Coffee Pot Inn, Duss Ave., 1929

Coffee Pot Inn
Duss Ave., Near New Byers Plant
ad
Daily Citizen 
August 10, 1929

 

Ever since I first saw this ad for the Coffee Pot Inn ("Hot Bar-B-Q Open All Year") when Maria Notarianni shared a scan of it with me several years ago, I've wondered exactly where on "Duss Ave., Near New Byers Plant" it was.

And then recently, while looking for something else entirely, I found the answer in The Pittsburgh Catholic, Sept. 22, 1932, issue, in an ad for a different Ambridge inn: the Golden Moon Inn, "Formerly Coffee Pot Inn."

The Golden Moon Inn ad advertised "Delicious BAR B Q--10¢. No Cover Charge; Dine and Dance; Private Parties and Banquets a Specialty."

Golden Moon Inn
"Formerly Coffee Pot Inn"
3000 Duss Ave.
ad
Pittsburgh Catholic
September 22, 1932

The address in the Golden Moon ad, 3000 Duss Ave., no longer exists. But if it still did, it would be as far north on Duss as possible without crossing the Legionville Bridge into Baden.

But perhaps the Coffee Pot Inn and the Golden Moon Inn weren't actually located that far north on Duss. I have a later address for the Golden Moon Inn, 2916 Duss Ave., which would have put it more or less across the street from where the Byers plant's office was. So either the Golden Moon had moved further south on Duss, or the buildings on that part of Duss were renumbered at some point so 3000 Duss became 2916 Duss. Does anyone know?

I've also wondered what that cute little building on the Coffee Pot Inn's right side was. Phone booth?  

Gene's Coffee Shoppe & Dining Room, Thanksgiving Menu, 1929

Gene's Coffee Shoppe & Dining Room
Thanksgiving Menu
ad
Daily Citizen
November 27, 1929

Gene's Coffee Shoppe & Dining Room was in the long-gone Ambridge Hotel, located from 1905 to 1964 on the northwest corner of 8th and Merchant Sts. The restaurant's address was not printed in the ad. I guess everyone in the area knew where it was.

That $1.25 is equivalent to about $19.40 today. Still an attractive price for a complete Thanksgiving meal, but when the average steelworker was making less than $0.68 an hour, and taking home even less, perhaps beyond the budget of the average steelworker's family,

And no pumpkin pie!

Joseph Spagnolo Fruits and Vegetables circa 1920

Joe Spagnolo & Co.
501 Merchant St.
circa 1920s
courtesy Beaver County Historical Research and Landmarks Foundation

The only information identifying the photo above that I found in the Beaver County Historical Research and Landmarks Foundation's archives was "Joe Spagnolo, 501 Merchant." I'd love to know who the three people in the photo are.

Joe Spagolo & Co. ad
Economy of Old and Ambridge of Today
1924

Joe Spagnolo was in business for many years, but he didn't start his fruit and vegetable business at 501 Merchant St., and he didn't end up there either. Like many early Ambridge merchants, he moved his business several times.

I don't know where Spagnolo's business was located in 1903, or over a decade after that. The earliest address I could connect to a date was 514 Merchant, published in the Telephone Directory of the Central District Telephone Co., Jan. 10, 1914.

However, in 1914, 514 Merchant was an address on the west side of Merchant. In 1917, building numbers on Merchant were changed, with the odd and even numbers switching sides of the street. After that, buildings on the west side of Merchant had odd numbers. The building that had been numbered 514 Merchant became 523 Merchant.

By the 1920s, Spagnolo had moved his business to 501 Merchant. The 1922 Beaver County Mercantile Appraiser's List shows his business there.

Joe Spagnolo & Co. ad
St. Stanislaus Church dedication book
1928
Good Samaritan Church archives

In the 1930s, Spagnolo had moved again, to 659 Merchant St.

Joe Spagnolo Company ad
United Polish Societies commemorative book
1930
Good Samaritan Church Archives

By 1949, Spagnolo was again at a different location, 4th and Maplewood. Does anyone know which corner?

