Soup Sega

The Bulgarian-Macedonian Center in West Homestead continues its Soup Sega program.

Fourteen varieties of soup are available for purchase from 9 a.m. to noon each Saturday through May.

Visit www.bmnecc.org or call 412-461-6188.

Soup Sega

The Bulgarian Macedonian National Educational and Cultural Center, 449/451 W. Eighth Ave., has resumed its 10th season of Soup Sega!

The center offers 14 varieties of gourmet Bulgarian soups, including vegetarian, plus other food, from 9 a.m. to noon Saturdays.

For ordering information, visit www.bmnecc.org or call 412-461-6188.

100 Homes Impacted By Gas Line Outage In West Homestead And Munhall

WPXI
January 7, 2009

Dozens of people are without gas in Munhall and West Homestead after a water entered the main line Wednesday night.

Equitable Gas said it is working on repairs.

Once the problem is fixed, crews will go door to door to relight furnaces.Equitable said 100 homes along several streets are impacted by the outage, including Morgan's Lane, Creekside Drive, Vivjon Drive, Schauffler Drive and West Run Road.

Equitable does not know how long it will take to complete repairs.

An emergency shelter has been set up at 1900 West St. at the Munhall Community Boro Room

West Homestead Light Up Night

Light up Night will be on Friday, December 5th at the Municipal Building.

Festivities begin at 7:15 pm. Light up will be at 7:30 pm.

Come and join us in Celebrating the Holiday Season

Carols - Hot Chocolate - Cookies

And, of course, Santa Claus!

WHVFD Lottery Calendars

The West Homestead Volunteer Fire Department is selling 2009 Lottery Calendars for $25.00. If you would like to purchase a calendar, please call 412-461-4799 and leave a message on the answering machine.

The West Homestead Fire Department is also selling Entertainment Books for $20.00. They are available at the West Homestead Borough Office.

West Homestead embraces industrial heritage

By Mary Ann Thomas
FOR THE TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Sunday, November 16, 2008

When West Homestead Mayor John Dindak surveys the Waterfront complex, teeming with shops, movie theaters and waterslides, he remembers that this is where he lived, where he worked and where he lost almost everything.

Many of the landmarks of Dindak's life mirror the town where he has been mayor for 37 years.

As visitors continue to flock to the Waterfront, which sprawls over hundreds of acres in parts of West Homestead, Homestead and Munhall, other intrepid souls are sampling the towns' ethnic and industrial roots.

The Bulgarian Macedonian National Educational and Cultural Center on West Eighth Street in West Homestead and the Carnegie Library Music Hall of Homestead in nearby Munhall have survived amid shuttered mills and lost jobs.

Local businesses that are not part of the Waterfront continue to vie for visibility, hoping to attract patrons from the thousands of motorists passing through town most days.

West Homestead is a town where Victoria's Secret is followed by Vernon's Welding in the business directory.

Industrial history

An icon of industrial might, U.S. Steel's Homestead Works was one of the largest mills in the country, blanketing a large swath of shoreline along the Monongahela River.

When the steel industry prospered, West Homestead, which sits between Homestead and Munhall, bustled with stores, bars, churches and mansions on the hill overlooking smokestacks and thousands of workers.

The borough of West Homestead grew up at one end of the Homestead Works steel plant, which began operation in 1881 and was sold to Carnegie Steel in 1883, and Mesta Machines, which set up shop nearby in 1898 to produce machines for steel-making. The town was incorporated in 1901, the same year that Carnegie Steel was sold to U.S. Steel.

Employing thousands of immigrant workers, the steel industry became a hotbed of labor unrest and ill-fated attempts for better wages and safer conditions at the turn of the century. The town became famous for the 1892 Battle of Homestead, during which some workers lost their jobs and their lives.

When workers turned down a wage offer from mill management, they were locked out, and the mill brought in hired guns via barge from the Pinkerton Detective Agency to settle the dispute. Combat ensued for several hours, and the workers managed to contain the Pinkertons, who eventually surrendered on the barge.

But the governor sent in the National Guard, which met no resistance. And the mill started hiring workers to replace the regular employees.

The Homestead Works, along with the Edgar Thomson Works across the river in Braddock, the Clairton Works and other mills made U.S. Steel the largest steel manufacturer in the world. In its heyday, the Homestead Works employed more than 10,000; Mesta, more than 4,000.

Russian leader Nikita Khrushchev visited Mesta Machines to witness the region's industrial might during his 1959 visit to the United States.

And England's Prince Charles dropped by in 1988 to view the ruins.

