Weekly Pointers From Whiskey Point – 16 April 2021

We rarely seem to mention our funding sources in our newsletter, so I thought I’d put a special note up front this time. The EQT Foundation provided the Monongahela Main Street Program with funding to put on many new programs in 2020. Since some of the activities we had proposed to use the money for were not possible in 2020, the foundation has graciously given us more time to carry out the same kinds of activities.

Gyros

We have gyros until about 6PM, Dierkens Pharmacy Parking lot, Main Street at Park Avenue.

Angelo’s

Angelo’s special today is a Battered Fish Sandwich with Coleslaw and Fries or Haluski, Lobster Bisque Soup, and Raspberry Cake or Cannoli for dessert. (724) 292-8375 for takeout.

Marching With The Mutts

The MARC Mutt March (the event formerly known as the Pooch Parade), the 12th occurrence of this annual event, will be tomorrow morning, Saturday, 1 May. Registration and line-up begins at 10AM in the City parking lot on Railroad Street behind Angelo’s Restaurant. The parade will begin at noon. The event couldn’t be held last year due to the pandemic. Come downtown tomorrow, watch the canines on parade, have some lunch, plus some ice cream, candy, or baked goods, and do a little shopping while you’re here.

Special Day For Gardening

Tomorrow is World-Wide Naked Gardening Day. I recommend going to the Mutt March just in case your neighbors have heard about this and might have gotten some weird ideas.

Hills Restaurant

The specials today at Hills Restaurant are Fried Breaded Haddock, Turkey Bacon Swiss Sandwiches on Rye Bread with Fries, Shrimp, or Chicken Alfredo, plus Potato Soup, Clam Chowder, and Chili. The restaurant is open 8AM to 7PM for dine-in or takeout. (724) 258-5422 for takeout, or order online at http://www.hills-restaurant.com.

World Of Chocolate Tour

The Monongahela Main Street Program is sponsoring a downtown promotion with chocolate as its theme on Saturday, May 15th, 10AM-3PM. The “World of Chocolate Tour” will include chocolate specials or gift items at each of about 25 downtown / Main Street area businesses. Most of the stores will offer you a piece of chocolate, or a cookie, or something similar just for coming in.

If you make a purchase at one of the participating stores, you will be given a ticket with a stub to pull off to register for a grand prize. This stub will be to drop off at a central station we will have operating from the sidewalk next to PNC Bank Plaza. There will be some games and other activities of interest at this station. The ticket will also have a second stub for those stores offering an in-store door prize.

Participating stores include: Industrial Farmhouse Living in New Eagle, Candelore’s Barking Beauties, Two And a Fry, Dettore’s Pizza, Rabe’s Trading Post, Little City Coffee, Mon Valley Photo, Lynda’s Salon, Dusty’s Discounts, The Dog Emporium, L.D.’s House of Shaves, Sweets by Mrs. C, Sparkles by Shell, Main Street Gypsy, Just 4 You Gifts, Di’s Home Town Deli, The Bubblery Pittsburgh, Chloe & Me Candles, Noel’s Primitives, Span and Taylor Pharmacy, Italian Village Pizza, Uncommonly Beautiful, Main Street Barber and Supply, and Hog Fathers Old Fashioned Barbecue.

Swickard’s Furniture

While I was writing this, Monongahela antique collector and dealer Dana Dolfi sent me some photos from one of the stalls at an antique mall where he has a space – a piece of furniture, made about 1890, sold by Swickard’s Furniture Store. The name is stamped on the back, along with the name “Monongahela City.” Swickard’s was about where the W.I.C. Office is now, between the liquor store and the H+R Block Office.

3rd Annual Railroad – Street Fair, M.y. Main Street’s Premier Annual Event

Plans are well underway for the third annual street fair put on by the youth unit of the Monongahela Main Street Program, namely the Monongahela Youth Main Street Program, or just “M.y. Main St” for short. Monongahela City Council and the Monongahela Police Department have provided the go-ahead to hold the event on Third Street between West Main Street and Chess Street, where it was held in the last two years.

