Pittsburgh in 1975? (McKeesport, Washington, Canonsburg: theatres, camping, restaurants)

[Goinback2011]

Originally Posted by I_Like_Spam

After WWII, a lot of immigrants came to the US as "displaced persons", including some to here in Pittsburgh.

Italy and Greece were heavily damaged during the war, Bruno Sammartino was among the immigrants that came to Pittsburgh during that wave.

That immigration was minimal.

The Eastern Europeans came between 1890 and 1925. Look at the historical population increases during that era:

http://www.brooklineconnection.com/h...ts/Growth.html

[Geeo]

Pittsburgh was a lot more rugged in 1975. The steel mills really were a beacon on the landscape: coming in on the Parkway East and rounding the bend after the Squirrel Hill Tunnels, you saw the massive blast furnaces, smoke and orange sky from the mill along Second Avenue, and in the distance was the J&L South Side works, which were also massive. The South Side was a collection of neighborhood stores and steelworker bars. You could tell time by the three shift changes every day, when the streets would be jammed with people and cars. The same scenario played out in McKeesport, Homestead and Duquesne.

Working class families still lived in many city neighborhoods like Mt. Oliver, Knoxville and Beltzhoover. Often gran and gramps lives a few blocks away. People were also moving to the newer suburbs like Monroeville and Ross, but a lot of the older city neighborhoods were intact.

Downtown was still a principal shopping area, but the malls were gaining with free parking. Trolleys still roamed downtown streets and went to the South Hills. There were no busways, no 279 to the north, and many downtown streets still had trolley tracks and were belgian block, for a really bumpy ride. There was no Cultural District - that whole area was porn shops, massage parlors, and prostitutes.

The big corporations were all headed by men. Women were secretaries or office support, and wore skirts. African Americans were absent in any corporate leadership roles.

[norcider]

I was very young but my perceptions of the environs were; potholes, long cold winters, the Steelers, american automobiles and a sense of loneliness. Guess it hasn't changed much haha!

[_Buster]

The Jenkins Arcade still existed downtown, it was the first shopping mall in the US. (but it was not like a suburban mall), and used to be where Fifth Ave. Place is now.

Jenkin's Arcade

In general it seemed that downtown was busier than it is now - there was a lot of pedestrian traffic on the sidewalks and it was pretty fast paced. That made it seem a bit more like NYC.

[doo dah]

Benedum Center was the Stanley Theater, and there were rock and roll shows there!

[SteelCityRising]

Originally Posted by PreservationPioneer

This is a great thread! I wish I could have seen Pittsburgh and the mill towns in the 1970s, before the major sprawl, population loss, and the decline of steel. I would also love to have seen the historic buildings that stood on the sites of some of the skyscrapers that were built post-1975, the East Street Valley, etc.

Agreed. As a fellow 20-something transplant I've been thoroughly enjoying reading about all of these fond memories about our lovely city and region from our sub-forum's "old timers". It seems like in some ways this place changed for the better (especially air quality). In some ways it has become worse (urban sprawl).

I will always wish I lived a couple of generations ago. I wouldn't enjoy coughing every time I wanted to go running around the neighborhood for exercise; however, it would have surely been swell to have seen whites and blacks alike Downtown all dressed up to project a great first impression of themselves to others back in the 1960s vs. today where you go Downtown and feel like you're at an endless foul-mouthed hip-hop concert with people behaving and dressing quite poorly.

Thanks for sharing so far, everyone!

[ditchdigger]

I don't think it's been mentioned in this thread yet, but since the buzzword "urban sprawl" came up again--Back in 75, I-79 ended at the interchange with 228 in soul-less Cranberry. Even it didn't come close to downtown.

[erieguy]

Originally Posted by ditchdigger

I don't think it's been mentioned in this thread yet, but since the buzzword "urban sprawl" came up again--Back in 75, I-79 ended at the interchange with 228 in soul-less Cranberry. Even it didn't come close to downtown.

Yup, and Cranberry was limited to about 10 businesses and could be wrong, 1 traffic light until Kmart moved in and it started to build.

[Copanut]

Nothing there but Conley's Motel and Hart's or something like that Restaurant.

[erieguy]

Originally Posted by Copanut

Nothing there but Conley's Motel and Hart's or something like that Restaurant.

I remember OakLeaf Motel, Tourest Motel, Conleys, Harper's Truck Stop, Hartners Restaurant, Falcon gas station, Fat Chaps Pizza, and a few others that I can't remember.