This program is part of WQED's Pittsburgh History series.

Often people will ask me, which one of your programs is your favorite?

And I bulk and I say, oh, they're like children.

I can't say which one is my favorite.

But, you know, in every one of the programs I've worked on here at WQED, there are always moments when things seem to click.

Sometimes it's when someone says or does something unexpected.

Sometimes it's just the way things are edited together that makes them funny or goofier or more interesting than they might be otherwise.

Sometimes it's just the amazing personalities that we meet and talk to as we go about putting these things together.

I think the most famous moment in any of our Pittsburgh programs is in North Side Story, when Mary Wilbur runs out to the edge of Troy Hill to show us the view.

This is the Deutscher under Stetson Bund The Deutscher under Stetson Bund was a kind of German fraternal organization that ran a bar inside and held picnics out back, as well as provided social services to the community as needed.

There were other clubs around here too, like the Turn of Rhine that offered a place for exercise.

These Troy Hill Germans have a long history of keeping fit.

There you are.

Was I right?

Isn't that beautiful?

But there are lots of moments in these shows, like Beth Snodgrass, Vibrating Eyes and Kennywood memories when she's trying to watch people on the waves swinger.

I just watch everything, make sure kids are goofing around and someones getting hurt.

But Kennywood Memories has been airing for more than 20 years now, and people know lots of moments in that show.

You're right, you know.

And show you all right.

And my name is Rick Sebak.

I produce and narrate these programs for WQED here in Pittsburgh and for PBS, and I've been doing it for almost 25 years now.

For this program, I've interviewed just a few of the people I've worked with over the years.

Getting them to sit down and talk about the programs and those moments when they think things seem to work.

Our shows are filled with moments when you know other documentaries that it would be The Cutting Room Floor, 1945.

You were leading the charge, and we were all right there with you in one capacity or the other.

I've worked on every one of your shows here.

I did the lighting first.

I was a lighting guy for a long time, and then I became the audio guy.

And now usually I'm the camera guy.

And it was kind of chaotic for me at first because I really didn't know your style.

I didn't know what you were doing or what your plans were.

Yeah, it was definitely Kennywood.

What was the very first one that stuck in my head.

But I jumped right in and it was a lot of fun, and I knew I wanted to work with you from then on out.

These shows over the years of working on these.

You think?

I wonder if that fat guy's still alive.

They all kind of run together for me.

You know, all those shows.

I know I was on it, but everything runs together.

They could be other places.

Oh my goodness.

I mean, do you remember leaving the tripod on the ferryboat?

And I remember Nancy was getting a parka and she was packing a bag because she was going off to Alaska to do reindeer hot dogs.

And I thought, oh, that's the job for me.

Reindeer, hot dog.

I think you're crazy.

Nobody gets to talk for 30 seconds in these shows.

And who was it to remembered that you, the producer, had left the sticks on the ferryboat?

That would be me.

Associate producer.

Thank you very much.

You know, we always make fun of the way people talk.

Oh, I am good, that is.

But no wonder you like talking with me.

I'm going to hate editing myself, but maybe you could do that part.

I know you're going to chop all my little words up, and next thing you know, I'm going to be confessing to something I had nothing to do with.

We could be in big trouble right now.

So we've put together a collection of clips from the 33 programs that we've all worked on together, and we're calling this program.

There are these moments.

It's a special hour for our series called It's Pittsburgh.

And a lot of other stuff.

And it's a pledge program.

Yes.

We'd like you to take this opportunity to show your support for these programs.

And either give us a call at (412)621-5808 or go online to wqed.org and click on the donate button.

And of course, for your contributions we have some thank you gifts.

And I went to the pledge department and I said, can't we offer some real deals?

And I think we have them.

If you pledge at the $60 level, we're going to let you pick any three of the programs that I've produced and narrated here at WQED 33 to choose from.

Pick any three.

If you can, donate at the $100 level.

We're going to let you pick any six of these DVDs.

We're calling it a six pack of Sebak.

But if you want the maximum Pittsburgh bragging rights, if you want to be able to truthfully say, I have them all.

Well, for a $400 pledge, we're going to send you all 33.

That's the best deal.

It's a big deal, but you can get the whole kit and caboodle.

All the wonderful moments as your thank you gift for a $400 pledge.

That's everything.

Including that moment from 1996, in the Strip District, when Jimmy Sunseri gave us a tour of Jimmy and Nino's, as it used to be.

And over here we have our rock, our deli.

This is where we slice everything that was in the big core over there.

We have Mortadella, Barba.

Can I see this Mortadella, pleas Since it's nothing more than Italian baloney.

But you'll never convince an Italian.

That's what it is.

Thanks, Barba You know, Italians like to do everything in a big way.

This is a medium sized piece of mortadella.

It's Pittsburgh, and a lot of other stuff is made possible by the Buhl Foundation, serving southwestern Pennsylvania since 1927.

The first hour long program that I made it, WQED, was called The Mon, The Al & The O Actually, I think it was the first hourlong program I ever made.

It was about our three rivers, Anyone who knows anything about Pittsburgh knows that it has three rivers.

Two of them, the Monongahela and the Allegheny, come together at Pittsburgh and form the Ohio.

And Pittsburgh is obviously proud of the three.

We've got a Three Rivers Stadium, our Three Rivers Arts Festival, a Three Rivers Regatta, a Three Rivers Shakespeare Festival, Three Rivers this and Three Rivers that.

Pittsburgh's identity is just all tied up with these three rivers.

In fact, if you look at Pittsburgh in the dictionary, it's defined by its three rivers.

