February 2 Run: Meet at Commonplace Coffee in Garfield, 5467 Penn Avenue

A quick note going out late to advise you of the location for Sunday: the Voluto Commonplace Coffee in Garfield at 5467 Penn Avenue.

Last Sunday was a run we shall call "Hidden Highland Park."  Joanne led the group through various twists and turns, through small hamlets and castle-like homes.  It was just what we needed for a change of scenery, and she delivered.  No endorsements to speak of, but warm coffee & conversation at Tazza d'Oro.

January 26 Run: Meet at Tazza D'Oro for a Highland Park Run

This Sunday, let's start/end at Tazza D'Oro at 1125 N. Highland Avenue for a run in Highland Park.  We will be as loud as we want and not worry about curmudgeons shooting us mean glances because after all, coffee shops are not libraries!

This past Sunday was a run in Lawrenceville starting with a loop around Allegheny Cemetery then a loop around Friendship/Garfield along Penn.

Along Penn Avenue we pass by our first endorsement, the new women-owned Halcyon Salon, where Elaine says you can get a haircut for $35.

Other endorsements for this vibrant part of Penn Ave include:

Penn Avenue Unblurred (gallery crawl)
Spak Brothers Pizza
1:1 Yoga
People's Indian Restaurant which has been there forever!
Arts & Crafts Botanica & Occult Shop
Los Sabrosos Dance Company

Not on Penn Avenue but endorsed:
Bitter Ends Garden Luncheonette

Back at Ineffable Ca Phe, we gathered by the fake fireplace and discussed:

Deer vision (which we correctly guessed is not great, about 20/100)
Camping
The Long Long Trailer movie
Waiting for Bittman (not  to be confused with Waiting for Guffman)
Mark Easton
Anthony Bourdain's controversial Pittsburgh special (you either loved it or hated it)
Rick Sebak sightings and antics

Future starting/ending location for a run, probably this summer:
Hallowed Ground Homestead

Jan 19 Run: Meet at Ineffable Ca Phe, Penn Ave between 40th and 39th

We're going to explore Bloomfield next Sunday - where we haven't been since 2018 when we first crossed the Bloomfield Bridge - much to see!  We'll start at the Vietnamese-inspired Ineffable, at 3920 Penn Ave. across from the haunted Frank Clack Health Center, once toured with our scientist Beth, so we know it's true.

Last week we made the long trek to the Penitentiary - a dark and atmospheric route along the Ohio on the trail - appropriately creepy.  But the CCAC Starbucks, unlikely as it may seem, was a comfort. 

Endorsed:

• TV:  Escape at Dannemora - appropriately, and also Anne with a E - adorable, and has a 19th C. orphanage in it too.  Also Season 3 of Mrs. Maisel - another era but still historic
• Charles Dickens made a visit to the Pen!
• There was some talk of an episode of Mindhunter being filmed there, but on further review, it looks like it was the "neo-Gothic prison compound of West Virginia State Penitentiary"
• More 19th C.:  the pattern for Beth's Shawl in Little Women
• Movies:  The Two Popes, and Searching for Sugar Man.

Jan. 12 Run: Meet at the Starbucks at CCAC on the North Side

We're going to the Penitentiary on the Ohio River!  And I just read this about it:
During Charles Dickens visit to the city March 20–22, 1842, he visited the original prison and some scholars believe he based the classic A Christmas Carol on conditions at the facility.
so I'm extra excited.   We'll start and end at the CCAC Starbucks on the North Side. (map.)

We covered the South Side trail and streets, the riverside and the Hot Metal Bridge for last week's Sunday run, all with that ineffable Pittsburgh picturesque charm that we get to see at dawn every week.  But the best part was the chi-chi coffee setting at the Hotel Indigo: Technology Center - which we hope to revisit soon for a happy hour (Monday, Jan. 13 at 5:30, I think but will confirm on Sunday, or somebody write in please.)

We endorsed:

• Kathleen the exercise lady that offers weekly sessions for $7 outside at Highland Park - I have no contact information so more later
• the word "shpilkes," defined in Wiktionary, perhaps explaining why we are running around at 7 a.m.
• The Kaufmann's building downtown will have a Target, a hotel run by the Fontainebleu, apartments, and already has a rooftop pool with a bar, to which you can get a day pass (Happy Hour as soon as it warms up!)
• Podcasts:  Mobituaries - esp the one about Audrey Hepburn, and The Shrink Next Door
• TV:  The Durrells in Corfu and The Deuce
• Movie:  What About Bob?  from 1991 with Bill Murray
• Books:  Nine perfect strangers (same author as Big Little Lies), and all stories by Isaac Bashevis Singer (Nobel-prize winning Yiddish writer)
• The naked guy on a bike of blessed running group memory

Photo from last week that I forgot to send in: