Lost City: Pittsburgh Edition: Jack's

On the glorious South Side, land of bars.

Lost City: Pittsburgh Edition: Recovery Room

One of the best names of a bar I've ever seen. It gets its name from being near a hospital in the Pittsburgh neighborhood with the rather terrifying name of the Mexican War Streets.

What makes the bar even more interesting: "Sleeping Rooms for Rent." As opposed to those other kinds of rooms. This is a family bar.

Lost City: Pittsburgh Edition: The Original Sunseri Bros. Pennsylvania Macaroni Co.

Too many words for a company name? I don't think so.

Lost City: Pittsburgh Edition: Mancini's Finer Italian Bread

Mancini's Bakery isn't exactly in Pittsburgh, but in a small, nearby town of McKees Rocks, where it's stood on a side street of the faded mill town since 1926. It's still in the family, second generation.

The shop is connected to a bakery that pumps out 10,000 loaves a day and is open 24-7, but is nonetheless a relative hole in the wall. All the bread is made with lard, something you don't see much anymore. Twist bread and raisin bread are specialities. And they've got a line of side products, like olive oil and croutons.

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Lost City: Pittsburgh Edition: Dee's Cafe

Carson Street, in Pittsburgh, is thought by some to amount to the longest, continuous strip of bars in the nation. I think there might be something to this. I walked down a dozen of the thoroughfare's segments, and there were three or four taverns on each block. Some, like Dee's Cafe, were saloons of obvious age.

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Lost City: Pittsburgh Edition: Primanti Bros.

Primanti Bros., a singular sandwich joint, is a now a local Pittsburgh chain. But the original still stands on 18th Street in the Strip District, an industrial neighborhood where businesses once went to buy their produce and other goods.

It was founded in 1933 by Joe Primanti and his several brothers. There clientele were the truckers that serviced the Strip District. In the early days, the interior was a bar only; sandwiches were served outside on the sidewalk. The patrons were very busy and had little time for lunch. The story goes that one day a trucker, in a hurry, suggested that the Primantis speed things up by just dumping his french fries and cole slaw on top of the sandwich he ordered. Thus was born Primanti Bros.' signature item, an, over-the-top, all-in-one sandwich.

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Lost City: Pittsburgh Edition: Gooski's vs. Poldolski's

Pittsburgh is a home to a wealth of dive bars and working men's taverns, many of which are barely distinguishable from the homes that stand on either side of them. And the neighborhood of Polish Hill is no exception.

The wonderfully named Gooski's and Poldoski's sit almost directly opposite each other on Brereton Street, a road that steeply slopes down toward the the hulking Immaculate Heart of May Church, and looks of perilous as an hilly lane in San Francisco.

Gooski's, the foundation of which stands at a slant, is something of a legend as one of the ultimate Pittsburgh bars. It's dark as hell inside, with some pool tables in the back, graffiti-strewn bathroom, an old fireplace and a big curving black banquette near the front.

By the look of it, I thought Poldolski's was a longstanding and worthy rival of Gooski's. But looks deceive. Turns out, three years ago a movie shot on this street and used the building, a former VFW hall, as a set, slapping the fictitious bar sign on the front. The owner liked the sign so much, he kept it there. It's an architect's office now.

So Gooski's rules the street supreme.

Lost City: Pittsburgh Edition: Max's Allegheny Tavern

I visited Pittsburgh for the first time recently. I had a suspicion that I'd like this city, with its interesting topography (bridges, hills and rives aplenty) and rough and tumble history. And I was right. The post-industrial town has retained a lot of its hardscrabble character and blue collar individuality. Longstanding neighborhoods such as the South Side and Polish Hill are still sharply drawn and teeming with local flavor. The Pittsburghers have even held onto their local linguistic peculiarities, such as eschewing the verb "to be" (i.e. "My car needs washed."), calling Downtown "Dahn Tahn," saying "slippy" instead of "slippery" and condemning folks they don't approve of as "jagoffs" and "yohos."

My first night there, I went to Max's Allegheny Tavern in the North Side ("Nah' Si'") neighborhood. The area was once it's own entity, Allegheny City, and filled with Scotch, Irish, English and Germans. Max's is a remnant of the German segment. It began as a hotel founded by George Rahn, and the room layout and interior architecture is still reminiscent of that former function. Formerly called the Farmers and Drovers Hotel, it was a popular stop for drivers bringing their wares to town for sale. Rahn built a new building, called the Hotel Rahn, at the corner of Middle Street and Second, Max's present location. The bar, above, was brought in from the St. Louis Exhibition.

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