Well, in this program we're going to look at these rivers and some of the Pittsburghers who live by them, work on them, play on them, and eventually end up drinking them in one form or another.

If you live in Pittsburgh, you know that the Mon is a nickname for the Monongahela.

Well, for the sake of our title, we've decided to nickname the Allegheny the Al, although no one really calls it that.

And we're going to call the Ohio the O, which is the Pittsburgh nickname for a hotdog place in the Oakland section of town.

But we're using it here to refer to the river.

We're calling this program the Mon the Al and the O. I think we did some things you'd expect, like the regatta and the locks and dams.

But I remember an incredible interview with Captain Frederick Way Junior in Sewickley.

He was in his 90s when we talked to him.

He'd been a captain on a pack a boat.

The used to take people and goods regularly back and forth between Pittsburgh and Cincinnati.

We charged $35 for the round trip, which required a week.

Pittsburgh to send some that man back 35 bucks.

And that included your stateroom and your meal.

No wonder we went broke.

Captain Way was good for several very nice moments.

I also remember that Jim Brule Hyde worked with us back then.

He's a building inspector in the North Hills now, but he worked on the crew for many years as lighting director, later as audio engineer, and always as jack of all trades.

I was really young at that time, working on the Mon the Al and the O, and I had never worked on like an hour format documentary for QED at that point in time.

So for me, it was very unique to go out and to work on this, this program that encompassed the Three Rivers, of Pittsburgh, which I actually enjoy very much, because I like the fish and I like the boat.

So for me, it was something I really enjoyed working on and was very grateful to have been scheduled to work on that show.

I worked on that weave the entire show.

I don't think I missed a day of shooting on that.

I remember working on the tow boat, shooting on the tow boat, I believe, down in Elizabeth, PA.

And one of the things that sticks out in my mind on that shoot was the the cook, the woman that was the cook on the tow boat.

Basically that the food that she would make look fabulous.

But almost one of the work on a tow boat playing, cooking.

Nothing fancy.

I don't go in for fanciness.

Stick to the ribs.

Cooking.

I recall we were sitting in the kitchen interviewing her that day and she was peeling potatoes.

Virginia has been cooking on tow boats for over 16 years, but says she has no special affection for them.

On.

I don't have the time to get into the details of the river.

Yeah, I'm busy here getting the meals ready and I just look at the scenery going by that I think I would miss watching the different scenery.

Actually, there's, one character and I believe it was on this this program where the guy ran a gas station just a couple of miles downstream, where route 59 runs parallel to the river.

There's an unusual little gas station and store run by a man named Peter Bleach.

He likes to collect jokes and funny stories.

My brother and I were on a fishing trip up in Warren two months ago, and, as we went toward the Kingswood Dam, I recall roughly where this gas station was, and I was looking for the entire time because I wanted to show my brother this sign that the guy had out, that had all the numbers, the population, the altitude.

I tried this information before I put it on this sign.

I put it on a piece of cardboard about two feet square.

I put that same information founded population, Altitude and total I had to get all that to make some kind of an impressive figure.

And then I put that sign up there.

There's still the nail right there.

And then his response is, we're interviewing him.

He's he's showing us this sign.

And he goes, yeah, some guy from New York came pulling in here.

One day, and there's just snot coming out of his nose because he's laughing so hard.

And he had this spot, that sign there with that information.

And he burst out laughing like the snot running down of his nose, that it just warmed the cockles of my heart to realize that there's another intelligent person that really enjoys humor.

And he said, boy, Pete, you're the greatest.

And so I thought, well, he enjoyed that so much.

I made it a point to put that on this thing here.

And that was the funniest thing.

And he kept it in the show, too.

That was great.

He was he was thrilled to be able to tell that story.

Yeah, actually, I remember too, that his sign says YBMT.

YBMT?

Oh yes, that's right.

YBMT?

Yeah.

What's that mean?

Why Be Empty Why Be Empty?

Get him to stop.

And he would stop and say, hey, what's that mean?

YBMT not have to tell him, say it slow and he'd say, Why Be Empty oh yeah, they say, yeah, right.

He says, say it slowly.

But I realize now it's really, you should say fast.

YBMT?

Why be empty?

Yeah, yeah.

Not slowly but fast.

Well, the person I've worked with the most on these shows is my friend Kevin Conrad.

He's been involved with the editing of our programs since my earliest days at WQED.

I think the first time I met you was when you came in to talk to us about, I think it was Bob mill.

Slagle and I. And you came to talk to us about on lining the Mon the Al and the O was a kind of final editing that we did for many years.

But editing has changed a lot since we began making these programs in 1994.

We put together, I think, a warm and homey program called Houses Around Here.

You said, I'm going to start the show because we were already working on it, and you said, I'm going to start the show on Halloween, because that's when I think people get to see other people's houses.

And he said, I need a good neighborhood with a lot of kids, little, little kids in it.

And I said, well, that that would be our neighborhood.

So I only had two kids at that time, and they were both, I'm going to say that Shane was six and Paige is probably four.

Those right around the time when, Home Alone came out.

So Shane does that that Home Alone scream into the camera.

That's the first shot of that show up.

I think it all starts on Halloween.

You know, Once you're big enough to walk and talk around the end of October, you start to explore the other houses in your neighborhood.

Trick or Treat.

Paige is so tiny, you know, they think it's, it's pretty funny to see themselves at that age, you know, at the time they're doing it, they don't realize, you know, it's going to be there forever.

Houses around here.

That's not the only show that my kids make an appearance.

