Walkabout: Longtime residents search for their place in Lawrenceville
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The Starr Discount Convenience Store on Butler Street is for sale after 20-plus years in business. Elder residents say it was affordable in an increasingly upscale Lawrenceville.
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In the past two decades, Lawrenceville has taken on the bloom of youth and the cachet that goes with it; people under 30 are a desirable cohort in aging cities that have been losing population.
Lawrenceville was grim and grimy when I moved to Pittsburgh in 1989. It is now one of the city's most inspiring neighborhoods, with art galleries, cafes, boutiques and ethnic restaurants in the mix.
On the flip side, the stores and restaurants that longtime, often-elderly residents can afford are disappearing. One of the last is the Starr Discount Convenience Store, going out of business in a building for sale.
The owner, who didn't want his name in the paper, said the upscaling of the neighborhood isn't to blame. "The economy has killed us," he said.
Not long ago, Starr had a food service counter and sold breakfasts for $2.99. In the 5200 block of Butler Street, MauraMori Cafe is celebrating its first year in business offering a breakfast special for $8.99.
In short, the storefront retail that abandoned neighborhoods when our elders were the 20- and 30-somethings may be coming back, but it's not the cozy old-fashioned diner or the butcher shop. It's very different, favoring retail that sells what more affluent people may want as opposed to what the less affluent need.
That's the nature of development, but Lawrenceville's trendiness contrasts sharply with its residential income. The U.S. Census Bureau reports that in 2009 more than half of Lower Lawrenceville lived on incomes under $25,000. For Upper Lawrenceville it was 43 percent, 40 percent for Central Lawrenceville.
"Art galleries are nice, but there's almost nothing left for people on fixed incomes," said Doris Kiser, 83, a lifelong Lawrenceville resident. "You need a little of everything."
The fare at Starr's lunch counter and at other restaurants that no longer exist "was good food and the price was right," she said. "You get the artsy-crafty things and everything goes up."
The biggest hardship has been the loss of the Giant Eagle on 47th Street. A knot of block-watch activists -- Ms. Kiser, Paul Smith and Dorothy Tokarski -- has been advocating for a replacement since it closed three years ago.
First Published November 1, 2011 12:00 am
