Pittsburgh circa 1990 (Liberty, Oakland: movies, living, legally)

[Geeo]

Yes, you're right. It's The Atrium, not Dithridge Towers. Wasn't quite sure.

[MMCXII]

Originally Posted by Merge

Saw Yo La Tengo and Nashville ***** there (not together). The Attic... I remember it getting really, bro-ey frat-boy very quickly..

That's it! It was called the Attic.

Chiefs is also mentioned. If you're going to Chiefs, we always stopped into The Luna for a bit also.

[Rocket88]

Pittsburgh is an overall livelier and better city now as most of us will concur. But as we can see the night life and the music scene late 80s and early 90s was decent. Metropol opened in 1988 and Donzis's and The Boardwalk opened in 1990. I remember going to Happy Hour at Donzi's in the early days and I felt like I was on an episode of Miami Vice. There were some tanned guidos with gold chains and open shirts on their cell phones. I had never seen one before in person.

[I_Like_Spam]

South Side was interesting in the early 90's, the population was still dominated by babushkas sweeping off their stoops and the sounds of church bells in the morning and evening being rung to remind the faithful to pray.


The seeds of modern South Side were already sown, Margaritaville, Marios and Blue Lou's, Shootz already drew in crowds of tourists at night, but not so many that residents couldn't find a place to park.


South Side began to get diversity, with the opening of 2 Satanic book stores, Into the Mystic on 18th and the Eye of Horus in the 1300 block of East Carson.

[Merge]

Originally Posted by I_Like_Spam

South Side was interesting in the early 90's, the population was still dominated by babushkas sweeping off their stoops and the sounds of church bells in the morning and evening being rung to remind the faithful to pray.


The seeds of modern South Side were already sown, Margaritaville, Marios and Blue Lou's, Shootz already drew in crowds of tourists at night, but not so many that residents couldn't find a place to park.


South Side began to get diversity, with the opening of 2 Satanic book stores, Into the Mystic on 18th and the Eye of Horus in the 1300 block of East Carson.

Yes... the Eye of Horus, Slacker, St. Elmo's Books, Eljay's, Groovy, the Beehive, the Lava and the Tiki Bar 11, the Eagle, Dee's, Jack's on 18th, Polish Vets after hours, Lascaux Gallery (then Last Call)...

[fat lou]

Lawrenceville was all right in 1990. Yes there was drug activity, but there weren't any shootings or armed robberies. That came later, in the late 90s. It was a fun place to grow up, there were hordes of kids everywhere. It was more, you know, normal than it is now.

[fat lou]

Originally Posted by theta_sigma

No, those signs went up before Oklahoma City, and they extend all the way to Neville, nowhere near SEI. They were put up because those side streets used to be prime gay cruising areas. It's a really interesting look into the not-so-distant past, both from the standpoint of cruising in that same way now not really being necessary because of the internet, and also of panic over The Gays congregating in a public space. I think the incident that really prompted action (And the cops used to put up physical barricades on weekend nights, if I recall correctly) was a gay bashing that occurred there. But I could be wrong about that. Certainly the situation at the time was not "we have to protect gay men from violent hate crimes" but rather "perverts are out in the open being perverted, won't someone think of the children!?!"

So would you want people "cruising" for sex all of the time in front of your own house?

[green_mariner]

One good thing happened in Pittsburgh in 1990. The Pirates clinched their first NL East title since 1979.

[Craziaskowboi]

The percentage of foreign-born residents in the United States bottomed out in 1970, but it didn't bottom out in the Pittsburgh metropolitan area until 1990. That illustrates exactly what I'm talking about when I say that Pittsburgh's diversification was delayed by about 20 years due to the economic attrition suffered during the 1970s and 1980s.

With that said, Pittsburgh still had decent nightlife even in the wake of its economic collapse.

[norcider]

I was 18 in 1990 and remember most of the places mentioned in this awesome post. Wasn't able to get into most (got into some, no ID required at door at most places) and a lot of others had all ages nights. One thing on the South Side, the Beehive opened in 1990 and in my recollection, that was the tipping point for the change in the South Side regarding younger people, tattoo places, bars catering to college aged people. The Beehive was the first place I remember trying different coffees, teas etc. Remember this was years before Starbucks and coffee shops were far and few between. I was working in the North Side then and going to school part time. Didn't frequent the gay bars but I don't think I saw New York, New York mentioned? My best friend's older brother sure frequented them and we'd sometimes pick him up so he'd get home safely. Zack's 4th Ave, Pegasus, Holiday, they're all gone now.