I don't know how many years later we had to be, I don't know, maybe eight years later, maybe it was the holiday season of 2001 when we shot Happy Holidays in Pittsburgh.

It premiered in 2002.

I have two more kids by that point, so I have four then.

Now I really have five.

But at that time I had four and I took them to see the, the, lights at Heartwood Acres.

Wow.

How did they get all those lights up?

And I took the little camera and a little light.

I think Bob gave me that little light that they have left in the dark set.

A dinosaur and shot them in the car, and there's, you know, each one of them gets a little cameo tonight.

And my daughter Morgan, who was, I don't know, maybe a year old, you know, she doesn't say anything.

Of course.

She just sits there, but she's in it.

Oh, we've got friends, family members and crew cameos in many of the shows as far back as Pennsylvania diners at the Venus Diner.

Sitting at the counter is my younger brother, P.K.

he and his daughter Kelly are in the strip show, at Enrico Biscotti.

He and his whole family at that time are at Octoberfest at Penn Brewery in North Side Story.

I interviewed my mom for that show.

Too she had worked at the old Boggs and Buhl department store.

Well, there was a nice place across the street.

I used to sneak over there and catch a milkshake for lunch.

My sister Niecy and Bill Scott make a brief appearance and breakfast special in Columbus, Ohio, and in 1992, in the Pennsylvania Roadshow, we started with a visit to Big Fish, at the Pymatuning Spillway near Linesville, PA.

The fish are carp, big carp, and although they were originally from Germany, they've probably been swimming in these waters since the late 19th century, when Pymatuning was still a swamp.

No one seems to remember why people started to throw loaves to fishes, but carp have been attracted here since the concrete spillway was put in in the 1930s.

The spillway is a kind of bowl, and fish were probably first drawn to the aerated water just below the spillway, and carp, like many fish, want to swim upstream.

Now human beings throwing bread help keep the carp above and below the spillway fat and happy.

People who see these fish once are apparently hooked.

I've been coming here probably since 1950 at least.

The fish haven't changed at all, and the ducks engaged and the fence is new.

That man who said the fence is new?

That's my dad, Chuck Sebak.

He's unidentified in the show.

But you'll see him again in a second soundbite.

This Linville spillway likes to call itself the place where ducks walk on the fish's backs.

Why?

Because they do.

They go after the bread.

When people throw it, the ducks will try and crawl on top of the fish to steal the bread.

In that same Pennsylvania road show, I make a small cameo.

That's me walking in the front door of the shoe house, going on a tour.

Those of us who work on the shows often show up in unexpected places, especially when we need a place to look more crowded.

In 1996, insure things at Daytona Beach, our associate producer, Nancy Coates Greenwood, had a quick quad cameo, but she was also seen riding the Duquesne Incline in Stuff That's Gone in 1994.

In fact, I, totally forgot about it.

And I was watching the show and up I go, I'm looking out the window.

And I was like, I think that's me.

And I had to rewind it.

And it's like, that is me little red coat, that curly 80s, well, early 90s hair.

Nancy lives in Virginia now, and we caught up with her when she and her family came to Oakmont to visit her parents.

She says.

Stuff that's gone was the first Pittsburgh history show that she worked on.

You probably don't remember this like I remember this at the beginning of the show.

You say this program is dedicated to the quarry Opolis bridge.

We dedicate this program to the quarry Opolis Bridge, and then we have the bridge exploding.

Boom, boom, boom.

It took a lot of work to get all the explosions right.

And all that which we did in the big edit room.

But I can remember editing that, in the little room was, you know, with, timecode burned in three quarter inch.

I remember being in the editing room with you and Kevin, and you guys wanted to do two booms.

I was like, it needs three booms.

I don't know why I possibly talked you guys into that, but it has three booms at the beginning of the show.

We dedicate this program to the quarry Opolis bridge.

It was blown up and hauled away in March of 1994.

It was old and weak, but it had a nice kind of industrial beauty and a distinguished history.

It was built in 1892 as the Sixth Street Bridge across the Allegheny at downtown Pittsburgh.

Someone apparently working for Thomas Edison made this silent movie of the bridge in 1902.

It would have been a toll bridge back then, and it was sometimes called the Federal Street Bridge.

In 1927, when it had to be replaced, the bridge was taken apart and shipped down the Ohio and rebuilt over the river's back channel between Neville Island and Quarry Opolis.

Now it's gone.

Getting rid of old things is part of progress, but people miss a lot of stuff that's gone.

Maybe it's time we could take a moment and have a pledge break.

Just a quick one.

We want to remind you that it's very simple.

It only takes a second.

You call 4126215 808 or 1 (800)232-8813.

The numbers are up on the screen and it only takes a few seconds, but it helps for a long time.

Your contributions help make these programs possible.

We want to keep doing these forever, and we rely on you and your support.

In order to do that.

We have 33 of Rick's shows, to choose from.

So we're having this great pledge deal where you get three of these shows for $60, which three would you pick if you were going to get three for 60 bucks?

And I keep thinking about all the people I know who moved to Pittsburgh recently and who love this town for whatever reason, but they really don't know it that well.

Any three shows.

So if you don't have any Carl, there's 33 of them.

I think you got to have Kennywood memories because this to me is the one that started it all.

Well, I have always said, and you get so mad at me when I say this.

That your best show is Kennywood memories.

So I'm going to say you have to have Kennywood memories.

You've got to start with Kennywood memories.

I can't help it.

Everybody loves Kennywood memories.

And I think it was the start of all this, right?

Wasn't it your first show?

I would choose.

It was your second show.

