Category Archive: Tours & Events
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Levi’s Campaign Centers on Braddock
Thursday, July 01, 2010By Deborah M. Todd, Pittsburgh Post-GazetteFinding the right images to represent Levi’s 2010 “Go Forth: Ready for Work” campaign would take far more effort than the usual calls to location scouts and modeling agencies.
With blue-collar manufacturing and construction jobs in steady decline, the company wanted to highlight people and places fighting the effects of the recession while preparing for industrial renewal.
So when Levi’s executives decided to try on Braddock for the job last year, it ended up being a perfect fit for both sides.
“This isn’t any kind of traditional marketing campaign. It’s a partnership between Levi’s and Braddock that is 100 percent for the betterment of the community,” Mayor John Fetterman said.
Doug Sweeny, Levi’s vice president of brand marketing, said the company’s advertising agency, Wieden+Kennedy, introduced the town through national news stories in which Mr. Fetterman highlighted the community’s struggles and recent accomplishments.
Once a thriving community of about 30,000, Braddock saw its population fall to fewer than 3,000 following the collapse of the steel industry and the area’s surrounding business district. The area’s largest employer, UPMC Braddock, closed Jan. 31.
When the company found that the town’s revitalization efforts include sustainable development, urban farming, public arts projects and an emphasis on youth outreach programs, executives saw no need to look farther than the Mon Valley for its campaign’s feature town.
“We were just captivated by the idea of a partnership with this town,” Mr. Sweeny said. “If we could help put this town back to work in any small way by forming a partnership, that would be great.”
The multimedia campaign will feature Braddock citizens donning Levi’s Work Wear collection for fall while taking part in a range of everyday activities. Mayor Fetterman is one of the models.
One digital ad shows Braddock Farm director Marshall Hart in a denim Work Wear vest balancing a shovel behind his back on raised shoulders.
A print ad, which shows 6-year-old Jarral People adjusting the button-down shirt of his father, Anthony Price, has made its national debut in a New York Times article about the campaign last Thursday.
The ads will be launched nationally in cinemas and in print on Friday. Television ads will run in the fall.
“[This] is the best time of me and my son’s lives. It can’t get any better,” said Mr. Price, 23, of Washington Street.
An AmeriCorps KEYS Service Corps participant, Mr. Price said he was in the job-search process when Mr. Fetterman stopped him to take test shots during a November casting call. Today, he says the opportunity has opened doors he never imagined.
“This isn’t even about me, it’s about my children and other children in the community,” Mr. Price said. “We’re showing them there’s more out there than what [they] see and what other people tell [them] is out there.”
Deanne Dupree, 23, a former UPMC Braddock housekeeper, said Mr. Fetterman had helped her find jobs before, but nothing like the ad campaign featuring towering billboards with her image. And with a professional portfolio under her belt, she’s hoping to spin the experience into a new career.
“A lot of people told me I should [go into modeling], but I told them I would need a contact and some money first. I never looked into it until this came along, but now I’m so excited about it.”
All participants received compensation for the ads, but the largest payout was reserved for the biggest participant – the town itself.
Levi’s has committed to dedicating more than $1 million toward renovating the Community Center on Library Street and Braddock Carnegie Library and to purchase an additional acre for Braddock Farm.
In addition, every Levi’s retailer in the country will keep posters and postcards detailing Braddock’s story, listing its businesses and mentioning ways to support the community.
“This is going to bring Braddock back,” Mr. Price said. “A lot of people don’t have faith, but I think this can bring their faith back.”
While some may lack faith, Mr. Sweeny said the town’s perseverance was the quality that ultimately drew the company in, and could keep it around for years.
“Levi’s is a brand you put on when you want to get stuff done, to make things happen, and that’s clearly what was going on whenever we got there,” he said.
Ms. Dupree believes it’s about time someone outside the community noticed.
“A lot of people don’t like doing housekeeping, but for me it wasn’t a problem because I just do what I have to do,” she said.
“That’s why I like this theme of hard workers because me and my friends in this community work so hard to take care of our families.”
