Yes Pittsburgh at one time had Two Red Light Districts

 

 Hard to believe but in the 1980s Pittsburgh had 2 Red Light Districts one in Pittsburgh's North Side on Federal Street which had the Mini Ritz Adult Theater and infamous  Garden Theater  and the several block long one in Downtown on Liberty ave Liberty ave was full of Adult Theaters , Massage Parlors and Adult Book stores  and ruled by one of the most colorful characters  of the time   Dante Tex Gill who was a women who dressed as a man and had a wife. 

 

https://www.them.us/story/the-true-story-of-dante-tex-gill

 

 

 

https://www.wesa.fm/arts-sports-culture/2018-04-26/people-were-afraid-to-come-downtown-when-pittsburgh-had-a-red-light-district

 

 

Unfortunately all this vice lead to a War between  Dante her boss George Lee  and the  Pittsburgh Mob and resulted in a bombing with killed one masseuse.

 I had a customer on liberty ave Ace Amusement owned by the colorful Character Larry Hirsch and one night  while working fixing his alarm we had to evacuate when they found a bomb in  the mens room in the Liberty Adult Art Cinema next door. The stupid ass bouncer . Brought the bomb in a cigarette pack out on to street before calling police. as we evacuated it was sitting on side walk and had a red blinking light. .

 

Ace  Amusement was to the right 

 

After the war ended Tex Gill went to jail  for tax evasion Mr Lee was Killed  and the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust started buying up renovating and tearing down these seedy establishments .

The only remnants left today are the old Edison Hotel now known as a Blush Exotic gentleman's club and the adult book store at Smithfield street .

But what an exciting and interesting period it was.

There was almost a 2nd Boston Tea Party in Leetsdale Pa in the 1980s. when some one opened a British Tea Shop?

 As you ride down Pa 65 South  thru Leetsdale you pass some industrial building and then come to an intersection with an old railroad building which has been many things over the years including a dry cleaners. The railroad crossing has been long closed but this is how you got back to the industrial park at one time .

It sits empty at the moment but in early 80s  Cathy Windsor  turned the building into a British Tea Room and restaurant what a neat ideal for tea lovers and history buffs . Unfortunately as part of the decor she put a large British flag on a flag pole out front and that's what doomed her project from the start  and saw it closed in less than 6 months.

Town citizens ignorance  where outraged she put up such a large British flag on American soil and threatened to burn the place to the ground and not patronize it, 

Actually it was a very nice place for those of us who love tea and town-folks where acting very ignorantly to the Decor there was no slighting on the USA ever in the owners mind. 

There is a very similar place up on Pa 19 in Wexford minus the big flag and everyone thinks its great to be able to enjoy British Delicacies 

The Forgotten Oakford Park Tragedy which killed 21 people in Jeanette Pa on July 5 1903

 Imagine its 1903 and  you are sauntering in your Sunday Best clothing enjoying a local Trolley Amusement Park  in Jeanette unaware the park will see a very dark and terrifying tragedy about to happen to them

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When a sudden unexpected cloud burst would overflow and break the dam of Lake Placid which is one of the attractions of the park 

https://www.thirdstopontheright.com/oakford-park/

the park manager seeing water starting to rise in the park and flowing over the dam tried to get people to go to higher ground but it was too late for over 20 of them being swept away.

  The park was destroyed but was quickly rebuilt in 1904 and lasted well into the 40s 

and the swimming pool till the 80s. '

Today a gas station sits where Trolley Entrance was and an old garage across the street was the one time trolley shed. 

and the park just a memory .

The strange looking metal markers at Washington blvd and Allegheny River Blvd. in Pittsburgh

 As you ride down ARB  Allegheny River Blvd you come to the intersection of Washington Blvd and are greeted by 2 out of place metal monuments that are the entrance way to the City of Pittsburgh  Brilliant Yard Asphalt Plant 

 

What makes them even stranger is the holes in the side of them. so what are they and where did they come from ?

Well these 2 metal monuments where originally railing pieces for a bridge on Murray Ave between Green Field and Squirrel Hill neighborhoods  and when bridge was replaced instead of being discarded they where placed at the plant entrance. 

But Why? good question as I have looked for and not been able to find a good answer .

Now you would think they would have honored the neighborhood where they came from with them but no there at the entrance of a asphalt plant and now you know .