{"id":5236,"date":"2015-04-29T05:00:17","date_gmt":"2015-04-29T09:00:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/?p=5236"},"modified":"2015-04-29T16:53:00","modified_gmt":"2015-04-29T20:53:00","slug":"chiodos-tavern-in-homestead-home-to-everybody","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/2015\/04\/29\/chiodos-tavern-in-homestead-home-to-everybody\/","title":{"rendered":"Chiodo’s Tavern in Homestead, home to everybody"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Joe <\/a>
Joe Chiodo, 1982. (Harry Coughanour, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette) <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Chiodo's <\/a>
Chiodo’s Tavern was an icon in the Mon Valley. (Steve Mellon\/Post-Gazette) <\/div> <\/div>
\"Joe <\/a>
Joe Chiodo (center) stands at the bar with two customers, Steve Tomko of Munhall (left) and John Troha of Whitaker in 1997. (Steve Mellon\/Post-Gazette) <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Actor <\/a>
Actor Jeff Goldblum chats with one of the regulars at Chiodo’s in 2004. Goldblum grew up in nearby West Homestead. (Steve Mellon\/Post-Gazette) <\/div> <\/div>
\"Joe <\/a>
Joe Chiodo, right, watches as Jessica D’Arcy, of The Three Rivers Action Co., auctions off a sign from his business in 2005. (Matt Freed\/Post-Gazette) <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Gone <\/a>
Gone but not forgotten, 2005. (John Beale, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette) <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>\n

Now it\u2019s a Walgreens. No clutter in Homestead beyond the mass-produced-retail variety.<\/p>\n

But right there, at the end of the Homestead Grays Bridge, facing Eighth Street, was Chiodo\u2019s Tavern. Packed full of stuff \u2014 beer steins, street signs, statues, helmets, boxing gloves \u2014 orders backing up in the kitchen for the Mystery Sandwich<\/a>, it was home for its regulars. Enough so that no one remembered the owner ever calling the cops<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Joe Chiodo owned the place. For 58 years he poured and talked and collected and corrected people on the proper spelling of his name. Born in Italy in 1918, he moved to Pittsburgh at 9 and always insisted on the proper Italian pronunciation of his last name: KEY-oh-doh. No yinzerization allowed.<\/p>\n

Not that he didn\u2019t love him some Steelers, getting a trophy to pass between another bar owner in Cleveland and even getting his face on a Steelers game ticket during the team\u2019s 50th anniversary season because he\u2019d been a season-ticket holder the longest \u2014 a block of 36 season tickets had been his as long as he’d had the bar.<\/p>\n

\"img001\"
Sam Chiodo, 1992. Joe’s cousin and the bar’s longtime manager. (Bob Donaldson, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Out back, facing the bridge, he had an old streetcar from the 68 line that used to go past Kennywood. It was just the front of the car, but people still stopped to ask to stand in it.<\/p>\n

It was one of the first Pittsburgh bars with a wider selection of beer — at least more than the factory workers and college kids had usually seen. It helped show that a different kind of product could sell.<\/p>\n

He figured he\u2019d been open so long and become such a destination that everybody had been there, pretty much. And he wasn\u2019t necessarily wrong. Owners of the Pirates, Russian diplomats, and everyone in between, if those things are really so far apart to begin with.<\/p>\n

And then, in 2005, it was enough. Open as Chiodo’s since 1947, a bar of some kind since 1890, the place\u00a0would close as Joe retired.<\/p>\n

There was an auction<\/a>. Some people bought back their old stuff that had been hanging in the bar forever. The recipe for the Mystery Sandwich went for $450. An alligator jaw sold for $110. It was a bar built by just about everyone, so it was easy for bidders to see something of themselves, lot by lot, in what was for sale.<\/p>\n

The auction was in April 2005. Joe himself lasted until August 2007, when he died at 89.<\/p>\n

Even with the bar gone, even with him gone, those who still call it the High Level Bridge have to work to see the Walgreens. For them that spot will always be Chiodo\u2019s.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Now it\u2019s a Walgreens, but it was once a Homestead drinking destination.<\/p>\n

Look at the picturesChiodo’s Tavern in Homestead, home to everybody<\/span><\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":5237,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true},"categories":[945],"tags":[960,1248,1025,1030,1036,1046],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/img004.jpg?fit=2344%2C1985&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":2138,"url":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/2013\/01\/16\/homestead-works-4-oclock-shift\/","url_meta":{"origin":5236,"position":0},"title":"Homestead Works 4\u00a0o\u2019clock shift","date":"January 16, 2013","format":"gallery","excerpt":"This photo, found in our archives, shows men leaving the Homestead Works after their shift.","rel":"","context":"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/tumblr_mgovntnrRE1rr5swxo1_1280.jpg?fit=1200%2C578&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2060,"url":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/2013\/02\/12\/when-pittsburgh-was-not-so-clean\/","url_meta":{"origin":5236,"position":1},"title":"When Pittsburgh was not so clean","date":"February 12, 2013","format":"gallery","excerpt":"We like to think of our city as one of America\u2019s most livable places.","rel":"","context":"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/tumblr_mi48oekVcl1rr5swxo4_1280.jpg?fit=1200%2C871&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2600,"url":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/2012\/08\/24\/nikita-khrushchev-and-pittsburgh\/","url_meta":{"origin":5236,"position":2},"title":"Nikita Khruschev in Pittsburgh","date":"August 24, 2012","format":"gallery","excerpt":"Mr. Khrushchev met with workers at Mesta Machine Co. in West Homestead, where he famously gave his wristwatch to a worker in return for a cheap cigar.","rel":"","context":"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/tumblr_m93z1susSM1rr5swxo1_r1_1280.jpg?fit=1200%2C896&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":9877,"url":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/2021\/03\/02\/the-day-a-prince-visited-the-mon-valley\/","url_meta":{"origin":5236,"position":3},"title":"The day a prince visited the Mon Valley","date":"March 2, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"By Steve Mellon\/Post-Gazette Nothing was clear when Prince Charles of Great Britain stepped off a sleek twin-engine business jet at Pittsburgh International Airport around 11:20 a.m. Friday, March 4, 1988. 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