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A Day in Bedford County is a Reviving Trip Back in Time
By Rege Behe, PITTSBURGH TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Monday, June 21, 2010Bedford, a little more than 120 miles east of Pittsburgh, might be best known for being the stop on the Pennsylvania turnpike before Breezewood. But this charming town, settled in the early 1750s, is awash in history and nostalgia. First known as Raystown, the town took its current name from the British fort established there in 1759. It became a key site in the Whiskey Rebellion, with President George Washington arriving there in 1794 with 13,000 troops in tow.
Today, it’s a cozy small town that looks and feels like a Norman Rockwell painting. The shopkeepers are friendly, the town is clean and manageable, and there’s even ample free parking for visitors.
10 a.m.
Old Bedford Village successfully re-creates the feel of an 18th-century village, with about 50 buildings on the grounds reassembled from sites in Bedford County. There’s everything a family from that period would need — a doctor’s office, carriage house, general store, schools and a church — along with period-specific crafts such as a whitesmith (a tin maker) and a basket shop. Re-enactors often are present, notably the blacksmith and coopersmith. Feather’s Bakery serves great cookies and other snacks, and, on certain days, the Pendergrass Tavern (modeled on the pub that sat outside the walls of Fort Bedford in the 1750s) serves simple repasts from days of yore. Make sure you say hi to Jack, the white cat with brown, black and gray markings, who roams the grounds as the unofficial mascot.
Upcoming events include Gunfiight at the OK Corral on Saturday and Sunday, and an 1820s Weekend on July 17 and 18.
Old Bedford Village, 220 Sawblade Road, Bedford. Hours: 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily through Labor Day; closed Wednesdays. After Labor Day, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Thursdays to Sundays. Admission: $10 adults, $5 students, under 6, free. Details: 800-238-4347 or here.
Noon
Head south to Bedford, just a few minutes away. The downtown area has the feel of mid-20th century America, with small shops and restaurants lining the streets.
For lunch, stop at the Green Harvest Company, which features a variety of teas, coffees, pastries and breakfast and lunch entrees. The decor is simple but comfortable, and many of the menu items are fit for the health-conscious. Notable was a tropical shrimp wrap ($6.65), which featured chilled shrimp, greens, pineapple, coconut, onions and green peppers.
For bargain hunters and antique collectors, Founder’s Crossing is a must. Located in a building that once was home to a G.C. Murphy’s store, the co-op of 145 dealers features three floors of crafts and collectibles, from old photos to housewares and jewelry to knickknacks. Plan on spending at least an hour here browsing through the many items. There’s also a small cafe, The Eatery, on site.
Details: The Green Harvest Company, 110 E. Pitt St.. Hours: 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. Mondays to Saturdays. Details: 814-623-3465 or here.
Founders Crossing, 100 S. Juliana St. Hours: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Mondays to Saturdays; noon to 3 p.m. Sundays. Details: 814-623-9120.
2 p.m.
Stop at the Bedford County Convention Bureau for a walking tour. From a Civil War monument to Fort Bedford to the Espy House, where George Washington commandeered troops to quell the Whiskey Rebellion, it seems there’s a remnant of history on almost every street corner. A self-guided walking tour of downtown Bedford takes about 30 minutes. Every Friday through the end of October, free guided tours are offered at 3:30 p.m. starting at the convention bureau, and lasting about 90 minutes.
There are 14 covered bridges in Bedford County, ranging from Turner’s Bridge, which sits off a gravel road near Mann’s Choice, to Snook’s Bridge just north of Spring Meadow. Ten of the bridges still are drivable (four are privately owned, but accessible for photos). A complete tour takes up to three hours, but shorter tours can be mapped that last half that time. It’s possible to visit just one or two bridges. Maps and other information are available at the Bedford County Convention Bureau.
Details: Bedford County Convention Bureau, 131 S. Juliana St. Details: 800-765-3331 or here.
6 p.m.
No visit to Bedford County is complete without a stop at the refurbished Omni Bedford Springs Resort & Spa. Since it opened in 1806 as the Bedford Springs Resort, the property has hosted presidents, diplomats and celebrities, many of whom came to be nourished by the renowned restorative powers of the nearby springs.
The venue has been refurbished and re-opened in 2007 after years of decline. There are tempting dining options, notably in the elegant Crystal Room or the cozy Frontier Room, and live entertainment is offered on weekends. The setting, no matter what you’re there for, is simply breathtaking.
