still lingering issues for Lhotshampa in Pittsburgh — Dhakal says he hasn’t seen his grandfather in nearly 35 years, and although government repression has eased, many Nepali-speaking Bhutanese still living in Asia remain dispossessed. He says the Bhutanese government’s espousal of a “Gross National Happiness” economic model belies a more sinister reality. “If you’re putting your name out there with ‘Gross National Happiness,’ who do you count?” he wonders. “Whose happiness counts?
Bhutan, but for BCAP, it’s more of a community event that focuses on women leadership [and] women’s health and well-being,” executive director Timsina says. Next up is Vijayadashami, a holiday Timsina describes as being “like Christmas,” bringing together young and old. This year’s celebration falls on ue, Oct. 24 and is likely to see families come together over platters of momos, rice, goat, sweets, and more. “Food,” Timsina tells CP, “is an important part in all of these festivals.” •
PITTSBURGH CITY PAPER OCTOBER 18-25, 2023
15
FOOD & DRINK
CP PHOTO: MARS JOHNSON
END OF A FEW ERAS
Cafe Sam
An elegy for the wonderfully weird time capsule that was Cafe Sam BY RACHEL WILKINSON
W 16
HEN A CRAIGSLIST AD FOR SERVERS BROUGHT Lish Danielle to Cafe Sam, she was surprised to find the restaurant was a house with a front porch.
WWW.PGHCITYPAPER.COM
“I feel like it was kind of strange,” Danielle tells Pittsburgh City Paper. “I think I just walked in there.” She barely remembers any formal interview process, but before long, she was working parties, hauling 60-pound trays of food and ice buckets up the building’s three stories and to the rooftop patio.
“It was just nothing but stairs,” Danielle says. A fixture on Baum Boulevard, Cafe Sam has long felt shrouded in mystery, as if transported from another time. In 2018, the restaurant quietly closed after nearly 30 years in business. There was no fanfare or even public notice. And though the
CP PHOTO: MARS JOHNSON
Lish Danielle
Pittsburgh Business Times, one of the only outlets to announce the closure, got wind of it that summer, they were only able to report it in Oct. 2019, when the property was officially listed for sale. The restaurant’s former site was a prime candidate, they wrote, for redevelopment “in the heart of the busy Baum-Centre corridor.” Passing by where the building still stands, it’s difficult to miss a large Victorian house that looks like it’s been lifted directly out of the tree-lined streets of Friendship and plunked down on a concrete lot amidst the hospitals and chichi apartments. In addition to its front porch, the converted brick house
has stained glass windows, a garden facing the street, green and white striped awnings that evoke a Parisian cafe, and its signature Cafe Sam sign — green script with a single rose. In one of the only existing writeups about the restaurant from 2004 (which also included their creme brûlée recipe), owner Andrew Zins told the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review that the building was originally constructed as a private residence in 1911, and was once home to a brothel. Perhaps as an homage, an antique mannequin named Samantha — last photographed in a leopard print blouse — always sat at the bar. County property records show the site’s 1987 END OF A FEW ERAS, CONTINUES ON PG. 18
PITTSBURGH CITY PAPER OCTOBER 18-25, 2023
17
END OF A FEW ERAS, CONTINUES FROM PG. 17
“MARY WOULD BE LIKE, ‘THE CHANCELLOR FROM PITT IS HERE.’ BUT THEN IT WOULDN’T BE THE CURRENT CHANCELLOR, IT WOULD BE THE CHANCELLOR FROM 30 YEARS AGO.”
CP PHOTO: MARS JOHNSON
Lish Danielle
purchase from Don Allen Chevrolet, where, in the early 20th century, it presumably stood as a part of Pittsburgh’s Automobile Row. Beyond its incongruous building, the restaurant itself seemed enigmatic — offering an eclectic, mostly upscale American menu that, around the time of its closing, included everything from escargot to blackened tilapia to a classic fried fish sandwich. “I’m dying for the seasoned fries and French onion soup,” one person commented on the Business Times’ story about the redevelopment. Lish Danielle worked as a Cafe Sam server from 2008 to 2014, and described the restaurant foremost as fine dining. Adding to the mystique,
18
WWW.PGHCITYPAPER.COM
few Cafe Sam employees wanted to reminisce about it, with owner Andrew Zins and longtime manager Mary declining to comment. But Danielle — a Pittsburgh artist, personal trainer, and owner of Legit Fit LLC — told City Paper she talks about her time working at Cafe Sam often, and that she might be “the only person who could tell [its] story because [I’m] just as mysterious as the restaurant.” Danielle started at Cafe Sam when she was 18, among a group of young waitstaff. The restaurant drew diners from Hillman Cancer Center and the Marriott hotel next door, as well as its share of regulars, and the clientele was older.