J. Spagnolo & Co. Fruit Market ad
"Minstrel Varieties" program
Ushers Club of St. Veronica's Church
1949
Good Samaritan Church archives

The 4th and Maplewood address for Spagnolo's fruit market is the last I have found. I don't know if the market moved again, or closed. If anyone can provide that information, please let me know.

People who grew up in Ambridge in the 1940s - 70s, may remember 501 Merchant as the location of the Penn Sweet Shop.

Easter 1958, below Crestview Village hill

This photo, taken on Easter 1958, belongs to my mom, Agatha Bohinsky. It was taken in the backyard of 1522 Beaver Rd.

Nancy, Kathy, and Paula Bohinsky
Easter
April 6, 1958
courtesy Agatha Bohinsky

I remember hunting for the eggs we'd decorated the day before on Easter morning, and later eating a breakfast with the food Father Rostas had blessed the day before at Divine Redeemer Church. The blessed food would have included homemade sweet bread and nutroll, kolbasi, decorated eggs, horseradish, salt, and butter. My mom would press the butter into a fancy little glass bowl, then use a knife to decorate the top; the center was always a cross.

And, of course, we always went to mass.

When we were old enough to take communion at church, because of Catholic rules about fasting before communion, breakfast would have to wait until after we got home from mass.

Then finally, we'd bite the ears off the chocolate bunnies which filled our Easter baskets, along with foil covered chocolate eggs, molded popcorn bunnies or eggs, plus a few Easter-related toys.


What's that building on the hill?

The building on top of the hill behind our house in the photo above is one of the Crestview Village buildings. The hill looks pretty much how I remember the hill below Crestview when I was growing up: eroded, rutted, hard brown dirt; a few huge boulders; a few scattered blackberry and jagger bushes; and some grassy sort of plants.

People who lived below the hill would often burn their trash in a large horizontal depression just beyond the alley that ran behind our yards; I set some of the dried grass on fire a few times while performing my chore of "watching" our trash fire burn.

I am amazed at how nature has taken back that hill, slowly over many years. This is what it now looks like before leaves block the view of the hill from the alley behind Beaver Rd.

Crestview Village building
looking East from 1522 Beaver Rd.
April 15, 2016
credit: Nancy Knisley

Romano's Market

You could smell Salvatore (Sam) Romano's market before you saw it, especially when the weather was warm and the door was open, as the odors wafted along Merchant St.

Romano's, which opened circa 1940, specialized in imported food, most prominently Italian and Greek, but you could find ethnic foods eaten by just about every nationality group in Ambridge. And if Sam didn't have the item or ingredient you wanted, he'd try to get it for you.

Sam Romano in Romano's Market
703 Merchant St.
Beaver Valley Times
February 13, 1954

Times caption:

'I CAN GET IT FOR YOU' -- That's the slogan of Salvatore (Sam) Romano, proprietor of Romano's Market in Merchant Street, Ambridge, where foods from all points of the globe can be purchased. The slogan explains how. Romano's Market grew from a small grocery [to] its present eminence and unique status as a food store catering to patrons of practically every nationality.

I wish I had a photo of Romano's storefront, with its baskets and open barrels of food piled high on the sidewalk, and the entryway hung with strings of garlic and dried mushrooms, and ropes of sausages. And always, the source of the most dominant and unforgettable odor, dried cod (baccala). Most fascinating to me as a child were the barrels of large live snails which I'd watch crawling over damp straw.

Sam Romano at Romano's Market
Beaver County Times
July 3, 1964

Times caption:

SUCCESS STORY -- Ambridge food store owner Samuel Romano dips into a barrel of olives outside his Merchant Street store. Romano, who came to America from Sicily over 50 years ago, has kept his tiny specialty market virtually unchanged in the 24 years he has operated it. He has met successfully the challenge of the larger, self-service supermarket chains.

Exotic aromas emanated from inside the store too: the pungent smell of ripe cheeses; the spicy smell of salami, pepperoni, and other dried sausages; a heady mixture of a variety of herbs.

Need some preserved eels? You could get them at Romano's. Have a yen for some pickled pigs feet? Romano's had those too. Back in the day, you usually couldn't buy feta cheese in the chain groceries. But you could get it at Romano's. And long before olive bars appeared in some chain supermarkets, you could find an astonishing selection of varieties of olives at Romano's.

