Volume 28 No. 10
October 2012
Garden Theater Block signs second restaurant By Kelsey Shea
Photo courtesy City of Asylum On Sept. 8, the audience at the 2012 City of Asylum Jazz Poetry Concert raised signs bearing the names of writers who were persecuted in 2011. The concert was hosted by the Central Northside’s City of Asylum at The New Hazlett Theater.
Brashear’s home and factory nominated to historic register By Kelsey Shea The life work of John Brashear is admired worldwide, and that work began here in Perry Hilltop. Both a scientist and a philanthropist, John Brashear dedicated his time in Perry Hilltop building scientific and astronomical instruments. He also fundraised for and help to build Allegheny Observatory located on Riverview Avenue, once considered one of the greatest astronomical research centers in the world. His factory and home where he spent his time working still stand on Perrysville Avenue and are now up
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for national historic recognition. The Brashear house at 1954 Perrysville Ave. is owned by Michael Goldstein of Slam Properties LLC and Goldstein Photography. Goldstein bought the house last year, and has since remodeled it into a transitional living home, where people coming out of rehab live with month-by-month leases. He said when he bought the house from a bank, it was filled with drug paraphernalia, and most of the original fixtures were gone. Goldstein isn’t sure how he feels
See Brashear, page 9
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Another Garden Theater Block tenant was named this month as construction continued in the future business district. It was announced that Lawrenceville’s Tuscan-style Italian restaurant Piccolo Forno will open a second location in the historic theater block along W. North Avenue. “We’re hugely excited to have Piccolo Forno onboard for the project,” said developer Wayne Zukin. “Between Nakama and Piccolo Forno, I think we’ve got the best restaurants in the city.” Piccolo Forno will join Nakama Japanese Steakhouse and Sushi Bar as the second restaurant to sign a Garden Theater Block lease. Piccolo Forno opened its first location on Butler Street in 2005 and serves reasonably priced homemade pasta, wood-fired pizza, paninis and specialty items in an upscale environment. Domenic Branduzzi, the owner of Piccolo Forno, said he saw the same potential in the Northside that he did when he opened his first restaurant in the then up-andcoming Lawrenceville seven years ago. “I love the feel of the neighborhood. It’s great to be smack in the middle of it,” he said. “I had been casually looking around for a second location, and I saw this area as having a lot of potential to grow.” Piccolo Forno’s second location will be in the theater building at 10 W. North Ave. and will feature a rear patio for outdoor dining, a
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bar and a wood-fired oven. The Garden Theater Block location will be nearly twice as large as the Lawrenceville restaurant. Branduzzi is considering calling the new restaurant Il Giardino, Italian for the garden, to reflect the history of the block, the cuisine he serves and the fresh ingredients used. He plans to serve the same traditional Italian fare at the Garden Theater Block location, but he said he may introduce some more modern dishes as well. “It’s kind of a neat layout,” said Branduzzi, who plans to use the unusual layout of the building, which has two smaller rooms near the entrance that are separate from the larger dining room. He’s decided to use the layout to his advantage rather than alter it. In one of the rooms, he is planning to place a full bar and a pizza bar in the other where customers can sit for more casual dining and watch employees make the wood-fired pizza. Branduzzi said that developers are planning to break ground and start construction in the latter half of this fall, and that he can hopefully be in the building by late summer and open by next fall. The abandoned Garden Theater Block was purchased by the Urban Redevelopment Authority of Pittsburgh several years ago and is currently being renovated by developer Zukin Realty into restaurants, office spaces, apartments and stores. The block was brought into
See Garden Theater, page 12
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