Shane Pilster, Artist

Shane Pilster, muralist

Many of the popular booths and activities from prior years are scheduled to occur again this year, such as the live painting of a mural on a huge canvas at the Chess Street intersection as a backdrop for the fair, courtesy of Rivers of Steel Arts (RoSA). Shane Pilster, the RoSA muralist is looking into painting a steamboat this year. RoSA will also provide a silk-screening booth. There will be coffee and pizza and gyros again, as well as violin music, guitar solos, crafts booths, games for the little ones, and an appearance by our town founder, Mr. Joseph Parkison.

M.y. Main St had a meeting to start planning the street fair a little over two weeks ago, and then one this past Sunday. The next one will be this coming Sunday, May 2nd, 7PM, at Sweets by Mrs. C, if you’d like to take part in the planning (or contact me by Messenger and I can send you information about how to sign on to the meeting by computer or telephone). The group is mainly for youths between ages 13 and 30, but we have had some younger participants and some that are older. Parents are also welcome to attend, especially with the younger ones.

Beautiful Façade To Reappear

In 1903, Claude Towner’s variety store was growing, so much so that it occupied three buildings, until a disastrous fire swept away the entire complex. Local architect Frank Kellar designed the new building built in 1904 to replace it, known as “Towner’s Mammoth Store,” or “TOWNER’S BIG STORE.” The letters in that latter version can still be seen, if you look really closely, in the faded paint on the topmost band of brick at the top of the façade. The store is better known by the name it acquired in 1924 when the variety store it contained became part of the “McCrory’s” five and ten chain, or by the name “The Finishing Touch,” the store that opened here after McCrory’s closed in the mid-1990s.

Façade, by the way, is a French spelling of an Italian word of some importance in downtown architecture. “Facciata,” the Italian version, translates directly to the English word “faced.” It refers to the special treatment (symmetry, finer surface materials, decorative treatments, etc.) used in the design of the street-facing walls of a downtown building in order to make it clear to the public what kind of building it is and where the public entrance is (or entrances are). A well-designed façade is a building’s face. American Main Streets are lined with row-buildings from different eras and styles, unified by the similar treatment, proportions and rhythms, of the façade from building to building.

The American Main Street facades were largely developed when the American Italianate style was in vogue in the 1850s-1870s, although the principles of façade design were present in earlier buildings and in the eclectic styles that followed up to at least the late 1920s. The American Italianate style came on the heels of a similar movement in England to mimic the designs of Italian Renaissance buildings in new materials. However, our downtown buildings, in Main Street areas in most parts of America, largely owe their façade design characteristics to the Italian palazzi (palaces) constructed along the Grand Canal in Venice, especially the work of Mauro Codussi, an architect who worked primarily in Venice in the late 1400s. Codussi designed the front wall of each of his buildings to be seen from across the canal and to communicate through formal placement of windows, doors, and cornices, which emphasized just one wall and were arranged much like a drawing on a sheet of paper heavily highlighted so the details “punched” outward in lively three dimensionality. The buildings reflected the relative importance of the occupants in the social structure of Venice at the time, and they formed the most memorable rows of building “faces” in what is now one of the most photogenic and memorable tourist cities in the world. They also gave each visitor a sense of where to park and where to enter in one of most important “water-streets” (canals) in any city in the world – in other words, the parking spaces for your boats are evident.

Plate glass at the first story was initially a French or Belgian product that had to be imported, but it was used in American Italianate storefront designs, in combination with the Venetian emphasis on the front wall, to generate a kind of downtown architecture that was uniquely American. When the first story of a commercial building has expanses of glass, it gives the pedestrian or driver a sense of visible merchandise displays behind an invisible wall, almost as if the merchandise (though protected from dirt, weather, and theft) has been placed right out on the sidewalk so you can touch it.