“Mary would be like, ‘The chancellor from Pitt is here,’” Danielle remembers. “But then it wouldn’t be the current chancellor, it would be the chancellor from 30 years ago.” Though she puts the average customer’s age around 50, she remembers, “These two men would come in. And he’d be like, "Oh yeah, I’m 91. And this is my dad, he’s 108." I was like, wait, what?! It was like that.” Up until its closing, the restaurant remained a kind of time capsule, continuing the high-end trends from the sit-down restaurant boom of the 1980s — the so-called Decade of Decadence — yet still catering to a more laid-back Pittsburgh crowd, all unfolding in a Victorian house.
In trying to bridge these divides, you could order any meat on the menu prepared “Buffalo style” with cheese and hot sauce, Danielle says, but also, the place never lost a sense of grandeur about itself — they put hand-sliced lemons in every glass of water and brought fresh bread with Cafe Sam’s “famous” pesto oil (an ‘80s trend) to the table. In keeping with the fine dining aesthetic, servers had to wear “this whole outfit” as their uniform, Danielle tells City Paper, including a bowtie, black pants, nonstick shoes, an apron, a side towel (usually carried by chefs), and a corkscrew for tableside bottle service. The restaurant’s systems, she says, were “archaic,”
CP PHOTO: MARS JOHNSON
Cafe Sam
and she started her shifts by punching into an actual time clock. To take orders, servers wrote every item down and keyed everything into a register with an elaborate numbering system to ring them up. Restaurant patrons entered through a foyer, and could eat in upstairs or downstairs dining rooms — each with wrap-around wooden benches that Danielle believes were original to the house, and decked out with pink cushions, tablecloths, and individually folded napkins. “It was even set up like a house,” Danielle recalls, “Because all of our stations were … these rinky-dink old wooden dressers.” Servers grabbed silverware out of the dressers, and
when they cleared their tables, stacked sugar, salt ramekins (small dishes), side plates (another small dish often used for bread), and the napkins. “There was really nothing new,” she tells CP. “There was nothing new about it.” Cafe Sam’s extensive menu is perhaps the most storied part of the restaurant, and Danielle recalls learning 40 items and up to a dozen rotating specials, which she read off a double-sided card. Though it blended high-end French and Italian dishes with a casual hamburger, the restaurant maintained until the end that it offered contemporary American food. Among the items Danielle remembers are bouillabaisse — a French
soup with shrimp, clams, and oysters — duck, mussels, a prime rib special, rainbow tilapia with a cream sauce, even more exotic foods like alligator and bison meatballs, and a beloved portobello soup that remained a staple until the restaurant closed. There was also a varied dessert menu and a signature flaky chocolate chip cookie that came complimentary at the end of each meal. “People would go crazy for those cookies,” Danielle remarks. In the summertime, the restaurant experimented with gazpachos, serving a cold wildberry soup. Danielle believes the owner, who was a lawyer before opening the restaurant he named after a family member, “just got bored and wanted to try things out." He wanted to have everything” at his restaurant, she says. “And that was the only time I’d ever see him gleeful,” she tells CP “when he was asking us to try these different things.” Naturally, the menu and all the accouterments were meant to give the restaurant a refined