Finish line logistics captain Brian Schmidt is in the thick of it now. All last month he categorized and readied a behemoth assortment of race-day paraphernalia across two floors of a Strip District U-Haul facility. Today, he’s a walking ledger for pallets of road cones, fruit cups, Vaseline and mylar spread over 14 neighborhoods in dozens of tarp-covered, plywood boxes.

Essential Pittsburgh

Meet The Mathematical Muscle Behind The Pittsburgh Marathon

Jerry Kraynick bends at the waist, hands on hips, and peers over his glasses. He gestures towards a bike. “Throw it up on the stand, and I’ll look at it.”

Garfield Bike Shop Owner Says He's Ready To Retire And Pass On The Tools

Two part-time workers stood on either side of a T-shaped conveyer belt as 61-year-old Joe Spaniol moved down its twin trunks, trading full boxes with empty ones when its contents started to overflow.

Carnegie Libraries As Literary Preppers: How Your Favorite Sleuths Predict Demand

For decades, contractors demolishing old buildings in Pittsburgh knocked them through the sub-flooring and filled in the holes with whatever was left behind. Debris, support walls, bricks and even appliances -- all topped off with dirt.

Redeveloping A Vacant Lot In Pittsburgh Can Be Full Of Refrigerator-Sized Surprises

Gina Merante grabbed a banana bunch from a red wall lined with gradually ripening fruit. She shuffled past boxes of apples and red peppers and pointed outside, past the large display window at the front of her store, Linea Verde Green Market .

From Corner Stores To Grocery Chains And Back, Pittsburgh's Food Systems Are Evolving

At nearly five city blocks long, the Pennsylvania Fruit and Auction, known to locals as the Produce Terminal, is hard to miss. It sits along Smallman Street between 16th and 20th and seems to watch over the business on Penn Avenue.

City Considers Produce Terminal’s Vibrant Past While Planning For Its Future

Nied’s Hotel in Pittsburgh’s Lawrenceville neighborhood is one of a handful of bars where workers who clock out while most hit the alarm clock can still meet for coffee or a beer. Taverns that cater to third-shift workers aren’t a new concept to Pittsburgh, but over the years, their clientele has evolved.

From Steel To Stethoscopes: Nied's Third Shift Bar Patrons Change With The City

A lot has changed over its 35 year history, but the Old Allegheny Victorian Christmas House Tour has always started on Beech Avenue at Calvary United Methodist Church.

The Past And Future Of Old Allegheny City On Display At Home Tour

Eric Luster grew up in a three-bedroom 1920s-era home on a quiet dead end street in Homewood. It was a self-described good childhood, but he thought he would have a better future in Atlanta, Ga., so he moved out of town to raise his five children.

They Pay Mortgages & Taxes, But Many Pittsburghers Don’t Realize Their Home Titles Are Tangled

A few decades ago, Terri Baltimore tagged along with a group of architecture students and their professor while they were visiting the Hill District. “And what they said about this neighborhood broke my heart,” she said. “That it was dirty.

Hill District Tours Aim To Change Impressions Of The Neighborhood

Pittsburgh is home to many sports firsts: the Pittsburgh Pirates participated in the first Major League World Series, the city was the first to have a retractable dome stadium and the Steelers were the first to win six Super Bowls.

Before The Steelers Had Six Super Bowl Wins, They Had ‘The Steelerettes’

Earlier this month, we spoke to a handful of families from across the Pittsburgh region about the upcoming election. We checked in with them after the third and final presidential debate to hear what they were thinking as we move toward Nov. 8.

What Four Pittsburgh Families Think Of The Final Presidential Debate

A Pittsburgh group named A Few Bad Apples has three missions. The first is to teach people the lost skills of making use of homegrown fruit.

How Pittsburgh's Ugly Fruit Finds New Life As Hard Cider

Along the Allegheny River in an unassuming former car garage sits the 112-year-old Natrona Bottling Company . Established in 1904, the business has distributed thousands of glass bottles with their signature Red Ribbon Cherry Supreme, spicy ginger beer and mint julep.

Natrona Bottling Company Thriving On Nostalgia And Tradition After 112 Years

To the left of her fridge, Zinna Scott can peer out her kitchen window on Rosewood Avenue in Homewood and see the two open, grassy lots where her neighbors once lived. It’s where she wants to build her dream house.

Vacant Lots Abound In Pittsburgh, But Buying One Isn't Easy

An ongoing series about how Pittsburgh lives and how it's evolving, from the newsroom of 90.5 WESA, Pittsburgh's NPR news station.

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Essential Pittsburgh

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