Pittsburgh’s Smallman Street is home to three relatively new distilleries. Each is unique and worth visiting for a “spirited” time.
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Pittsburgh’s Smallman Street is home to three relatively new distilleries. Each is unique and worth visiting for a “spirited” time.
Take a mental health day and visit the new $50 million National Comedy Center in Jamestown, New York
Tagged: National Comedy Center
We spent two weekends exploring Pittsburgh this year and we plan to return for more. During the most-recent visit — in mid-July — we crashed at the Ace Hotel in the slowly gentrifying East Liberty neighborhood. There, the century-old YMCA was reimagined as the Ace Hotel not quite two years ago. A boutique hotel company, Ace is becoming known for its creative approach to creating community spaces that happen to be hotels. Like most hotels the public space has a bar, restaurant, ballroom, but it also has the old YMCA gym where guests can play ping-pong, corn hole, basketball or attend organized yoga or a dodgeball games. At any given time at least one person is punching a laptop keyboard at the communal bar table. Meanwhile, room décor…
Tagged: Lamb Cookoff, Pennsylvania, Pittsburgh
Ziplining … Letting go of solid ground is the hardest part. But, then you’re flying. A metaphor for life? Perhaps.
Tagged: Pennsylvania, Seven Springs, Travel, Zipline
Before “foodie” was part of the popular lexicon, Pittsburgh chefs shopped Strip District wholesalers to procure produce, meat, cheese and other menu must-haves. Then, the Food Network begat a string of celebrity chefs and wannabes followed their favorite kitchen professionals into this select, though somewhat gritty, enclave of edibles east of downtown Pittsburgh. In the past 20 years the district has evolved to please palates of the public as well as the professional. The Pennsylvania Macaroni Company serves up historic ambiance with basic metal shelves stacked high with Italian specialty items, from industrial-sized tubs of Nutella and 10-ounce boxes of macaroni shaped like farm animals for the grandkids to glass cases of imported cheeses and charcuterie for grownup gatherings. Across the street Robert Wholey…
Tagged: Pennsylvania, Pittsburgh, The Strip
With an educational tour featuring spirits and history, the Wigle Whiskey distillery on Smallman in The Strip District is a must. If your GPS takes you to their Barrelhouse aging location on the Northside (closed in winter), reroute to the mothership or visit both locations in warmer weather. Tours, which require a reservation and $25, include a craft cocktail ($7-$10 value) and simple sips of five whiskeys. With dramatic intonation and exaggerated gestures our guide Kate transfixed our attention on the Whiskey Rebellion – the first taxation of an American product and the men who protested it including distillery namesake Phillip Wigle. The entertainment and education factors about this 18th century protest of Pittsburgh origin are priceless. Oh, and the spirits are worthy too.…
Tagged: Pittsburgh, Travel, Whiskey, Wigle Whiskey
When I read the pop-philosophy novel “The Fountainhead” at 19, I wanted the main character — architect Howard Roark — to be real. An idealistic youth, I was enchanted by author Ayn Rand’s ideas. Her obsession with self-determination worked my cognitive skills, as her devotion to authentic art and architecture touched my spirit. And then I learned about Frank Lloyd Wright, the famous American architect from whom Rand had drawn inspiration for the 1943 tome. Like the fictional architect, Wright envisioned purpose-built structures being of and for the setting and owners. He called this quest for harmonious design “organic architecture.” Throughout his life he articulated that philosophy in words and buildings. “No house should ever be on a hill or on anything. It should be…
Tagged: Fallingwater, Frank Lloyd Wright, Pennsylvania, Pittsburgh, Travel
Riding the Laurel Highlands was a no-brainer. The area — about 3,000 square miles in the Allegheny Mountains – is just east of Pittsburgh and a short trip from our home in Northeastern Ohio. It offers hours of twisting, turning rides that rise and fall with the terrain. We launched our trip on a rainy Friday evening in early September. It wasn’t our first rain storm and won’t be our last. Only once did we pause the rented 2016 Harley-Davidson Tri Glide Ultra beneath a freeway bridge to escape the most painful drops. Otherwise, the rain suits provided by Western Reserve Harley-Davidson in Mentor, Ohio, did their job. We occasionally rent bikes (and trikes) for longer trips so our 22-year-old Honda Goldwing can rest…
Paris Wolfe - Writer + Editor