My mom bought her first pizzelle iron from Romano's.

According to the 1954 Beaver Valley Times article, Romano started in the produce business in Braddock. Then he and a relative opened a small food store on 4th St. in Ambridge before Romano moved to his 703 Merchant St. location two years later. Over the years, Romano's went by a number of variations of its name: Romano's Market, Romano's Foreign and Domestic Food Store, Romano's International Market, but the variety of the merchandise --and the odors--remained the same.

Romano's Foreign and Domestic Food Store ad
Beaver Valley Times
February 13, 1954

Sam Romano died suddenly in November 1973. Ni's Wok Chinese Food Carryout is the current business at 703 Merchant St.

Ni's Wok
703 Merchant St.
June 23, 2013
credit: Nancy Knisley

Ambridge memorabilia: the "meat man" and his bus

I am especially fond of today's Ambridge memorabilia item for several reasons, including the fact that I first saw it during one of my earliest visits with Bob Mikush to talk about Ambridge history.

Bob started showing me some of his Ambridge memorabilia, and when he brought this out, the following conversation ensued:

Bob: Bet you don't know what this is.

Me: It's the meat man's bus!

Bob: How old are you?!

Which made me laugh. Old enough to remember the meat man's bus which had made quite an impression on me when I was pretty young.

Mobile Meat Market ashtray
circa 1940s - early '50s
owned by Bob Mikush

When I was growing up in Ambridge in the 1950s, residents didn't always need to go to the store to buy fresh food items, sometimes they came to you, if not to your door, then at least to the curb on your block, via a variety of trucks. Having sellers regularly come to your block made life easier at a time when most families had only one car which the wage-earner took to work--if the family owned a car at all.

Among the people who regularly brought food to our house or block, I remember the United Dairy milkman, the "egg lady," Gutowski's bakery, plus the huckster who sold fruit and vegetables. And the "meat man."

While milkmen weren't uncommon in that era, a butcher on a bus was. In my house, he was known as "the meat man."

One of the other reasons I was so excited when Bob showed me the "Mobile Meat Market" ashtray was because virtually no one I'd talked to about growing up in Ambridge in the 1950s remembered the meat man's bus, even older neighbors. When I mentioned my memories of the meat man's bus, most people were either skeptical, or they outright scoffed.

Yet my memories of going onto the meat man's bus with my grandmother seemed genuine, especially memories of the interior: the bus smelling of raw meat; a wooden chopping block; cleavers and knives hanging from hooks; meat being brought out from a refrigerator; and sawdust covering the floor to sop up blood. All I really remember about the meat man himself was that he wore a white apron that was stained with blood. I also have a vague memory of the meat man sometimes having a helper on the bus working with him.

I remember going for a Sunday drive with my family--remember those?--up Glenwood Ave. towards Ridge Rd. and driving past a house with the meat man's bus parked on the side. I was so thrilled! Wow, that must be the meat man's house! To me, the meat man was a celebrity.

Weird the things that stick with you 60 years later.

When Bob showed me the Mobile Meat Market ashtray, I felt vindicated. I had proof the meat man and his bus once existed.

More recently, I came across this ad in the Holy Trinity R. C. Croatian Church dedication program from 1950:

Mobile Meat Market ad
Holy Trinity R. C. Croatian Church dedication program
December 17, 1950

Group photo: Girl Scout Day Camp 1964

I remember going to Girl Scout Day Camp at Economy Park in the 1960s:

Getting on a school bus with other Girl Scouts and leaders for the trip to and from the park and singing Girl Scout favorites: "There was a farmer who had a horse and Bingo was his name-o," "We are the pioneers, jolly old pioneers," "Great big gobs of greasy grimy gopher's guts."

And at camp: doing crafts; hiking; cooking Girl Scout recipes (I still have the one for no-bake cookies!) for lunch over a fire with wood we'd collected; sleeping overnight in the barn.

