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The Park House
Photographer: Jennifer Baron
Location: East Ohio Street, North Side
Date: 2003
Why This Sign? Captured this one from the car, since I drive past it at least twice a day. My earliest, enduring and very fond memories of this excellent bar consist of post-softball game gatherings with my stepfather, extended family members and his colleagues...a classic Pittsburgh joint.
Posted by jennifer at October 14, 2004 1:41 AM
Comments
WOW!!!
Imagine my surprise to open the PPG today and read about this project.
My late father, George C. Nowack, was a "neon-bender" for the now defunct McBride Sign Company. As such, he was the person who shaped, placed, and lit the original neon on the Park House sign as well as innumerable others (including the Klein's "lobster" sign now hanging in the Heinz History museum).
He worked at McBride's from the late 1940's until his death in 1975. I believe I may have some photos of the shop as it was in the early days if you would be interested.
As a child, I often visited McBride's at its original East Liberty location, then later at its final location down near the "strip" district. I witnessed with fascination many of these signs being born...from their original artist's conception, through the moment they left the shop to be hung.
Sorry to be so long-winded, but I've waited a long time to see the recognition of these unique artisans.
As a final note, my father got his start in the business working for his/my uncle, Cyril Nowack, as a sign painter. My uncle sold his company to a group of investors...who used its resources to develop the Pittsburgh Outdoor Advertising Company.
Thanks for interest...and for the time/effort to develop your project.
George P. Nowack
Posted by: George P. Nowack at November 20, 2004 2:07 PM
The Park House sign is, I believe, modified from a model that dates from the 1930s and the end of Prohibition. When I was a kid in the 1950s and 1960s a lot of bars, taverns & small restaurants in Pittsburgh had signs of the same shape & size, but with different copy, i.e., name of establishment, sometimes with the word "BEER" and usually done up in red and green neon. Many, many years later, doing research in sign trade journals, I learned they all originally said DUQUESNE BEER, and were apparently a hanging sign of the sort that advertised Coca-Cola outside drugstores, etc., back in the day. Years later, the bar owners apparently replaced the "DUQUESNE BEER" with their own names.
Posted by: WTK at August 25, 2005 9:32 PM