Details: Omni Bedford Springs Resort, 2138 Business Route 220. Details: 814-623-8100 or here.
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Sewickley Tour Offers Glimpse at Early 1900s Garden
By Joanne Braun
SEWICKLEY HERALD
Thursday, June 17, 2010When Janice and Ronald West moved into their Sewickley Heights home 15 years ago, remnants of the past scattered the property.
One such remnant is an old cherub statue perched in the middle of The Gardens of Poplar Hill on the Country Club Road property. It will be included in the Sewickley Civic Garden Council’s garden tour Friday.
Sewickley Civic Garden Council's garden tour on Friday includes five private gardens within a few blocks of the Edgeworth Club, and a sixth, The Gardens of Poplar Hill in Sewickley Heights, adjacent to Allegheny Country Club. Carolyn Smith, garden tour event coordinator, checks out a few specimens at the Poplar Hill gardens. Joanne Braun | Sewickley Herald
The cherub, which sits in the lower garden, is surrounded by plants, shrubs, brick walls, black iron gates and a roofed summer house, all dating back to the early 1900s. The garden is being cataloged as a historic garden for the Smithsonian Institution in Washington. Village Garden Club’s Garden History and Design committee provided research and documentation — the first time the club, which is a member of the Garden Club of America, has attempted such an undertaking.
Committee members Cathy Snyder, Cordelia Jacobs, Alisa Lenhardt and Lisa Burrows will send their work to the club’s Garden Club of America’s zone coordinator in Philadelphia. Once the research and photos are approved, it will be sent to the Smithsonian for inclusion in the Archives of American Gardens.
Kelly Crawford, museum specialist at the Smithsonian, said the Archives of American Gardens collection captures more than 6,500 American gardens in 80,000 images, historic records, illustrations and plans.
“Some of these records fix a moment in the life of an existing garden, and others describe gardens that are no longer in existence,” she said.
Snyder said Arthur Shurcliff, a member of an architectural firm that became famous for its garden designs, designed the original landscaping at Poplar Hill in 1914.
The property once featured a 35-room carriage house, which later was torn down by a new owner. The property housed numerous families over the years who added structures, sold off some of the land and subdivided it.
In 1948, The Gardens of Poplar Hill were chosen as featured gardens at the Garden Club of America annual meeting. It was part of a tour sponsored by Pittsburgh History and Landmarks Foundation in 1997.
When the Wests moved in, they refurbished much of the deteriorating brickwork, rehung the iron gates, reconstructed and refurbished the limestone windows within the brickwork, and replaced the roof and copper gutters on the summer house.
At that time, most of the flower beds were empty. Poplar trees, for which the property was named, once grew outside the brick walls but were lost to disease in the 1960s.
“There were very little perennials left. We had to start over with the plantings,” Janice West said.
However, large specimen trees, bushes and hedges still flourished throughout the property, and peonies and Japanese iris remained in the lower garden.
As visitors enter the lower garden, they can walk on pathways of blue slate and pea gravel that wind around the inside courtyard. Niches with two Japanese statues, with shallow pools in front of each, face one another across the courtyard.
Also featured are blue spruce and juniper surrounding the side of the house. Dark green boxwood blends with the softer pastel hues of Russian sage and astilbe. Not far away are colored foxgloves and coneflowers mixing with japonica and peonies. Blue geraniums and Japanese grass also make a home in the garden.
“I try to repeat some of the same plants in different spots,” West said.
The couple purchased and placed stone urns to replicate those in photographs from the 1930s atop two brick pillars closer to the house.
Nearby are more large shrubs, which were not there in the original landscape.
“There used to be lillies and flowers along the way. This was just a walkway to the house. I thought about taking the bushes out, but they are so mature,” West said.
As visitors continue to the back of the house, they will get a view of the Allegheny Country Club’s fairways and clubhouse.
That side of the house features an added greenhouse and a large birdbath along with a horseshoe hedge of yews believed to be part of the original landscape. The Wests added more mature yews to the hedges to complete the horseshoe shape, which now surrounds the original English wellhead and two large swamp cypresses. Janice West planted a vegetable garden on the eastern side of the house in the rear, near to where other such gardens originally grew. Plants are held up by trellises of different colors.
