When I grew up, it was easy to catch a bus from my neighborhood to downtown Pittsburgh. We had the 51D, 51B (a.k.a. Spencer), 51C (the Carrick) and if you made your way to the bus turnaround on Brownsville Road, you could get to town on the 51A. I would arrive in town, step off the bus on 5th Avenue across from Kaufmann’s and be happy I lived so close to the big city. There were three department stores, three sporting goods stores and various Mom & Pop stores in places such as Jenkins Arcade. One of the sporting goods stores on Liberty Avenue sold irregular Converse shoes. Something was off with the tread or the label and these shoes were sold for $8 per pair (my memory says $8 so we’ll go with it).
When I was in college at Duquesne University, there were many days I was in the city. I grew up in Baldwin. My friend lived in Brentwood. We would take turns driving to the South Side, park near a spot where my grandfather had his pool room, and then bus into town. I thought how great it would be to graduate from college (not an easy task for me as I had to overcome a 1.6 GPA in my first semester at Duquesne), and get a job working in town.
I was a finance student and had acquired a great deal of knowledge about corporate bonds. The plan: I would get a job in investment banking. I would wear sharp suits, go out at lunchtime to meet some girls, go to Froggy’s bar on Friday afternoon after work to meet more girls, and play third base for the company softball team. I would go into the office some Saturdays, put quality work in on a bond underwriting project before going to the gym to lift weights—and maybe meet more girls.
Even with my tough GPA, I kept up a non-textbook reading schedule, mostly books on economics and famous economists. Somehow, I came upon a book by a gentleman name Mortimer Levitt, founder of The Custom Shop Shirtmakers. Levitt’s business, as the name sounds, made custom dress shirts for men. The book he wrote was titled The Executive Look: How to Get It, How to Keep It. The major takeaway from the book was that, when dressing in a suit, use two plains and one pattern. If you’re going with the grey pin-striped suit, your shirt and tie must be solid. Patterned tie—suit and shirt are solid.
However, there was no need for me to worry about two solids and one pattern when I graduated. I graduated into the teeth of the worst recession since the 1930s. I didn’t have an actual job until almost two years after graduating. The brown double-knit polyester suit I had to wear to interviews was getting tougher and tougher to wear.
When I did get a job, I was given the gift of travel, many projects to advance and responsibilities that I grew into. I didn’t have to wear a suit and tie each day but, on the days that I did, I always followed the two plains and one pattern rule.
The job I got was not in town. I did have to go there on occasion and that was enough for me.
Over the years I visited many countries and cities. It wasn’t until I went to Philadelphia, New York, Los Angeles, Boston, etc. that I learned that Pittsburgh is a small big city. It wasn’t until I went to numerous Europe and Asian cities that I learned not all cities have dirty sidewalks. While almost all big cities I went to had people panhandling in the inner city, it’s not like it is in my city. While mental health issues are everywhere, it is not as prevalent on the street corners in my city as it is in other cities (granted, while I’ve been to many other cities my time spent is measured in days or a week). But in a European city, you have to go out of your way to find garbage on the sidewalks. People outside of my city have the ability to find a garbage can and put their garbage into it.
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I’m glad I don’t work in the city. I enjoy going there from time to time. I used to swim at the downtown YMCA, pre-bankruptcy. I enjoy riding my bicycle through the city. But having to be there daily would not be a healthy, productive, creative existence for me.
Mortimer Levitt’s book, published in 1981 is still available on Amazon and Abebooks
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