London Bus in Pittsburgh

For those that cannot get to London, England anytime soon you can still experience the thrill of a ride on the big red bus. An old Routemaster (No. 12 to Victoria) departs the South Side Works for a journey around Pittsburgh. You can’t miss seeing it parked on South 27th Street. The red double-decker bus is rather imposing at 14 feet high. Vince and Manon LaMonica run the service here in Pittsburgh. See this site for details.

The No. 12 in London originates at Oxford Circus and travels towards Trafalgar Square, Parliament Street, Elephant & Castle Station and onward to Dulwich Library. Sadly, they are no longer used in London except for one or two limited routes. Londoners were experienced in hopping on and off the bus whilst it was still moving. Some never made in on and I don’t know of anyone getting hurt other than loosing a shoe now and then.

The thrill was hopping on the bus as it was pulling away from a stop. You did not enter from the front and pay the driver. He sat in an enclosed cab and was only concerned with traffic. People got on and off at the rear where there was no door but an open platform. It had a pole that you grabbed so you could pull yourself in. A conductor walked the upper and lower saloons looking for new faces. He would come around and take your 10p and would give you your ticket from a dispensing machine hanging from his neck. Yes, the bus did stop and as there was only one way on or off you had to move quickly. The best seats were on the upper deck. Climbing curving stairs on a moving bus was like being at Kennywood.

If I may borrow from Natalie Tran AKA Community Channel, the word of the day is saloon. No, a saloon is not a drinking establishment but an open area or room in which people could stand. Taverns have a saloon and they commonly have a bar where drinks are sold. Old English homes often had a saloon where the lady of the house entertained guests. Obviously they did not stay long but maybe that was the point of having one. Anyway, getting back to Vince and Manon LaMonica; good luck, no flats and will you drop me off at the pub?

Margaritaville

A few months back the owner of Margaritaville on the South Side was given notice by Jimmy Bufffet's lawyers to stop using the name Margaritaville as only JB can use that name for any reason in any state at any time. It seems to me that JB has new lawyers with nothing to do so they must be trawling for Margaritaville bars in the country. Now, JB has a claim to this as he has this name registered most places, but not in Pa. I can't find the story in the local or national news outlets but this is not the first time the owner of this Carson Street bar has been served. Years ago when the bar was under the original owner JB's lawyers came in to shout the place down. They were pretty smug about it until they found out the the name was registered by the bar's owner first. They left town and life went on. Now it is under new ownership and the lawyers are back at it. I would hope that the bar's owners will find the name to be legal and send the others back to the beach. I haven't seen any more of this on the news so it is either dragging on or resolved.

Shootz Bar

I have gotten the scuttle butt from two people so far that tell me that Shootz bar on Carson Street on the South Side has closed. Can anyone confirm that? I will check into this further after the holiday. If they are closed during standard opening times then that should be that.

A note to the news people out three. For years I have cringed at how you identify streets and areas of the city incorrectly. For those of you who were born here you should know better. For those who are not from here, buy a map. In checking into Shootz I saw a video from one station that placed the bar next to the Birmingham Street Bridge. There is no BSB. It is called the Birmingham Bridge. But, at least that is not as bad as Liberty Street Tunnels. And I wonder why I drink?

UPDATE: The Pennsylvania Department of Public Welfare is moving in as they have left the State Office Building. I hope that they can find their way down Carson Avenue. Yes, that appears on some of my bank documents.

G20 Beer Festival in Pittsburgh

The Obama administration announced a G20 Summit that will take place in the United States on September 24 & 25, 2009. The host city will not be New York, Los Angles or Crawford, but my hometown of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. My guess is that he wants to take in a Steeler game or a pub-crawl on the South Side. As past news stories have shown we can expect demonstrations. So, what can we do to keep mayhem at a minimum and help developing countries boost their economy? I suggest a G20 Beer Festival inside the convention center. Beer brings people together and drinking together usually solves the world’s problems. I should know; me and my mates do it every weekend. Admission will be free to all demonstrators (proper ID required) and world leaders will pay for the beer. Democrats will do a food service and Republicans will check ID at the door and clean up afterwards. There will be two children’s play areas, one red one blue.

