Howls From The Basement

I did some puttering in the basement today. These are a few salvageable things that bring up little stories. The bicycle is of an original quality that would probably be worth bringing back into operation, next time Ceridwen visits. All it needs (probably) is new tubes, different handle bars, and a good cleaning & tune-up.

Dog'n'Suds is an old chain of drive-in eateries that was big in the 1950s & 60s. The chain still exists with seventeen locations in the US (all in the Midwest). In its heyday the company had 850 shops, with "carhops" serving the food on a tray that would hang on the door of your car. I have no memory of the chain. When I was a teenager, drive-in movie theaters were still common enough but already on the way out.

The Sealtest Ice Cream brings on another basement memory. The first time I lived in this house around twenty years ago, I found a big Sealtest Ice Cream sign here in the basement. It was a hanging metal exterior sign, about a foot thick and five long, still in decent shape. I offered it to the owner of an old-fashioned diner I ate at then, but he said, "Nah, I only sell Potts." Then I gave the sign to some friends who were artists, and they hung it in the front room of their apartment, from a high ceiling. Both Potts (a local company) and Sealtest (all over US & canada) are still selling ice cream.

The "No Thru Trucks" sign was city property somewhere, made of 1/8-inch thick aluminum, and I have a great idea for it. The Howling Mob Society is an artists' collective that did a fairly incredible thing several years ago in Pittsburgh. They researched the Great Rail Strike of 1877 and located the sites of its significant events. Then they got blank signs from friends in the Streets Department and designed commemorative signs for ten locations. They then made magnetic signs reading "Howling Mob Society" and snapped them and a flashing orange light onto a pickup truck, and in the pre-dawn one morning, they mounted the signs just out of reach on selected utility poles. The signs are still up and always popular. Those anarchists are smart --I know one of them well.

One of their signs reads, "On July 20th, 1877, striking railroad workers in Pittsburgh successfully stopped trains from leaving the freight yard in the Strip District. The sheriff was called upon to clear the tracks by railroad officials, anxious to regain control of their lines. Already, many local police and militia had joined the crowd of friends and neighbors in support of the strike. Knowing that local militiamen would not use force against their own community, the sheriff requested assistance from the Philadelphia militia.

Philadelphia's troops had just returned home from service in the Reconstruction South. Tired, hungry and missing their families, these men were sent to Pittsburgh to defend the interests of businessmen who were losing money for every hour their trains stood idle. As the crowd showered the troops with insults and stones, the Philadelphia militia opened fire. The massacre ignited a full-scale riot, which left dozens dead and countless wounded.

The Great Strike of 1877 is thought to mark the first use of federal troops to defend a corporation's "right to run a profitable business." These action have since set a precedent for state violence against labor movements and legislation that favors the rights of corporations over the safety and well being of working families."

There are places of Anarchist memory in my city where a good sign would do well, but I'll save that for another blip!