2025 Eastbound Trip 1 - Day 21

June 19, 2025

It’s been a day of pure Pittsburgh things to do.  I headed out for my morning run at 7am under gray skies and a bit of wind.  

I went down the main street of Brookline and followed it down the hill to Library Road.  This Library is one of the main roads through the area and fairly busy.

I kept to the sidewalk as much as I could but had to stop once or twice when it narrowed and I waited for cars to pass.  After a half mile or so, I crossed and up Paola Road, which was definitely up.

This took me to Anglon Way, another up.

This took me my destination, the German Cemetery, now called the West Liberty Cemetery.

When I was looking for a place to run to I saw this on the map and looked into its history a bit.  It was owned by a German church on Mount Washington so the early residents were German.  Over time, that church sold it to another church and it finally went to the church that is now located adjacent to it.  

I don’t have a specific thing for cemeteries but they are interesting, historically, and always a good place to run.  Over the years I’ve visited quite a few in my travels with the city of Colma, CA, just south of San Francisco, the best of all.  They have 16 cemeteries holding 1.5 million “souls” with a city population of 1,500.  The city’s motto is “It’s great to be alive in Colma.”  I visited some famous ones there like Wyatt Earp, William Randolph Heart, and Joe DiMaggio.

This German cemetery had folk from the early-1800s up to 2004.  Here’s some random photos.

I took a different route back.  It took me yup Capital Avenue which my son says is know as “capital punishment.”  It is one long, brick0lined uphill between Library and Pioneer.  I did some walking on that one.

I stopped for a couple photos. Someone I now collects pictures of discarded vacuum cleaners.

I arrived at the top on Pioneer and then did the same route back I did the other day after visiting Moore Park.

I didn’t pick these up.

It was just under 5-miles and took about 1 hour and 20 minutes, longer than my usual pace due to the site seeing at the cemetery.

After cooling down, I grabbed a bite too eat and watch a deer wander down the driveway.

With that out of the way, we did some planning for our upcoming return trip to Montana that we will tackle next week.  Then it was time for two more Pittsburgh adventures: Randyland and Primanti Brothers.

Randyland is sort of difficult to describe and the shortest way of explaining it to just say it’s an urban folk art installation.  It’s a collection of found objects, some painted bright colors, and displayed in a courtyard behind a house.  Is it art?  Well, of course since Marcel Duchamp established that in 1917 with “Fountain.”  For a background on Randyland, read about it here.  In the meantime, some photos.

I really like this exhibit.  I was thinking that if someone in Billings tried this, some Karen would have code enforcement on them.  

With that box checked, the next Pittsburgh thing to do is too have sandwich at Primanti Brothers,  They are quite famous here and know for putting everything the sandwich and nothing on the side so the sandwich has your choice of protein along with a tomato, Cole slaw, French fries, etc.  It was quite good.  Mine was egg and cheese.

After that it was time to kick back a read a bit.  Then a short get together with my son, his girlfriend, and her twin.

Another great day in the Keystone State.

2025 Eastbound Trip 1 - Day 20

June 18, 2025

Zero miles on the motorcycle today but I did roll it out of the garage and scrubbed all of bugs off the windshield, headlights, and mirrors.  Considering the miles I’ve put on it, 5,271 since May 20th, it’s not that dirty but with all the rain I’ve been through it’s had baths along the way.  I let it sit out in the sun for a while and dry off the seat cover and my gloves.

Today’s adventure is a visit to Canonsburg, about 13 miles southwest of where I am staying. It’s described as a “suburb of Pittsburgh” but it is it’s own city with a population of just under 10,000.  Things are different here in terms of what is or is not a city on its own.  There are cities, townships, and boroughs.  Boroughs are self-governing.  Many places are “home rule municipalities” but could be a township or a borough. It’s all quite complicated and goes back to the 1600s and William Penn.

OK, so why Canonsburg as a destination?  Well, it’s the hometown of two famous American singers: Perry Como and Bobby Vinton.  The town really lays claim to Como who not only grew up there but worked there as a barber before his big success in show business.  On the other hand, Vinton, who also grew up there, claimed Pittsburgh as his home so the town has done little to honor him outside naming a street after him.

But Como was/is big there.  I’ve mentioned his name to some other people and no one younger than 40 has heard of him and I’m surprised how few older ones are not familiar with him.  He was BIG.  He sold LOTS of records, was in films, was on radio (“The Chesterfield Club”), and eventually had his own TV show as early as 1948.  In the late 1950s, his became the first weekly TV show broadcast in color.  In fact, the first time I ever saw a color television (this was in a department store) it was about 1960 and it was the Perry Como Show.

During in my years of acquiring vinyl LPs, I did not pick up any Como albums but always liked his voice.  When my grandmother gave be her 45 RPM records, about 250 of them, there were plenty of Perry Como records in that collection and I enjoy listening to them in that format.  When I figured out that his hometown was close by, I knew that it was worth a visit.

It was a relatively short drive, about 30-minutes with traffic and a detour from me getting lost. I had Apple Music streaming “Perry Como’s Greatest Hits” on the sound system.   The first stop was 305 Perry Como Street to see his childhood home.  There are no markers and it’s still a private residence.  I grabbed one photo.  It the house on the right.

Next it was to downtown.  We parked on a side street and walked back to city hall.  The trees that grow out of the sidewalks on the main street have cast iron grates around them and these grates have the name of the artist, the title of a song, and the year it was popular.  The first one I saw was for Bobby Vinton’s “Blue Velvet” from 1963.

The rest were from Perry Como.  Here’s a sampling.  

The statue to Como is in front of city hall and police department along with their veterans memorial and clock from the Italian-American group in town.

He appears holding a microphone and wearing his trademark sweater.

The pavers around the statue are dedications from a variety of people.  Many of the inside ones are from family members.  One of my favorites is from Ervin Drakes a songwriter who wrote some of Como’s hits and it says “To Perry Como a songwriter’s best friend - from Ervin Drake.”

We wrapped up it there went back down Adams street to Sarris Chocolate Factory.  

I wasn’t interested in vast number of candies they have, but I was in the mood for ice cream, something I rarely eat unless I am traveling.  A big scoop of chocolate peanut butter on mint and chip was perfect.

That’s  all the excitement for today.