After years of waiting for an appropriate plan to emerge for the Towner Building, FINALLY one is in place, under construction, and completely on schedule for a swift transformation of a building that had begun to look like it was beyond repair. Next week, the faded turquoise paint (which is so faded as to look to some local people as if it were just plain white) will reemerge into its next historical chapter as a deep brick red in an eggshell finish. The wood sash frames and metal ornaments will punch out from that background in a bright white with a semi-gloss finish. The sign will be based on a historic Woolworth’s or McCrory’s sign, with a deep red background and applied letters on a sheet of shop-finished metal. The interior construction work at the building is almost finished, exactly on schedule.

Blossoms

Two weeks ago, I attached a number of photos of redbud trees in bloom with a story of the effort some 33 or so years ago by Sally Kearnan, Tish Cardis, Roy Sarver, Jim Schucolsky, and many others to get more redbud trees planted in the area so we could start planning to have a redbud festival by …about, …well, by about 2021. Many of the redbuds sapling sold in that project were sold to supporters who planted them in their backyards, and, now that they are mature, those trees don’t catch the attention of passersby as much, or draw them into town, as was the original intention of the project. But the redbud tree is native to this area’s steeply sloped hillsides. There are many places, out along country roads that pass through hollows or otherwise along steep hills where spectacular redbuds can be seen this time of year. But we need to do the project again to get even more of them out there!

click image to enlarge

I’m attaching more photos of redbud trees. As I moved around the valley these past two weeks, I passed a lot of areas where the redbud trees create beautiful scenery. The best I’ve found so far is out along Taylor Run at the lake formerly known as Walters Lake (just past Eastman Chemical). The tunnel of redbud trees there is just plain spectacular. No wonder Sally Kearnan took such an interest in this ornamental variety after moving here (her husband was the chemist for what is now Eastman Chemical).

Flowers And The April – May Change Of Guard

It’s the last day of National Poetry Month and also the last week or so for certain kinds of spring flowers, as other flowers come into bloom to replace them. I’ve posted some photos of my forsythia bush and some of my daffodil patch.

The daffodil patch has consistently produced 16-18 flowers each spring. But this year, it produced almost exactly 60!! My patch of daffodils starts blooming just after my neighbor Peggy’s daffodil patch starts to fade, which is interesting because mine gets more sun than hers, which makes me wonder why. By the time my daffodils are in full bloom, the blossoms on my forsythia have withered, as one kind of spring flower transitions into another.

Flowers At Businesses

The Monongahela Main Street Program placed chrysanthemums at the doorways of eight downtown shops this past fall, with funding from the EQT Foundation (many thanks to the EQT Foundation for funding many of out activities over the last 12 months through a grant we received just before the 2020 lockdown began). The MMSP Board of Directors has allocated a generous budget from our EQT funds to place summer flowers in the planters this year, and maybe even add a few planters.

Favorite Flower, For Today

The spring poetry month posts and the flowers I’ve been watching come and go in my yard and elsewhere reminded me of a poem I wrote many years ago, when I was in high school. First some background: My aunt and uncle (my mother’s sister) lived in many exotic places, in southern Mexico, Norway, Yorkshire England, and Holland, as well as New Orleans and Houston. They made many moves because my uncle was an oil industry engineer who helped to develop the technology for offshore drilling. He helped to found a company called ODECO (Ocean Drilling and Exploration) that provided offshore oil-drilling rigs to various oil companies that had not yet decided to invest in their own rigs. Their last stop was Holland, where they lived for three years, until my uncle died in an accident in mid-summer 1976.

Each year, across almost two decades, my aunt and uncle had come home for two weeks to spend time in Monongahela and with family. For the three years that they were in Holland, they scheduled their two-week vacation to occur at Easter time. This meant that they brought home some wonderful Dutch chocolate candies for our Easter baskets as well as Dutch flower bulbs for us to plant in our yard. The one year, they brought an especially diverse mix of daffodil bulbs.

