Point Park News Service

A Woman Draped in Pelts Competes for the Belt

December 18, 2018December 18, 2018 Gina Menold, Sara Flanders

By Sara Flanders In 2015, Gina Menold had no idea that her task of helping her husband advertise the new season of his horror television show would lead to the start of a career in professional wrestling. After a fateful meeting with the owner of the International Wrestling Cartel (IWC), Menold decided to make the jump and try-out and has... Read More

Banished Bangladesh Writer Finds New Home in Pittsburgh

December 18, 2018December 18, 2018 City of Asylum, Sara Flanders, Tuhin Das

By Sara Flanders Controversial writer Tuhin Das was forced to leave his home in Bangladesh after Al-Qaeda/ISIS included his name on a hit list of 17 secular writers and activists who slammed them. After receiving no help from local authorities, he became the latest writer to join Pittsburgh’s City of Asylum: a grassroots organization that provides aid and a two-year... Read More

Vinyl Stacks of Steel City: The historic record stores that make Pittsburgh a music worthy city

December 18, 2018December 18, 2018 Chris Grauzer, Fred Bohn Jr., Jerry's Records, The Attic

By Amanda Myers Chris Grauzer planned on opening his own record store when the opportunity to buy the legendary Jerry’s Records, where he had been working for around ten years, came up. Back in the 1990s when Fred Bohn Jr. went to work at The Attic, his father’s record store, he had no ambitions to keep with family tradition. Growing... Read More

WorkshopPGH: A do-it- yourself school taught by local makers right in the heart of Pittsburgh

December 18, 2018December 18, 2018 Bailey Penrod, Heather Carson, Jenn Newara, Kelly Malone, WorkshopPGH

By Bailey Penrod After recently founding a do-it-yourself craft enterprise called WorkshopSF in 2016, Kelly Malone found herself randomly visiting Pittsburgh. Heather Carson couldn’t wait to get to WorkshopPGH to continue building her own decorations and furniture for her house. Jenn Newara sews the inside seam of her halfway finished tote while taking a swig of her PBR and chatting... Read More

An Inside Look at the Pierogi Makers Of Pittsburgh

December 18, 2018December 18, 2018 Babcia's Lunchbox, Elisha Veon, Helen Mannarino, Katie Kelly, Lynne Szarnicki, Pierogies Plus, Pittsburgh Pierogi Truck

By Katie Kelly Lynne Szarnicki has been in the pierogi making business for over ten years and has a distaste for Mrs. T’s Pierogis, what she calls a fake pierogi. Elisha Veon got the idea to start a food truck after multiple discussions with her mother on what she was going to do when she was gone. Helen Mannarino is... Read More

Pittsburgh Pickers: One Man’s Trash is Another Man’s Treasure

December 18, 2018December 18, 2018 Jeff Gordon, Katie Kelly, Roger Levine, Seth Hunter

By Katie Kelly Jeff Gordon and Roger Levine found interest in collecting mid-century modern furniture like old bar stools and vintage luggage sets eventually going on to open a store. After making a chalkboard out of an old picture frame for his girlfriend, Seth Hunter realized a deeper love for finding and selling unique pieces, opening a shop that included... Read More

Pittsburgh’s Remaining Collectible Stores Offer Lifetime of Novelty Fun

December 18, 2018December 18, 2018 Jacob Berlin, S.W. Randall Toyes and Giftes, Shadyside Variety Store

By Jacob Berlin Jack Cohen wasn’t happy with the monotony of his day-to-day lifestyle of numbers-crunching math and science. It was work, not play. So he decided to open a toy store. “I used to be an engineer. I hated my job,” Cohen says. “My wife felt that there was no place to buy toys for the kids. And we... Read More

School Spirits: The Haunted Campuses of Pittsburgh Universities

December 18, 2018December 18, 2018 Community College of Allegheny County, Ghost stories, Point Park University, University of Pittsburgh

By Nicole Pampena When the ghost of Martha Jane Poe rocks the cradle in the Cathedral of Learning’s Early American Room, she does so slowly, and exactly four times — no more, no less. When conservatory students at Point Park University see The Lady in White, they learn she gets her name from the wedding dress she wears and the... Read More

Dahntahn Dialects: The Language of Pittsburgh

December 18, 2018December 18, 2018 Nicole Pampena, Pittsburghese

By Nicole Pampena It was 2011 when “Pittsburgh Dad” joined YouTube opening with that line, in turn introducing the world of Pittsburghese to the mainstream internet. The character was created by Greensburg native Curt Wootton, who stars as Pittsburgh Dad, and his friend and director Chris Preksta, where as many as two-hundred thousand viewers watch Pittsburgh Dad yelling at the... Read More

Pittsburgh Holiday Desserts You Must Try

December 10, 2018December 10, 2018 Katie's Kandy, Millie’s Homemade Ice Cream, Pittsburgh Popcorn Company, The Milkshake Factory

By Lauryn Nania, Point Park News Service For Ethan Griffin, the holiday season doesn’t arrive until he heads to Market Square to sell his “moonshine” bars and other sweet delicacies at the Pittsburgh Christmas Market. Angela Carnicella loves selling Prantl’s Burnt Almond Torte cake during the holidays as much as she likes to eat the treat called “one of the... Read More