Steel collapse

When the steel industry collapsed during the 1980s, and more than 5,000 workers, including Dindak, lost their jobs, an exodus followed. The Homestead Works closed in 1986. And companies that sprouted up next to the mill, such as Mesta, also died.

So few stayed behind that Dindak had to shut down Little League.

"Everybody left, and there weren't enough kids to play," he says.

When Dindak visits The Waterfront, he remembers where he worked for several decades with U.S. Steel.

"I was heartbroken for a while," he said. "We lost everything: our homes, our jobs, our people. I was only 56 years old when they threw me out. I was able to get a little pension and benefits. It was pretty devastating with four kids. But we survived, ate a lot of jumbo and potatoes.

"I don't know how we survived. We became a ghost town" Dindak says.

The town was so broke that, in 1984, Dindak persuaded public workers and others to pitch in $2 a week to play the Pennsylvania Lottery.

The borough employees said that they didn't want raises, Dindak says. They wanted to keep their jobs. Roads and equipment were deteriorating.

That act of desperation attracted the national media, which portrayed the borough as a despondent town with no jobs, money or sophistication -- just Pittsburgh accents.

"I bet I got 1,000 letters from people around the country with money to play the lottery," Dindak says.

The town didn't hit the jackpot, but it came close. At the end of the gambit, the borough ended up about $700 ahead, he said.

Even in its poverty, the town roared.

And a developer listened.

Redevelopment success

Had someone said the word "waterfront" two decades ago, few people would have thought of West Homestead.

With industry hogging the riverfront, nobody noticed the scenery. Companies that went out of business left behind deteriorating buildings and, often, chemical contamination.

Saddled with an impossibly large industrial plot of several hundred acres, the municipalities that shared it saw the potential to grow a tax base.

In 1988, Cleveland-based Park Corp. bought Mesta Machines through bankruptcy, then bought the U.S. Steel property.

"(Owner) Ray Park told me that he was going to develop the land for a developer, and he leveled everything," Dindak remembers.

Park sold the land to Columbus-based developer Continental Real Estate.

"Frank Kass, the chairman of Continental, was a great guy. He used to come in on a helicopter every two weeks. We'd get a pitcher of cold beer at a local bar and talk. This guy had a vision.

"Without Continental and Frank Kass, we would not be where we are at today," Dindak says. "You wouldn't believe the problems we had with the three boroughs; they all had different ordinances, different building codes, etc."

The first stores at the Waterfront opened in 1999. The complex has continued to expand since.

It was happenstance that the Waterfront retained its signature row of red-brick smokestacks.

According to Dindak, Kass was in the process of tearing them down when the producer of the Hollywood film "Jimmy Hoffa" requested that they remain standing.

"Right after, Kass said, 'Why not dress them up and leave them up.' "

Kass refurbished the stacks, which stand like sentries at the Waterfront entrance, proudly displaying the area's industrial heritage.

The other West Homestead

People no long flee West Homestead's main drag, Eighth Avenue. They make it a destination.

A recent PennDOT survey tracked 30,000 vehicles a day motoring from the Homestead Grays Bridge to the Glenwood Bridge in Hazelwood.

"I don't complain about traffic," Dindak says.

The town's small businesses include family-owned stores, such as K&E Automotive, that have been around for decades, according to John Karafa Jr. of West Homestead and president of Steel Valley Chamber of Commerce.

Me Lyng restaurant, a print shop, a hardware store and other small businesses offer a mix of goods and services away from the big-box stores.

"But you've got some dilapidated storefronts on Eighth Avenue," Karafa says. "Something doesn't work out, and it gets boarded up."

Given the draw of the Waterfront, Karafa doesn't think it's unreasonable to hope for revitalization reminiscent of the South Side along Eighth Avenue.

"There needs to be more planning," he says. "The businesses, local and county politicians, police and fire departments all have to be on the same page to help the business people."

The Rivers of Steel heritage group in Homestead has been offering sold-out tours of the area as part of the "Babushkas and Hard Hats" tour, which are scheduled to resume in the spring.

Jan Dofner, director of communications at Rivers of Steel, describes West Homestead and its Mon Valley neighbors as "a phoenix rising from the ashes."

The watchword is "location" for riverfront sites like West Homestead.

"There's a reason these mills took that land," she says. "They are located on prime flat land along the river."

One of the stops on the tour is an old ethnic club called the Bulgarian Macedonian National Educational and Cultural Center, which offers a history lesson about the town's immigrant past and an authentic Bulgarian lunch featuring two soups, Bulgarian bread, yogurt, feta cheese, a salad and apple strudel.