air, reflecting the owner’s taste, but also maybe to spite Ritter’s Diner across the street, Danielle speculates. The restaurant and its collegeaged staff also became a world unto itself. Danielle often worked 16-hour shifts, and, over the course of six years, her co-workers grew into a found family. The job saw her through college and two pregnancies, from being a student to becoming a young working mother, and she kept picking up shifts even after she started a fulltime job. “I was a big cut-up, because the place was very stuffy,” she tells CP. At the same time, “it had all of this charm,” and looked “so snooty, even though it really wasn’t.” Cafe Sam, she says, would hire anyone, and she met people she wouldn’t have otherwise. Once, one of the veteran chefs, Bill, turned out to have a side hustle as a Polish DJ, playing polka music around town. It was the kind of place, common in service jobs, where they “rode
you hard as a worker,” but she also remembers being supported. Some years, they gave all the servers extravagant Christmas gifts — Louboutin makeup or Coach purses. The largesse wasn’t what stuck with Danielle, though. “Before I ever left Pittsburgh, and understood what it was like to work in a different setting, I worked for [Cafe Sam],” Danielle says. “So I just had this belief that people who come from Pittsburgh know how to work extremely hard … the amount of effort everyone [put in] to be there on their worst days shaped me into a hard worker. On days I really [didn’t] really feel like working, [I thought] I’ll be better once I just get there.” Over time, regulars at the restaurant began to dwindle and Danielle remembers picking up a New Year’s Eve shift — which, at one time, would’ve packed the place — and realizing she’d earned less than her outfit cost. The ultimate irony of creating a dynamic, sophisticated menu, Danielle says, is that the restaurant’s aging clientele often ordered the same dishes over and over. The fine dining concept also became an anachronism, part of an older Pittsburgh, as the surrounding neighborhood changed, rapidly developing and becoming home to younger residents less interested in Old World fare. The restaurant’s building didn’t meet modern accessibility standards, and today, Danielle guesses, it would suffer in a more germophobic postCOVID world. “[Restaurants] don’t put pepper shakers on the tables anymore,” she says. “It’s not pre-wrapped silverware.” At a place like Cafe Sam, “someone has touched this fork, this knife, this spoon.” But the vision remained of an elegant restaurant that could offer gourmet food on Baum Boulevard. The myster y of Cafe Sam might come down to the restaurateurs themselves. “I think that they were really cool people,” Danielle says, “And essentially, the restaurant was as quirky and strange as they were.” •
PITTSBURGH CITY PAPER OCTOBER 18-25, 2023
19
SEVEN DAYS IN PITTSBURGH BY CP STAFF
FR OCT. I., 20
PHOTO: COURTESY OF FELD ENTERTAINMENT
Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey presents The Greatest Show On Earth at PPG Paints Arena
THU., OCT. 19 ART • BLOOMFIELD
Stephanie Gonzalez: A Journey Through Subconscious Landscapes of the Mind. 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Continues through Fri., Oct. 27. BoxHeart Gallery. 4523 Liberty Ave., Bloomfield. Free. boxheartgallery.com
TALK • POINT BREEZE