Girl Scout Day Campers
Economy Park
Beaver County Times
June 26, 1964

Times caption:

Soup's on -- Rosemary Matzzie of Ambridge, left, a senior aide at the Cheba District Girl Scout Day Camp at Economy Park, demonstrates the art of outdoor cooking to a group of scouts. In foreground with her are Marcia Darno, center, and Susan Musgrave, both Brownie Scouts from Economy.

Group photo: Divine Redeemer booth, Nationality Days 1966

The first Ambridge Nationality Days was in April 1966. The photo below belonged to the late Eddie Dzubak, Sr. His daughter, Lesabeth Trzcianka, says she believes the photo was taken during that first festival.

left to right in booth: Pat Halicek, Marie Dzubak, Virginia Ochman, Dorothy Roman
Divine Redeemer Church booth
600 block of Merchant St.
Nationality Days
April 1966?
courtesy of Lesabeth Trzcianka and Eddie Dzubak, Jr.

On the left side of Merchant St. you can see Perlman Jewelers, 609 Merchant St.; a business with a sign that looks like it says "Gil's" which I don't remember at all; Lee's Shoppe, 619 Merchant, which sold women's clothing; and Sun Drugs, 625 Merchant.

On the right side, you can make out a bit of the sign of Dr. Alter Steinberg's optometrist office, 608 Merchant; Krauss Jewelers, 610 Merchant; the white building to the left of Krauss was Timney's Appliances, 612 Merchant; and on the left of Timney's was the old Prince Theatre building.

Last year's 50th Annual Nationality Days probably was the last one to be held. There are no plans to hold one this year or in the future. I haven't been to Nationality Days for many years, but I heard it just wasn't the same now that there are fewer ethnic churches to staff the booths and make the food sold at them, fewer ethnic organizations to provide entertainment, and fewer businesses to help support the Chamber of Commerce which sponsored the event.

If you want to read more about Nationality Days:

The debut of Nationality Days, Part 1, May 14, 2014

The debut of Nationality Days, Part 2, May 15, 2014

Nationality Days 1983, May 15, 2015

Aloe's Market and Frank's Pizzeria

Aloe's Market, 802 Duss Ave., owned by the late Salvatore and Giuseppina Aloe, was one of the many small markets that once could be found throughout Ambridge. The market sold fruit, vegetables, and groceries, specializing in Italian products. According to Salvatore and Giuseppina's grandson, Bobby Aloe, Aloe's Market was open from about 1945 through 1955.

Aloe's Market business card
circa 1945-55

The handsome couple standing in front of the market in the photo below are Costanza and Frank Aloe, the daughter-in-law and son of Salvatore and Giuseppina.

Costanza and Frank Aloe
Aloe's Market
802 Duss Ave.
circa 1950
photo courtesy of Bobby Aloe

According to Bobby Aloe, before coming to the U.S., Salvatore, his brother, and Frank were fishermen in Italy. After immigrating to the U.S., Salvatore and Frank worked in New York, operating a push-cart selling produce. From there they came to Ambridge, worked at Pressed Steel in McKees Rocks, and then for A. M. Byers in Harmony Township.

While Salvatore and Giuseppina owned the market, Frank often worked there.

Frank Aloe behind the counter of Aloe's Market
circa 1950
photo courtesy of Bobby Aloe 

Between strikes and layoffs, mill employment was unstable in the mid-1950s, so Frank decided to open his own business. Since he had been a fisherman in Italy, he opened a fish market in a storefront on the lower level of his home at 618 Duss Ave.

When the fish market turned out to be less profitable than Frank had hoped, he opened an Italian pastry shop in the same location. That too failed. And then came business #3.

In 1958, at a time when most pizza was made at home, Frank saw an ad placed by a New York pizza equipment company in an Italian newspaper, offering pizza-making training and equipment for $600. Frank went to New York, took the training, and used the equipment in his new business, Frank's Pizzeria. That business, and its cheese-under-the-sauce pizza, was a success. And how! After almost 60 years, the phone at Frank's rings almost constantly during business hours, and lines of people picking up pizzas can be long.

Frank Aloe tossing pizza
photo courtesy of  Frank's Pizzeria

Frank's Pizza became a family business, operated by Frank and Costanza, with children and grandchildren helping out.

