May 6, 2011

Hi,

Tomorrow is Peter Tchaikovsky’s birth anniversary (1840), Johnny Unitas birth anniversary (1933-born in Pittsburgh), the anniversary of the first Presidential Inaugural Ball (1789-Prez Washington) and the anniversary of the sinking of the Lusitania (1915).

There’s quite the trend of locals trying to save their local single screen theaters.  The Dormont’s deco Hollywood Theater is opening this weekend.  They don’t seem to have a web site yet and the article in the Trib was missing a lot of needed information (like contact phone number, hours of operation, etc).  But anyway, in celebration of re-opening, they are offering free movie screenings this weekend of a mix of classic silent films and cult classics.  Night of the Living Dead, by Pittsburgh’s George Romero, is one of the films this weekend.  The non profit Denis Theater Foundation is trying to raise $4.5M to reopen the 1930’s Denis Theater that closed 7 years ago in Mt Lebanon.  There’s The Strand in Zelienople (built in 1914 and recently reopened in 2009) and the Valley Players in Ligonier (built in 1920).  The Valley Players has survived by offering a mix of film, comedy, musical theater and musical tributes for musicians such as Johnny Cash and the Rat Pack.

There’s a new temporary bookstore over in East Liberty, called (and I love their name) Fleeting Pages.  It’s in the old Border’s bookstore and will be open Monday’s through Saturdays 10 a.m. until 9 p.m. and 10 a.m. until 7 p.m Sundays.  Jody Morrison moved back to Pittsburgh and is living in none other than Mayor John Fetterman’s Braddock.   Mayor Fetterman is the creative mayor trying to bring this formal steel town back to life  has actually made it into Wikipedia.  Jodi is trying to encourage purchasing local and unknown authors as well as other  independent book sellers like Caliban Book Shop in Oakland and Wilkinsburg and the Big Idea Bookstore in Bloomfield.  Fleeting Pages is a new trend in New York and overseas of small independent book sellers.  Go and support local and non big box. Did I say I love the name?

We’re going back to my before and after project:  here’s Bird of Paradise.  The first two pictures show the wall to wall carpet (I hate wall to wall carpet, the few times I patronize a big box hotel, I always have slippers or flip flops to walk on the carpet) and horrid wall paper.  You can also see the old gas insert I removed and replaced with a Monesson.  The chandelier is now in the middle dining room.  The next two pictures are the current room.  The floor is bamboo and drapes are these really cool tapestry tropical drapes I bought from the previous owner with birds sewn in the fabric.  If you notice that last picture, the focal point has quite a story.  When I was in Florida, I found this super cool pecky cypress door at a salvage yard.  I was building my last room, African Tulip and needed a closet, so I bought the door and framed the closet in to handle that door.   When I sold The Parador of the Palm Beaches, the buyer was going to level the property and build townhouses, so I took anything worth saving.  This door was sitting in the Ballroom up here after I moved here and wasn’t working out for anything I thought of (I still loved [love] that door).  Bird of Paradise was finished and all furnished and I was standing in the room thinking “I need a focal point over the bed”.  Guess what popped in my mind?  ………….

Well, I have a wedding tomorrow and have to go to bed, have a great night, a great weekend and happy Mother’s Day,

ed