The Frick Pittsburgh boosts the message of its current exhibition Pittsburgh and the Great Migration: Black Mobility and the Automobile — now on view at the Car and Carriage Museum — with an insightful presentation. Mobility is Freedom invites guests to hear from Selika Josiah Talbott, an autonomous vehicle expert, educator, and children’s book author, during an event described as exploring “how movement created a new frontier for Black Americans looking for greater opportunity for the generations ahead.” 6-8 p.m. 7227 Reynolds St., Point Breeze. Free. Registration encouraged. thefrickpittsburgh.org
COMEDY • DOWNTOWN
Chris Tucker: The Legend Tour. 8 p.m. Benedum Center. Seventh Sreet. and Penn
20
WWW.PGHCITYPAPER.COM
Avenue, Downtown. $39.50-69.50. trustarts.org
Paints Arena. 1001 Fifth Ave., Uptown. Tickets start at $16. ppgpaintsarena.com
FRI., OCT. 20
DRAG • MILLVALE
FILM • DOWNTOWN
The Los Angeles Times calls it “a film that delights in unspoken terrors and audience misdirection.” The New York Times calls it “shockingly grisly.” Now Pittsburgh audiences can experience When Evil Lurks on the big screen when it hits the Harris Theater. The Spanish-language horror film from Argentina has garnered both praise and revulsion for its fresh take on demonic possession. If you’re wondering what to expect, watch some of director Demián Rugna’s previous titles, including the 2017 paranormal chiller Terrified. 5 p.m. Continues through Wed., Oct. 25. 809 Liberty Ave., Downtown. $11. trustarts.org
Monstrosity: A Live RPG Drag Show with Jenny Sais Quoi. 9 p.m. Harold’s Haunt. 142 Grant Ave., Millvale. $15-60. glittersty.square.site
SAT., OCT. 21
, THU. 9 1 . T OC
MARKET • WARRENDALE
Pittsburgh Film Worker Solidarity Market. 9 a.m.-4 p.m. Cinelease Studios. 150 Thorn Hill Road, Warrendale. Free. instagram.com/ pghfilmsolidaritymarket
MUSIC • BELLEVUE
Electronic Music Records & Tapes Swap & Sale. 12-5 p.m. Seafoam. 3128 Brighton Road, Bellevue. Free. instagram.com/seafoampgh
PARTY • OAKLAND
Haunted Museum After Dark. 6-10 p.m. Carnegie Museum of Natural History. 4400 Forbes Ave., Oakland. $19-24. carnegiemnh.org
PARTY • MUNHALL
Hidden Harbor presents ‘Til Death Do Us Part-y Halloween Blowout. 6-11 p.m. THIS IS RED. 605 East Ninth Ave., Munhall. $18-20. hiddenharborpgh.com
CIRCUS • UPTOWN
Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey presents The Greatest Show On Earth. 7 p.m. Continues through Sun., Oct. 22. PPG
PHOTO: COURTESY OF LIVE NATION
Chris Tucker: The Legend Tour at the Benedum Center
., TUES24 OCT.
PHOTO: COURTESY OF DRUSKY ENTERTAINMENT
Whose Live Anyway? at Carnegie of Homestead Music Hall
DANCE • OAKMONT
Support a local dance company during an event full of choreography, music, and more. Shana Simmons Dance presents Taste the Seasons at Amanda Lee Glassware, a woman-owned warehouse art studio where guests will see all four seasons portrayed during performances enhanced by DJ Deesus and special lighting. Seasonal food, visual art, silent auction items, and other festivities will also add to what promises to be a vibrant evening. 7-10 p.m. 931 Third St., Oakmont. $60 in advance, $75 at the door. shanasimmonsdance.com
DANCE • NORTH SIDE
Confluence Ballet Co. presents Ternion. 7:30 p.m. New Hazlett Theater. Six Allegheny Square East, North Side. $31-39. newhazletttheater.org
SUN., OCT. 22 MUSIC • POLISH HILL
Snailmate. 7 p.m. Rock Room. 1054 Herron Ave., Polish Hill. RSVP required. snailmate.com
MON., OCT. 23 MUSIC • MCKEES ROCKS
Boys Like Girls: The Speaking Our Language Tour with LØLØ, State Champs, and The Summer Set. 6 p.m. Roxian Theatre. 425 Chartiers Ave., McKees Rocks. Tickets start at $47. roxianlive.com
TUE., OCT. 24 LIT • MCCANDLESS
Book Launch: Growing Up Yinzer by Dick Roberts featuring Rob Rogers. 7 p.m. Riverstone Bookstore. 8850 Covenant Ave., McCandless. Free. RSVP required. riverstonebookstore.com
WORKING FROM HOME?