The Mon, the AL, and the O Nobody likes that show, I'm going to do a local strip show.

Great.

Great show, great Pittsburgh show.

Kennywood memories.

And then downtown Pittsburgh.

Because I can't.

I don't think you could really go through downtown Pittsburgh and understand what it once was and what it is that it hopes to be and what it's striving for so hard now, when they do other things downtown hot dog program.

As far as the national shows go.

It's either it's either sandwiches or flea markets.

I pick flea markets because it's my favorite show.

And then Happy Holidays in Pittsburgh, because no matter who you are or what you are or what your religion is, or even if you're like a pagan dancing in the moonlight, there is something that you will love in this show about the holidays.

Ice cream show.

Ice cream show was great.

All three DVDs for $60, and I remember I didn't even particularly like making this one because I was so cold all the time.

And I hate being cold, but yep, that's it.

It's a deal.

They make great gifts too.

I know you love these shows, otherwise you wouldn't be watching tonight.

So here's what I need you to do.

Call 412621588 and make your pledge for a pledge of $60.

You get to choose any three DVDs.

For $100, you get to choose any six DVDs and the best deal for $400 you get all 30 all 33 DVDs in the collection, including the best of It's Pittsburgh season one that has the entire Dirty Dozen bike race.

So call (412)621-5808.

So you do have some choices.

Now, if you're thinking, can I see a list of those 33 titles?

The answer is yes.

We've put a list on our website at wqed.org/33, the number 33.

You can look it over.

You can give us a call.

Or if you want to pledge online, just go down to the bottom of the page and there's a pledge Now button.

The important thing is you call right now it does matter when you pledge.

And if you like these slightly wacky shows that we do for the Pittsburgh History series and for PBS, we want you to call now.

You can even call while you're watching.

There are these moments.

So here at WQED, Minette Seate is what they now call a senior producer.

But she's had many jobs here.

She started before I did.

Then she left for a while, but she came back, I think, during the Clinton administration first show.

I think I ever worked on with you was, the South Side special.

I think that was the very first one.

I remember being in the van with four men and a box of tape going across the Birmingham Bridge thinking, what the hell did I want to do this for?

When a lot of Pittsburghers hear the word Southside, they immediately think of Carson Street.

That's where all the shops are old and new, where restaurants and bars and nightclubs have become a big attraction.

The South Side is a fun spot.

We just happen to work here, right?

It's like the hubbub anymore.

Everybody's reviving it, which I think is great.

And the old days, there used to be a saloon on every corner.

Now there's a saloon and a tanning salon.

This is a place where family traditions survive, a largely working class neighborhood with lots of old houses, both on the fashionable flats and on the steep slopes.

We're going to take a look at some of the south side, consider some history, look at some buildings, meet some people and see if there's something good to eat along the way.

You can eat at a different place every day for a month.

Down here.

I think we've decided to call this program simply South side South side.

Manette wasn't there all the days of shooting on the south side.

She missed the pretzel shop with all those glorious, salty, handmade oven baked pretzels.

But she was with us when we ventured into the Oliver Bathhouse.

Oliver bathhouse?

Yep, definitely Oliver bathhouse.

I didn't even know what it was.

I mean, I knew it was there, you know?

And then I saw all those people swimming and really loving it and excited about it.

Yeah.

Oh, did here's this 1945.

I used to swim for a beer recreation when I was a young lad, and now an old man.

I come three days a week and then I do every game.

My name is Melvin Kozlowski.

I'm 84 years old.

I've been coming here for seven years.

You can see how good of a specimen I am.

Gonna drop that towel, honey, you're on.

What perfect place.

The price is right and you can't beat it.

And it's not many places.

At 40, I can be one of the youngsters.

Okay?

I have to request one.

That the pool open at 8:00.

Everybody knows everybody.

We moved a whole bunch of us been coming together.

I've been coming here since 1927.

And the second request is, we'd like President Clinton to come here.

We'd love him to have a swim with us.

Okay.

That's it.

I feel better for doing it.

I feel a lot better for doing it It used to embarrass me when somebody say, where do you go to swim?

I'd say the Oliver Bathhouse, but it sounds like a dirty old man's place where you come to all the girls or something, you know?

Yeah.

I was just, you know, telling somebody that I swim on here and they said, oh, my mother used to fade down there.

Oh, but they said, well, it's the bathhouse, so there's no difference in this place since 1927.

The only difference is we wear bathing suits, Oliver Bathhouse.

And there was a strange metals place we went to where a guy was, like, shaping big chunks of metal into something.

I don't remember what he was doing.

I remember the T&T hardware.

Somebody comes in, they want a pond of nails.

They're not in boxes.

We don't mind our scale.

We're way out of putting nails.

While the front of T&T is fascinating, what's amazing is all the inventory they keep in the back room and in the basement.

The selling area is only about 2000ft, but that's only about 20 to 25% of what's here.

It wasn't hard to persuade Mike to take us on a tour behind the scenes.

We're going downstairs.

We're going downstairs.

Okay?

We're going to bring you down into the dungeons in the catacombs of T&T hardware.

Now, this is probably the oldest section of the store.

We have a glass section here that we sell people glass or fix their windows for them.

A lot of galvanized pipe that we get into here.

This is actually underneath the sidewalk.

This is where the catacombs and everything begin.

People look at our sidewalks.

Sometimes they're in the winter and there's no snow on it.

And they wonder why.

And it's because our building goes all the way to Carson Street.

Sorry to see the hardware place closed last year, and that's just, God rest his soul.

