Let us know you’re coming and tell your family, friends, and neighbors!
Visit a neighborhood that’s unique and hidden up on the North Side while supporting local businesses, makers, farmers, and communities on a Saturday afternoon. These events are free and open to the public so let us know you’ll be there by joining our Facebook Event or through the Eventbrite link below.
Check out our write up with Kelsey Shea, the editor of The Northside Chronicle, about the California Markets and its’ mission for the Brighton Heights’ business corridor.
It is on! We are thankful for the Urban Redevelopment Authority and Brighton Heights Citizen’s Federation with their support and time to make these happen.
Now let’s spread the word! The above image is web friendly for downloading and socially sharing with all your friends and family. Second Saturday’s this summer will be your new favorite thing with lots to discover in Brighton Heights. Local farmers, food, drinks, crafts, art, and community activities for everyone. Including, raffles for local business prizes, sidewalk art, sidewalk chalk, community garden info, and more!
June 8th will be sponsored by the Brighton Heights Citizen’s Federation to wind down their first Local Art Exhibit in their California Ave. offices and new project to bring Creative Crosswalks to the Heights!
Also, their Annual Chocolate House Tour is the next day! Sunday, June 9th from 1 – 5pm to walk the historic houses of Brighton Heights, eat some fine sweets, and experience our creative community right in their own homes! You can buy tickets on their website or at our event for $10, while it’s $15 on the day of. Don’t miss out!
Interested in helping the markets happen? email pghretail [@] gmail [dot] com to find out how to volunteer.
Want to be a vendor? Read more about how on the Become A Vendor page.
Information and applications to be apart of the bbq cook-off, home brew-off, drumming tournament, beauty pageant, and fashion show will also be available at the event, as well as, online.
// PARKING //
There will be ample parking through out the neighborhood and signs posted to where you may find street parking. Termon Ave. and California Ave. past Davis Ave. will be your best bet to grab a spot.
// DIRECTIONS //
You can use Google Maps to get directions using this address which is the beginning of the block where all events will be held: 3683 California Ave., Pittsburgh, PA 15212
NORTH (from Wexford): Take 279 S to Exit 7 for Bellevue/West View. Turn left onto Union Ave/Union Ave Exd. Turn left onto N Starr Ave. Take the 2nd left onto Lincoln Ave. continue onto California Ave. Turn right to stay on California Ave.
SOUTH (from Bethel Park): Take 279 N to the PA RT 65 N exit on the left to US-19/Ohio River Blvd/North Shore. Take exit 1C for U.S. 19/Pennsylvania 65 N toward Ohio River Boulevard, merge, and continue on Ohio River Blvd/RT 65. Slight right onto Brighton Heights Blvd and then turn right on California Ave.
EAST (from Edgewood/Swissvale): Take 376 W to the PA RT 65 N exit on the left to US-19/Ohio River Blvd/North Shore. Take exit 1C for U.S. 19/Pennsylvania 65 N toward Ohio River Boulevard, merge, and continue on Ohio River Blvd/RT 65. Slight right onto Brighton Heights Blvd and then turn right on California Ave.
WEST (from Coraopolis/Sewickly): From the Sewickly Bridge Turn right onto PA-65 S/Ohio River Blvd, turn left on to Brighton Heights Blvd., and then turn right on to California Ave.
Become a vendor in the new summer series The California Markets! Open-air markets with community activities every second Saturday from 11AM to 5PM.
Get the application here.
We’re looking for farmers, makers, non-profits, interest groups, and artists to join us in celebrating local retail and beautiful weather on California Ave. in Brighton Heights.
Application fee is $5 & Spaces are a first come, first serve basis so apply today!
March was quite a lion with many deadlines, meetings, and conversations to get PGHretail’s first series of events in gear. Now that things are moving along and we’re past the initial goal posts, here’s more about what’s going on.
The California Ave. business corridor of Brighton Heights will be holding monthly events called The California Markets in Summer 2013! We’re so excited to showcase all the really amazing activity the Brighton Heights Citizen Federation has been doing behind the scenes, as well as, inviting local farmers, vendors, and businesses to share in a day of fun, contests, and being our neighbor! You will be able to find more event details, applications, and contact info under the California Markets page on the left. Also, follow PGHretail on Facebook and Twitter to keep up to date!
Parking Garage Garden
Retail isn’t just buying or selling a product. Consumption is the lifestyle of America. For better or for worse, we do it everyday and in many opinions, it isn’t doing any person, animal, or environment any good as it stands today. Rebranding retail is more than just a new user experience product or store environment with the latest technology or the most wanted item or most convenient prices. Rebranding retail is about being conscious about our consumption lifestyle and acting in a way that supports positive changes that the retailers, transportation systems, and city planners make when it’s time to develop or redevelop our environment and essentially, our habits.
