News Around the Neighborhood
Mark Your Calendars
Fourth Annual Allegheny West Art Show
Submitted by Dennis Bergevin
The 4th annual Allegheny West Art Show and Sale was a resounding success thanks to all the artists, neighbors and friends who attended. A whopping $1,800+ was raised through generous donations and raffle ticket sales of donated artwork benefitting the Allegheny YMCA children’s Summer Day Camp program. Over 200 folks packed the art-filled space of the former Hipwell Flashlight Factory, graciously hosted again this year by owners Elaine Stone and Mitchell Schwartz.
Music, magnanimously mastered by DJ Dan Adam, delightfully accented the Friday evening opening party. Generous funds provided by Joe and Linda Iannotta, Holly Van Dine, and the AWCC, along with delicious food donated by the Allegheny Sandwich Shop – as well as neighbors and friends – helped make it a true community event.
Much gratitude goes to F. L. Haus Co. for donating the printing of the posters designed by the talented duo, Greg Coll and Doris Short. Many thanks to all who gave their time and expertise including Sara Beck Sweeney, Holly Pultz, Chris Siewers, Jonathan Steinhauser, Nicki Perfetti, Ritsu Shimizu, Barb Magee, Doug Schreck, Glenn Olcerst, Eleanor Coleman, Hillary Moser, and Ann Gilligan.
Allegheny West Neighbors of the Year: Doris Short & Greg Coll
Allegheny West Civic Council proudly announces our 2018 Neighbors of the Year, Doris Short and Greg Coll.
Doris and Greg started volunteering for neighborhood events even before living in Allegheny West. In 2012 they met some future neighbors who invited them to one of the Allegheny West house tours. Before long, they were designing the tour booklets, serving as tour guides and roasting corn at the annual picnic!
After taking the Allegheny West Christmas House Tour the couple decided they wanted to live in the neighborhood. They say that they were very impressed with the homes on the tour as well as the historical knowledge of the homeowners and tour guide. They patiently waited for the right house to become available and, in 2015, moved into their home on W North Avenue. The first year after moving in, their home was on the Christmas Tour.
Doris teaches Graphic Design and Greg owns his own Creative Design business, Greg Coll Design. They are now the go-to team for most Allegheny West publications, including tour programs, tour guides, logos, posters and postcards. They also generously work to provide photography and solicit advertisers for the tour programs.
Greg and Doris are very interested in history in general and Pittsburgh history in particular. Doris’ artwork, which pays tribute to Allegheny West Notable Women – Gertrude Stein, Mary Roberts Rinehart and Mary Cassatt, was accepted to the 2017 Three Rivers Arts Festival’s Juried Visual Art Exhibition.
Greg created Christmas ornaments featuring significant historical Pittsburgh residents for their Christmas tree (a big hit with tour-goers!)
In fast order Doris and Greg have become an integral part of Allegheny West, donating their time, talent and generous spirit to positively impact the neighborhood. They will be honored at the Northside Leadership Council’s annual dinner on June 14, at the Priory Grand Hall. For more information on how to obtain tickets to this event, visit the NSLC’s website: http://www.pittsburghnorthside.com/.
Alleys, Axles and Ales
The next meeting of the Alleys, Axles, and Ales tour will be Monday, June 11th at 844 N Lincoln Avenue at 7:00 pm. If you would like to volunteer, you are able to sign up at http://goo.gl/gVBCBg or email Cecile Canales at ccanales2@comcast.net. Volunteers are needed to direct traffic, to help at the Cars ’n Coffee table, to deliver and pick up kegs and ice, to make chili and cornbread for the after party and to set up and clean up at the after party. Please speak with garage/car owner before signing up to volunteer at a garage/beer stop. The tour is scheduled to be held September 29th from 11:00 am – 5:00 pm. Cars’ coffee will be from 9:00 am to 11:00 am.
Alleys, Axles & Ales Meeting Agenda: June 11th
- Ticket Sales
- Garages and Cars
- Cars ’n Coffee
- Breweries
- Promotions and Advertising
- Volunteers
- After Party
A meeting of the Beer Selection Committee for the Alleys, Axles, and Ales tour will be held Monday, June 18th at 844 N Lincoln Avenue at 7:00 pm.
Beer Selection Committee Meeting Agenda: June 18th
- Garages and Beer stops
- Selection of Beers and Breweries
- Program Write-ups
- Volunteers
Wine Tour Clean Up Reminder
Tour-goers will be walking through our neighborhood the weekend of June 22nd – 23rd, traveling along Brighton Road, N Lincoln Avenue, Galveston Avenue, North Avenue, Beech and Allegheny Avenues, as well as Rope Way.