"Bob and Sal Aloe check pizza orders."
Beaver County Times
December 26, 1988

Despite its success, and fame beyond the Ambridge area (so much so that Frank's offers "Pizza Packed for Travel"), Frank's never expanded beyond its original Ambridge location, and the only item on its menu besides pizzas and toppings are calzones--a perfect example of a business that does one thing and does it very well.

Frank died in May 2010 after a short illness. Bobby and his brother Sal now run the business.

802 Duss Ave.
May 2, 2015

Frank's Pizzeria
618 Duss Ave.
March 22, 2014

Group photo: Women's Christian Circle 1913

Women's Christian Circle
Ambridge Methodist Episcopal Church
at Heinz plant
Sept. 16, 1913
courtesy of Beaver County Genealogy and History Center

Caption on the photo:

Womens (sic) Christian Circle. Ambridge M. E. Church Visit at Home of Heinz 57 Varieties, Pgh, Pa. Sept. 16, 1913.

And, yes, Heinz was giving out pickle pins back in 1913.  H. J. Heinz created them to draw attention to his display booth at the 1893 Chicago World's Fair. I wonder if any pins that may have been given to the women and children in the photo are still around. Alas, the once very popular Heinz factory tours were discontinued in 1972.

The Methodist Episcopal Church was the forerunner of the First United Methodist Church of Ambridge, 7th St. and Maplewood Ave. The M. E. Church once was located at 6th St. and Melrose Ave., but was sold in 1906 to Ss. Peter and Paul Ukrainian Catholic Church and later razed to build the Ss. Peter and Paul Church that is still standing. That M. E. church was the first church to be built in the new borough of Ambridge. You can see a photo of that early church in my February 21, 2015, blog post, "Sixth Street and Melrose Avenue, 1904."

Ambridge once had a Heinz vinegar plant, located between Sherman and 11th Sts., behind what is now the Trinity School for Ministry, and before the school, an A & P. Later, the Heinz building became a company warehouse that the April 28, 1931, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported was "destroyed" in a fire. Some of the warehouse must have survived because you can see at least a part of it in post-1931 photos, like the photo in my May 25, 2014, blog post, "A Memorial Day past." Whatever part of the Heinz building remained was destroyed in the March 14, 1985, Larstone Corrugated Carton Co. fire.

I don't know who any of the women and children in the photo are. If you recognize someone, please let me know. As always, you can enlarge the photo by clicking on it if you're on a computer, or tapping on it if you are using a mobile device.

Sudia Meats

This photo of the Sudia Meats market, one of many small food markets that once could be found throughout Ambridge, came from his granddaughter, Maureen Krupa.

Matthew Juricich at Frank Sudia Meats
300 First St.
pre-1930s?
photo courtesy Maureen Krupa
used with permission

Maureen says that the dapper man standing in front on the market was her uncle, Matthew Juricich. The identities of the children are unknown.

According to Maureen, Frank Sudia came to the U.S. with no money and unable to speak English, yet put three sons through college. He lost his business during the 1930s Great Depression because he had extended credit to his regular customers so they could feed their children.

From the sign at the top of the market's left window, you'll see that it offered "City Dressed Meats." As I understand it, that term was used by markets in the Eastern U.S. to refer to meat that had been locally slaughtered and butchered, and not shipped from the large meatpacking houses that had been created in the Midwestern states.

The entire First St. neighborhood was razed for redevelopment in the early 1970s.

Ambridge memorabilia: Mister Softee wooden nickel

Here's a Mister Softee wooden nickel. Mister Softee was a brand of frozen custard sold by trucks in Ambridge neighborhoods, usually in cones, I believe beginning in the 1960s. I was always so excited when my mom would let me buy a cone. Mmmm, chocolate.

I don't know when these nickels were distributed.

Mister Softee wooden nickel
owned by Bob Mikush

Nationality Days 1983

The Ambridge Area Chamber of Commerce's three-day 50th Annual Nationality Days Festival started today, not on Merchant Street in Ambridge as it did for 49 years, but on Duss Avenue in Harmony Township. So this seems like a good time to take a look back at a past festival. Let's do 1983--since I have photos of that year's event.

