This is the best way to see what the Inclines actually are. We rode up on the Duquesne Incline.
A place called 444 Flags. They really did have that many. It was a place that honored the hostages in Iran back in the 1970s that were held for 444 days. This place is officially the Avenue of Flags, in Hermitage, Pennsylvania.
The Duquesne Incline is a little train/elevator that takes you up the side of the steep hill into another Pittsburgh neighborhood. The view of the rivers is amazing. The ride creeped me out at first, but I got over it.
Another photo in front of another post office in Wampum PA.
The trip to Beaver Falls, PA in 1994. We had gone with the hope of meeting my birthfather. He didn't know about my existence. I had a contact in Wampum PA, who had been a childhood friend of my bio-mom, and she knew the whole story of how I came to be. This trip to my bio-Mom's hometown was like an excursion into her history. This little town has seen its better days. With the mills closures and malls opening on the outskirts of town, this place is suffering. But, even in its crumbling state, I could feel its past energies. It was a strange experience.I almost felt like a voyeur.
The Polish Falcon's Nest was a private club in the basement of the building. Julius, my first Dad, worked there as a bartender. This is where he agreed to meet me that first day.
I have learned that its easy to locate relatives if they are deceased. We found the graves of my German Grandpa, Great Grandparents, and Great-great Grandparents in a Beaver Falls Cemetery.
This old, grey building was once the bustling Brodhead Hotel. When Julius came to the USA from Hungary in 1957, he got a job as a chef in the kitchen there. He met Shirley, my bio-Mom, there, when she got a job as a kitchen helper. The result was me. Except he didn't know about it. The Brodhead Hotel, when we visited, had been converted into a convalescent home. Looks like a really depressing place these days.
Here is Carl and me at Beaver Falls.
The major chain restaurant in Beaver Falls in 1994 was the Eat N' Park. They are famous for their smiley cookies that they give kids. When we ate there, we went to pay with a travelers check, and the girl at the register had never seen one. When we told her we had come on vacation from San Diego, she stared at us and asked, "Why would you come to Beaver Falls?"
This is Joyce, the lady who told me who my dad was and pointed me in the right direction. She was the kid sister of my Bio-Mom's high school sweetheart, and she knew the whole secret story.
A Beaver Falls street. We don't have cute little mini Letter boxes like this in San Diego.
We took a side trip to Pittsburgh and couldn't resist a post office picture.
Beaver Falls Post Office
Mayer China. A China factory right on the Beaver River,now shuttered. Bought out and consolidated with an out-of-town Pottery plant.It's just a past history for hundreds of people who worked there, including my great Grandfather Adam Hahn, according to his death certificate. Mayer China used to make the heavy duty restaurant and airline dinner plates and coffee cups. You can still see some of their stuff for sale on E-Bay.
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