I apologize because I got a little side tracked with this posting but once I started it sort of took on a life of its own.
Merton Road was nearly as idyllic as Green Valley Drive. It is the last street in Ben Avon before Ben Avon Heights and was a short somewhat isolated street of about 15 homes in 2 sections. It is where we lived before moving to Green Valley Drive. I had my friends on the street (Rick Wessner who is now a famous silversmith and Barry Sutherland) and off the street (Ralph Sapp, Barry Haughin and John Warren). That first summer on Green Valley Drive, I know that I went to visit Rick Wessner and that Ralph Sapp came out to visit me.
My parents built the Merton Road house after our house on Clearview Road
Tom and Trish at 233 Clearview Road 1952
Merton Road is also more urban than Green Valley Drive. We walked to the school at Woodlawn and Dickson (about 6/10 of a mile) for first through fourth grades. Across the street from the school was the Presbyterian Church that we attended that has since burned down. Beside the church was the Trimble’s house which is famous for 2 things: it was used as the location for the movie Lorenzo’s Oil and the home of Mark Trimble, Trish’s Mini-Cooper driving one-time boyfriend. Imagine first graders walking to school now! Now imagine my fourth grade teacher, Miss Logan. She also taught my father in elementary school! In fifth grade we had to travel to the elementary school in Emsworth which was just over a mile away. Plus we had to come home for lunch because there was no cafeteria.
Ralph and I had many diversions on the way home from Emsworth after school; Lattschalls (?) Drug Store with its huge array of penny candy, a bar on Center Avenue where we could buy 2 pretzel sticks for a penny and the soda fountain at Espy’s. If the weather was really bad, we could take the street car most of the way but it was too expensive to do every day 4 times a day. I also used to take the street car into the North Side on Saturday mornings by myself to the Buhl Planetarium to take astronomy classes. And people wonder why I have traveled so much.However, the real reason for the move to Green Valley Drive was that my Dad had taken a job at Edgewater Steel in Oakmont. The drive was a long one from Ben Avon. My dad had a car pooling buddy that drove a very cool Volvo P1800 sports car who was one of the chemists in the mill but even that did not help. The downside of the move is that now my parents were both farther away from their parents. Despite that, my parents bought the house at 3912 Green Valley Drive for $23,900! It seems like we moved in over Fourth of July weekend 1959 with the help of all of my parents’ friends. Roger Bachman provided a truck as well as muscle. The men unloaded the truck and placed the furniture and the women unpacked the boxes. It seems like everything was mostly done in one day giving plenty of time for partying.
Now it appears that our house is no longer even there and that the house that was the Landig’s and then the Shug’s has the 3912 number. Our lot seems to have a large garage on it now. I will have to check it out when I visit in August.
Tom: This is a very interesting story. What struck me about the Merton Road house is that from that particular angle, it is very reminiscent of your GVD house. All those names I hadn't heard for years--Ben Avon, Emsworth, and Mark Trimble. I am shocked to hear that your house is no longer there. Is that really the case? I can't tell from the Google shots. David Seidel mentioned in one of the posts that our house has fallen into disrepair and is currently under order of a sheriff sale. It is sad to think that such an idyllic neighborhood is deteriorating.
ReplyDeleteGo to Zillow.com and enter the address to see recent housing values. Most of the houses are valued around $160,000. Click for the bird's eye view to see all the prices in one view.
ReplyDeleteSomething definitely went wrong at the Beale's old house, which is shown as having solid last August for $1721. Not sure what's up with the Thompsons' 3912.
I was back to visit in February 2009. The 'Thompson' house looks good. They had some very nice concrete work work done - redoing the front porch and walkway/steps to the driveway. Yard and flowers have been well kept.
ReplyDeleteHey Tom, I certainly enjoyed finding this post. I grew up on Merton Rd, too. 6912. Walbergs Mark here. I certainly know most of the people you mentioned. I remember hearing about Rick doing silver smithing. I'm glad to know he has done well. I'll look him up. Merton Road was a great place to be a kid. Lots of woods to roam in nearby. Lightning bugs in the summer. It is different now. They've built houses up the hill from the top of Merton. Recall the families- Karn, Burfoot, Nutter, Wesner, Hinton, Wills, Onderka, Gretter, Besser, Neilson, Buzza, and a couple others.
ReplyDeleteMark, good to hear from you. I remember that one time Walt Besser thought he had trapped a raccoon that had been raiding his garbage can in his in ground garbage can and called the cops. Of course, there was no raccoon in the can! Do you remember Barry Sutherland or did the Sutherlands move in after you left. They lived at 6917. I have sen all the new development. I drove through last summer when I was back in Pittsburgh for my 50th high school reunion.
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