Jan. 2022 Est. 1985
The Northside Chronicle
Volume 38 Issue 1 - FREE -
The Community Newspaper of Pittsburgh’s Historic Northside
Northside Business Briefs: January 2022 By Ashlee Green
Priory Fine Pastries passes baton to Prantl’s Bakery “Trepidation.” That’s been the prevailing emotion as Prantl’s takes over the former Priory Fine Pastries on East Ohio Street, according to Priory Hospitality Group Owner John Graf. But, he said, there’s excitement too.
Photo: Ashlee Green
Mayor Bill Peduto joins Chief of Staff Dan Gilman, State Representative Emily Kinkead, Allegheny County Executive Rich Fitzgerald, Councilman Bobby Wilson, Observatory Hill Inc. and Observatory Hill Development Corporation Treasurer Leslee Schaffer, and Neighborhood Community Development Fund Executive Director Mark Masterson for a nail pounding ceremony to celebrate Phase II of Observatory Hill's Bonvue Street Revitalization Project. The event, which took place on Dec. 20, 2021, marked the kick-off of renovations for five single-family homes on Bonvue Street: #4, #121, #125, #127, and #217. n Photo: Randy Strothman
The former Priory Fine Pastries on East Ohio Street was sold to Prantl's Bakery last August. The sale was a strategic business decision by Priory Hospitality Group. The sale closed on Aug. 1, and Prantl’s, Graf said, came into the space the next day. “[The Prantl’s] inclination was to not make a particularly big deal about it,” Graf said in a phone interview. "I think they just wanted to get their sea legs and give people a feeling that it was business as usual. In a lot of senses, it was, kind of, mission accomplished.” Graf said operating the bakery was labor intensive, and “definitely not a core competency of ours.” He made a strategic decision to prioritize his investments in the Priory Hotel and Grand Hall, currently undergoing major renovations, See Briefs, Page 9
INSIDE
Local father-son duo tell the story of famous Northside engineer By Lucia Shen His name used to be on a plaque at 1318 Arch St., and most people walked past without realizing it. George Ferris: Inventor of the Ferris wheel. Everyone knows his name, but no one knows who he really is, so local writer and Northsider Pete Geissler and his son, Jeff, decided to tell his story. Their book is called “The Rise and Fall of George Ferris: Love, Deceit, and The Wheel.” Ferris lived and worked in Pittsburgh for about 12 years as an engineer; for three of those years, he lived at 1318 Arch St.—“Or 204 Arch St., depending on what source you look at,” Pete noted in a Zoom
- Davis Avenue Bridge, Page 7 STORIES, COLUMNS, - Top Stories of 2021, Page 12 FEATURES & MORE - City Fresh Pasta, Page 19
interview. The plaque used to sit at Ferris’ former residence until it was taken down to be refurbished. “It’s been down for several years,” Pete said. “It’s in some warehouse somewhere.” Pete himself is a longtime Northsider, living just a half a mile away from where Ferris once lived on Arch Street. “I moved over here thinking I was gonna be here for five years,” Pete said. “Then, I was gonna buy my absolute dream house on a stream someplace else, probably north of here, so that I could sit on my porch and drop a line and catch trout for breakfast.” He ended up staying for 35 years. “Part of the reason it didn’t work out is because I’ve never seen my dad fish,” Jeff
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said with a laugh. According to Pete, though, the draw of the Northside is its convenience; the way you can walk to everything you need. Pete’s home, too, has become a meeting place for both his friends and book collaborators. Jeff, on the other hand, is the “newbie” in the neighborhood, according to his father. He has been here for around seven years. “Whenever I was looking to move in Pittsburgh, I wanted to move to a neighborhood that was fun and happening, plus a place that was somewhat close to my dad here,” Jeff said. “I love it. I absolutely love it in this neighborhood.” See Ferris, Page 17
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