Uptown Warehouses

I've discovered that posting on here can be a bit sparse when the only thing I seem to be doing is After Effects tutorials and sketching. Also, injuring your back and hip and having to sit quietly propped up with pillows on the couch doesn't help. When I wasn't on the couch I hung out in Scott's chair because it is super comfy and my chair is not. I played through Super Mario Brothers 2: Yoshi's Island while I was over there. Please go play this game. It is beautiful. I first played it on my Gameboy Micro (which was gifted to me in a box of chocolates for Valentine's Day '05). It was fun but I really missed out on the backgrounds and all of the extras like little birds and frogs that hop around certain levels. Plus, it has Yoshi all the way through. 

Since my chair is terrible and I couldn't stand with my injury I decided to finally buy a drafting chair that was cushioned. We searched around Pittsburgh but sadly couldn't find anything that would work since my desk required a fairly low raised chair. I ended up ordering a chair but it did lead us into the world of used chair warehouses.

First off, they do not eff around with the names of their company. Tri State Office Furniture, Office Furniture Warehouse and Used Store Fixtures, INC. I found it charming and really helpful. I knew that when I went to these places I would find chairs and other fixtures. No surprises here.

There was one place in particular that I loved and even though I didn't find anything there I'm totally going back. It was in Uptown (who's history is pretty awesome, and of course, like most places in Pittsburgh and other cities got screwed in the 1960's and hasn't really recovered).  Scott and I walked through here during the G20 and discovered a delightful antique store that is less a store and more just a 3 story warehouse full of anything you can imagine. After the ground floor you walk up narrow sets of haphazard steps and will randomly find doors. You're not sure if you're supposed to go in. You're half expecting to fall through the floor at any moment.You weigh your options briefly and then decide to go for it. You open the door and find a 3 story shelf full of accordions. The man who runs it is also very friendly and charming.

The Used Store Fixtures warehouse had a similar vibe. The ground floor had odds and ends for store displays. Mannequin heads, hooks, shelves. Basically a lot of stuff I wish I would have known about while doing Cleo Dee's. It would have been great to grab this stuff locally. We were directed upstairs for the furniture selection. You have to walk up 5 flights of stairs and it gets colder the higher you go. We reached our destination and a rotary phone began ringing. We were told that someone would meet us up there but he took awhile to arrive so we wandered about. It was chocked full of bakery cases, those orange and yellow booths that were always in pizza shops that had arcade games, filing cabinets galore and of course chairs. Office chairs, doctor's chairs, those beauty salon dryer chairs. There were also loads of trash and recycling bins of various sizes that were for sale but currently being used to catch the water falling from the leaks in the roof. A guy finally came up and greeted us, kindly told us to mind the bins and and to let him know if we needed anything. He then disappeared behind some furniture stacks. I was bummed I didn't have my actual camera with me and that it was a rainy day since the pictures I took aren't that great but they're worth a look.

Can you find Scott?

We were tempted to ask the price on this since all of the drawers were full of letters and numbers. It was also full of papers with fonts on it. Beside it was another set of drawers filled with giant letters.

Although we didn't buy anything that day, this is on my list of places to return to. We'll probably head back there and to the antique store. I'm definitely bringing the camera and perhaps inquiring more about these if they're still there.