Hi,

Tomorrow is the US Senior Open Golf Championship in Lake Orion, MI, Josiah Wedgwood birth anniversary (Wedgwood pottery 1730), Henry David Thoreau’s birth anniversary (1817), it’s the anniversary of the Battle of Kursk (1943-the largest tank battle in history), Milton Berle’s birth anniversary (1908) and Buckminster Fuller’s birth anniversary (1895).

The  Japan UW Creatives is having two receptions at two distinctive examples of Japanese culture on July 25 in New York. The first reception will be at Miya Shoji’s showroom at 145 W 26th Street.  Mr. Shoji carries hand crafted furniture, tables shoji screens and tatami mats.  Then a short subway ride away participants will travel to JapaDog, a new restaurant in the Lower East side.  JapaDog is an new concept of using American hot dogs with Japanese toppings.  These Japanese hot dogs are hugely popular in Vancouver.

Kathleen Flaherty, the artist the did all the murals in my Mansion has gotten married (she’s now Kathleen Hall) and is starting up a new venture in Leeper, PA (just outside Cook’s Forest).  She’s opening The Red Bandana Winery with a grand opening Friday, July 13.   Kathleen took the name for her winery from the struggle of the miners in Appalachia from 1883 to 1919 for a decent living.  Back then, the coal companies owned everything, they even paid with their own scrip, tokens or credit.  The miners lived in houses owned by the companies, had to shop in general stores owned by the companies, everything was controlled by the companies.  To identify themselves, these “insurgents” were red bandannas.  Kathleen is going for local produced grapes (she says 20 percent of US wine comes from Pennsylvania grapes).  She is planning on experimenting with new flavors like coffee, chai tea and pumpkin.  Should be interesting.  Maybe I’ll see you Friday at her grand opening.

Marty’s Market is slated to open this Saturday in the site of the former Right by Nature  on Smallman in the Strip (by the Cork Factory Apartments).  Navy Reserve Lieutenant Commander Regina Koetters already has opened the coffee bar and cafe.  She’s planning on being open from 11 am until 7 pm Mondays through Fridays and 9 am until 7 pm Saturdays and Sundays.  She’s striving for locally grown produce and chemically free meats.  I think being open until 7 will help, since most of the rest of the Strip closes around 3 pm, she will be the “only game in town”.  With all the people living down there (the Cork Factory has run close to 100% occupancy since opening, they are building new units as we speak, the Otto Milk condo across from it does well), I think she has a shot at succeeding.  I think it’s a great location for a grocery store, particularly a green one.

In 1978, the Pittsburgh and Lake Erie Railroad’s Pittsburgh station opened to the public as The Grand ConcourseStation Square is the rest of his terminal complex.  This was the train station of a Joshua Rhodes, the builder of my Inn.  Today, the P & L E train station in Beaver is in the process of becoming public space.  The Beaver Area Heritage Foundation has acquired the building and their first project will be to repair the slate roof to stop the water damage in the station.  They intend to turn the station itself into a venture for events, classes, community events.  They intend to use the out buildings as there working and storing spaces.  The Beaver station is a fine example of Romanesque style.  It even has a lot of it’s original architecturals like many stained glass windows.  (As a side note on Joshua Rhodes, I cooked in the Grand Concourse in the 1990’s and now I own his home).  🙂

In 2007, at the age of eight, Tyler Kautzman of McCandless decided he wanted to do something for our troops over seas.  He and his classmates collected 400 pounds of supplies and hooked up the Yellow Ribbon Girls of Ellwood City.  These ladies are like a clearing house for sending things to our troupes overseas.  Yellow Ribbon also sends school supplies to schools and orphanages in Iraq and Afghanistan.  Tyler met and befriended Army Staff Sargent Ed Greiner, formerly from Ross Township.  Griener was in Pittsburgh and stopped to visit Tyler in 2007 to thank him and visited his school.  They have been pen pals since.  Griener passed away earlier this year in a motorcycle accident outside Ft Bragg, NC while awaiting redeployment to Afghanistan.  Tyler and his mother have organized a 5K memorial run/walk on July 29 starting at 7:30, the actual race will be beginning at 9 at the North Park Boat House.  There’s a $25 entrance fee that goes to the Yellow Ribbon Girls.  More info at the 5K site.

Thank you PennFuture, at last someone is standing up to the Buncher group and the city kowtowing to them.  The city’s letting them tear down 1/3 or the Terminal building so it’s easier access to their private/for profit development off 17th Street, instead of making them put the entrance at 15th Street which is already there and doesn’t need to destroy a building I (and you) own.  The city and the URA are giving lavishing grants ($15M from the URA) and loans on Buncher to assist this development, did I mention this is a private/for profit endeavour?  (They are also seeking %50M Tax Incremental Financing-TIF).  I am so tired of the city giving away my Igloo (and yours) so the Penguins can build a new arena that we subsidized and they are going to make a fortune developing the old site.  Just as the Steelers are making a fortune redeveloping with smaller development than Alco had proposed at the bargain basement prices given to the Steelers.  Did I mention I have to have nine parking spaces for my Inn because I have nine guest rooms.  The Steelers are controlling surface lots and making money off of them.  They haven’t been forced to build a parking garage for their 65,000 fans (the garage that was finally build was build buy the Stadium Authority and the URA and is run by Alco Parking.

We’ll talk soon,

ed