A "new and improved" Nationality Days debuted Thursday, May 12 through Saturday May 14, 1983. Among the 18th annual festival's "new" features was a new name, "Nationality Arts Festival." In additional to the traditional ethnic food and entertainment, the event added musical, theatrical, and dance performances, plus artists and craftsmen who offered demonstrations as well as items for sale. The festival site on Merchant St. ran from 4th St. to 8th St.

Here's the entertainment lineup listed in the May 8, 1983, Beaver County Times:

Nationality Arts Festival's list of scheduled events
Beaver County Times, May 8, 1983

Racers in the Nationality Arts Festival Classic 10-K on Saturday ran from Northern Lights to Merchant Street via Route 65. Just enough of a distance to work off a few calories from the highlight of every year's festival--the food.

Despite the new arts and crafts, really, the event was, as usual, about the food.

18th Annual Nationality Arts Festival
Merchant Street
May 1983
Laughlin Memorial Library archives
used with permission

18th Annual Nationality Arts Festival
Merchant Street
May 1983
Laughlin Memorial Library archives
used with permission

18th Annual Nationality Arts Festival
Merchant Street
May 1983
Laughlin Memorial Library archives
used with permission

18th Annual Nationality Arts Festival
Merchant Street
May 1983
Laughlin Memorial Library archives
used with permission

18th Annual Nationality Arts Festival
Merchant Street
May 1983
Laughlin Memorial Library archives
used with permission

18th Annual Nationality Arts Festival
Merchant Street
May 1983
Laughlin Memorial Library archives
used with permission

The May 16 Beaver County Times reported on the sales of some of the ethnic food booths:

• Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox: 3,800 pounds of gyro and 1,200 pounds of shish kabob;
• Christ the King: 3,500 Italian meatballs on 1,750 sandwiches, 400 pounds of hot sausage, 400 pounds of shells, and 600 calzones;
• St. Vladimir Ukrainian Church: 44,500 pirogi, 3,744 stuffed cabbages, 100 nutrolls, and enough haluski to use 350 pounds of cabbage;
• Holy Trinity Catholic: 3,600 stuffed cabbages, 350 pounds of kolbassi, 1,400 apple strudel strips, 440 dozen donuts, and used 250 pounds of noodles for cabbage and noodles;
• Scottish White Heather band: 400 pounds of fish and a half ton of potatoes for fish and chips, plus 500 meat pies.

Not listed on the Times' events schedule was the women's body building contest featuring young women who obviously did not partake much at the food booths. Cultural diversity event? Art? Craft?

None of the women are identified in these photos from the Laughlin Memorial Library's Bowan Collection. Are you in the photo? Or do you perhaps recognize your mother? Or your grandmother?

Women's body building contest
18th Annual Nationality Arts Festival
Merchant Street
May 1983
Laughlin Memorial Library archives
used with permission

Women's body building contest
18th Annual Nationality Arts Festival
Merchant Street
May 1983
Laughlin Memorial Library archives
used with permission

Women's body building contest
18th Annual Nationality Arts Festival
Merchant Street
May 1983
Laughlin Memorial Library archives
used with permission

Women's body building contest
18th Annual Nationality Arts Festival
Merchant Street
May 1983
Laughlin Memorial Library archives
used with permission

Women's body building contest
18th Annual Nationality Arts Festival
Merchant Street
May 1983
Laughlin Memorial Library archives
used with permission

If you'd like to read about 1966's first Nationality Days Festival, I wrote about it on May 14 and May 15, 2014.

700 block of Merchant Street mid-1940s

700 block Merchant Street, looking south
circa mid-1940s
National Electric "Nationalist" newsletter?

Original caption: "This is Merchant Street--the Fifth Avenue of Ambridge--along which are located many of the retail establishments."

You can enlarge the photo by clicking on it to see the details better.

Note the trolley tracks.

The above photo was published in what appears to be a newsletter, perhaps National Electric's "Nationalist." It came from the late Louis Vukovcan's collection with no accessible identifying information--other clippings are pasted on top of some areas and the back is glued down.