In a document prepared for the Smithsonian, committee members wrote, “Without question, Poplar Hill remains a significant treasure in garden design. The fact that it is in the hands of genuine enthusiasts who understand and appreciate the importance of documenting its evolution, preserving its integrity and sharing its beauty with others bodes well for the future.”
If you go
What: Sewickley Civic Garden Council’s garden tour, including five private gardens within a few blocks of the Edgeworth Club. The sixth, The Gardens of Poplar Hill in Sewickley Heights, is adjacent to Allegheny Country Club.
When: 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Friday. Jan Godshalk, award-winning floral designer, will present a floral arranging demonstration at a luncheon at the Edgeworth Club from noon to 1:30 p.m.
Cost: $20, or $35 for the demonstration. Lunch not included. A combination ticket for the tour and lecture is $50. Tickets are available in Sewickley at Cuttings, Walnut Street; The Gift Corner, Broad Street; and Penguin Book Store, Spoiled Chics and Cheers, Beaver Street.
For more information: Visit www.sewickleygardens.org.
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Easement Conference and Members Tour Set for Harmony, PA August 28th
May 13, 2010
PHLF NewsLandmarks is inviting historic preservation organizations working within western Pennsylvania to Harmony, PA on Saturday, August 28th at 3:00 p.m. for a program on how Landmarks’ preservation easements program can protect historic and architecturally significant buildings in communities throughout western Pennsylvania.
The one-hour program will take place in Harmony’s Great Hall at the conclusion of a Landmarks-sponsored tour of the historic community. Harmony was the first home of the communal Harmony Society of German Lutheran Separatists, which founded Harmony in 1804 and organized formally as a Christian communal society in early 1805. In 1974, Harmony was designated as western Pennsylvania’s first National Historic Landmark district. Last year, the preservation group, Historic Harmony Inc., donated preservation easements to Landmarks on eight historic properties.
The cost of the tour is $48 for members, $65 for non-members and includes bus transportation to and from Harmony, lunch, tours, and special access opportunities. The bus departs from Station Square at 11 a.m. and returns at 5 p.m. There is no charge to attend the easement program.
More information on the tour and program can be obtained by contacting Jack Miller at jack@phlf.org or 412-471-5808, ext. 538.
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Free Walking Tour on May 29 Includes Bell-Tower Climb and Art Deco Landmark
PHLF News
May 13, 2010Climb up into the bell tower of Southminster Presbyterian Church, a Historic Religious Property grant recipient in 2007, and tour the Art Deco Municipal Building in Mt. Lebanon on our first CAR FREE walking tour offered in conjunction with Car Free Fridays (but our tour is Saturday!) and BikePGH:
- Saturday, May 29, 3:00 to 4:30 p.m.
- Meet at the Clock on Washington Road at the stair entrance to the “T,” across from Aladdin’s Eatery (630 Washington Road). Ride the T, ride your bike, or take the bus to Mt. Lebanon!
- RSVP: marylu@phlf.org or 412-471-5808, ext. 527.
- The free tour is limited to the first 25 people who RSVP by May 27.
Tour highlights: Karen Cahall, Louise Sturgess, and LuAnn Abelson of PHLF––all Mt. Lebanon residents and members of The Historical Society of Mount Lebanon––will share information about significant events and current developments along Washington Road. We’ll go inside Southminster Church to see the beautiful stained glass windows and climb up the bell tower to see the change-ringing bells; we’ll tour the recently-renovated Municipal Building of 1929; and visit several main street businesses. Mt. Lebanon was incorporated as a township in 1912, but the history of the South Hills community stretches back to the 1770s.
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May Tours and Special Events Feature a Pittsburgh “Palazzo,” Downtown’s Best, and a Mt. Lebanon Main Street
PHLF News
April 22, 2010Join us in May for the following special events. For reservations contact Mary Lu Denny: marylu@phlf.org or 412-471-5808, ext. 527.