I think that's one of our things, too, is just, you know, I mean, it's a personal thing of mine just to promote small businesses.

You know, I try to use small businesses as much as I can and to believe in them.

That wise man is Mr.

Bob Le Bombski, who's always good to have around, especially when we travel.

We first got to go on the road, I think, in 1993, for the program called Pennsylvania Diners and other roadside restaurants.

I always say diners like put us on the map nationally.

And that was the first show I did audio on.

You Called Me In, which said, we're cutting back on the crew.

It was the only two people, so I always did lighting.

He said, you're going to do audio and lighting, too.

And I'm like, I never did audio.

I mean, I might have held a boom for somebody once in a while, but, Steve Willing gave me like a ten minute lesson in audio.

I mean, he showed me the mixer and everything, and, you know, just threw me into the fire.

And, and I did audio almost the whole just about the whole show.

Okay, let's say you're out for a drive.

Maybe you're heading somewhere.

Maybe you're just enjoying being out on the road.

Let's say you're somewhere in the state of Pennsylvania and you're getting a little hungry.

We all know what that's like.

You don't really feel like stopping at a fast food joint.

You know what would be ideal?

A diner.

There are diners all over Pennsylvania, not always near the interstates, but diners are good places to go.

If you want to find a little local flavor, as well as some decent grub, you know it's dangerous to make any generalizations about diners.

Some are covered inside and out in stainless steel.

Some are not.

We followed no rules.

We kept our eyes and ears open for signs and suggestions.

We wanted to taste everything, but usually ordered the special.

This state has a great variety of diners, and there's even one Pennsylvania diner that has taken a place forever in cinematic history.

Our only regret is that we couldn't squeeze every diner in the state into this program.

We were going to call the show just Pennsylvania Diners, but then decided to add the line and other roadside restaurants because we had an inexplicable urge to include a few places like the Cup in Pottstown and Midway on the Turnpike that aren't really diners at all.

Just other places to stop, meet some people, and get something to eat along the road.

That's what this is all about.

You know, I like the mall.

I remember going along route six just it's just south of the New York Pennsylvania border.

And we drove along it, and I was driving and we were driving in a snowstorm.

And I literally skidded into the parking lot of Potato City.

I mean, it was like two feet of snow.

And we got in there and, of course the scene was that those two girls started to laugh in the kitchen, and they just they lost the baking dish.

Oh, that more cheese on top.

You put the finished product under the broiler for a few minutes and you have Potato City Fiesta potatoes.

Okay.

Agreed to test this batch.

And, that's so good.

It's it's.

A restaurant in resort called Potato City.

It's just the kind of delicious, unexpected place that we're always looking for on road trips.

I remember, like, the snowstorm was coming in and we went to the Penn State Diner, and we went real late at night.

And, you know, all these kids were trashed.

When you're open 24 hours, you you just develop a certain type of business and it's half bus depot and half restaurant.

When you come in here and everybody's in line and they're standing in line, and sometimes the line goes out the door, you can see everybody and everybody can see you, you know?

I mean, this place is nuts at night TV.

How's it going?

Whenever you leave the bar scene, you come to the diner and it tops off the night.

It's just perfect.

Perfect.

Yo, Her Birthday.

Two very paranoid.

I think I can say follow me, guys.

Paranoid.

Success.

Very low.

We're indecisive.

What are we gonna get to eat?

World famous hostages we enjoy here.

We got to do meatloaf sandwich, ketchup, meatloaf on a sesame seed bun.

I love this place.

It's so weird.

Look at this.

Spot, man, you know Christ is coming.

I love diners, they're incredible.

You know, they were.

They were kids were really funny.

It was.

It was a blast.

But we left next morning.

I remember buying a pack of those sticky buttons and getting home and got totally snowed in.

Look here I got sticky buns.

And they I mean, they're the best, you know?

Next golden brown stick.

If we're going to talk about what's best, maybe we should head for Mount Lebanon, where Matt Conrad is an editor at a video production company called Argentine Productions.

He started there as an intern in the late 1990s.

Frank Calero was the editor here at the time, and he had mentioned that Rick Sebak was looking for an assistant editor.

And I thought, I have to I have to get this job.

Do you remember what you said to me?

You're the only person that has said, you're the only person who applied.

So I guess you'll do.

Exact words I was crushed by obviously the best man for the job.

Matt was soon working on our 1999 production called Things That Are Still Here.

I didn't go on any of the shoots, but I remember I remember the footage for Ligonier Beach coming in and looking at that footage.

The pool's, 400ft long and 125 across.

This pool's big and the water's always cold here, and it's just really refreshing.

It's nice here.

I always say, if you want to take a bath, take a bath.

If you want to go swimming, come to Ligonier Beach.

It's a little cool because it's comes in through an artesian well that's underneath here.

But on a hot day that doesn't really matter.

It's very invigorating and makes you feel good.

Refreshing.

Ligonier beach is always the one that stands out it.

That story also has the great old films.

Remember that giant disc?

And they're just people flying off of it and being sucked underneath.

There used to be a big wheel that you could ride around.

You go up in the air, then you come down and kind of go under the water.

It was up in the lower part.

It was, I'd say maybe 12ft in diameter, and it was on a bearing.

My father designed ours well, and that thing got wet.

It was slippery.

The fun part was to push the person in front of you off.

Now, if you got on the edge of it, you could run or walk on it.

It was rotate and a lot of people had cuts and bruises and then all these feelings flying off, laughing and carrying on.

It was dangerous.

Yeah, but probably lots of fun to.

But worries about liabilities led to its removal as well.

Those gimmicks got to go.

