Home to Pittsburgh

I returned to Pittsburgh recently for a visit, having been absent for many, many years. Personal tragedy and the hope of gaining fresh perspective precipitated the decision to make what I first skeptically regarded as a cloyingly sentimental journey. Bracing for the disappointing experience I was sure awaited. Would I remember it correctly? Would it be all I hoped it would be? Can I still drive in snow? I nevertheless made plans…and embarked.

I’d left Pittsburgh right after high school, joining my graduating class in abandoning the beloved but entirely jobless city. We were a disillusioned diaspora headed reluctantly for parts unknown with the promise to return often. Few of us ever did, and I have never done. 

That is, until now.

Landing at Pittsburgh International I point the rental car in the direction of the Fort Pitt tunnels and am surprised at how well I remember the route. Navigating familiar hills, my automobile, as if on automatic pilot, uncannily, instinctively remembers every twist and hairpin turn. Knowledge of the terrain is oddly comforting, particularly to one such as I who has absolutely no sense of direction. Though I often lose my way amidst the maddeningly similar numbered streets of south Florida, I am never lost in Pittsburgh. I drive the iced and treacherously slippery South Hills with confidence, and suddenly feel quite superior to Florida drivers who, at the first sign of rain, brake and straddle the middle lane traveling below the radar of minimum speed. I sneer at their cowardice.

Everything is familiar yet still surprising. On my first excursion to the downtown district, someone, a perfect stranger, opens a door for me and pauses to let me walk through. For a moment I am stunned. Another person smiles and says “Hi.” I am taken back by the courtesy extended, a reaction engendered by many years spent in the mean streets of Elsewhere. 

“Yo’uns want to order now?” The waitress at Bob’s Big Boy stands smiling, pen poised, remaining patient while I fumble with the menu. The colloquialism is music to my ears. So is her accent, for wherever I travel, some sensate radar is always anticipating the hometown sound. I spot it instantly, the unmistakably distinctive broad ‘a’ evident in phrases like “daahn taahn” and “graahnd raahnd.” The speaker is always pleasantly surprised when I question whether they are from “daahn Pixburgh way.” But the distinction is not limited to speech. There is a certain something else, a kindness, an easy affableness, not often found. 

Riding on the incline, I gaze down on the imposing confluence of the Three Rivers, the sight oddly moving me to tears. I rest on a bench at Point State Park of the Golden Triangle watching the parade of pedestrians. I visit Heinz Hall, our graceful Grand Dame of culture, in all her renewed and glittering splendor. I sample crackling bits of spicy kielbasa smothered in tangy mustard nestled in a crunchy roll, in the crisp, breathless chill of the Pittsburgh winter.

I marvel at how different it is here. Every city has a spirit. I have felt it, experienced it in other places. In Pittsburgh, kindness is tangibly felt, present in the mannerly ways and almost old-world courtesy of its inhabitants. The atmosphere bespeaks the influence of gentle progenitors. I walk everywhere, feeling safer in this city than I have ever felt before.

In this rarified atmosphere, remarkably clear recollections of childhood float to the surface…I can recite for the first time in years the melting pot roster of elementary school classmates:  Radolovich, Donelli, Copeland, Tornabene, Kalish, Frassinell, Hess and Mauti. Kids from tightly knit families. Their fathers arriving at the school Open House with gnarled, work-worn hands and pants bagged at the knees, their earnest and humble working class ethic forming the basis, infusing the fabric, of this marvelous city. I visit Bridgeville, place of my childhood, a quintessential slice of Americana, with its gems of churches, rickety bridges and brick streets burnished red orange, glistening in the rain.

I remember…climbing the guns at Fort Pitt. Grocery shopping at Cataneos. The Cat and Mouse ride at White Swan Park…the cry of “Kennywood’s open!” signal that your zipper was down. Katherine Kuhlman at the Syria Mosque. Myron Cope’s recounting of the Pirates “goin’ daaahhn in defeat.” Cy Hungerford’s clever cartoons.  Heinz ketchup and pickle pins.

I recall…Sunday dinner at the Flame restaurant, the entire family filing through the amusing cafeteria line, mouths watering for that first bite of buttery charbroiled steak and side of crispy au-jus-dipped garlic toast. Browsing Pittsburgh’s Italian markets fragrant with the pungent aroma of Parmesan and salami, squid and olives, admiring the brilliantly colored ribbon candy displays and charmingly boxed Torrone almond nougat. 

I re-live…Saturday downtown excursions to Horne’s, Kaufmann’s, and the Jenkin’s Arcade, savoring the delectable vegetable soup at Gimbel’s Tick Tock Shop, gulping their chocolate-covered strawberries with liquid center as a special end-of-shopping-day treat. I envision Dutz’s bakery cakes topped with absolutely scrumptious creamy-white frosting and Steinmetz’s ephemeral crisp horn pastries that collapsed in your mouth with a melting sigh. I have not tasted their equal anywhere else.

They say you can never go home again. I quite disagree. My town does not disappoint. The sights, the sounds, and scents and all the wonderful memories appear to me to be larger than life. The landscape has changed, but nothing substantive has been lost. All that truly matters, remains, in my hometown, My Pittsburgh.

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