“The Twentieth Century Club: Inside a Pittsburgh Palazzo”Date: Wednesday, May 12, 2010
Where: Twentieth Century Club, 4201 Bigelow Boulevard, Oakland
Times:
5:30 p.m. cash bar
6:00 p.m. Lecture and Tour
7:00 p.m. Dinner
Fee: $45.00 members; $55 non-members
RSVP by Wednesday, May 5, 2010: marylu@phlf.org
(Twentieth Century Club members may call the club to make reservations.)Join us for a special lecture, tour, and dinner at the Twentieth Century Club in Oakland. Architect and Landmarks’ Trustee David J. Vater will tell the story of master eclectic architect Benno Janssen and discuss the myths symbolized in the stone carving and murals during his illustrated talk, “The Twentieth Century Club: Inside a Pittsburgh Palazzo.”
Participants will tour the 1910 building concealed inside the 1930 addition and see one of the city’s finest remaining Art Deco ballrooms.
Dinner will be served in the Georgian Revival dining room; entree choices are orange roughy with lemon sauce, petite filet of beef steak with Marsala mushroom sauce, or a signature (vegetarian) pasta dish from the chef.
This event follows in the tradition of PHLF’s tours of private clubs: we have held similar, well-attended events at Longue Vue Club (Janssen & Cocken, 1924-25), Oakmont Country Club, Fox Chapel Golf Club, and Edgewood Club.
Downtown Pittsburgh Grant Street Walking TourDates: Every Friday in May––7, 14, 21, 28
Where: Meet on Grant Street near Sixth Avenue, at the Omni William Penn Hotel entrance
Time: Noon to 1:00 p.m.
Fee: FREE (contributions welcome)
RSVP: Reservations are appreciated the day before the tour: marylu@phlf.orgThe Grant Street walk has it all: in a fast-paced tour you’ll see some of Pittsburgh’s most significant architectural landmarks, green spaces, and skyscrapers, and you’ll hear about a military defeat and triumph and the lowering of Grant’s Hill. The same tour is offered every Friday in May. Join us and get to know downtown better.
Mt. Lebanon: First in a Series of Saturday “Car Free” Walking ToursDate: Saturday, May 29
Where: Meet at the clock on Washington Road in Mt. Lebanon (at the stair entrance to the “T”)
Time: 3:00 to 4:30 p.m.
Fee: FREE (contributions welcome)
RSVP: Reservations are required by May 26: marylu@phlf.orgKaren Cahall, PHLF’s education coordinator and Mt. Lebanon resident, and Eric Milliron, Mt. Lebanon commercial districts manager, will share information about significant historical events and current developments along Washington Road.
You’ll be able to tour the Art Deco Municipal Building and Public Safety Building and peek into lots of main street businesses. This SATURDAY walking tour is offered in cooperation with Car Free Fridays and BikePGH! Ride the bus or take the “T” to Mt. Lebanon and enjoy the walk.
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Discover the scope of Western Pennsylvania history while walking
By Deborah Deasy
PITTSBURGH TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Friday, March 19, 2010Nothing beats sightseeing on foot when it comes to discovering Downtown Pittsburgh.
“It’s hard to look up and see the full height of a building when you are in a car or bus — and, so
often, distinguishing elements of a building are at the top,” says Louise Sturgess, executive
director of Pittsburgh History and Landmarks Foundation.
“We have a very intact city with a streetscape that dates to 1784, and it’s on a little triangular
piece of land that’s very walk-able,” Sturgess says.
To showcase the area’s crazy quilt of historic structures, Pittsburgh History and Landmarks
Foundation invites people to sign up for a smorgasbord of upcoming weekly and monthly tours –
– most free — and special events.
Offerings range from a dinner tour of the Twentieth Century Club in Oakland to a walking tour
of Wilkinsburg.
“We want to get people out of their chairs and outside,” Sturgess says.
The Wilkinsburg tour, for example, will showcase the efforts to revitalize and preserve historic
buildings in the borough.
“We are doing major work in Wilkinsburg,” Sturgess says.Other upcoming events include an invitation-only dinner tour of Oakmont Country Club, and an
evening reception at the Negley-Gwinner House in Shadyside, built in 1870 for Civil War
veteran and attorney William B. Negley.
People may attend either or both events by joining the Landmarks Heritage Society with a
$1,000 donation to the Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation.