I was too late in finding out that Richard J. Jackson, MD, MPH had spoke at Carnegie Mellon on February 21st in a University Lecture Series called: “We are what we eat… and what we build: Designing Healthy Communities”. So, good thing Dr. Jackson has a blog which I found out more information about his views and that he’s been in Pittsburgh more than once talking about DHC. Below is an interview he had on KDKA this past October.
Visit his blog designinghealthycommunities.org for more info about what other cities are doing to DHC.
Here’s the gist: communities where you are able to walk to your material needs, family, and friends- makes for a happier, healthier individual & community. Seems logical and simple right?
I had the opportunity to attend the Pittsburgh Community Redevelopment Group’s presentation of a study done in collaboration with reconnectamerica.org/ that provides metrics and insight on our area and the way it relates to public transportation growth. Super informative and almost colossal in the agenda of how Pittsburgh will develop in to a super-efficient public transportation friendly city. Totally doable though!
The biggest thing, aside from financing, is awareness, education, and re-branding the way Pittsburgh sees public transportation here so that it becomes an effective means of getting around. GoBurgh.org/ is PCRG’s blog site that is developing the tools to promote this awareness and providing information for transit-oriented development (TOD). Check it out and get a pin!
The Bay area and L.A. have seen a flourish of “runners” or contract-workers for hire websites that allow individuals and businesses to post paying tasks. TaskRabbit has totally capitalized on this wave of, exonerating or exploiting, the lack of work by building a platform that is expanding rapidly throughout the nation’s metro areas.
I personally saw the wonderful side of this first, like peer-2-peer car sharing, it’s a tool to utilize our under-utilized assets for a profit. Imagine if Pittsburgh small-retailers were able to get the assistance they needed, when they needed it, as they grow without breaking the bank. Starting a business is tough. Is it tougher than starting a family? Ask a full-time mom if she’d like to be able to get some assistance now and again. Many of these services are menial labor or errand running, posted by middle-to-high earning individuals and bid on by ‘runners’ who have been interviewed and cleared as compatible to the workforce requirements. The lowest bidder typically wins, and where it does bring the community together over the exchange of a dollar, there is likely a chance of misunderstanding and plain old abuse.
Of course being the largest of these providers, TaskRabbit has had the first penalty thrown at them. Read the “TaskRabbit Confessions” from the businessinsider.com/.
A journalist tries out three different task providing services: Taskrabbit, Cherry, and Postmate and describes it in his article “My Life as a TaskRabbit” in bloomberg’s businessweek.com/ .
In my research, I was unable to find too many businesses using TaskRabbit specifically, and continue to investigate other p2p service sites that may be on their way to Pittsburgh. On YELP, the LA satellite of TaskRabbit has been receiving pretty shoddy reviews. I personally don’t want Taskrabbit to come here. Like I stated earlier, it’s a great concept, and it puts a focus on sending requests out on the internet for professional assistance in a new way, like the good ol’ days of craigslist.org/ or backpage.com/. It seems that the inherent flaws of underbidding by the ‘runners’ and no screening for the ‘posters’, who are also liable to falsify adverts and commit abuse, is crippling to a business managing a workforce.
If you can’t find anyone from craigslist or backpage, try Angie’s List. They are membership supported and local businesses create a free account to advertise their service. I know people swear by it and it seems more transparent about the cost of management and user reviews. And if you still can’t find someone for the task, ask around and engage in the barter system. Value is subjective and you might have some product or service that’s worth the effort to them. Long live the word of mouth system!
Built in 1915, what is now known as the Union Trust Building, has seen better days and is in economic peril as many of us are. Read more at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette article in December 2012.
When it was known as the Union Arcade, it hosted 240 retail shops and galleries with enough space for 700 offices. With Saks Fifth Avenue out of the picture downtown, there’s a serious, serious lack of retail options. Apart from Macy’s and Burlington Coat Factory, there are a few local small-businesses, some have been there for years, some have just arrived on the scene thanks to the Pittsburgh Downtown Partnership’s Pop-Up Project Pittsburgh grant awards. There is word on the street that there will be a rejuvenating of Wood St.’s hey-day of a fashion corridor with the new PNC building with commercial space available in 2015.
Let’s take a look at the Union Trust Building again though, it’s in a perfect location off Grant St., next to the W. Penn Hotel, and across from the UPMC building that houses many employees with lunch breaks. It really can become the gem it once was with a little help. In the PG article, there is a young man named Scott Shorr who is looking to fund the purchase of the building with an intent to bring the Transatlantic Economic Council’s headquarters here. It’s a large project, a fantastic idea, and PGHretail would love to see this building flourish again as an international hub and retail market space. See more information about his project at uniontrustbuilding.org.
Pittsburgh Retail 