Grocery Lists

Today, we continue the Almanac's quest to be the Mon-Yough area's leading source of obsolete grocery store information.

You may recall (no matter how hard you try to forget) that we recently discussed the grocery store lineup at Olympia Shopping Center, in light of the new Shop 'n Save there.

Alert Reader Terry pointed out that the A&P at Olympia was originally located in the building that later became R. Kaplan Furniture (remember the sign, with the silhouette of Mr. Kaplan sitting on the piano bench?) and is currently Auto Supermarket?

But another Alert Reader, Bill, sent a newspaper ad that showed the local chain Bartolotta's having had a store at Olympia as well.

Well, just for you, our devoted Almanac readers, I did a little bit of research, using old copies of Polk's City Directory.

The problem, of course, is that the "city" directory officially stopped at the Versailles Borough line, so the listings for Versailles are incomplete or missing in most years.

The 1962 city directory, for instance, doesn't list anything for Olympia Shopping Center, though (unless I miss my guess) it opened in 1960.

Besides all of the locally-owned neighborhood grocery stores in the city, it lists:

• A&P Food Stores: 1902 Fifth Ave. and 120 Atlantic Ave.
• Giant Eagle Market: 3606 O'Neil Blvd.
• The Kroger Co.: 2347 Fifth Ave.
• Loblaw's Inc.: 1615 Lincoln Way, White Oak

What's located at these addresses now? 1902 Fifth Ave. was located in the East End, and I'm fairly certain that building was torn down when the new ramps to the McKeesport-Duquesne Bridge were built.

120 Atlantic is Tico Electric in 10th Ward, while 2347 Fifth Ave. is the Family Dollar near Hartman Street. 1615 Lincoln Way is the present location of Rite Aid, though I don't think it's the same building ... or is it? It seems to me the back of that building looks pretty old. Giant Eagle, remarkably, is still located on O'Neil Boulevard near Penn State and the "Voke," 45 years later.

Skipping ahead to 1964, Kroger has vacated 2347 Fifth; it's now Bertera's Foodland. Everything else is the same.

In 1972, Polk's finally acknowledges the existence of Olympia Shopping Center (one suspects that the Downtown McKeesport Association may have been pressuring them to leave the shopping centers out), and we get the following:

• Bartolotta's Super Market, 5 Olympia Shopping Center
• Bertera's Foodland, 2347 Fifth Ave.
• Giant Eagle Market, 3606 O'Neil Blvd.
• M. Marraccini & Co., 5 Rainbow Village, White Oak
• Super Dollar Market, 2800 Walnut St. and 1615 Lincoln Way, White Oak
• Thorofare Market, 16 Olympia Shopping Center

2800 Walnut St. is now the Municipal Authority of Westmoreland County's office in Christy Park. I'm not sure which stores No. 5 and 16 are at Olympia, but a little bit of detective work should allow me to suss that out.

. . .

Now, for your listening and dancing pleasure, I have typed in the entire list of grocery stores as they appeared in the Polk's directory for 1972.

Take a look at some of the last names. I have a pretty good idea that not too many white, Anglo-Saxon Protestants were in the grocery business in Our Fair City, even as late as 1972.

On the other hand, I'll bet you could get some great blintzes, pierogies and kolbassi in some of these places.

. . .

Incidentally, the entry on old supermarkets in McKeesport has the distinction of attracting more reader comments and emails than any other Almanac over the past three years.

The way to the Mon-Yough area's heart, apparently, is through our stomachs!

. . .

Shurely Shome Mishtake Dept: Finally today, from the British magazine Private Eye, here's the complete, official list of things you can no longer take onboard an airplane as hand luggage:

• Bottle of water
• Baby's nappy
• Copy of "The Da Vinci Code"
• Women's sanitary items
• Mars bar
• Trouser press
• Whistling key ring
• Upright piano
• Microwave oven
• Hearing aid
• Sudoku puzzle
• Dental floss
• Islamic terrorist
• Nuclear bomb

"All these items," reports the Eye, "must be placed in the hold."

Good advice, indeed.

(That list of grocery stores follows.)

. . .

Grocery Stores, McKeesport and White Oak, circa 1972
(Source: Polk's City Directory of McKeesport)

• A&M Market, 1129 Market St.
• Ackerman's Market, 3102 Versailles Ave.
• Andy's Superette, 3109 Versailles Ave.
• Baird's Market, 2522 Highland Ave.
• Balsamo's Food Market, 415 Fifth Ave.
• Bartolotta's Super Market, 5 Olympia Shopping Center
• Bell's Market, 520 Pirl St.
• Bellas Grocery, 1110 Walnut St.
• Bertera's Foodland, 2347 Fifth Ave.
• Crupie's Market, 1125 Locust St.
• Max Elias Market, 2914 Idaho Ave.
• Gertrude Elko, 1112 Fremont St.
• Feldman's Market, 2518 Walnut St.
• Finkel's Market, 1730 Union St.
• Food Mart, 623 Versailles Ave.
• Frank's Grocery, 827 Market St.
• Franklin Market, 2300 Bailey Ave.
• Giant Eagle Market, 3606 O'Neil Blvd.
• Grebeck's Market, 2825 Grover Ave.
• H&H Market, 326 Sixth Ave.
• The Italian Store, 1604 Versailles Ave.
• Harry Jacobs, 801 Union St.
• Jacobs' Market, 2306 Grandview Ave.
• Johnny's Market, 901 Evans St.
• Kiger's Clover Farm, Brownlee Ave. at Ohio
• Lampert's Market, 1902 Grandview Ave.
• Adolf Markovitz, 620 Archer Ave.
• M. Marraccini & Co., 5 Rainbow Village, White Oak
• Mike's Grocery, 917 Fifth Ave.
• D. Minyon's Market, 2913 Walnut St.
• Nelson Grocery, 2718 Beaver Ave.
• Ochap's Market, 509 White St.
• Dave Ohringer's Market, 723 Jenny Lind Ave.
• Open Pantry Food Mart, 3020 Walnut St.
• Pallay's Grocery, 824 Mulberry St.
• Parisi Food Market, 1440 Lincoln Way, White Oak
• Parkview Market, 2104 Eden Park Blvd.
• Michael J. Pavlick, 1318 Hamilton St.
• People's Food Market, 2513 Grandview Ave.
• Royal Market, 1111 Walnut St.
• Sayles Grocery and Confectionery, 1501 Locust St.
• Siebert's Market, 951 Fawcett Ave.
• Sodora's Food Market, 2125 Versailles Ave.
• Sparico Market, 1207 Fifth Ave.
• Spee-D Mart, 2316 Bailey Ave.
• Stewart's Superette, 3101 State St.
• Stop-N-Go Food Market, 1533 Lincoln Way, White Oak
• Super Dollar Market, 1615 Lincoln Way, White Oak
• Super Dollar Market, 2800 Walnut St.
• Tenth Ave. Grocery, 325 10th Ave.
• Thorofare Market, 16 Olympia Shopping Center
• Edward Traczynski, 623 White St.
• Weiss Market, 1624 Lincoln Way, White Oak
• Zoscak's Food Market, 319 Ann St.