Articles Archive - Page 26 of 155 - Pittsburgh Quarterly

Charm and Disaster Read More »

Following the fiasco of the “crystal palace,” I decided to take sterner measures with Lorant. I called him up and told him that unless we could resolve the problem of the purloined photographs, it was unlikely the fifth edition of the Pittsburgh book would ever see the light of day. I also told him I …

Fireflies: A Great Flourish of Evolution

by Daryln Brewer Hoffstot

“Male fireflies are like teenage boys,” said Lynn Frierson Faust, who wrote the book, Fireflies, Glow-worms, and Lightning Bugs: Identification and Natural History of the Fireflies of the Eastern and Central United States and Canada. “Males want to be seen, as flashy as possible, advertising their fitness. Look at me, they say!” One species, for …

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Birds Sports & Outdoors

A Lesser-Known Pittsburgh Raptor: the American Kestrel

by David Liebmann

As far as shopping plazas go, the Waterworks Mall in Fox Chapel is pretty typical. A Five Guys and a Chipotle. Party City. A Barnes & Noble that still carries… books! A Giant Eagle, the kind that sells groceries, not the feathered kind that have begun to nest again just up the river in Harmarville. …

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Nature

Exploring the Islands

by Thomas Saunders

One way to see Pennsylvania’s natural landscapes is to paddle a canoe or kayak down its rivers and streams. Many of our regional lakes, creeks and rivers provide scenic views, wildlife habitat and remote experiences along their forested banks. Quietly passing closely along a stream shoreline and depending on the time of year, paddlers may …

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Food & Wine Home & Lifestyle

A Fresh Take on a French Classic

by Lidey Heuck

Salade Niçoise, that most famous of French salads, has become ubiquitous far beyond the reaches of the French Riviera. It is both a humble and elegant dish: a collection of everyday ingredients — tomatoes, olives, hard-boiled eggs, and often anchovy fillets or canned tuna — arranged beautifully and simply. Variations abound, and for good …

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Of Crypts and Art Thieves

Of Crypts and Art Thieves Read More »

My next story about Lorant is a short one, but memorable, at least to my wife and me. We’ll call it: Tale from the Crypt Previously in this series: Stefan Lorant Part IV, Read All Over the World My wife, Simin, is half-Czech, and Stefan seemed to be deeply infatuated with her. Or maybe he …

Culture History

Defying the Odds

by Jason Vrabel

On opening night a century ago, velour drapes accentuated the auditorium doors and Juliet balconies. A newfangled ventilation system filtered smoke from a cigar lounge. And beneath an ornate plaster ceiling, Pittsburgh Chamber of Commerce president Marcus Rauh dedicated the Manor Theater before a standing-room-only crowd of nearly 1,500. Bookended by pandemics, the “photoplay” theater …

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Arts Culture

Quantum’s “The Cherry Orchard” is Brilliantly Inscrutable

by Stuart Sheppard

Often in theater, the more mundane the plot, the more iconoclastic the drama. Thus, if “Hamlet” is essentially about a man who cannot make up his mind, and in “Waiting For Godot” we watch nothing happen, twice, then “The Cherry Orchard” offers us four acts about the refinancing of a mortgage in arrears. What could …

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Obituaries People

Lackner, Titus, Kessler

Lackner, Titus, Kessler Read More »

Judy Lackner, 98She was the senior school librarian for 22 years at Sewickley Academy, where her voracious reading habits and steel-trap memory caused her to serve as the “book whisperer.” A lifelong learner, Lackner went back to school when her children were grown to get a master’s in library science from Pitt. After graduating from …

Read All Over the World

Read All Over the World Read More »

Pittsburgh: The Story of an American City was ubiquitous in Pittsburgh. It seemed as though everybody who was anybody had a copy, and some people had copies of every edition. Previously in this series: Stefan Lorant Part III, Charming and Impossible But what was remarkable was how well the book was known outside Pittsburgh. The first edition …