Daffodils were already my favorite flower. There were some in the yard at my house, in the same patch where they are to this day, which were here when my grandparents lived here in the 1960s. I only vaguely remember this, but I think my grandfather drew a comparison between daffodils and “old-fashioned” crank telephones where you spoke into a daffodil-like cup. And so I grew up calling daffodils “old-fashioned telephones.”

The big bag of new bulbs that came to us about 1974 or 1975 included some exotic-looking daffodil types with extra petals coming out of the cup. Some of the varieties produced pink or salmon-colored flowers. Some had bright white outer petals together with deep-colored cups. One variety, for which we got four or five bulbs, was considered the most valuable, as my aunt must have pointed out to me before I planted them. It was called “Acropolis” after the temple hilltop in Athens, Greece. (For those of you who may be reading this who were sports buddies of my brothers Kevin and Rod, yes these were the bulb flowers planted near the basketball hoop that I kept freaking out about as the flowers slowly got decimated over time by the bouncing foul balls.)

Anyway, my poem was about how the different flowers come and go, between April and May, and how the Acropolis daffodil towered over the others in our second patch of daffodils, the one exterminated by the neighborhood globetrotters.

Favorite Flower, for Today

By Terry A. Necciai

(1)
From the ground so eagerly springing
Through the snow sheets, sweetly singing
In the sunlight brightness bringing
Hear the blossoms as they say:
(2)
From my homeland, like a pinwheel,
I resemble so much the windmill
That I can not bear to be still
In the winds from far away.
(3)
Bending down to hide the petals
(Though modesty receives no medals),
Watching soil as it settles,
Shyly now they greet the day.
(4)
Not so shyly greet the season!
Never boasting of the reason,
Simply blooming, simply pleasing,
Waiting as the sky turns gray.
(5)
Acropolis, the regent royal
Doth among his brethren toil,
Eating humbly from the soil;
How ironic this display!
(6)
Tulips lightly boast their flowers;
Forsythia, it's long branch showers;
And azalea, Cringing Cowards!
Hide their blossoms until May.
(7)
But for narcissus I shall labor –
‘Tis the garden that I gave her!
Certainly, I know my favor...
Favorite flower, for today,
Favorite flower, for today.

My Friend Josephine Bucchianeri Rogers

I wanted to post something mentioning my long-time church friend, Josephine Bucchianeri Rogers, who passed away last week. Attending the United Methodist Church over the years, I might have never guessed that Josephine, with her Welsh-English last name, would be an Italian-American, let alone a Tuscan like my own paternal lines. The Bucchianeri family is from a village named Pontito in Pescia, a municipality the western part of the Province of Pistoia, where it meets the Province of Lucca. Pontito is in a rural area, outside the actual town of Pescia, in an area called the Dieci Castelli (ten castles) of a larger area known as Valleriana. Some of the documents about the Bucchianeri family say that they came from Lucca, just over the municipal line from Pescia.

In any event, the Bucchianeri family’s version of Italian would be very similar to that of my family, coming from Montecatini, a resort town and medieval castle few miles east of there. Montecatini is part of the Province of Pistoia, but it is culturally part of the sphere of greater Lucca, Lucca being a large walled city from the medieval era in a level area between all the castles and hilltowns, about midway between Florence and Pisa. About 70 Monongahela surnames come from this area, mostly from the area right around Montecatiniis.

When I came to realize that Josephine was Italian, I was in the process of researching Mon Valley Italian families, especially Tuscans. I wanted to know some folklore-type information. I asked her if she knew any poetry or songs in Italian. Josephine taught me two children’s poems (so we’re back to poetry, as this National Poetry Month closes). The first is a child’s night-time prayer that is very similar in effect to “Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep.”