GET CITY PAPER DELIVERED TO YOUR MAILBOX
COMEDY • MUNHALL
Whose Live Anyway? with Ryan Stiles, Greg Proops, Jeff B. Davis, and Joel Murray. 8 p.m. Doors at 7 p.m. Carnegie of Homestead Music Hall. 510 E. 10th Ave., Munhall. $49.7574.75. librarymusichall.com
WED., OCT. 25 MON., OCT. 23
FILM • NORTH SIDE
Reel Q Reel Stories: León. 7 p.m. Cocktail hour at 6 p.m. Alphabet City. 40 W. North Ave., North Side. Free. Registration required. Livestream available. cityofasylum.org
MUSIC • DORMONT
PHOTO: CALUM WALKER HUTCHINSON
LØLØ at Roxian Theatre
Steel City Cabaret Halloween Show. 7-10 p.m. Back Alley Brewing Company. 2975 West Liberty Ave., Dormont. $10. backalleybrewingpa.com
6 weeks for $32
VISIT WWW.PGHCITYPAPERSTORE.COM PITTSBURGH CITY PAPER OCTOBER 18-25, 2023
21
MASSAGE M2M Massage by Lee Athletic shape 24/7 • 412-628-1269
Looking to hire a qualified employee? Call 412.685.9009
PUBLIC AUCTION
MARKETPLACE MARKET PLACE TO PLACE A CLASSIFIEDS ADVERTISEMENT, CONTACT SIERRA CLARY AT SIERRA@PGHCITYPAPER.COM OR 412-685-9009 EXT. 113
HELP WANTED
FINANCIAL
FINANCIAL
DATA ENTRY CLERK
SAVE YOUR HOME! Are you behind paying your MORTGAGE? Denied a Loan Modification? Is the bank threatening foreclosure? CALL Homeowners Relief Line NOW for Help 1-855-4395853 Mon-Fri : 8:00 am to 8:00 pm Sat: 8:00 am to 1:00 pm(all times Pacific) (AAN CAN)
Struggling With Your Private Student Loan Payment? New relief programs can reduce your payments. Learn your options. Good credit not necessary. Call the Helpline 888-670-5631 (Mon-Fri 9am-5pm Eastern) (AAN CAN)
HELP WANTED
HELP WANTED
We are actively looking for a Data Entry Clerk to locate, collect, manually enter and verify batch record data. Data quality and data availability to consumers are of the utmost concern. Batch process data are recorded into paper Batch Records by the manufacturing team as part of normal production activities. A Data Entry Specialist will need to understand the process, its flow and track unique steps such that he/ she can enter the requisite data into a database. Data will be verified after entry and the system locked to prevent unauthorized changes. Responsibilities will include: Data Entry, Paperwork verification for orders, Scanning documents, Fast paced—responsible for processing certain volumes daily. Interested candidates should add up and write frb056232@gmail.com for more details.
22
SR SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT ENGINEER
3M, Pittsburgh, PA: Write & enhance code for complex large-scale, frontend speech recognition workflow products using .NET & JavaScript. Runs pre-deployment builds, docs process & features, & dvlps & performs unit, integration, & pair tests. Master in Comp. Sci. or Info Sci. req’d. Must have: (i) 2 yrs of internship or work exp. in project-oriented software dvlpmnt on MS Windows & MS SQL Server; (ii) 2 yrs of coursework, internship, or work exp. coding in C# .NET; & (iii) 1 yr of coursework, internship, or work exp. w/ JavaScript. Exp. may be gained concurrently. Position eligible for telecommuting from any location in U.S. Apply online: 3m.com/3M/ en_US/careers-us/.
WWW.PGHCITYPAPER.COM
COMPUTER SYSTEMS ANALYST
SunTec Business Solutions Inc., headquartered in Canonsburg, PA, seeks Computer Systems Analyst (multiple openings) to work in Canonsburg, PA, and unanticipated locations throughout the U.S. responsible for analyzing user requirements or procedures and mapping same to Xelerate features. Position is for a roving employee who will work in unanticipated locations throughout the U.S. Employee will have to relocate, but travel is not required from any particular location. Submit resume to: pradeepk@ suntecgroup.com
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: 6400 Hamilton Ave, Pittsburgh, PA 15206 on November 1, 2023 at 1:45pm. 2019 Yvonne Moore, 3087 Michael Coleman, 5050 Shekena Thompson, L080 George Johnson. 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.
HELP WANTED
PUBLIC AUCTION
PUBLIC AUCTION
PUBLIC AUCTION
PUBLIC AUCTION
Evoqua Water Technologies LLC’s Pittsburgh, PA, office seeks an IT Lead in SAP PP/QM (Production Planning/Quality Management). This position is responsible for functional and technical support for SAP projects, leadership and execution in all phases of SAP implementation and support. Apply at https://careers.evoqua. com, #33555
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. November 1, 2023 at 12:30 PM Rachael Doven 3369. 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.