Tom Gallo has that great line about how he worked there his whole life.

I was a paper picker.

I was a butt picker.

Tom grew up here along with his younger brother John.

I learned to swim when I was five years old, right in here, I did everything here.

I was a locker boy.

I was a paper picker.

Nut picker.

I think I quote that more than any other line.

I'll just say it randomly.

I came here as a teenager.

That's where we came to meet girls and everything.

You know, people swim here when they were little.

Kids are bringing their grandchildren now.

That's how long the pool's been here.

It's a great place to meet your friends here.

Mostly every day I make a new one.

We come here every day that we can.

I came six days a week, some maybe even seven.

While I remember my girlfriends and I walking out here riding our bikes out here, come swimming with my mother.

Knew that to kill me.

You love it here.

Sometimes you can do like head birsts.

Other times you do an interview with those two little boys and and they don't seem like good friends, but they seem like pool friends.

Other club dives.

I've been coming here for about 25 years.

I didn't know you know how to do this.

I know, and he says that he does.

And the other little boy looks at him with complete disgust and said, what did you say?

You did it.

And we have a pool in our own yard.

But we enjoy this quite a bit.

I doubt the second little boy calls him out.

Which one is that?

You do or you don't?

I don't know, those are the kind of moments that these shows.

I mean, you can't you can't ask for that.

You can, however, ask for help from people like Rene Colborn, who used to work at WQED, freelance producer now living in Connersville with her husband Skip, and all their cool cars.

She joined our team as associate producer or AP in 2005.

It was as you were losing one of APs and you needed another one ASAP.

So you asked me and it was the cemetery special that you were working on a national show.

We're all going to die.

No way around it.

Many of us will end up in a cemetery somewhere.

Every cemetery has its own little story to tell.

It might sound weird, but I love walking through a cemetery, so I've been coming once a week for the last 40 years.

The thing about cemeteries is that they are everywhere.

We're all coming here sooner or later.

Mean we just don't bury people and forget about them.

Take care of them.

In this program we're going to visit just a few cemeteries, more for beauty.

Graveyard is just like people are buried there and it's not really meant for decorations or anything.

You come on Sunday afternoon and you would bring your picnic lunch and hang out.

First trip Vermont was amazing.

Going to the granite quarry.

I never felt so tiny in all my life.

It was amazing.

But you're in Granville, Vermont, which is in the municipality Barre town, and this is the E.L, Smith Quarry.

It was named after its founder, Emery El Smith, who opened the quarry in 1880.

It was purchased by the Rock of Ages Company in 1947.

Today it is the world's largest deep hole granite quarry.

It's nearly 600ft in depth and covers about 50 acres in surface area.

You know, I don't think a lot of people know how gigantic a hole that really is and that all that, you know, a lot of the usable granite all over the country comes out of that hole.

You know, since I was from Vermont and, you know, I grew up really close to this huge granite quarry, you know, when you said you were going to do cemeteries, I thought, oh, that would be really cool place to go.

I was in awe of how huge it was and impressive.

Now I know that that's where I want my headstone to come from.

I think it was called Rock of ages, right?

Yeah.

There are a number of local cemeteries that, show and display the craftsmanship of, Rock of ages.

And one such cemetery is Hope Cemetery, which is probably the best known of the bury cemeteries.

And it's just an absolutely beautiful cemetery in terms of its natural beauty.

But it has very unusual, highly contemporary and highly personalized pieces.

There's a living room chair, when the woman's husband died, she wanted to remember that was his favorite chair.

And so she had it reproduced in granite.

There's a soccer ball for a soccer coach.

There is a cube that is very delicately balanced on, one of its vertices.

There's a race car, very unusual pieces in Hope Cemetery, and it's visited by thousands of visitors each year.

The cemetery I remember the most by far is the one in Alaska.

It was it was just really special.

It was a special day.

I remember how windy that day was.

I remember the wind at the cemetery that day.

This is the Birch Hill Cemetery, which is just outside of Fairbanks, Alaska.

It's sort of a rough and tumble place.

It always has been.

And the town and the cemetery sort of reflect each other in the home grown and sort of impromptu nature.

And again, I don't remember the guy's name we were interviewing, but he had long hair and his his hair was just blown.

Scott Fisher is an Episcopal priest who's conducted funerals here since 1991.

It's a place filled with community.

It's a place filled with memories, a place filled with history.

This was originally a homestead, and it became the cemetery.

I think it was donated in the 19 late 1930s, early 1940s.

It's very important.

It's very important to our native people because it's like sacred ground.

You know, this is where we bury our dead.

Just a variety of folks, the pioneers that, went from, you know, over the Chilkoot Trail are buried here.

You know, for instance, some, built Fairbanks, pioneered Alaska.

A lot of these people have been leaders, a lot of them that helped the family.

I know this lady there.

I probably did her funeral.

I remember Harvey dying up there, and I remember following that.

I don't know if he was a reverend or, you know, whatever, but I was handheld and I was walking with them.

And at one point he stops and he's waxing philosophically, and his hair's just flowing in the wind, and I'm really close to him.

I like that means I think, folks, we're very close in the.

We also inform our young people who respect the sacred ground.

People need to remember memories, what holds us together.

I think it's a good place to just come and sit and remember.

You know, to me it was like I thought if I was gonna get buried anywhere right here.

That was a neat day in that cemetery.

We have had the incredible privilege of going to some really amazing places.

And who do we thank for that?

Ultimately, you, because these programs are made possible by the annual financial contributions to local stations, by viewers like you.

That's the truth.