With its ethnic dances, Soup Sega featuring 15 homemade soups available on Saturdays, and weekend events such as salsa and Cajun dancing, the club is revitalized, according to president Pat French, 78, a West Homestead native and Mt. Lebanon resident.

This year, the club has attracted abut 4,000 visitors from 42 states and 15 countries, she says.

And Dofner credits the Bulgarian club for being a beacon of cultural preservation.

"They're an incredible model for heritage development," she says.

"The Bulgarian club is entrepreneurial," Dofner says. "They walk the tightrope between staying authentic and marketing themselves commercially."

"We like to talk about the Bulgarians and other immigrants from this area such as the Slovaks, Hungarians, Croatians. We all spoke different languages," French says.

Consequently, they all had different clubs.

The Bulgarian club survived because it opened its doors to other ethnic groups, French says.

"Back then, there were a lot of long young people who wanted to dance with us, and they weren't Bulgarian, so we opened up our membership."

The club still has an active dance group.

French's nephew, Nick Jordanoff, 44, a borough native and a former dance instructor at the club, uses the kitchen as a base for his catering business, Hazelnut Catering.

He recently whipped up salmon filets with caramelized onions and fresh spinach with a caper, lemon and dill mayonnaise, all topped with Swiss cheese, to please the palates of Grateful Dead alum Bob Weir and his band Rat Dog, who performed Nov. 1 at the Carnegie Library Music Hall of Homestead.

"I spent my entire life in this place," say Jordanoff, a Robinson resident and former owner of the Old Europe Restaurant in the South Side.

"When I got out of the (restaurant) business, this was a natural place for me to work out of."

People ask French why she still volunteers at the club.

"I grew up here," she says. "My thing is, this is our legacy. Our parents came as immigrants and became great Americans. You have to remember your culture. That's what makes you who you are."

West Homestead Halloween Parade

The West Homestead Halloween Parade will be on Friday, October 31st at Calhoun Park beginning at 5:00 pm.

Trick or Treat Hours in West Homestead are 6:00 pm until 7:30 pm

B-25 Mystery Search Picks Up Again In Monongahela River

PITTSBURGH -(WPXI)- Is a B-25 bomber that crashed in the Monongahela River near Sandcastle in 1956 still there, or was it removed under darkness by the government? This week, a research group is once again trying to answer that question.

The B-25 Recovery Group has been researching the issue since 1994. This weekend, it will return to the water to search again.

At a pre-search meeting at the Sen. John Heinz History Center on Thursday, the group showed off the latest search technology."

It will be a combination of a side-scan sonar, which allows us to get a big picture of what the bottom looks like. It's like a sonogram. We will also use a sophisticated magnetometer to help us locate any metal objects," said Bob Shema, director of special projects at the Marion Hill Association.

Experts from the group said they are concentrating on locating the engine block, the landing gear, the tires and the gas tank, because they were all bulletproof.

The mystery of the B-25 wreckage has endured for more than 50 years.

The plane, with a crew of six airmen, took off from a Nevada air base on Jan. 31, 1956. After stops in Oklahoma and Michigan, the crew headed for Olmstead Air Force Base in Harrisburg.

But with the aircraft running low on fuel, pilot Maj. William Dotson decided to ditch into the river.

The crewman survived the impact, according to the survivors. Four men were rescued, but two crewmen went under. Their bodies were recovered two weeks after the crash.

News reports at the time described an extensive search for the wreckage in the weeks after the crash. The Coast Guard, the Army Corps of Engineers and other agencies dragged the river, at one point lifting a wing out of the water, only to have it slip back under.

Since then the mystery has grown, sparking theories about secret cargo, UFOs and government cover-ups.Searchers said that, even if the mystery of the past isn't solved, the new search technology used could benefit others in the future.

The search takes place on Friday and Saturday.

New West Homestead Web Site

The borough has launched a new Web site, www.westhomesteadpa.com.

The site includes community history, borough and business directories, event calendars, education information, property development and loan programs, news and a section geared to borough residents.

The site was a collaboration of Sharp Creative Co. and borough employees and residents, Mayor John J. Dindak said. Future plans call for allowing users to obtain building permits and pay taxes online. Feedback, suggestions and comments are encouraged, Mr. Dindak said

Riverplex is the place for festivals

By Stacy Wolford
VALLEY INDEPENDENT
Thursday, September 4, 2008

Summer may be winding down, but the Riverplex amphitheatre and park is just starting to heat up.

Riverplex, located between Sandcastle Waterpark and The Waterfront in West Homestead, will host the Pittsburgh Irish Festival this weekend, the Festa Italiana Sept. 12 to 14 and the International Taste of Pittsburgh Sept. 19 and 20.