This is primarily the 700 block of Merchant Street looking south, but you can see some of the 600 block too.

On the left is the Ambridge Theatre, 714 Merchant Street, showing Torrid Zone (1940) and The Great Flamarion (1945) which helps to date the photo. The theater was razed in 1965 to make room for a new Pittsburgh National Bank. The current driveway on the north side of Huntington Bank is approximately where the Ambridge Theatre once stood.

At the corner of Seventh Street, there's a "Drugs" sign, but I am not sure what drug store occupied that building in the 1940s.

On the right, the first building is the State Theatre, 749 Merchant Street, razed in 1959 and replaced by a parking lot. At the time, it was hard to find a parking space on or near Merchant Street. It remains a parking lot.

Next to the State is a building with a "Peter Pan" sign. Does anyone know anything about that building? A Peter Pan Cleaners was once at 431 Merchant Street, but I don't know anything about a Peter Pan in the 700 block.

The next clearly visible sign is the huge vertical Sears sign at 653-655 Merchant Street. Sears closed that store in 1963 a week before it opened its new store in Northern Lights. The last time I was in Ambridge the building was empty.

I don't see any other signs I can identify. But I know one store was there: Romano's market at 703 Merchant Street, opened around 1942. Romano's, which carried a variety imported foods, primarily from Italy and Greece, didn't even need a sign. Shoppers could find it by the smells emanating from it: dried fish, garlic, sausages, cheese, and a host of other tasty, but smelly, foods.

If you know what other businesses were in the 700 block of Merchant Street in the mid-to-late 1940s, please leave a comment.

Stangl's Bakery

Stangl's Bakery
1210 Merchant Street
1950s-60s?
photo courtesy of Lorianne Stangl Burgess
used with permission

The photo above is how I remember Stangl's Bakery when I was growing up. And when I think of that Stangl's, which stood at the corner of Wagner and Merchant Streets for over 80 years, I immediately remember the donuts--plump, delicious, raised donuts covered with fine granulated sugar. I also remember huge flaky ladylocks and custard-filled cream puffs. And finally, the bulk candy--the nonpareils and Michigan Cherries were my favorites.

The original Stangl's Bakery, a business started by Paul Stangl, Sr. in 1920 at the corner of Wagner and Merchant Sts. (1210 Merchant St.) is gone, but a new Stangl's has been opened by his great-granddaughter, Lorianne Stangl Burgess, at the location of what was once a Stangl's outlet store, 572 Merchant St. in Ambridge.

[Update Aug. 8, 2018: you can see a photo of the exterior of the 1920 Stangl Baking Co. here.]

Lorianne shared some wonderful vintage photos with me and allowed me to post them here.

Stangl's Bakery
Wagner and Merchant Streets
1920
photo courtesy of Lorianne Stangl Burgess
used with permission

Stangl Baking Co. Nu-Bread ad
Ambridge News-Herald
June 24, 1927

Stangl's Bakery
1930s?
photo courtesy of Lorianne Stangl Burgess
used with permission

Stangl's Bakery
Wagner and Merchant Streets
late 1930s
photo courtesy of Lorianne Stangl Burgess
used with permission

Stangl's Bakery employees
Wagner and Merchant streets
late 1930s
photo courtesy of Lorianne Stangl Burgess
used with permission

In 1930, Paul Stangl, Sr.'s son, Paul Stangl, Jr., and his wife opened a Stangl's store at 528 Merchant Street. Although the store sold baked goods, it originally was intended to be more of a lunchroom than a bakery. Stangl's remained in that location until 1954 when Paul Stangl, Jr. moved his store to 572 Merchant Street.

Paul Jr. took over the Stangl's name in the late 30's when Paul Sr. died and merged the two companies into Stangl's Bakery. He moved his family from living above 528 merchant to living above the 1210 Merchant bakery in 1945.

Stangl's
528 Merchant Street
circa 1939
photo courtesy of Lorianne Stangl Burgess
used with permission

For many years, the clerks always dressed in white including white caps and shoes. In the photo below, three clerks stand in front of the 528 Merchant Street store. Behind them is Star Markets at 530 Merchant Street and Ambridge Hardware, 536 Merchant.

