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Old 08-18-2015, 09:50 AM
 
5,894 posts, read 6,840,242 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by norcider View Post
I remember the roof top sniper on Craig, it was one of those high rise apartment buildings. That happened the year I started working in Oakland. I do not remember the mural though I was in Thirsty's from time to time. Pretty sure the blind operatic singer is still around. Other Oakland fixtures; who remembers Sombrero Man? Ch...ch...ch...change???
Sadly he died about 7 or 8 years ago
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Old 08-18-2015, 03:56 PM
 
419 posts, read 443,023 times
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Does anyone remember the lady who would warn people to "Stay in during the Three Days of Darkness." She could be seen in Shadyside and after sporting events etc. Downtown. She was an attractive woman in her 60's. This was in the 1980s. I heard that here husband left her a lot of money and it showed by the way she dressed and the jewelry that she wore. She was just mentally ill and that is sad.
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Old 08-18-2015, 04:04 PM
 
Location: Pittsburgh
7,541 posts, read 10,200,378 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by wpipkins2 View Post



The dancing / sign language traffic cop was another downtown character.



Officer Cianca was interesting to watch for sure. I'm not sure how well his unique methods kept traffic moving as opposed to less entertaining traffic cops.
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Old 08-18-2015, 04:18 PM
 
1,537 posts, read 1,896,160 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by wpipkins2 View Post
What ever happened to her? I have so many downtown memories as a youngster and this is one of them.

Does anybody remember the bearded lady with gogo boots? She was a downtown character as well.

The dancing / sign language traffic cop was another downtown character.
Not sure. I think she lives/lived in homestead. As far as I can tell she stopped running in town aroud 08-09.

Voodoo lady?
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Old 08-18-2015, 05:47 PM
 
4,173 posts, read 2,916,132 times
Reputation: 3067
Quote:
Originally Posted by Rocket88 View Post
Does anyone remember the lady who would warn people to "Stay in during the Three Days of Darkness." She could be seen in Shadyside and after sporting events etc. Downtown. She was an attractive woman in her 60's. This was in the 1980s. I heard that here husband left her a lot of money and it showed by the way she dressed and the jewelry that she wore. She was just mentally ill and that is sad.
My mother said the same thing. In the 60's and 70's she was a polished woman. By the 1980's she looked like a Mary Tyler Moore episode. She would say " The end is near.....1988 will be the end......save yourself " I was in middle school and she was scary to me. Then she vanished before the 90s.
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Old 08-18-2015, 05:49 PM
 
Location: Stanton Heights
778 posts, read 834,611 times
Reputation: 869
Quote:
Originally Posted by norcider View Post
I remember the roof top sniper on Craig, it was one of those high rise apartment buildings. That happened the year I started working in Oakland. I do not remember the mural though I was in Thirsty's from time to time. Pretty sure the blind operatic singer is still around. Other Oakland fixtures; who remembers Sombrero Man? Ch...ch...ch...change???
I was going to school at Oakland Catholic when the sniper happened. We had to evacuate out the back door and sit in Central's gym. And then the Central bits who had a gym class scheduled at that time were still made to have class, with 400 girls during in the bleachers watching.
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Old 08-18-2015, 07:32 PM
 
2,518 posts, read 2,072,491 times
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Three days of darkness!!!! Haha yup remember her well! She's follow us around town as we skated. Told us that vindictive Angels would scour the earth looking for souls and to keep our houses dark with the window shades drawn and that there would be knocking on the door. If you answered you'd be taken.
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Old 08-19-2015, 08:50 AM
 
701 posts, read 774,835 times
Reputation: 1251
Quote:
Originally Posted by norcider View Post
Three days of darkness!!!! Haha yup remember her well! She's follow us around town as we skated. Told us that vindictive Angels would scour the earth looking for souls and to keep our houses dark with the window shades drawn and that there would be knocking on the door. If you answered you'd be taken.
She was known as the "The Sparrow". She always told people to go inside for 3 days.
Has Sparrow taken wing?

Also, here's odd artsy video that featured her:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xt1OXVFfEfw


The blind singer with the boom box and the great voice is named Bill Dorsey. I have not seen him in a long time. Here's some info on him, along with an album he recorded: Who is Bill Dorsey? - POPGH.com : People of Pittsburgh Going HardPOPGH.com : People of Pittsburgh Going Hard
A short documentary was made of him: Street Songs: Pittsburgh Street Singer, Bill Dorsey (1994) - IMDb
Would be great to see someone get him on a show like "America's Got Talent".


Someone else that was always around "back in the day" that would certainly be considered a Pittsburgh oddity: Lansbury - The guy who would walk the streets downtown with a signboard that said that the government was stealing his mail.
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Old 08-19-2015, 09:01 AM
 
Location: Awkward Manor
2,576 posts, read 3,073,908 times
Reputation: 1684
Quote:
Originally Posted by Thr3stripe View Post
She was known as the "The Sparrow". She always told people to go inside for 3 days.
Has Sparrow taken wing?

Also, here's odd artsy video that featured her:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xt1OXVFfEfw


The blind singer with the boom box and the great voice is named Bill Dorsey. I have not seen him in a long time. Here's some info on him, along with an album he recorded: Who is Bill Dorsey? - POPGH.com : People of Pittsburgh Going HardPOPGH.com : People of Pittsburgh Going Hard
A short documentary was made of him: Street Songs: Pittsburgh Street Singer, Bill Dorsey (1994) - IMDb
Would be great to see someone get him on a show like "America's Got Talent".


Someone else that was always around "back in the day" that would certainly be considered a Pittsburgh oddity: Lansbury - The guy who would walk the streets downtown with a signboard that said that the government was stealing his mail.
"Why can't Lansberry get mail?"
The Legacy of Robert R. Lansberry | Matthew Newton
Don't Call Me Crazy On The 4th Of July
Obituary: Robert R. Lansberry: Authentic Pittsburgh character who couldn't get his mail
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Old 08-19-2015, 09:03 AM
 
288 posts, read 509,110 times
Reputation: 169
This one isn't old, but has anyone seen the Pitt Bird driving around downtown? He has an old land yacht car with duck taped messages on it about UPMC and Highmark. One time, he had a website address on it. From what I was able to decipher of his crpytic rants, his wife must have died at a hospital, and now he believes the hospital, insurer, and doctor are harvesting organs and to sell in the middle east or something:

NEED LAWYER to sue Federal Prosecutor for Medical Records of WPAHS-murdered Rita Joanne Conley (2/01/2011-9/10/2011)...I AM LE-JIT AT 412-313-3080.
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