The beers on tap will come from the G20 developing counties as shown below.
Bolivia (Huari), Brazil (Frevo), Chile (Kunstmann), China (Zhujiang beer 珠江啤酒), Cuba (Bucanero Beer), Ecuador (Cerveza Nevada), Egypt (Sakara), Guatemala (Moza), India (Cobra), Indonesia (Bintang), Mexico (Negro Modelo), Nigeria (Guinness made with Sorghum), Pakistan (Murree), Paraguay (Baviera), Peru (Cusquena), Philippines (San Miguel Pale Pilsen), South Africa (Zulu beer, it’s pink), Tanzania (Safari beer), Thailand (Chang beer), Uruguay (Patricia beer), Venezuela (Polar beer) and Zimbabwe (Zambezi)

A few notes on some of the above. I drank the Nigerian Guinness in London last year. It is high gravity beer in a bottle and was wonderful. It was not what I expected and if I could buy it in Pittsburgh it would be (one of) my beers of choice. A surprising note is that more Guinness is drunk in Nigeria than in Ireland. The Zulu beer is served in milk containers and you don’t want to know how it became pink. The Polar beer will be served by Al Gore but don’t expect it to be warm. From what I have been reading beer seems to be doing well in Muslim nations.

South Side Hole in the Wall

On May 19, 2009 the Pittsburgh Post published a story on the doings of a bar on the South Side. S Bar applied for a permit to work on the former Tom’s Diner on East Carson Street in the city’s beer haven district. They told the city that it was to be used for retail and no mention that it was to serve alcohol. So says the city. Then S Bar applied for and received a liquor license extension. The bar is the adjoining building. Some city folks don’t like this so his building work was ordered stopped. What caused the work stoppage was that S Bar made an opening between the two buildings. When S Bar sealed the opening (how?) the city lifted the cease-work order. Can it be reopened when the city isn’t looking?

The city is bent out of shape that S Bar did not tell them they got a license extension, but guess what, they still have it. So they have a license to serve in a building that the city says should not be serving. The city is upset because they say S Bar lied to City Planning and sent Zoning down to close the place. This entire affair is about a hole in the wall and not alcohol. If it was the city’s desire to limit licensed bars then City Planning, Zoning and Council should have the balls to bring S Bar in for questioning. Can they stop this? If so why haven’t they? There are a lot of things not mentioned in the Post’s story. Future posting will highlight some of them. For the record, I have been in the S Bar a few times and it is a very clean and well run place. I have no connection to it or it's owners. On a legal point, is the license extension valid if ther is no direct passage from one building to another?

Bocktown Beer Tasting

I have a post below that mentions a few tastings on the South Side. There is a great bar out west that has tastings every Wednesday. Well, they are not that far out west that you need a cowboy hat but Bocktown has a beer tasting at 6 pm. Usually you can meet a brewer or rep that can give you good info on the beer. Their website can give you details and directions. Talk making its way down the barstools has it that they may put a beer engine on. Let's hope so. They do beer good and serve good beer. The food is great too. Plenty of free parking as well.

Guinness 250

I stopped at one of my favorite pubs for a pint of the 250th anniversary Guinness. For several years now Guinness have been toying with the brew and how it is served. They continue to play games. I can describe the beer in one word, nothing. It has nothing. No body, no flavor (rather lackluster), no head. I wish it had no nitrogen but that will never happen now. Gentlemen, you make a classic beer. Why are you not happy with what you have? Just to be fair I had two pints to make sure that I wasn't drinking anything. What else can I say. That about sums it up. To be a bit more descriptive; Guinness started out as a porter and became a stout. The 25 is neither but more like a dark mild. I am happy that they did not replace the original Guinness. On the other hand I did get a free Guinness Tee Shirt from a pretty girl.