{"id":1832,"date":"2013-05-01T12:01:00","date_gmt":"2013-05-01T12:01:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/?p=1832"},"modified":"2015-01-08T17:44:58","modified_gmt":"2015-01-08T22:44:58","slug":"pittsburghs-liberty-avenue","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/2013\/05\/01\/pittsburghs-liberty-avenue\/","title":{"rendered":"Pittsburgh\u2019s Liberty Avenue"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\" <\/a> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Subway <\/a>
Subway dig on Liberty Avenue, June 20, 1982 (Pittsburgh Press photo) <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Liberty <\/a>
Liberty Ave., Nov. 23, 1981 (Post-Gazette photo by Mark Murphy) <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Flood <\/a>
Flood of 1936 (Photo by Acme Newspictures) <\/div> <\/div>
\"Busy <\/a>
Busy Liberty Avenue, April 10, 1977 (Pittsburgh Press photo) <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Aftermath <\/a>
Aftermath of the dynamite explosion on Liberty Ave, July 20, 1973 (Photo by James Klingensmith\/ Post-Gazette). <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>\n

In Amsterdam, it\u2019s called De Wallen. In London, it used to be King\u2019s Cross. And in Pittsburgh, in the 1970s and \u201980s, it was Liberty Avenue, the red-light district of Downtown, the center of vice and crime. Prostitutes and gang members worked the streets. There were strip clubs, gay bars, adult novelty stores and movie theaters showing X-rated films. But that was Liberty Avenue in the \u201970s and \u201980s.<\/p>\n

During the pre-industrial era, Liberty Avenue was the most desirable residential area of Pittsburgh. It had become the center of city\u2019s trade activities, hosting local brewers, small manufactures and food suppliers.\u00a0 In 1894, the construction of the Joseph Horne Co. department store marked a new era for Liberty Avenue and Downtown \u2014 the advent of retail in Pittsburgh.<\/p>\n

Industrialists, such as Henry Phipps, invested into building Downtown. The gigantic Fulton Building, the Clark Building, the Midtown Towers, the Second National Bank and others fascinated the eyes of Pittsburghers, especially newspaper photographers. These new grandiose constructions were punctuated by inception of the cultural life in the area \u2014 the Stanley Theatre, the Lowe\u2019s Penn and the Harris Theatre. In their own right, they were an early effort to transform Downtown into a cultural center of the city.<\/p>\n

But then came the 1930s with the Depression, then the famed St. Patrick\u2019s Day Flood. Liberty Avenue, as a result, endured significant damage and subsequent decay.<\/p>\n

In 1984, the hope for Liberty Avenue renewed when The Pittsburgh Cultural Trust started working to transform much of the area into what it has become today \u2014 a center for the arts \u2014 the Cultural District.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In Amsterdam, it\u2019s called De Wallen. In London, it used to be King\u2019s Cross. And in Pittsburgh, in the 1970s and \u201980s, it was Liberty Avenue.<\/p>\n

Look at the picturesPittsburgh\u2019s Liberty Avenue<\/span><\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1834,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"gallery","meta":{"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true},"categories":[945],"tags":[963,964,972,1208,1005,1010,1031,1244],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/tumblr_mll1vd2nTU1rr5swxo2_r1_1280.jpg?fit=1031%2C1560&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":314,"url":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/2014\/08\/29\/pennsylvania-railroad-station-the-pennsylvanian-union-station-penn-station\/","url_meta":{"origin":1832,"position":0},"title":"Pennsylvania Railroad Station aka The Pennsylvanian aka Union Station aka Penn Station","date":"August 29, 2014","format":"gallery","excerpt":"The station at 10th Street and Liberty Avenue began its operation on October 12, 1901.","rel":"","context":"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/tumblr_nb1fjaHLO11rr5swxo4_1280.jpg?fit=1200%2C947&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":493,"url":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/2014\/07\/07\/the-t-j-keenan-building\/","url_meta":{"origin":1832,"position":1},"title":"The T.J. 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