Located along the shores of the Monongahela River with tree-lined walkways and wooded areas, the 400,000-square-foot landscaped area features pavilions, tents and a children's playground.

Festival organizers found success hosting events there last year and decided to return.

Pittsburgh Irish Festival

The 18th annual Pittsburgh Irish Festival returns to Riverplex after a successful introduction there last year.

The festival will feature entertainment by Gaelic Storm (from "Titanic" fame), Glengarry Bhoys (Canada), POGEY (from Sidney Crosby's hometown of Halifax, Nova Scotia), Beoga (Ireland), Screaming Orphans (Ireland), Gadelle (Prince Edward Island, Canada) and more.

There will also be plenty of Irish food and drinks.

Children will get to learn to dance a jig, make an Irish craft, and hear an Irish folktale.

Mass will be celebrated at 10 a.m. Sunday.

Festival hours are 4 p.m. to midnight Friday; 11 a.m. to midnight Saturday; and 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday.

For more information, go to www.pghirishfest.org or call (412) 422-1113.

Festa Italiana

The tradition continues as the Italian Festival that thousands of people enjoyed at Station Square for years moves to Riverplex this year.

Set for Sept. 12-14, Festa Italiana returns with the traditional food and music. Visitors can try their hand at bocce, sample Italian delicacies and savory cookies, dance the tarantella, and purchase an authentic present from Italy.

An Italian Mass will be celebrated at 10 a.m. Sept. 14 with Bishop Anthony G. Bosco, Bishop Emeritus.

Festival hours are 4 p.m. to 11 p.m. Friday, 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Saturday, and 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday.

For more information, go to www.sandcastlewaterpark.com or call (412) 462-6666, option 8.

International Taste

of Pittsburgh

The International Taste of Pittsburgh, set for Sept. 19 and 20, will celebrate the best of Pittsburgh's multicultural food, dance, music and heritage featuring Bulgaria, Carpatho-Rus, England, Germany, India, International, Ireland, Italy, Latin America, Polynesia, Russia, Ukraine and West Africa. More are expected to be announced.

Festival entertainers will be Grammy Award-winner Terrance Simien and the Zydeco Experience, Scott Blasey of The Clarks, Joe Grushecky, and The Elliotts.

Festival hours are 4 p.m. to midnight Friday; and 11 a.m. to midnight Saturday.

For more information, go to www.sandcastlewaterpark.com or call (412) 462-6666 option 8.

Prices for all three festivals are $8 for adults in advance or $10 at the gate.

Discounts are available for seniors, students with identification, active or retired military personnel and children, Children 3 and under are free.

Tickets can be purchased at the gate, in advance at www. sandcastlewaterpark.com, or at Sandcastle Guest Relations.

West Homestead: A Legacy to Build On

POP CITY
September 2, 2008

Scratch the surface of the one square mile riverfront area called W. Homestead and you'll find what you find in every true Pittsburgh neighborhood: pride, history, sweat, tradition and, if you’re lucky, Eastern European delicacies.

In Mayor John Dindak and many others, you’ll also find a good story.

Dindak grew up just across the border in Homestead and like many here, spent decades working at U.S. Steel Homestead Works, a city in itself that once spanned more than 400 acres in West Homestead, Homestead, and Munhall and, in its heyday, employed more than 10,000. According to Dindak, most everyone worked at U.S. Steel or at Mesta Machine Co. which, at its peak, employed more than 4,000.

While those days are long gone, some fascinating historical sites remain, such as the Pump House and the Bost Building , home of the infamous and deadly steel strike. Your best bet: take a Rivers of Steel tour to deepen your appreciation of the once mighty steel industry.

While much has since been lost, much has been gained.

Now there is only one hotel in the area, the Courtyard Marriott, which is part of the Waterfront, a riverside development built on the site of the Homestead Works that provided a much need boost to the coffers of Homestead, Munhall and West Homestead. The Waterfront is now held up as an example nationwide of a brownfield site that underwent dramatic and successful transformation. (In June of 2004 Continental Real Estate valued the property at $300 million.)

It began in the 1980s when Ray Park, a salvager and liquidator of industrial sites, purchased the former U.S. Steel Homestead Works and Mesta Machine Co. properties. He started to develop the property and within a few years, Continental Real Estate came in bringing with it the retail and restaurants. The Waterfront is marked by the iconic stacks, a dozen towering and impressive brick structures that grace the entrance. They are the only thing left of the steelworks.

