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| - 1984: I am 10 years of age and accompanying my mother and sister on a trip to the variety store wonderland that is the Mike Feinberg Company. Handheld, egregiously marinated Asian chicken snacks are wrapped in bakery tissue and given to me by a beautiful, smiling young woman in a scarf and tossel cap. One bite, and my culinary expectations and boundaries are expanded exponentially and forever.
A Pittsburgh area business district that encapsulates the city more than the Strip District would be a challenge to find. To best get a feel for it, one needs to visit on a Saturday morning or afternoon when the neighborhood becomes a carnival of fresh food and hometown-centric merchandise. Black and gold attire is hawked along with sizzling meat on sticks and produce that was just plucked from local farms. Clouds of steam rise into the air, dancing above the chatter, laughter, and good natured haggling like merry ghosts.
At night, however, The Strip transforms into a dark,neon playground for the discotech vampires to frolic in and where national and international live acts perform their guts out at Altar Bar, a converted church.
If nothing else, The Strip offers much in the way of quality restaurants, from old stand-bys that never disappoint to newer establishments that bring diversity and innovation to the scene. Primanti Brothers and Peppi's stand tall as the old, cigar-chomping heads on the block, demanding visitors to try their controversial signature sandwiches. Little Bangkok, Pho Van, and Vietnam's Pho offer insights into the cuisine of Indochina. The brightly-colored Salem's is a virtual United Nations in terms of clientele that serves up food from a turbulent part of the world with love, respect, and acceptance acting as the main ingredients. S&D is a Polish market where terrific pierogi, halushki, smoked sausages, and kielbasa can be had. Kaya blows kisses from the Caribbean, charming hearts and palates with tropical beats and delicious eats. Penn Avenue Fish Company might as well be in Boston or San Francisco with its oceanic delicacies and funky live-and-let-live vibe. Klavon's, a former pharmacy, has been reincarnated as a time-tossed ice cream parlor and candy counter. Bar Marco offers a respite from the rowdy bars and meat-market nightclubs by catering to patrons from all walks of life who are just looking for quiet, genuine conversation in the evening hours as well as gourmet-level tapas.
And who can anyone save for those without a flair for the subversive and imaginative dismiss Eide's Entertainment? Comic books, music, toys, and all manner of pop culture eye and brain candy can be found on its expansive 3 floors of store space. Whether you're looking for the latest issue of The Avengers, a obscure indy comic in black & white, a copy of that long-discarded Avengers Annual your aunt bought you as a child, a vinyl record, an imported CD from a band only you seem to listen to, a snarky bumper sticker, or a DVD reissue of some Korean horror film you saw once on late-night cable television years ago, Eide's has it or can hunt it down for you.
Also worth visiting is the Heinz History Center, a veritable shrine to the City of Steel and all that makes it unique, memorable, and livable.
I've yet to frequent every business in The Strip (I keep neglecting Smallman Street, forgetting that The Strip is more than just Penn Avenue), but that only provides me with more incentive to keep going down there, to keep discovering, to keep living.
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