Community and UniversityHonors Social Justice SeminarSpring 2013

AUGUST WILSON’S HILL DISTRICT TOUR

1712 Bedford Avenue – Site of Fences

•Thought to be the site of Fences (set in 1950s)•Former home of famous boxer Charlie Burley•Wilson’s grandmother’s house

1727 Bedford Avenue –Wilson Childhood Home

• Frederick August Kittel, Jr., one of seven children, lived in the rear of this building• Front half of the building was a storefront• Setting of the play Seven Guitars, set in 1948•Daisy Wilson Artist Community to refurbish the home

Miller African Centered Academy

•Once the McKelvy School• Pernell’s school in King Hedley II• Former home of the Pittsburgh Crawfords• Just over 300 students• 97% African American• 96% eligible for free or reduced-price lunches

2215 Wylie Avenue – West Funeral Home• West Funeral Home has been

operating for almost a century• Mentioned both in The Piano

Lesson and Two Trains Running• Thomas West, Sr., is an

important character in Two Trains Running• One of the oldest

continuously running businesses in the Hill District

2172 Wylie Avenue – Eddie’s Restaurant

• August Wilson worked at Eddie’s• Unofficial center of Hill

District’s literary and dramatic community• Inspiration for Memphis Lee’s

restaurant in Two Trains Running• Many patrons operated on a

tab system• Torn down in November 2007

2141 Wylie Avenue – Crawford Grill

• Night spot, restaurant, jazz club, and hangout• Owned and operated by Gus

Greenlee, the “Numbers King” of the Hill District• Mentioned in Fences and

King Hedley II• Closed in 2002

2046 Wylie Avenue – Site of Jitney• One of many jitney stations

that operated in the Hill• Still an important mode of

transportation in today’s Hill District• “A perfect place for a play” –

August Wilson

1839 Wylie Avenue – Aunt Ester’s House

• Aunt Ester is a 285-year-old woman central to many plays of the Pittsburgh Cycle, including Gem of the Ocean and Radio Golf• Came to America with

earliest slaves• Aunt Ester = “ancestor”

1835 Centre Avenue – Hill House Association

• Traces its heritage to the Anna B. Heldman and Soho settlement houses, which helped immigrants and black migrants settle in the Hill District (people like August Wilson’s family)• Association created in 1964 as a

product of the Civil Rights Movement• “Empowering individuals to

change, become models for their family, and gradually reweave the community’s social fabric”• Headquarters completed in 1972

2007 Centre Avenue – New Granada Theater

• Built in 1928, designed by Louis Bellinger• Remodeled in 1937 as movie

theater and jazz club• Duke Ellington, Ella

Fitzgerald, Count Basie, and Cab Calloway performed there

2145 Centre Avenue – Lutz’s Meat Market

• Mr. Lutz plays a central and symbolic role in Two Trains Running• Polish, white man, a reminder that the Hill District was once a very diverse neighborhood• Sold the business after 1968 riots

2250 Centre Avenue – Weil School• Black Horizon Theater (1968)• August Wilson directed his first plays at this building• School still in use today

Photo by “Teenie” Harris