The term God’s Country has been used many times to describe many places. It’s also the title of a great song by Irish band U2. The first time I heard it connected to the South Side of Pittsburgh was from Jimmy Yule. Jimmy married a girl from my neighborhood in Baldwin and lived in one of my favorite houses on Churchview Avenue. When I met Jimmy in a local bar and asked where he was from, he proudly said, “The South Side—God’s Country.”
Tour #1
My parents were from the South Side. My mother’s father operated a pool room on the corner of 25th & Jane Streets. My grandparents’ house was on the corner of Jane & 25th Streets, attached to the pool room via a short walkway off the kitchen. My grandfather operated a pool room from 1939 to 1972, never once raising the price of a game of 8-ball from a dime.
My brothers and cousins and myself all have strong memories of visiting the house and pool room. I can remember the literal coolness of the pool room, the clanking sound of the pool balls and the beauty of the slate tables with leather-woven pockets. We all also remember the ashtray full of coins kept in a desk drawer inside the house. My grandfather would give his numerous grandchildren some change so we could visit the soft-serve ice cream stand on Sarah & 26th Streets. The pool room is now an apartment and the house is painted purple. When I drive by, I don’t see the purple. I see the green felt on the tables and I see the burn marks left by long-ago pool shooters resting cigarettes on the edge of the table in order to make the tough bank shot.
Tour #2
I moved to the South Side after college and finally getting a job. I had developed a creative soul due to a bout of unemployment and I was writing screenplays. My apartment was a third-floor walk-up. It was a furnace in the summer and an icebox in the winter. It was a dump. But I didn’t care. I would spend Saturdays working on writing projects and swimming at Oliver Bath House after dinner. It was back to the apartment for some reading and pushups and then I would step out into the night.
The bars were plentiful. My “go to” bar was Margaritaville but I could operate in many other places. My “approach and open” to girls was my ambition to write. I wrote some earthy poetry. If I could “advance my cause” to the point that I could recite one of the poems into the ear of a young woman who was appreciative of the written and spoken road, I had a chance of inviting her back to the third-floor apartment. My batting average was low but, because I “got on a base” a few times, I was always getting into the batter’s box.
If things weren’t happening in the Carson Street bars, I could hop in the Toyota Celica and go to Chauncy’s in Station Square or the Bettis Lounge in West Mifflin. I was able to operate in both places. I did well in the bars for a few reasons: the swimming I did altered my body and enabled me to “grow” into the broken nose suffered in 10th grade football practice, I went out late and was fresh when others were starting to fade, and I had an immediate connection with females who appreciated my literary ambitions.
When I think back to Tour #2, I don’t remember the South Side as a series of buildings and streets named after Joseph Ormsby’s family members. It was a state of mind; a unique collection of bars and people. And many of those people remain nameless to me. You would see them walking the streets or in the stores and bars. I don’t know where they came from or where they returned to at night. They were just living in God’s Country the same as me.
Tour #3
I returned to the South Side as an older person with a 40-year-old brain and different objectives for life and different goals. The new popular spot was Paparazzi on 21st Street. I had many enjoyable evenings there. There was the occasional rendezvous but, when I got involved in a fine romance, it was a place to take my girl. If you weren’t at the annual Paparazzi Christmas party, you were in the wrong part of town. Ironworks Gym was above Zovko Brothers garage on Carson & 25th Streets. A true workout gym. No showers, no A/C and a 10,000 BTU heater hanging in the corner. I was a fan of the behind the neck Military Press. I put 45 lb. plates on each end of the 45 lb. bar and had a spotter. It was that exercise that made my shoulders wide and well defined. It was also that exercise that probably created the need for two rotator cuff surgeries.
I met many people in Tour #3 who became friends and wrote four books. I lived in two different spots. When I drive by the buildings, I look up at the second-floor windows and remember the writing experiences and some of the visitors I had. Many bike rides started and ended up at my office where I stored my bikes. My memories of the South Side of Pittsburgh are plentiful, colorful and varied.
What’s going on in ‘God’s Country’ now?
Carson Street now has many vacant buildings. There seems to be buildings where construction activity starts and then is walked away from. A building that was set on fire by its owner two years ago sits unrepaired in the middle of the 1900 block. In addition to the few nuisance bars, the businesses that seem to be doing well are cellphone stores, tattoo shops and massage parlors. The sidewalks are covered with weekend litter until the crew from the Downtown Partnership comes by to clean (or “redd”) up. The Downtown Partnership crew does an amazing job cleaning up but they shouldn’t have to. I’ve been to many major cities in other countries. One doesn’t see the trash on the sidewalks that we have.
The crowds that gather on the streets when the bars let out seem to be populated by young people not yet old enough to be in those bars—and they just don’t know how to put garbage in a garbage can. I’m sure there are many people living in $350,000 houses a few blocks off Carson who can hear the noise. I’m sure they are locked down with their security systems turned on and TVs turned up loud waiting for the crowds to disperse so that they can get some quality sleep.
The weekend mornings in the South Side have no memory of the nonsense that went on a few hours prior. My favorite South Side time is early in the mornings on the weekends. Traffic is light. You can get around easily. Stops at the Post Office, dry cleaner, library. Great spots for breakfast and coffee. I do paperwork and work on writing projects at these places. When I’m not doing that, I’m engaged in interesting conversations with some of the nice people I’ve met at these places.
May I make a suggestion? If you haven’t been to the South Side in a while, put it on your calendar to come next month and visit five places you’ve never been to. I highly recommend O’Leary’s Diner (1412 East Carson) for breakfast and lunch, Sultry F&B (1719 East Carson) for lunch and dinner, Kassab’s Restaurant (1207 East Carson) for great Lebanese food, Cupka’s Two (2314 East Carson) for good food, drink and conversation. It’s a sports bar but my conversations are about everything but sports. You won’t find any food at Nick’s Imports (1913 East Carson) but you will find amazing clothing and accessories imported from Morrocco, Thick Bikes (62 S15th Street) is a top bike shop doing great mechanical work and selling new and refurbished bikes.
There are others. Come to God’s Country and discover for yourself.
NOTE: THE PHOTOS SHOW THE VIEW FROM 25TH STREET LOOKING TOWARD JANE STREET