Vieni, vieni Gesù Bambino
(Come, come, Baby Jesus)
A posare il tuo cappino
(To put your little head)
Sul guanciale del mio letto.
(On the pillow of my bed.)
Vieni, vieni, ti aspetto.
(Come, come, I am waiting for you.)
Vieni, vieni non tardare,
(Come, come, don’t tarry,)
Senza di te non posso stare.
(I can not stand to be without you.)

The second poem that Josephine taught me in Italian is an Italian equivalent of “This Little Piggy Went to Market.” Both of these poems come in many different variations, because they were handed down by oral tradition. This one was especially difficult to find online, but then I found more variations than I really wanted. Here it is, roughly as Josephine taught her family’s version to me. When reciting this poem, you are supposed to cup your left hand (or the hand of a child) and draw circles in it to represent a rabbit running around a town square until you get to the word “questo.” For each questo, you squeeze a different finger beginning with the thumb (when Italians count on their fingers, they begin with the thumb to represent the number one – who knew that counting on your fingers could vary from one language to another??!).

Bella, Bella Piazza
Bella, bella piazza
(Beautiful, beautiful town square)
Ci’ha passato la leporina matta
(The mad little rabbit has passed us)
Questo l’ha visto
(This one saw it)
Questo l’ha mazzato
(this one killed it – literally “clubbed it” to death)
Questo l’ha raccattato
(This one picked it up)
Questo l’ha mangiato
(This one ate it)
Ma per questo, che e’ la picina,
(But for this one, that is the littlest one…)
Non ha dato niente una bricciolina
(They didn’t leave even a little crumb)

Roses By Helen

A new display is being installed today at the Monongahela Main Street Program’s Main Street Fine Arts Gallery, at 221 West Main Street. It is a series of painting of roses painted recently by Helen Putnak Tongshinsub Kish. Many, many thanks to Elizabeth Huffman for “staging” the exhibit to tell a visual story. Stop by to see this work of art and the works of art that make up the individual pieces.

Changes Downtown

Sadly, we note the passage of Amy Brown, an active member of our community until just four years ago. Amy was a great granddaughter of Capt. William, H. Catlin, the leader of the African American troops that formed a unit in our city during the Civil War. Her funeral is tomorrow morning from Frye Funeral Home.

Our sympathy also to the families of Harry Sickels, Jr., and Charlotte Muntan Dickie, both long-time active members of First Presbytrian Church. Harry’s daughter, Amy Sickels Leavor, is a member of the board of directors of the Monongahela Main Street Program. I knew Charlotte mainly through her husband, the late Bill Dickie, who was very active in local history circles about 30 years ago.

Get Well Soon wishes to Dorothea Pierantozzi Passarello who broke her hip recently, while walking along West Main Street, and is now recovering.

And best wishes to Nancy Whitlatch Winters who has moved out of town.
Some communities a half century ago were putting in “people movers” to keep people moving along city sidewalks. The name refers to the device that really only caught on in large airports, – those conveyor belt thingies (designed like a completely horizontal escalator) that get you from one gate to another without having to lift your luggage and run. But here in the Little City, we didn’t need people movers these last few years. Nancy and Dorothy kept those sidewalks moving at a pace and with a level of stamina few of us could have ever duplicated.

New Salon Under Construction!

Candelore’s Barking Beauties has a new location under construction, a new building!, to be completed by May 17th.

Try A Trifecta! – At Italian Villiage Pizza

The 2021 APRIL “Tri-Perfecta!” – Facebook promo for $22!! – SAVE OVER $8 That’s right, IVP is raising the bar with another RIDICULOUS monthly Facebook promotion!

YOU get:

(1) Large 16” pie w/ one topping
(1) Pepsi product 2-Liter
(1) Any whole Hoagie ~13”

Must call 724-292-8170. Not valid with online ordering. Mention “Tri-Perfecta!” when calling. Valid good for pick up or delivery. Expires 4/30/21.

Cheeseburger, Cheeseburger

Have you tried the cheeseburger at Two-and-A-Fry? Have you tried the one at Main Street Tavern? Why not buy one of each, take them home, and compare them?

