A visit to the Lock 6 Museum. Rices Landing, PA.

Today, Chip and I were headed down to Hoyles Salvage Yard in Clarksville to pick up some parts for his '76 Dodge Tradesman van, so we swung down Rices Landing way to the borough building.  The borough building is right next door to the old Rices Landing bank and at one time was the old Lock 6 lock masters house.  What few people know however, is that the top floor of this building is the Lock 6 Museum. I admit, I've lived in this county since 1976, and 2 weeks ago was the first time I visited.   I can't tell you how many people I've talked to these past few weeks about this place and 95% were unaware of its existence.  Climb the stairs, and the entire second floor is filled with all sorts of old photographs, not only of the lock, but of all things Rices Landing.   Pieces of history that you might have thought are gone forever, live again.

After some nice conversation with Shelley Marini, Secretary/Treasurer for Rices Landing Borough, about some cool events in the works for Rices Landing later this year (The American Wind Symphony playing on the lock wall,  for one), we headed upstairs.


Pictures of all things Rices Landing hang on the walls and are on display in cases.  We were exited as two kids in Journics store w/ a dollar in pop bottle deposit money, as we went from one room to the next.  The following pictures are from todays visit.  Keep in mind, these are pictures of pictures, and these just scratch the surface, so you need to head on down on a Monday or Wednesday for a visit. 


We shot a short video tour while upstairs, just kind of going from picture to picture to exhibit.... go ahead, take a look....  

Underpass of the railroad then........

......and now!

The train station

Carmichaels Street.  The Melegas live across from here and the legion is behind the house pictured.

Rices Landing School.

Downtown and the bar....

Heading towards Greene Cove on 88.  Thats the rails to trails bridge up there!

I used to get all sorts of penny candy here!

We've been looking for a picture of this forever!

The good people at River Towns are trying their best to breathe some life into towns rich in history like Rices Landing.  We suggest you check them out.  HERE IS their newest newsletter.

Arensburg, PA. The Fayette Side Of The Crucible Ferry. A question.

Yesterday, Chip and I headed out to scout some new locations and enjoy the mid 60 degree temperatures of the end of January.  We hopped the ferry in Fredericktown and headed to the Fayette landing of the Crucible ferry.  Chip had it in his head to climb the huge waste piles from the Crucible mine (yea, we know the dangers) and take some pictures. When we got there, via walking north up the railroad tracks, we quickly decided this sounded better in theory then in reality, so we put that entry point on the back burner for now.  

Crucible mine slate dumps now

And.......

Then...1938.

Below, are two shots of the same area.  In the 1939 one, you can see the area open, and a building there.  In the 1959 shot, the area seems to be getting over grown and the building gone.
  

Hard to see here, but this old foundation runs to the river and is exceedingly large.

It's weird.  I've lived my whole adult life in Greene county, but know very little history from right across the river in Fayette county, and that was evident today as we walked the CSX tracks.  

About a tenth of a mile north of the ferry landing we ran into these ruins....

A little further up the tracks we ran into this.....

Obviously, some sort of pumping operation, but for what?  I know down the river at Ronco, an old water treatment plant existed years ago, but I think that serviced the town of Ronco.  There is really nothing around these old buildings/foundations.


The area in question is shown in this picture, taken in 1938.  You can see the Crucible mine on the Greene side w/ all its barges and buildings, but in the questioned area, it doesn't look like there is a whole lot going on.  

View of the old Crucible mine site from Fayette

And for you boaters, its basically behind the Omaha Beach area, as pictured here:

So, the question is, what in fact was this place once?   Any ideas?

The Hollywood Theater, California, PA.

From a calender I bought a few years back

So it's January 31st,  and 63 degrees in SWPA.  This is really unheard of. I'm outside on the deck typing this in, it's still so nice out.  Anyway, Chip and I decided to get out in this fantastic weather and scope  out future exploration sites.  Danielle had to work on this fine specimen of a day and we felt truly bad about this, so we went up to Elco PA and had a nice meal and beer at the always scenic High Point bar to make us feel better.

Wonderful view from the High Point bar

We decided to leave via California, PA and drove through town and noticed something odd.  They were in the process of taking down the old Hollywood Theater.  Now, I went to Cal U back in the late 80's and early 90's and I have never remembered this theater to have been open.  So  did a quick internet search of this place.  I found this little description in Cinema Treasures

  This theater was opened in July 1938 of concrete block construction, and had a 999 seating capacity, all on a stadium plan. Operated into the late-1960’s with the last regular operater being the Friedlander family. Opened several times for concerts or late night showings on an irregular basis during the early-1970’s.

Last opened late-1970’s for a two year stretch or so. Closed in early-1978, and all seats and equipment removed in the 1980’s. Basement housed a bowling alley which was open to the late-1980’s until being flooded. Attached storefront now a florist shop. Marquee still on building."

 "Ulu Grossbard’s STRAIGHT TIME starring Dustin Hoffman was the last film to play. "

Borrowed this image from above source, c. 1975

Below are a few pictures of the theater coming down.

Close to 1975 view, but today

So Chip walked on up to the door and peered through a small opening and quickly declared  "lets head around back"!  What he noticed while I was snapping pictures, was light seeping through the hole.....A clue to what was around back.

Chip noticed the multicolored 1970's era plastic bowling alley seats in the basement (item described not pictured, sold separately) and was very correct as this being used as a bowling alley once

.

If you plan a visit, I suggest go quickly!

Further reading....here, at the Friends Of The Hollywood Theater FB site, but it's a little to late now....