The Thunder Bird Boatel an old show boat that sat along the Allegheny river in Ohara twp pa. which had a notoroius ending.

There is nothing now but a couple pilings along the Allegheny River where the Thunderbird  Boatel once sat.
along River Road in O

hara Twp. at an angle across from the Oakmont Yacht Club  a big white old fashioned side wheeler it sat along River Road for several decades and hosted numerous musical acts
as well as  dinner party's and events .

But with the loss of a newer generation not wanting to dress up and go to a show and dinner  the Boatel ended up closing  in 1967and sitting empty for many years  till it became a notorious private  gay bondage club apparently  when it was raided by the Allegheny County Police for under age drinking and sealed its fate never to open again. I remember the headlines flashing across KDKA late evening news many people where shocked at the time in late 70s when the raid took place. Eventually in early80's it was towed down river and as far as  I can determine and
was scrapped.  Its hard to find anything online about the boatel and of course memory's are fading as well.

Aerial view of the Thunderbird Boatel  next to water treatment plant

 

With its notorious past its not hard understanding why . Apparently not everyone was a fan of it sitting there as several neighbors complained to Ohara twp about noise from party's and lack of parking .

Unfortunately its another piece of lost history in the Pittsburgh region and for some people good reason  one of those what happens in Vegas stayed in Vegas situations.