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: 880 Saw Mill Run Blvd Pittsburgh, PA 15226, November 1, 2023, at 1:15 PM. Bethany Vega 3158, Christina Brown 4109. 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.
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. on 11/01/2023 at 12:15pm. Marylyn Brooke Unit 1077, Niejah Hill Unit 2213, Ivan Bryant Unit 3032, Kyle Liggons Unit 3147. 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.
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: 902 Brinton Road, Pittsburgh, PA 15221 on November 1st 2023 at 11:30 am. 1015 Markisha Edwards, 1115 Vonda Harris, 2229 Tiara Law, 3143 Raymond Ayers. 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.
ESTATE NOTICE
PUBLIC AUCTION
PUBLIC AUCTION
PUBLIC AUCTION
PUBLIC AUCTION
ESTATE OF SMITH, WALTER, R., DECEASED OF PITTSBURGH, PA
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. November 1, 2023 at 1:30 PM. Paris Beard 1027, Justin Jordan 4113, Ethan Boehm 5032, Pamela Lewis 5049. 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.
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, November 1st, 2023 11:15am. Jared Smith 273. 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.
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 November 1st 2023 at 11:00am. 1038 Darlene Mitchel, 3064 Priscilla Thompson, 4036 Judith Krynski, 4070 Michael Garder. 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.
IT LEAD
Walter Robert Smith, deceased, of Pittsburgh, PA. No. 06919 of 2023. Jennifer Marie Mankowski, Extr., 105 Hivue Lane, Pittsburgh, PA 15237.
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: 3200 Park Manor Blvd, Pittsburgh, PA. 15205 on November 1st 2023 at 1:00pm 3083 Ryan Strauss, 3152 Anthony Ballo, 3297 Sharon Gaitens, 7017 Patrick Grago. 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.
THAT TRACKS
BY BRENDAN EMMETT QUIGLEY // BRENDANEMMETTQUIGLEY.COM
ACROSS
1. Rapper with a Pulitzer 6. Carrier with a Star of David in its logo 10. “Growltiger’s Last Stand” musical 14. Unified 15. Computer language? 16. Beasts of burden 17. “That ___!” (The Wonders) 19. Bone broken in a nightstick fracture 20. See 31-Across 21. Bring about, as havoc 22. With 34-Across, “That ___” (Shania Twain) 27. South American raccoon-like creature 28. Still kicking 29. Sheds, as feathers 30. Too stupid for words 31. With 20-Across, anago at a sushi restaurant 34. See 22-Across 35. “___ That” (Akon & Eminem) 36. “___ Girl” (Stevie Wonder) 37. Proverbial knuckle-dragger 38. Pronounce 39. Spot covered with locks 40. Seriously overcharge
41. Really, really wants 42. “That ___” (Lin-Manuel Miranda & Phillipa Soo) 46. Aluminum foil maker 47. Towser’s title in Catch-22: Abbr. 48. Rap battler’s gift 49. “___ That” (BLACKPINK) 56. Tuning fork part 57. Physiologist Pavlov 58. With the pedal to the metal 59. Blue Gmail button 60. Venture capitalist Andreessen 61. Piano key
DOWN
1. Compound row exercise muscle 2. Fireplace residue 3. French 101 pronoun 4. Cosmos co-founder Druyan 5. College officials 6. Bacteria in some water 7. The Simpsons cop 8. Put two and two together 9. Sign of summer 10. Soup or salad, e.g. 11. Shafts on a bike 12. Late start, say 13. Declogging tool
18. Cooler with a cryptozoological name 21. “___ already met” 22. Sweetly, in scores 23. Swear words 24. Large swimming herbivore 25. Where are you? 26. Coyotes milieu 27. Power outage? 29. Sport played in an octagon, for short 30. Spin doctor’s job 31. Romance author Nalini 32. Relievers’ stats 33. The whole shebang 35. Leftover Cuban 36. Posse 38. Movie beverage
39. Fashionista’s field 40. Shone 41. Mountain range for NordVPN, e.g. 42. Floats through the air 43. Skateboarding trick with Fakie, Switch, and Half-Cab variants 44. Storrs campus 45. “Better Place” boy band 49. “That guy” 50. Fertility clinic stock 51. Fighting chance? 52. Fertility clinic room 53. 10/12/23 for Instacart: Abbr. 54. Family 55. Frozen food name LAST WEEK’S ANSWERS