Stangl's clerks
528 Merchant Street
late 1930s - early 1940s?
photo courtesy of Lorianne Stangl Burgess
used with permission.

By the mid-1930s, Stangl's had a third store, at 1813 Duss Avenue.

Stangl's Baked Products store
1813 Duss Avenue
late 1930s?
photo courtesy of Lorianne Stangl Burgess
used with permission

Stangl's owned a fleet of trucks that delivered baked goods to grocery stores and homes. The 1938 truck below reminds me a bit of Star Wars storm trooper helmets. I don't know if the more conventional looking trucks in the second photo came before or after 1938.

Stangl's delivery truck
1938
photo courtesy of Lorianne Stangl Burgess
used with permission

Stangl's delivery trucks
date unknown
photo courtesy of Lorianne Stangl Burgess
used with permission

Paula Stangl, Lorianne's mother, says that bread was a big seller for Stangl's. She remembers sales offering six or eight loaves for $1.00. Another promotion was "buy a pound of ham, get the bread free."

Stangl's Super Twist bread
1947
photo courtesy of Lorianne Stangl Burgess
used with permission

In 1949 the Wagner and Merchant Street building was enlarged.

Stangl's Bakery addition
Wagner and Merchant streets
September 3, 1949
photo courtesy of Lorianne Stangl Burgess
used with permission

Lorianne says that the Stangl's truck below, pulling out from Wagner Street onto Merchant, was driven by her Aunt Connie, one of Paul Stangl, Jr.'s daughters. Across the street are Slavik's Market, one of the many neighborhood mom-and-pop groceries once found throughout Ambridge, 1221 Merchant, and Robert S. Stewart Hardware, 1229 Merchant. I don't know what bar was on the corner in 1955, do you? If so, please leave a comment.

Stangl's Bakery truck
Wagner and Merchant Streets
1955
photo courtesy of Lorianne Stangl Burgess
used with permission

Stangl's Easter candy
date unknown
photo courtesy of Lorianne Stangl Burgess
used with permission

"All Butter Coffee Cake"
Stangl's store display
date unknown
photo courtesy of Lorianne Stangl Burgess
used with permission

Stangl's Bakery ad
The Daily Citizen Trade Area Directory
1956

In 1966 Stangl's had eight locations including three on Merchant Street. I don't know when most of the locations opened or closed. In the 1970s, Stangl's also had a store in Northern Lights.

Stangl's ad
Beaver County Times
February 28, 1966

According to a July 11, 1970 article in the Pittsburgh Press, Paul Stangl, Jr. began to talk in the early 1960s about redeveloping the business area near the Old Economy historic district. Stangl didn't live to see his idea come to fruition, but the early 1970s saw an effort to restore and revitalize the Merchant Street area near the bakery. Stangl's was given a new facade and became Stangl's Old Economy Village Bakery & Candy Kitchen. Lorianne says that store was closed in 2004.

Stangl's Old Economy Village Bakery & Candy Kitchen
mid-1970s
photo courtesy of Lorianne Stangl Burgess
used with permission

In 2009 Lorianne Stangl reopened the Stangl's at 572 Merchant Street which had closed in the late 1970s. She has attempted not to just renovate, but to restore the vintage look of the store by using many of the original counters, cash registers, and equipment. While Lorianne also uses original Stangl's recipes, some things have changed. While Paula Stangl says the bakery once offered only three kinds of donuts--sugar, glazed, and jelly-filled--the bakery now offers such a big variety, I had trouble trying to decide what to buy. No decision was needed when I bought some ladylocks. Still huge, still delicious.

Stangl's ladylocks
March 24, 2014
credit: Nancy Knisley

Lorianne says that one of her favorite memories growing up was watching her mother decorate cakes. Since Paula Stangl is no longer able to do the cake-decorating because of arthritis, Lorianne has taken over the job and is quite the cake artist.

The bakery also offers a variety of what used to be "penny candy." Alas, the candy is no longer a penny apiece, and Michigan Cherries are no longer made.