Plenty of free tours, however, are available, including guided walking tours of Downtown from
noon to 1 p.m. every Friday, from May through September.
“We feel it’s an important part of our mission to offer free walking tours,” says Sturgess, who
plans to lead a couple of the new “Segway Golden Triangle Tours,” set for 10 to 11 a.m.
Saturdays in June and July. “The idea is (that) Segway will provide the equipment, but we will
train and provide the tour guides.”
Foundation tours generally attract diverse participants of all ages, including college students and
professionals on lunch hours. In 2009, more than 12,000 people participated in the foundation’s
tours and educational programs.
“On our walking tours, our goal is to have 10 people for one tour guide,” Sturgess says.
“The value of having a real tour guide — as opposed to a cell phone, or virtual reality game — is
that the tour guide does engage the group of people in conversation,” Sturgess says. “We’re
always asking people in our tour groups to share what they know, and to add to the
conversation.”
The tour schedule opens this weekend with two sold-out tours of the City-County Building,
Allegheny County Courthouse and former jail. Sturgess hopes to offer the same tour again in
upcoming months to accommodate the overflow of those interested in it.
SOME UPCOMING WALKING EVENTS
(also available online at www.phlf.org)
Twentieth Century Club Lecture, Tour and Dinner: 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. May 12; 4201 Bigelow Blvd., Oakland. Admission: $35 for members and students; $50 non-members
Segway Golden Triangle Tours: 10 to 11 a.m. June 5, 12, 19, 26, and July 3, 10, 17, 24, 31.
Meet at Freight House Shops (near Smithfield Street Bridge entrance), Station Square
Admission: $55 per person (You must be 18 years or older).
Bus Tour to Historic Harmony, Butler County: 10:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Aug. 28. Meet at Freight House Shops entrance, opposite the parking garage, Station Square. Admission to be
announced.
Wilkinsburg Walking Tour: 2:30 to 4:30 p.m. Sept. 11. Meet at Jean’s Southern Cuisine, 730 Penn Ave. Admission: Free to members; $20 non-members.Market and Fifth Downtown Walking Tour: 2 to 4:30 p.m. Sept. 25. Meet at PNC’s Triangle
Park, Fifth Avenue and Liberty Avenue, Downtown. Admission: $10 members; $20 nonmembers.
Who Wants to Go? Wheeling, W.V. in October: If enough people are interested, PHLF will
plan a full-day bus trip to Wheeling, including tours of several private homes.
For questions and reservations about all the events, except the Segway tours, contact Mary Lu
Denny at 412-471-5808, ext. 527, or marylu@phlf.org. For the Segway reservations, e-mail
leo@mediainmotionpa.com or call 724-972-4316FREE WALKING TOURS
Grant Street & More: noon to 1 p.m. May 7, 14, 21, 28. Meeting at Grant Street and Sixth
Avenue, Omni William Penn Hotel entrance.
Market Square Area: noon to 1 p.m. June 4, 11, 18, 25. Meet at PNC’s Triangle Park at
Liberty Avenue and Fifth Avenue.
Penn-Liberty Cultural District: noon to 1 p.m. July 2, 9, 16, 23, 30. Meet at Katz Plaza, Penn
Avenue and Seventh Street.
Fourth Avenue & PPG Place: noon to 1 p.m. Aug. 6, 13, 20 and 27. Meet at Fourth Avenue
and Smithfield Street.
Bridges & River Shores: noon to 1 p.m. Sept. 3, 10, 17, 24. Meet at 107 Sixth St., in front of
the Renaissance Pittsburgh Hotel.
Oakland Civic Center: noon to 1 p.m. Oct. 1, 8, 15, 22, 29. Meet by dinosaur at Forbes
Avenue and Schenley Drive Extension.
Reservations need to be made at least one day before each event. Contact Mary Lu Denny,
412-471-5808, ext. 527, or marylu@phlf.org.
Deborah Deasy can be reached at ddeasy@tribweb.com or 412-320-7989. -
Building Pride / Building Character Teacher Workshop
Thanks to a grant from The Fine Foundation, PHLF offered a 3-credit summer workshop for teachers designed to give them the knowledge and resources they need to adapt a curriculum unit to their school or community in a way that builds student pride, achievement, and character.