Photo Shop

Mon Valley Photo will be closing, but will still available during the World of Chocolate Tour and during the Spring Fleatique and online (as is also the case with Bella Bug and one or two others). Perhaps if we all support Rob a little, he’ll come back at some point in the future and open a shop again.

Thank You, Thank You, Thank You

Many thanks to the local boy scouts and the Monongahela Rotary Club for cleaning up along Rt.88. The scouts also cleaned-up at the Aquatorium and along the adjoining river bank areas. On Sunday, May 16th, M&N Heating and Cooling is planning a riverfront clean-up, from early morning to dusk, finishing with a pizza party. State Rep. Bud Cook has also announced a valley-wide clean-up. A coalition of several scout troops from across the valley also got together to plant a tree in Chess Park in honor of Earth Day, 2021.

Scouting For Food

The Scouting For Food display in the storefront window at Main Street Barber and Supply is now nearly filled to the gills. Great community here. Susan Gruber posted this morning that the non-perishable groceries are now low at the “Blessing Box” of food available at First Baptist Church. This is your chance to drop something off there.

Road Construction Underway

People’s Gas has been busy repairing underground gas lines in the area around Angelo’s Restaurant. Watch for temporary patches in this area, to be redone later. Amity Asphalt has been scraping the existing top layer of asphalt off of the streets in the Third Ward to get ready for a repaving project, which is necessary following the recent project to replace all the major water lines in the area. In the 900 block of Marne Avenue, it was good to Huffnagel Excavating cleaning up the street pavers for reinstallation later as the water line excavation was underway in that area. A new City ordinance requires that the bricks be put back by the utility companies (as has been the rule in other communities already, and something Monongahela people have been asking for across more than 30 years).

New Sidewalk At Rocchino Building

A new sidewalk has been installed along West Main Street and Second Street, on the two sides of the Rocchino Apartments Building (historically, the Joseph Moore Building, built in the 1850s as the first three story brick building in our downtown). This is the building that contains Great Wall Chinese Restaurant and Chole & Me Candles. Many thanks to Mr. Rocchino for undertaking this improvement to our downtown. The pavement replaced represented about 160-170 linear feet of concrete sidewalk.

What If?

Saturday Night Live used to have a skit format for “What If” questions. I remember in particular the installment entitled “What If Eleanor Roosevelt Could Fly.” (Interesting stuff there, about how World War II might have turned out differently, etc.). So, here’s a “What If”: What if our community had a shop that just sold chocolate??

The Things That “Come Into Season” Around Here

Strawberry pie is now “in season” and available at Eat’N Park, and I, BTW, have already had some.

The Pizza Den

The big project to get the old NAPA location in the Kelly’s Sinclair Gas Station building ready for occupancy as a Fox’s Pizza Den location is almost finished. It should be able to open any day now. The rumor is that the official opening will be around May 11th.

Giant Eagles Flying Over To Foodland

Some people have expressed frustration with some of the changes in lines of food and merchandise at the former Bartolotta’s Giant Eagle grocery stores now that the three stores left in the Bartolotta’s chain have become corporate stores. It seems that some of the customers will now move their regular shopping patterns to visiting our Foodland Store more often. The more business downtown Monongahela gets, the more it is worthy of getting.

Culinary Thoughts

Pulled Pork (Hog Fathers); Superburger with fresh chips (Eat’n Park), Banana Split (Sweets by Mrs. C); Never underestimate the power of ravioli to make your dinner just right (Angelo’s, Ponce’s); Want potstickers? (Great Wall); How ‘Bout Pho? (Pho Valley); Barbecued pork chops? (Rib Cage today, Marty’s tomorrow, Hog Fathers any day of the week); Lots of Italian choices? (Angelo’s, Lenzi’s, Italian Village, Hills, Detorre’s, Ponce’s, Pizza Station); great cold cuts and other deli items (Di’s Deli, Cox Market); Baked goods? (Sambol’s, Di’s Deli, Sweets by Mrs. C, Honeybees). In short, we have it all!!