Your click or your call helps make these programs possible, and we hope you want to see more.

Now, if you want to see a list of all 33 of the titles, you get to choose from, take a look on our website wqhd Dawgs 33.

You can do that right now.

Okay, so if you can call right now at 412621580 8 or 1 802 3288 13.

You can get three DVDs of your choice for 60 bucks or a six pack, a C back for 100 bucks, or the best, all 33 DVDs for $400.

These make great gifts.

Six pack of CBS.

Did you come up with that six pack of T back for $100?

That is very cute.

I like that, and all you have to do would be to call.

I cannot believe you guys have the same phone number 4126215808I have not worked at WQED in how long and you guys still have the same phone number?

Is the 800 number the same one 802 three two 8813?

It is it's exactly the same.

That is amazing.

For a six pack of C back for $100.

So it's six pack of C back for a hundred bucks.

Which I have to tell you is an amazing bargain because I can't tell you how many of these I give away.

I get a couple of them stockpiled in my house.

Somebody comes to visit for a holiday, and next thing I know, they're going back to San Francisco with my ritzy back DVDs.

But I won't dwell on that.

Here's what you got to do to get your DVDs of the C back specials.

For $60, you can get a three DVD set.

For $100, you can get a six pack, a Sebak, and for $400 you can get all 33 CDs or, I'm sorry, DVDs and all.

You got to do to get those is to call (412)621-5808 or toll free at one 1 800 232 8813.

It's a great deal.

It's all the shows that you want to see on PBS.

You can't afford to miss it.

I didn't like that one.

I didn't like that one at all.

Have you ever done a flashback before?

It's pretty good.

I've.

I've worked on so many pledge breaks in my life that it's just, like, imprinted in your brain.

You know what your problem is?

You don't mention the website enough.

Tell it to go to wqed.org and click on the donate button.

Now that's somewhat scary.

Guy was Rick Manoogian, who edited several of these programs.

He shot that little message with his iPhone up in Boston, Massachusetts, but he wanted to be part of this.

This is a little bit of a trip down memory lane, but we're hoping it may inspire you to send us a contribution.

People love your food shows.

I don't know why the food shows.

I think people relate to food a lot.

So let's say you can give $100 donation your six pack of Sebak.

Which one should you get?

Oh, we got to pick a six pack.

I'm going to go National here.

My favorite national shows.

Oh, baby.

Right.

All right.

Let me compose myself.

Breakfast special.

Pennsylvania diners.

It's your choice I say Pittsburgh's Rivers and Bridges.

This is a double CD.

It's both them Mon the Al and the O, and flying off the Bridg to Nowhere aother Tales of Pittsburgh bridges.

Can I pick the three I picked before.

Or you could, but that's not very exciting.

Okay.

Pick six.

So I'll be self-promoting and say you should get the six of the ones that I worked on, which should be the South Side.

I would definitely choose things that are still here just because it was the first one I worked on.

Six.

All right.

Definitely one that I worked on the cemetery special.

I do like that one.

Hot dogs got to have hot dogs.

My favorite memory of working with Rick Sebak was working on a hot dog program, and the two of us going out to lunch and eating hot dogs, just the two of us.

Happy holidays in Pittsburgh!

Something about Oakland.

My favorite Lincoln Highway ride along the Lincoln Highway.

Oh my God, it just it's so, so much fun to do sandwiches that you will like.

I can't remember the name of the falafel place.

Beef on weck in Buffalo.

I've never had one, but I've always wanted one because of this show.

Sandwiches.

I like everything with food as well.

Oh, and a slammer.

How can you forget the slammer?

The Isley Slammer?

That's a good show.

I like downtown Pittsburgh.

Good stuff about architecture.

These shows make you hungry.

I think I have to go to the oh, while I'm here.

Unusual buildings.

It's the neighborhoods.

Just so many little, great little places that that, Can I start over?

I lost my train of thought.

I can't think of anything that's in it.

What makes Pittsburgh.

Pittsburgh.

Good year.

The Steelers won the Super Bowl strip show.

San Rocco.

I love the San Rocco Festival.

I've always wanted to go because of San.

Because of this show.

I've always wanted to go to the San Rocco Festival.

Let's see, flea markets love flea markets.

We need to do flea markets to a hot dog program because it's one of my favorite foods and it's healthy, too.

My favorite memory of working with Rick Sebak.

None And a flea market documentary.

Where is it invented, engineered, and pioneered in Pittsburgh.

I learned so much doing this program.

We got to go to so many places and we hope it gives you a new appreciation for Ferris wheels.

Pittsburgh is a 26 story.

You're not going to get 26 stories in any other show right beside the river.

That's another good show.

I love this show.

Not just because I edited the second and better half, but so many great stories.

Market to market to buy a fat pig.

Oh, absolutely.

Unusual buildings were up before.

Oh, now I see this other one, though.

I like this one too, so maybe I'll have to pull this one out.

Lincoln Highway I did like that one, only because I know back stories and how you guys were caught in a tornado.

Lincoln Highway.

Just a great tour of a great highway.

It also has a great score by Buddy Nutt.

He did all the music for this.

It's a great show and sandwiches that you will like, which is yummy.

How about a Pennsylvania show?

Diners.

Everybody loves diners and the North side.

Isn't that North side?

The one that has the South side has the one on the pretzel shop.

South side.

I've lost it.

And finally, Happy Holidays in Pittsburgh.

Sometimes overlooked as a seasonal item, but it's the Pittsburgh program which is aired on more PBS stations around the country than any other.

That's only five.

