Category: Mon Valley Miscellany || By

The Almanac spends a lot of time gassing off about slights (real and imagined), cruddiness, and other aggravations both minor and major. "Wouldn't it be nice," I hear a mythical straw man saying, "if just once you said something nice?"

Well, luckily for you, Mr. Hypothetical Example I Made Up Just For My Own Purposes, today's your day! Here's a few businesses that I like:

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Jerry's Fine Used Records: I hadn't been to Jerry's Fine Used Records on Murray Avenue in Squirrel Hill for several months, and was pleasantly surprised to find that Dave's Music Mine (a used CD store) and Heads Together (a video store specializing in the off-beat and off-the-wall) are now located on the same floor.

Say it with me: "You got your CDs in my vinyl!" "You got your vinyl in my CDs!"

I've been shopping at Jerry's for at least 15 years. I recommend a trip to anyone who likes music, even if they don't necessarily collect old records. If you can't find some genre of music you like at Jerry's --- from vintage rock 'n roll to European folk to 1920s jazz to hip-hop and ska --- you're not trying.

The inclusion of Dave's and Heads Together has decreased the floor space substantially, but the shelves are still overloaded with great music, terrible music, and everything in between. It doesn't matter if it's out of print or rare; chances are, Jerry Weber has a copy of it somewhere --- either in the store or stashed in his warehouse in Swissvale. In one recent interview he estimated his stock at 750,000 items. I believe him.

The best part is that his prices are eminently reasonable. I've been to a bunch of used record stores (including one late, lamented one in Our Fair City) where everything was priced at the very upper limit of what the value guides demand. Not so at Jerry's; most records are priced between $4 and $10. Even super-rarities seldom sell for more than $40.

And Jerry and his staff don't sell junk; these aren't moldy, scratched flea-market LPs. They've got their jackets and sleeves intact, and though many records aren't pristine, they're clean and playable.

Again, even if you don't collect records, I highly recommend a trip. Plan to spend an hour or more. If you don't have a working turntable, Jerry will happily sell you one of those, too.

I have a turntable (several, actually), and walked out last Saturday with a bizarre agglomeration including some vintage R&B, a copy of "Windfall" by Rick Nelson & The Stone Canyon Band, the audio version of a 1974 BBC-TV interview with Peter Sellers, and a copy of (so help me) "Arthur Godfrey's Golden Hits."

"Most of these records are never going to make it onto CD," Jerry said when I checked out.

"Some of them never should have been released on vinyl, either," I said.

• Jerry's Fine Used Records: 2136 Murray Ave., Second Floor, Pittsburgh, PA 15217, (412) 421-4533

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Able True Value Home Center and R.C. Walters & Son: There are damned few real, honest-to-goodness hardware stores around. James Lileks lamented the other day that he went to Home Depot looking for a simple faucet washer, and couldn't find one:

"They didn't have them. I understood; no reason a hardware store the size of three counties in Montana would take up precious space on washers. Heck, if you decided to carry every washer in the world you'd have to put a whole wing on the back. This ain't the House of Washers, kid. Now, peanuts, you want peanuts, we got those."

If you live in the Mon-Yough area, you're within driving distance of two very good ones: R.C. Walters & Son in Boston, Elizabeth Township; and Able Home Center in Great Valley Shopping Center, North Versailles. Schnick's Hardware in Duquesne is worth a visit, too.

Since the demise of Levine Brothers Hardware in Homestead as a retail store (they still do repairs), R.C. Walters is the closest thing you'll find around here to a really old-fashioned hardware store. If you remember Ungar's on Walnut Street in the Third Ward, you'll appreciate Walters. They've got guns and ammunition up front, custom-mixed paint in the back, lawn and garden supplies, faucets, brand-name tools, and all kinds of little fiddly things (like faucet washers and springs).

The aisles are crammed to the gunwales with merchandise at reasonable prices (I find they're a few pennies more than Home Depot or Lowe's, but not much).

Able is just slightly more modern and carries a wider variety of home-improvement stuff (I bought my water-heater from them) like lumber and roofing supplies. They also don't carry the hunting and fishing tackle that Walters sells. It's also a little bit shabby-looking in spots, but don't let that put you off: it's very well-organized and the prices are extremely competitive with the bigger guys. If they don't have an item, they'll order it, and you'll never get more than a few steps inside before someone offers to help you.

If I have a complaint about Able, it's the influx over the last few years of Chinese-made tools into their stock, but it's harder and harder to find anything not made in China ... even once-proud American names like Stanley and Milwaukee are being made overseas. But they still carry things like ChannelLock pliers (made in Meadville) and genuine Vise-Grips.

Check one of 'em out the next time you need plaster, paint, grass seed or one of those metal things with the screw threads that does the thing, you know.

• Able Home Center, 355 Lincoln Hwy., North Versailles: (412) 824-5900


• Schink's Hardware Inc., 515 Grant Ave., Duquesne: (412) 466-5441


• R.C. Walters & Son: 1441 Boston Hollow Road, Boston: (412) 751-5500

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ABC PhotoLab: After endorsing local, independent businesses, I'm about to recommend an out-of-town place that does most of its business over the Internet.

What?! Sacrilege!

'Struth. I know, I know, I should be going digital. But I like my cameras, film is cheap and plentiful, and I do get a CD-ROM of images burned whenever I get film processed.

The problem has been getting the film processed. The in-store photo labs at places like RiteAid and Target are hit-or-miss. The quality varies from store to store and even from clerk to clerk. Some one-hour outfits return very nice prints; others return smeary prints with lousy color.

Here's a real conversation between me and the photo-lab clerk at a Walgreen's:

"You do digital photos from negatives?"

"Yep!"

"What DPI are they scanned at?"

"I don't know. I just work here."

"Well, how big are the files? 5-by-7? 8-by-10?"

"Um ... I don't know. Do you want me to call the main office?"

I've tried sending them out via drug store "next day" service, but that's been a crap shoot as well. The last time I tried "next day" service, I got the prints back 10 days later.

If I'm going to wait that long, I might as well send 'em out myself. A little Internet detective work led me to ABC PhotoLab, a small outfit in Connecticut operated by ex-employees of Mystic Color Labs. It's more expensive than Wal-Mart, of course, but the photos look better than Wal-Mart's, and they send you a free postage-paid mailer. Shipping costs are minimal ($1.95 for one set of prints, $2.95 for two or more sets) and in my experience, they turn most orders around in a few days.

If anyone can recommend a good, local lab in the Mon-Yough area, I'm willing to give them my business. Until then, I'm happy to recommend ABC.

• ABC PhotoLab LLC: Olde Mystic Village, Bldg 1A, 27 Coogan Blvd., P.O. Box 262, Mystic, CT 06355-0262, 1-866-720-PHOTO

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Your Turn: Any businesses or services you'd like to recommend? Share 'em in the comments.