Restaurants

Don’t forget to spread your dine-in or takeout business around during this “unprecedented time” in American and worldwide history. Here’s some contact information for some of the restaurants that are open at this time:

• Italian Village Pizza, 169 West Main Street
  (724) 292-8170
• Angelo’s II, 111 Third Street
  (724) 292-8375
• Di’s Home Town Deli, 218 West Main Street
  (724) 292-1001
• Sweets by Mrs. C., Ice Cream and More, 260 West Main Street
  (724) 292-8392
• Little City Coffee, 418 West Main Street
  (724) 258-6285
• Two and a Fry, 1115 West Main Street
  (724) 310-3182
• Hog Fathers Olde-Fashioned Barbecue, 243 East Main Street (Catsburg)
  (724) 310-3757
• Lenzi’s Italian Restaurant, 228 Gee Street (just off East Main going east from the Pigeon Creek Bridge, before the first light)
  (724) 258-9885
• Detorre’s Pizza, 915 West Main Street
  (724) 258-3306
• Eat’N Park, 1250 West Main Street
  (724) 258-4654
• Great Wall Chinese Restaurant, 201 West Main Street
  (724) 258-8358
• Hills Restaurant, 107 Main Street, New Eagle
  (724) 258-5422
• Pizza Station, 187 Chess Street, New Eagle
  (724) 310-3191
• Cox Market, deli counter for take-out, 711 Rt.481
  (724) 258-4900
• Ponce’s Place, 715 Rt.481 (Park Avenue Extension/Pigeon Creek Road)
  (724) 258-6654
• Pho Valley, 1160 Country Club Road
  (724) 310-3948

Clothing

Here’s my latest list of stores in Monongahela that have been selling clothing, especially those that have been marketing various kinds of clothing fashions:

1. Sparkles by Shell
2. Mon Valley Safety Equipment
3. Bella Bug Bootique (an online shop for now, hoping to reopen in a building later)
4. LuLaRoe by Amber Smittle
5. Just 4 You Gifts and Cards
6. Main Street Gypsy
7. Di’s Home Town Deli
8. The Bubblery Pittsburgh (children’s consignment in the back room)
9. Alpha Outfitters Equine Supply
10. Uncommonly Beautiful
11. Octane Martial Arts (martial Arts clothing)
12. Dollar General
13. Family Dollar

New Stores

Here’s a list of the 31 stores that have opened or are in the process of opening in the Monongahela – New Eagle Main Street area in the last 31 months (there are actually a couple more, including two that opened and closed in that period; the last three that I’m counting are in the process of major investments with scheduled opening dates in the next ninety days):