Striking a Balance
“The waterfront, as far as I am concerned, is a blessing. It brought the whole valley back alive,” says Dindak. With its dozens of stores and restaurants, including big box stores such as Costco and the Disneyesque Loew’s Theater, the Waterfront draws impressive crowds, especially on weekends. And in the summer? With Sandcastle, the popular water park down the street, with its Lazy River for rafting and steep water slides, Homestead/W. Homestead is quite the happening place.

Now West Homestead’s biggest conundrum is finding a balance between the old and the new, between the commercial success of the Waterfront and a community struggling to maintain its identity in its shadow.

And the Other Gold
Doyle Avenue alone is worth the drive just to view the last of the the turn-of-the- century mansions when industrialists and tycoons called the area home. First and perhaps most noticeable is Mesta Mansion, a sprawling structure built by the Mesta family, including George Mesta, who founded the Mesta Machine Co., now known as WHEMCO. The residence is now owned by Manoy and Stacy Chandran, who are restoring it.

The Bulgarian Macedonian National Educational and Cultural Center on West Eighth Avenue stands as a reminder to the Eastern Europeans who once flocked to this region in search of jobs.

“In the ‘40s, there were 33 Bulgarian bakeries in Allegheny County,” says Penka “Patricia” French, who grew up in West Homestead in the ‘30s.
French, now president of the board of directors of the BMNECC, says her father emigrated to Pittsburgh from Bulgaria in 1913 and worked in the coal mines and railroad.

At the time, the BMNECC served as a beneficial association for Bulgarian and Macedonian families. French took Bulgarian lessons there. and later went on to work four decades as a translator in the state Department. These days the center, with its murals and museum and smooth, wooden dance floor, serves as tourist attraction and is the site of weekly dances like Cajun and Salsa. (To see the Pop City story, click here.)

The BMNECC also is the site of Soup Sega, a weekly gathering of local chefs skilled in Bulgarian cuisine. Every Saturday morning, they gather to make traditional recipes for soups such as Potato Leek and Beef Barley and also stews like Gyuvech, a rich and tasty concoction of beef, carrots, cabbage, green beens and tomatoes. The good news is these soups are then sold to the public.

Plans for the Future
While many residents can tell stories of West Homestead and what it once was, many other residents just as easily talk of their plans for its future.
And while the Waterfront has thrived, the streets behind, which were once lined with independent stores that defined the communities, have struggled to maintain their identity.

Last year, leaders from the Western Pennsylvania Brownfields Center at Carnegie Mellon University approached Homestead and West Homestead boroughs about developing the area behind the Waterfront—the businesses and shops along Eighth Avenue.

“In Homestead and West Homestead, one of their biggest issues is the tie between the old community and the Waterfront,” explains Deborah Lange, executive director of the Brownfields Center, adding that hardly any of the consumers who come to the Waterfront, cross over into Sixth, Seventh and Eighth avenues.

And while the Waterfront and Sandcastle, which opened in 1989 on the site of the former railroad beds of U.S. Steel Homestead Works, bring residents into the borough, the majority of that pedestrian traffic and their money never make it beyond the boundaries of the Waterfront into the municipalities that lie beyond.

Brownfields initially began as an initiative of the Environmental Protection Agency. Led by Pennsylvania, the initiative began examining former industrial and manufacturing sites for possible contamination that might prevent it from being reintroduced into the local economy. Their task now includes examining economic and social issues as well as environmental ones.

Lange's staff organized a workshop that included experts in industrial revitalization throughout the region. Although a list of recommendations is still being finalized, it includes a suggested partnership that would allow Homestead, Munhall and West Homestead to secure and share a grant writer from the Environmental Protection Agency who would help secure funding for projects.

That equation will no doubt involve David Lewis, an architect, professor, philosopher, and redeveloper. , and opiner. Lewis, a West Homestead resident who lives in one of the sprawling mansions along Doyle Avenue, took time out of a Sunday morning to talk about his vision and hopes for the borough.

Part of it will inevitably involve helping the communities identify a sense of themselves, he says. For example, West Homestead should recognize its two distinct personalities, the historic district along the shore and the post-World War II suburbia, including Calhoun Village, in a hill above the borough.

Another change in the future of West Homestead is the Southside Trail that ends just short of the community along the Mon. Eventually, once a connection through the area is figured out, the in-the-works Steel Valley trail will connect the Southside Trail into McKeesport. And that will bring even more people into the area. With all this traffic, W. Homestead and the surrounding communities of Homestead and Munhall will be more determined than ever to figure out how to strike a balance: between old and new, Waterfront and Eighth Avenue, legacies of the past and legacies of the future.

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