Please begin now to pull weeds in front of your property and to fill a bag or two with trash, old leaves and other “street” debris along the tour route so that we can put our best face forward. Should you need trash bags or gloves, please contact Trish Burton, (412) 523-9402 or tdburton3@gmail.com.
Also, if you intend to plant flower boxes or urns in front of your property, please consider doing so before the tour so that our guests have a lovely walk between host houses. Thanks in advance for helping to beautify Allegheny West!
Thanks to Babb Employees!
Once again, a group of Babb employees devoted their “Day of Caring” to Allegheny West, helping Diane Caruso, Cathy Serventi and Trish Burton at the Parklet at Brighton Road and Western Avenue, pulling (many!) weeds, mulching and transplanting perennials, planting all of those zinnias, begonias and sweet potato vines. Several also helped to weed and mulch tree wells in the 800 block of Western Avenue, in addition to picking up litter. Thanks, too, to Carole Malakoff and Eleanor Coleman for donating annuals and perennials to the Parklet.
We could not have accomplished what we did without you. Thank you!
Bangladesh in Art and Words
Displacement & Belonging:
Ali Asgar and Tuhin Das
Thursday, June 28th
8:00 pm
Join Bangladeshi transdisciplinary artist and cultural producer Ali Asgar, and City of Asylum exiled writer-in-residence Tuhin Das as they discuss their experiences leaving Bangladesh, living in the US as displaced artists, and how displacement has affected their creative work.
Ali will present their current project No One Home, a work constructed around the concept of human interactivity, displacement, trauma, and queer identity. The key intention of this interactive performance piece is to find the meaning of home and belonging.
Tuhin will read an excerpt from his forthcoming poetry manuscript. The discussion will be followed by an audience Q&A. The event will be presented in Bengali, with simultaneous interpretation into English.
The event is presented in collaboration with PEN America and the Artists at Risk Connection (ARC).
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Barbara deCoux Luderowski, 1930 – 2018
It is with profound sadness that the Mattress Factory museum announces the passing of our founder and creative spirit, Barbara Luderowski. Our Mattress Factory family remains committed to her vibrant experiment that is the Mattress Factory with her artistic vision in our hearts and her tenacity in our souls.
We invite you to share your thoughts here.
PHLF: Upcoming Walking Tours & Events
Participate in Our Free Friday Downtown Walking Tours and Neighborhood Tours
Hearing the history and the stories of the people who shaped the Schenley Farms neighborhood while walking around and looking at the buildings and houses was a great way to learn. It was interesting to see up close the architectural diversity and unity among the various houses in this planned community.
“I’m somewhat familiar with Oakland, but I learned a lot.” – Roberta Shope
- Grant Street (from Sixth to Fourth avenues): Fridays in May, 10:00 to 11:00 am
- Grant Street (from Sixth to Liberty avenues): Fridays in May, Noon to 1:00 pm
- Point Breeze: Saturday, June 2nd, 1:30 to 3:00 pm
- And the Jail Museum every Monday (except on court holidays): visit between 11:30 am and 1:00 pm
See the beauty and discover the stories of significant places in the Pittsburgh Region. Check out the many tours we have listed on our Calendar of Events and contact Mary Lu Denny (412) 471-5808 x 527 to make reservations.
You May Also Be Interested In…
Click here for our schedule of Neighborhood Walking Tours – new this year, thanks to our docents!
Click here for our schedule of Free Friday Downtown Walking Tours – back by popular demand and thanks to our docents and VisitPITTSBURGH.
Click here to read about Special Tours, including “Downtown’s Best” on Thursday mornings (June through August) and our “Greatest Saves” Bus Tour on September 30th, in celebration of our 54th birthday!
Prepared PGH Update
We are so excited that there was such a strong response to the Office of Sustainability & Resilience’s new initiative, Prepared PGH, which offers five free courses to connect neighborhoods to resilience and preparedness resources to better face climate-related risks and ongoing stresses.
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Due to high demand in each part of the city, we have partnered with the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh branches to open the classes up to multiple community and neighborhood groups and residents by offering the classes regionally. Please see page 2 of the attached flier for scheduled classes near you. Please pass this information along to your neighbors and group members.
If you have questions, please contact Mike Roth at michael.roth@pittsburghpa.gov .