LEGAL
CREDIT REPAIR
Need Help with Family Law? Can’t Afford a $5000 Retainer? Low Cost Legal Services- Pay As You Go- As low as $750-$1500Get Legal Help Now! Call 1-844-821-8249 Mon-Fri 7am to 4pm PCT (AAN CAN) https://www.familycourtdirect. com/?network=1
Denied Credit?? Work to Repair Your Credit Report With The Trusted Leader in Credit Repair. Call Lexington Law for a FREE credit report summary & credit repair consultation. 855-620-9426. John C. Heath, Attorney at Law, PLLC, dba Lexington Law Firm. (AAN CAN)
NAME CHANGE
NAME CHANGE
IN The Court of Common Pleas of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania: No. GD-23-9860 In re petition of Neshay Smith for change of name to Shay Smith. To all persons interested: Notice is hereby given that an order of said Court authorized the filing of said petition and fixed the 1st day of November, 2023, at 9:30 a.m., as the time and the Motions Room, City-County Building, Pittsburgh, PA, as the place for a hearing, when and where all persons may show cause, if any they have, why said name should not be changed as prayed for.
IN The Court of Common Pleas of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania: No. GD-23-11941 In re petition of Sharice Sewell, parent and legal guardian of AriNicole Charei Echols for change of name to AriNicole Charei Sewell Byrd. To all persons interested: Notice is hereby given that an order of said Court authorized the filing of said petition and fixed the 30th day of November 2023, at 9:45 a.m., as the time and the Motions Room, City-County Building, Pittsburgh, PA, as the place for a hearing, when and where all persons may show cause, if any they have, why said name should not be changed as prayed for.
DENTAL Insurance
Get help paying big dental bills
It doesn’t matter what dentist you see, we can help pay the bill. Get dental insurance from Physicians Mutual Insurance Company.
No deductible, no annual maximum
Preventive care starts right away
See any dentist — save more if you stay in network
Get your FREE Information Kit
Call now! 1-855-385-3879 Dental50Plus.com/Citypaper
Product not available in all states. Contact us to see the coverage and offer available in your state. Contact us for complete details about this insurance solicitation including costs and limitations. This specific offer is not available in CO. Call 1-800-969-4781 or respond for a similar offer. In WV: To find a provider in the network visit us at https://www. physiciansmutual.com/web/dental/find-dentist. Certificate C250A (ID: C250E); Insurance Policy P150; Rider Kinds B438/ B439. In CA, CO, ID, KY, ME, MD, MA, MI, MO, NV, NJ, NC, ND, VA: Includes Participating Providers and Preventive Benefits Rider. Certificate C254/B465 (PA: C254PA); Insurance Policy P154/B469 (GA: P154GA; OK: P154OK; TN: P154TN). 6323
OFFICIAL ADVERTISEMENT
THE BOARD OF PUBLIC EDUCATION of the SCHOOL DISTRICT OF PITTSBURGH
ADVERTISEMENT FOR BIDS Sealed proposals shall be deposited at the Administration Building, Bellefield Entrance Lobby, 341 South Bellefield Avenue, Pittsburgh, Pa., 15213, on October 24, 2023, until 2:00 P.M., local prevailing time for:
VARIOUS SCHOOLS, FACILITIES, AND PROPERTIES • Environmental Abatement Contract: Asbestos, Lead-based paint, Mold & Animal Excrement Remediation, Mitigation & Abatement • Environmental Abatement Primes Project Manual and Drawings will be available for purchase on October 02, 2023, at Modern Reproductions (412-488-7700), 127 McKean Street, Pittsburgh, Pa., 15219 between 9:00 A.M. and 4:00 P.M. The cost of the Project Manual Documents is non-refundable. Project details and dates are described in each project manual. We are an equal rights and opportunity school district.
PITTSBURGH CITY PAPER OCTOBER 18-25, 2023
23