Pittsburgh, anyone?

I need some information about Pittsburgh, particular around 1968-1973.   Were any of you there?  Do you know anyone who was?  Any help appreciated.  Thanks.

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corwin

Site administrative account, so probably Corwin, Felix or DD-B.

0 thoughts on “Pittsburgh, anyone?”

  1. Kara did a lot of research about Pittsburgh when she was writing Steel Rose, though of course she lived there in the ’90’s, not earlier. I can send you her email address if you don’t have it, though it should be in that long exchange we all had about what to do with the Scribblies manuscripts I unearthed.

    P.

  3. I have relatives who have lived in Pittsburgh since the 50s. What do you want to know?

  4. I’d imagine the decline of Big Steel would be a big part of those years. : This book was cited at Wiki. “And the Wolf Finally Came: The Decline and Fall of the American Steel Industry”

  5. Here’s my question:

    If you were in Minneapolis during those years, there is a place called Dinkytown, right next to the University of Minnesota, where if you walked down the street you were liable to be harrassed by Budhists giving you flowers, Charismatic Christians offering to save your soul, or Reds wanting to sell you revolutionary newspapers (that last, by the way, might well have been me). My question is: Where in Pittsburgh would you have found that? District name or street intersections would do fine.

  6. I was born in December 1967, but lived in Pittsburgh from 1968-1972. I just talked to my dad, and he thinks the area you want is Squirrel Hill. It’s apparently near the university and is the ‘hippie part of town.’

    Be aware he is not confident in his answer. It was not a scene he was really part of.

  7. Sounds like a question for my father-in-law. I “immigrated” here but my wife’s family is native and her dad was full blown hippie as I understand it.

  10. Squirrel Hill, sure, but also Oakland and Shadyside. They all converge, and are near the universities (Pitt and CMU, and to a lesser extent, because they’re smaller schools, Chatham and Carlow. All of these except Chatham are in Oakland; Chatham is in, or near, Shadyside). Indeed, in my college days (Pitt, 1968-1974*) I often ran into offbeat groups of all sorts in Oakland although Sq. Hill and Shadyside also had reputations as being “hippie” places.

    *undergrad and grad school.

  11. Steve –

    Districts: Shadyside, Squirrel Hill, Oakland

    In Shadyside (undergoing gentrification and butting up against rough neighborhoods):

    corner of Walnut and Ivy, with Walnut being the main drag

    in Squirrel Hill (traditional Jewish neighborhood with a lot of Pitt and CMU student renters):

    Forbes & Murray, also length of Murray Ave.

    in Oakland, smack dab in the middle of Uiniversity of Pittsburgh (Pitt):

    Forbes & Bouquet, especially at the corner with the Original Hot Dog Shop (which is still there)

    I drove cab for 5 years in Pgh back then, feel free to ask more specific questions

  12. These days I wouldn’t think of Squirrel Hill as hippie (my thought would be more orthodox jewish). Shadyside is viewed as more yuppie. I’d label Oakland as a haven for drunk college students and cheap student housing.

    I’d agree more along Forbes – Forbes and Bouquet where the O is and along that drag. The Beehive when it was still there kinda had that vibe. I presume the foot traffic hasn’t changed much so that’d be a good place to hand out flowers with a Steeler’s logo.

    I’ve only been in and around Pgh since the 80s but, even around the university district, there is a blue collar vibe that tends to mute some of the hippie aspects. I don’t think I’ve ever been offered brownies in Pgh by a “hippie” (was in Denver in the 90s).

    There were definitely hangouts but it doesn’t seem that it takes to the street much. Even the G20 protests didn’t seem to bring as many locals out of the woodwork.

  14. I lived in Pittsburgh during the period, and you would certainly run into Buddhists giving you flowers and born again Christians (typically called “Jesus Freaks” back then) trying to convert you. From 1973 to 1977, I passed through downtown nearly everyday, as I changed buses on my way to Carnegie Mellon. I was often harassed at the bus stop by those who wanted me to become born again. (I remember one woman who, seeing me reading an Analog with a sea serpent on the cover (from The Storms of Windhaven), tried to tell me that “Jesus made sea serpents too.”)

    I typically was waiting for my bus in downtown either at Forbes and Stanwix, Penn and Stanwix, or simply on Liberty, so this is where I’d run into such folks.

  16. Probably not relevant, but just on the off chance it might be, and because your question brought it to mind…

    Though I lived in New York, I was a fan of the Pittsburgh Steelers when I was a kid. For the most part it would have been after the period in question, but the seeds of the team which won 4 super bowls in 7 years were there in the early 70s (Chuck Noll, Terry Bradshaw, Franco Harris, Mean Joe Greene and the rest of the Steel Curtain). I imagine the team was a popular topic of conversation for locals.

  17. Sorry, I don’t know the appropriate place to say this, but I would love the opportunity to pay money for the entire Vlad series in authorized ebook format. Is that a possibility? I can’t find anything earlier then ‘Issola’ in–legal–ebook, and I would love to buy the whole series in something classy like epub, hopefully with the author getting some of the money.

  19. Thanks for your interest, Kaze. The earlier ones aren’t out in ebook form yet, but we’re working on it, and it shouldn’t be much longer.

  20. Thank you for the responses! I am happy to say that the newer novels are available in multiple formats in addition to just Kindle format, so I can get them at more open ended ebook stores like ‘Kobo’ and read them on any ereader I like!

    I eagerly look forward to getting high quality ebook editions of the entire story, thank you!

  21. Just a quick update for any other fans of Vlad in ebook! I just noticed that Kobo has both Dragon and Dzur as well as Issola, Jhegaala, Iorich, and Tiassa all available in DRM PDF or EPUB formats!

  22. Pittsburgh won the World Series in ’71. Nothing else of similar gravity occurred.

  23. Pops and the Family. What a baseball team that was. Anyone else familiar with the Pirates ever think that Kent Tekulve looked like a vampire?

  24. @Ty The We Are Family Pirates were ’79. Clemente was still around for the ’71 WS. Also, different sport, but didn’t the Immaculate Reception happen in early ’73?

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