Neighborhood of the week: Friendship

[selltheburgh]

Originally Posted by eschaton

I wouldn't expect you to say the block/street, but is it the standard sort of East Liberty house - big brick foursquare?

I've noticed on my walks home lately that a lot of houses are being rehabbed on the 900 block of N Saint Clair in Highland Park. Two of them are right next door to each other, and a third is just one house away. I find this interesting, considering all of them seem to be owned by different people but changed hands within the last year.

In the last few years, there were 8 or 9 houses on that block that were totally rehabbed. 800 block had a few. 700 block had about 10 and the 500/600 block had a handful.

It isn't any of those. It isn't a four square. I'd call it a fugly butchered victorian.

[fjy3]

Ha. Ha. That's our old apartment at 304 S. Graham! We lived in that building for six years. It's owned by Panther Properties. We had a tiny apartment with an enormous stained glass window that took up an entire wall. That porch buildout is just an extra basement apartment, not a wine bar! My friend claimed that Michael Keaton once lived in our apartment. It's definitely a shame that they butchered the original Victorian aesthetic.

The little corner store you're thinking of was called Brian and Cooper's Food Mart! It was awesome! We always went there for ice cream and six packs of craft beer. It was owned by a nice indian family. It had a really creepy bar in the back with old, alcoholic yinzers. It was a really weird place, but I have fond memories of it. They've been talking about putting some sort of fancy wine bar or coffee shop in there for years. I'm surprised it hasn't happened yet!

Ah, a trip down memory lane. I remember when The Quiet Storm was still on Penn. We had brunch there constantly. We also would go to Garfield Artworks for shows. Living in Friendship was a twenty-something's dream come true. It was the perfect neighborhood because it actually had trees and beautiful houses and was relatively quiet, yet it was easy to walk to Bloomfield, Garfield, and Shadyside to go drinking and dancing. We also could walk over to Whole Foods or Giant Eagle Market District, and a ton of bus stops that went to Oakland/downtown were close by.

[fjy3]

Originally Posted by fjy3

Ha. Ha. That's our old apartment at 304 S. Graham! We lived in that building for six years. It's owned by Panther Properties. We had a tiny apartment with an enormous stained glass window that took up an entire wall. That porch buildout is just an extra basement apartment, not a wine bar! My friend claimed that Michael Keaton once lived in our apartment. Ha. Ha. It's definitely a shame that they butchered the original Victorian aesthetic.

The little corner store you're thinking of was called Brian and Cooper's Food Mart! It was awesome! We always went there for ice cream and beer. It was owned by a nice indian family. It had a really creepy bar in the back with old, alcoholic yinzers. It was a really weird place, but I have fond memories of it. They've been talking about putting some sort of fancy wine bar or coffee shop in there for years. I'm surprised it hasn't happened yet!

Ah, a trip down memory lane. I remember when The Quiet Storm was still on Penn. We had brunch there constantly. We also would go to Garfield Artworks for shows. Living in Friendship was a twenty-something's dream come true.

Here's an article from November 2011 that talks about Brian & Cooper's food mart turning into an upscale Eatery and Cafe. They planned on using Kiva Han coffee. Ha. Ha. Ha. That never panned out. http://bloomfield-garfield.org/wp-co...Bulletin-1.pdf

[sky329]

Originally Posted by selltheburgh

Regarding 3 unit properties:

I recently bought a 3 unit in East Liberty. It was in terrible condition and we mostly gutted it.

My business partner is a commercial contractor, so we are clear on that part.

The big thing that we had to repair was the existing, but dilapidated fire escape. We couldn't change the layout of the building - meaning we couldn't remove load bearing walls, etc. If we did, it would open up a whole new can of worms for structural, fire and safety code.

Other that that, we now just have to put it back together as per regular building codes.

It isn't that much more of a pain in the ass. Anything structural needed to be stamped by an engineer and reviewed by the city. We just worked with what we had and are moving along.

can you go deeper into why you could not knock a wall down? wondering

[selltheburgh]

Originally Posted by sky329

can you go deeper into why you could not knock a wall down? wondering

because we'd be changing the structure and would need plans etc. Because it is 3+ units and considered commercial.

[eschaton]

Originally Posted by fjy3

Ha. Ha. That's our old apartment at 304 S. Graham! We lived in that building for six years. It's owned by Panther Properties. We had a tiny apartment with an enormous stained glass window that took up an entire wall. That porch buildout is just an extra basement apartment, not a wine bar! My friend claimed that Michael Keaton once lived in our apartment. It's definitely a shame that they butchered the original Victorian aesthetic.

The little corner store you're thinking of was called Brian and Cooper's Food Mart! It was awesome! We always went there for ice cream and six packs of craft beer. It was owned by a nice indian family. It had a really creepy bar in the back with old, alcoholic yinzers. It was a really weird place, but I have fond memories of it. They've been talking about putting some sort of fancy wine bar or coffee shop in there for years. I'm surprised it hasn't happened yet!

Ah, a trip down memory lane. I remember when The Quiet Storm was still on Penn. We had brunch there constantly. We also would go to Garfield Artworks for shows. Living in Friendship was a twenty-something's dream come true. It was the perfect neighborhood because it actually had trees and beautiful houses and was relatively quiet, yet it was easy to walk to Bloomfield, Garfield, and Shadyside to go drinking and dancing. We also could walk over to Whole Foods or Giant Eagle Market District, and a ton of bus stops that went to Oakland/downtown were close by.

Thanks for reminding me of the name - it was really bothering me I couldn't remember.

I lived on S Negley for two years around ten years ago, and spent quite a lot of time at both the Quiet Storm back in the day, along with seeing quite a few shows at Garfield Artworks. We've probably been in the same room on numerous occasions.