People

What Do I Know? Ed Gainey

by Jeff Sewald

I have to say that it feels good to be the mayor of my hometown, to be connected to the place where I was born and raised. My family is from the Hill District, but I was actually born in South Oakland. We were only the second black family to live on Lawn Street. My …

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Arts Culture

Now and Then: Artemesia Genteleschi and Kehinde Wiley at the Frick

by Vicky A Clark

The Frick has gifted us with a rare treat: the opportunity to view an iconic work from the 17th century paired with a major work of our century. The two paintings of the Judith and Holofernes story, created four centuries apart, comprise “Slay” which is on exhibit through Sunday. Artemesia Gentileschi’s version depicts the classic …

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Obituaries People

Ackerman, Johnson, Vidunas, Davis, Herchenroether, Deiseroth

Ackerman, Johnson, Vidunas, Davis, Herchenroether, Deiseroth Read More »

Jeffrey Ackerman, 69A founding partner of CBRE, Ackerman was an icon in the region’s commercial real estate industry for decades and served as CBRE’s managing director in Pittsburgh from 2013 until January. He was working at Arnheim & Neely in the 1990s when CB Commercial came looking for an existing brokerage with which to partner. …

Sports & Outdoors

The Pittsburgh Dodgers: In the Wake of Jackie Robinson

by Richard “Pete” Peterson

My memory of going to my first Pittsburgh Pirates game with my father is so vivid that a number of years ago, on a visit to the Baseball Hall of Fame, I asked Tim Wiles, the Director of Research at the National Hall of Fame Library in Cooperstown, if he could find the box score …

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Charming and Impossible

Charming and Impossible Read More »

Stefan Lorant was a dashing, debonaire fellow when he was young, and even in his late old age he remained attractive to women. One 40-year-old divorcée recalls having an affair with Lorant when the latter was in his eighties. “He was impossibly romantic,” she told me. Previously in this series: Stefan Lorant Part II, The …

People Profiles

Oh, Say Can You Sing?

by Evan Pattak

During the winter months, every executive in the Pittsburgh Pirates organization is thinking about the upcoming season. Chris Serkoch isn’t pondering who’ll bat clean-up, whether a platoon will work in left field, or how she can line up the bullpen. Her concerns, though, are just as vital. Serkoch is wondering who will perform the national …

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Health Health

What Can I Do to Slow or Prevent the Onset of Osteoporosis?

by Joseph A. Luxbacher

Question: I was recently informed that I may be suffering from osteoporosis or weakening of the bones. What if anything can I do to improve my bone health? Take some solace in the fact that your situation is not uncommon. Osteoporosis, which literally means “porous bone,” is a condition where the quality, quantity and strength of …

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Events Nonprofits

Teeing off for Brother’s Brother

Teeing off for Brother’s Brother Read More »

The Brother’s Brother Foundation hosted its Annual Golf Classic last week at the Fox Chapel Golf Club in Pittsburgh. The event, which raises money for local education and healthcare initiatives, featured some 90 golfers and numerous sponsors, including main sponsors Highmark and UPMC as well as Caroline and Tom Wentling, Gayle and Bill Simpson, BNY Mellon, …

Obituaries People

Curley, Martin, Kreisman, Rocher, Sarni, Lampl

Curley, Martin, Kreisman, Rocher, Sarni, Lampl Read More »

Mary Taylor Walton Curley, 97The daughter of John and Rachel Mellon Walton and granddaughter of Gulf Oil founder William Larimer Mellon, she graduated from Vassar and worked at Pitt after World War II assisting women veterans on the GI Bill. She and her husband, oil executive Walter Curley, lived all over the world, from India …

Profiles

The Selling of Mellon

by Martin G. McGuinn Jr.

Editor’s Note: This article is based on the upcoming book published by Lyons Press:“From Swampoodle to Mellon Bank CEO; An Irish American’s Journey, the Autobiography of Martin G. McGuinn Jr.” When I came to Mellon Bank in 1981, it was the dominant bank in Pittsburgh, much to the chagrin of Pittsburgh National Bank, which later, …

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The Book on Pittsburgh