“Pittsburgh just felt like home,” said Danielle Pastin, opera soprano. Ms. Pastin has lived a nomadic life and performed all across the country including at the famed Metropolitan Opera, but she developed an affinity for Pittsburgh. “My father was a Navy band leader, and we moved around probably every two years. But my parents were born here, and my grandparents lived in McKees Rocks. We
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Buying art is the same thing as falling in love. ~Nohra Haime Thank goodness, Pittsburgh-born philanthropist Paul Mellon (1907-1999) and his wife, Rachel (Bunny) (1910-2014), fell in love with art many times, or we wouldn’t be enjoying the masterpieces now on display at The Frick Art Museum. From March 17 through July 8 2018, The Frick is exhibiting Van Gogh, Monet, Degas: The Mellon Collection
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Pittsburgh is an ever-changing city. Many places of historical interest have been replaced with something more modern and arguably better. This was the fate for many of the amusement parks that were once scattered around the Greater Pittsburgh area. Modern day amusement parks got much of their start from trolley parks dating back to the late 1800’s. Trolley parks were created to give streetcar riders
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You may think that Punxsutawney Phil slumbers in his burrow the year round only to rise early once a year on February 2, Groundhog Day, to greet his devotees and hand down his weather wisdom. But Phil is the original party animal. There are so many events and parties leading up to his big day, that we suspect the furry fellow needs to hole-up until
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In his farewell address to Congress on April 19, 1951, legendary soldier General Douglas MacArthur said that, “Old soldiers never die; they just fade away.” No disrespect to the general, but Soldiers & Sailors Memorial Hall in Pittsburgh’s Oakland neighborhood was founded to ensure that our soldiers and sailors and their selfless service never fade from our memories. During the Reconstruction and healing of the
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The City of Pittsburgh website states that there are 712 city steps, but in a 2014 Wall Street Journal article, Guy Costa, chief operations officer for the city, said that number was approximately 675. Bob Regan, who wrote the definitive book, The Steps of Pittsburgh: A Portrait of a City, contended in his book that that there were 712 sets of city staircases composed of
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He sounds like Cheech Marin, raps like Jay Z, and preaches love like Gandhi. Hamza Perez is not your average Muslim. Mr. Perez, the Imam of the Light of the Age Mosque located on Pittsburgh’s North Side, also serves as the Youth Director at the Islamic Center of Pittsburgh, where he runs YA-NE, Youth Alliance for Networking and Empowerment program. If the adage is true
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“I once remarked while giving a tour, that we’ve had visitors from every continent except for Antarctica. Then I saw a hand shoot up in the crowd and a man said, ‘I’ve lived in Antarctica, so you’re going to have to change that,’” said Carole Brueckner, chairperson of St. Anthony Chapel. Located on Troy Hill overlooking the Allegheny River on Pittsburgh’s North Side, St. Anthony
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They say there’s a grain of truth in all humor. If so, then Curt Wooten and Chris Preksta, the creative team behind the beloved Pittsburgh Dad, have harvested enough grains from their humor to make a loaf of Town Talk bread. Pittsburgh Dad is the online sitcom that captures the essence of what Pittsburgh fathers are like. Wooten, who dons aviator glasses and combs his
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It’s been less that a year since I left Mexico. What can I tell you? Actually, quite a lot. I had never, ever thought that I would live permanently somewhere else besides my country. It had crossed my mind but I never conceived the idea of actually saying ‘goodbye’ to my hometown nor end up living in the historical Pennsylvania with the love of my
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