Our new digs on Penn Ave, across from Doughboy Square
You may have noticed that the blog has been pretty quiet for the past week or so. Well, we’ve been busy moving the whole operation from our shared South Side office in the Terminal Building to our own storefront space on Doughboy Square – the gateway to Lawrenceville.
We’re extremely excited to have a direct presence at and view of the crossroads of Penn Ave and Butler St, two major bicycle commuter routes. All day long we watch cyclists pedal past the statue of the WWI Doughboy as they head toward the Strip, Downtown, Lawrenceville, and Bloomfield. The Lawrenceville community has also been very welcoming to us, and we appreciate that.
In our old office, we shared it with two other non-profits, and limited what we were able to do with the space. With our new office, we now have the opportunity to host events like movie screenings, speakers, gatherings, as well as better accommodate volunteer nights and large meetings.
Be on the lookout for events in the near future (once we settle in), but in the meantime, feel free to stop by and say hello – we still need to clean the front windows! While you’re here, it is a great opportunity to become a member (or renew), and help us make this new space thrive. We feel that with the opportunity of having a storefront, we’ll be better able to serve our constituents – YOU – with fun, impactful events. Our ability to serve as a resource for new and future cyclists and advocates has also greatly increased. The new opportunities that the space offers are endless, and we look forward to providing this resource and amenity to Pittsburgh cyclists.
Our new address is:
3410 Penn Ave
Pittsburgh, PA 15201
Please update your records.
Wish List
Moving to our new space means that we need some things. Here is a short list of some items that maybe you can help out with.
- Large Sturdy Shelves
- Small Desk
- Folding chairs
- Fax Machine
- 4 Matching kitchen style chairs
- Small office shelves
- Drip Coffee maker
- Large White Board
- A coffee sponsor (can’t hurt to ask)
- Snow Shovel
What is that building?
The old Turner Detective Agency sign now resides upstairs in our office space
Many people that we’ve talked to have commented about the building itself. The shiny art-deco facade sticks out due to it being sandwiched between the abandoned storefronts of Wilson’s BBQ and an unnamed warehouse. The building owner, after buying the building that for years was the empty but iconic Turner Detective Agency, found some old pictures of the building from the 1930’s, and decided to recreate the facade from the era.
Previous to housing the Turner Detective Agency, the building was occupied by the Junction Coal and Coke Company. Among their services was the selling of home heating coal to Pittsburghers in the glory days of smog and smoke.
Here is an advertisement from the Junction Coal and Coke Company, circa 1952. We found it slightly amusing, in that tragi-comedy kind of way, that the Post-Gazette placed the ad right next to another ad offering to cure Asthma Mucus.
The owner of the building also found another ad, circa 1938, of the Junction Coal and Coke Company’s postcard reminder to order your home heating coal. The price of a postcard stamp at the time was one cent.
How the times have changed.
The original facade of the building
Not a member of Bike Pittsburgh? Join today! We need you to add your voice! Bike Pittsburgh works to protect cyclist’s rights and promote the vision of making Pittsburgh a safer and more enjoyable place to live and to ride. For more info, check out: www.bikepgh.org/membership
10 Comments
Let me be the first to say, “Hey, I don’t see any bike racks. What’s up with that?”
Just kidding. I know that what’s up is that you just moved in and haven’t placed them yet.
HA! our landlord already put a request into the city for one…waiting.
sweet building! I wondered what happened to that sign
you need to adopt the font of coal junction coke for bike pgh on the fron tof your new building… that would be amazing
Hey guys, do you still need a fax machine? I have a small one I can donate.
Glad to see you guys got moved in alright. We were tired of staring at another empty storefront across the street, let us know if you ever need a hand with something!
[…] In addition to these plans, Bike Pittsburgh, the bicycling advocacy group of Pittsburgh, moved into a recently rennovated art-deco storefront at Doughboy Square. […]
i have an office bookcase available to donate and drop off if still needed.
[…] famed musician, Stephen Foster is also buried here. Born about a block from the BikePGH office, his songs – such as “Oh! Susanna”, “Camptown Races”, “Old Folks at […]
[…] started 2010 with a huge organizational change when we moved to our own storefront office space in Lawrenceville’s Doughboy Square. After we moved from an apartment in Highland Park in 2004, we had been sharing an office in the […]