Well, then I have a sixth one, which was things we made and where did that go.

That's another good one there.

Six the ice cream show.

Ice cream show.

Yeah.

It's tasty at six I think so, yep.

Get the six.

The six that I worked on.

So here are six great Rick see back specials all food related which are have nice food segments and that everybody loves so much.

So get them get them.

You will have a complete it will be the chart of our relationship a great thing to have, a great thing to remember.

There's six.

What's your six pack?

I knew around Pittsburgh.

I thought it was the best concept for a show.

I just thought it was, like, such a neat.

And you couldn't do that show everywhere.

But around here.

It was amazing what you could do.

You know, on the surface, it's easy to see what a beautiful city Pittsburgh can be.

But what happens if you look down and under?

What kinds of activities are going on below our streets and hills?

What have we taken out?

What have we built?

What have we put into the earth?

What do you think of when you think of underground Pittsburgh?

My biggest thrill on the show was going down a coal mine.

It was a console mine.

It was it was so exciting.

Especially when you actually got into the coal face where they were doing longwall mining.

If you look there right now, what you're seeing is the sheer, which is cutting 42in deep, cutting with the bits, the drums, and they're holding out what we refer to as holing out at the head gate.

It's hard to explain, but when you see it run, it's actually pretty simple.

You know, the idea of 100ft long.

You got different places here, and we've got the best coal by far, I'll tell you that right now.

Things move a little bit faster here.

And they do what other minds.

And we'll go back and forth usually 10 or 11 times a day.

And I mean, it's it's spectacular.

It's like, wow.

I mean, it's dangerous.

And these guys deserve every penny and more that they get.

But to me it was just just pure excitement.

I mean, all these things are happening around me and I'm just absorbed into the eyepiece.

And then the coal goes out to a cleaning plant.

They take the rocks out and sort to curl up, put it in a train and away it goes with those I like.

I mean, if I look at like the sandwiches show, I mean, there are a lot of things I like about that show too, but like the, you know, the two cheesesteak places in Philadelphia.

I mean, that was fun to edit it because it was like, it's like a war.

You can stand right here in the center between pass and Geno's and ask people walking by, you'll probably get 5050.

Geno's is the place.

Pat's is the best.

Behind me is the flashier Geno's and over here is, where the real sandwiches.

Pat's.

There's a moment in the cheesesteak story where the woman in Pat's makes a cheesesteak and she puts the cheese was on it, and she hands it to someone to wrap it.

I cut it so that she hands it to the guy in Geno's, and he wraps it in on Geno's wrapper and hands it out the window.

And I don't know if anybody other than me knows that, but I also remember the actually in watching the Pennsylvania Road show, Tom Park, oh my gosh, in the middle of nowhere in driftwood, Pennsylvania, and the man and the woman in it, what a what a couple of cards.

But, you know, there was one thing I recall him doing on that show.

He had his wife hold a can, and he stood across the yard or whatever it was, and he aimed at it and shot it and that can went flying.

And initially, I guess I was gullible.

I thought he really shot that out of her hand on special days.

And his wife may do some trick shooting for you, and if it doesn't work out the first time, they'll do it again.

Don't move.

Just hold her right there.

Raise gun doesn't shoot real bullets.

Just blanks.

And the trick is, his wife has to pop that root beer can out of her fingers at exactly the right moment.

Good enough.

Wasn't too bad.

Just a little off center, but not too bad as you can say.

I recommend you children out there watching this program.

Don't ever try this.

Well, this Tom Mix Birthplace Park is a wild, all American destination in some ways.

A trip back in time to the days of old movies, to the days of logging camps, and to those old dirt roads.

You know what I loved in amusement parks was, at the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk, which was a great great old park.

Jeff knows how everything should sound too.

Basically, you hear the coaster going up the main hill right now, and that clickety click you hear is the anti rollback, which is a device that prevents the coaster from actually going backwards in the event of a, a power loss.

And we were underneath the roller coaster.

And the man who's in charge, the maintenance man lowers takes down the little trap door right as the coaster is flying by us for a while.

When it comes over this next hill, you'll hear the cannon roll back again.

That's about as close as you want to get.

Thinking about this, and I think my favorite is going to be a flea market documentary.

That's my absolute favorite.

We were in San Jose and you go around one corner and there are these huge open stalls, and then it looks like suddenly you're in Morocco.

There are these women with veils, and there are women from southeast Asia, and there are women from China, and nobody speaking the same language in this very skinny guy kind of looks like a pirate is standing there alone and measuring fabric by the yard.

Well, there's a lot of people from different countries.

Did that live in San Jose.

You know, they still hand sew and they make all their clothes.

They don't buy them.

So that's what makes the market pretty hot out here.

They get a little bit more fabric about an inch and a half to two inches on each yard.

When I do it by hand I mean you're not going to go broke.

Coming out and buying fabric right there, right there.

It was Marrakesh.

It was like it was crazy town.

It was wonderful.

This show could go on forever.

There are countless more moments we'd like to talk about, but we hope this has been fun for you too.

We hope you've considered making a contribution.

Remember, there are all these moments, but you can have them all.

If you can pledge at the $400 level, you get all 33 DVDs.

I also want to say a special thanks to all the people who worked on these shows who aren't in this show.

We thank them for all their work too.

And if you called tonight and made a contribution, we send you big thanks.

You're part of the crew, it's Pittsburgh, and a lot of other stuff is made possible by the Buhl Foundation, serving southwestern Pennsylvania since 1927.

Wow.

We've been in like 16 states, and I've had an old boyfriend in every state.

It was.