West Main Street, Monongahela

• The Bubblery Pittsburgh – soap shop with handmade soap, hand sanitizer, lip balm, etc., since Sept. 2018, 212 West Main, (724) 258-2598
• Cedarwood Insurance Options – Anthony Bottino III, insurance broker (upstairs from Bottino Financial/Allstate Insurance), since Nov 2018, 442 West Main, (724) 310-3695
• LuLaRoe by Amber Smittle – casual clothing, open by appointment, since Nov 2018, West Main Street at Fourth Street, (724) 678-3913
• Main Street Gypsy – gifts, jewelry, clothing, and furnishings, since May 2019, 219 West Main, (724) 292-8366
• Sweets by Mrs. C, Ice Cream and More – also has baked goods and nostalgic candies, since Aug 2019, 260 West Main, (724) 292-8392
• Alpha Outfitters Equestrian Supply – Western-wear and horseback riding items for the rodeo crowd, since Sept 2019, 168 West Main, (724) 366-0642
• Julie’s Hair Haven – haircare by appointment, since Oct 2019, 202½ Fourth Street, (412) 952-5177
• Octane Martial Arts – martial arts studio, sports/athletic training, and pro-shop selling related clothing, since Oct 2019
• The Potter’s House – event facility, since Oct 2019, 234 West Main, (724) 219-3290
• Bella Bug Bootique – casual clothing and costume jewelry, since Nov 2019, 1001 West Main. (The storefront location has closed for now, but the business is still very active online)
• Di’s Home Town Deli – deli meats, chicken salad, egg salad, lunch specials, etc., since Dec 2019, 218 West Main, (724) 292-1001
• Busta Suds Laundromat – laundromat (behind Two-and-a-Fry Hotdog place), since Dec 2019, c/o Two-and-a-Fry Hotdogs, 1115 West Main, (724) 310-3182
• The Compound Steel City – youth center for training in sports like wrestling, weight lifting, cheerleading, etc., since Jan 2020, 121 Railroad Street, (724) 426-6768
• Sambol’s Bakery – baked goods, cookies, lunch specials, since May 2020, 230 West Main, (724) 250-0100
• Candelore’s Barking Beauties – dog grooming salon, since July 2020, 111 West Main, (724) 292-8360
• Mon Valley Photo – photography, photo restoration, transfer of video cartridges to digital, antique cameras, since July 2020, 416 West Main, (724) 292-8415
• Zhuzh It Up – de-cluttering and interior decorating consulting firm, c/o Elizabeth Elias Huffman, 100 block of West Main, reachable via Facebook
• CPC Chiropractic – Dr. Christa Peifer, Chiropractor, since October 2020, 314 West Main, (412) 953-3103
• Santa’s Secret Shoppe – Christmas decorations, other holiday season items, and plenty of small gifts, since October 2020, 211 Second Street, (724) 554-3514
• Chloe and Me Candles – handcrafted candles and similar items, since November 2020, 205 West Main
• Mon City Supply – landscape construction materials and installation, since December 2020, (724) 810-6037, 1101 Railroad Street (behind Two-and-a-Fry)
• The Dog Emporium/Sit-Up Doggie Treats – gift shop for dogs, locally baked treats and dog biscuits baked by the shop owner at his other facility, since Feb 2020, 310 West Main Street (“downtown”), as of 26 January 2021 (previously was 118 Main Street, New Eagle), (724) 258-7297
• Dusty’s Discounts – household items and gadgets, Kitchen-Aid mixers, umbrella’s, etc., since March 2021, 406 West Main Street (next to Tattoo Savior), contact Dusty Bradshaw Aldous via Facebook / Messenger
• Noel’s Primitives and Gifts – Antiques, primitives, and décor items, 202 West Main Street, (724) 825-9525

East Main Street, Monongahela

• Hog Fathers Olde Fashioned Barbecue – restaurant and bar, since 20 Jan 2020, 243 East Main Street (Catsburg), (724) 310-3757
• Sal’s Quality Auto Care – auto detailing and repairs, since May 2020, 130 East Main Street, (724) 310-2038

Main Street, New Eagle

• Industrial Farmhouse Living – home décor, repurposed found objects, since Jan 2019, 144 Main Street, New Eagle, (724) 565-4447
• Full Circle Glass & Door Service – glass installer, since Aug 2019, 102 Main Street, New Eagle, (724) 998-7437

Upcoming

• Fox’s Pizza Den
• City Mission Thrift Store
• Deadhead Wine Bar

We have a wonderful city!

Terry A. Necciai, RA, Exec.Dir., MMSP

MMSP Board of Directors

Current Board of Directors of the Monongahela Main Street Program:

Tobias Provan, President
Janet Roslund, Vice President
Walter Seal, Treasurer
Dan Tregembo, Secretary
Jimmy Braum
Scott Frederick
Chris Grilli
Ken Kulak
Amy Leavor
Paula Pro
Janet Roslund
Non-Voting: Terry Necciai, Exec.Dir.