Gen X Pittsburgh: The Beehive and the ’90s Scene (The History Press)

Gen X Pittsburgh: The Beehive and the ’90s Scene (The History Press)

Beginning in the early 1990s, Pittsburgh's South Side neighborhood began to transform from the post-industrial morass it had been suffering for the last few decades. Artists began to rent empty apartments, what were once shot-and-a-beer bars became hip dive bars and entrepreneurs found inexpensive real estate to follow their visions. It was in this landscape that the Beehive Coffeehouse began to attract a new 90s alternative crowd. East Carson Street was soon home to not just coffeehouses but Slacker, Dee's Cafe, Culture Shop, Club Laga and the Lava Lounge. Across a bridge, in the university community of Oakland, The Upstage, Electric Banana and another Beehive catered to the new youth culture. Cappuccinos, thrift shop culture, grunge music, local alternative bands, artists, writers and creative denizens of all stripes would soon enter the city's collective conscious. The South Side Beehive though was where the night often began, and weekends ended. A Caffeinated Look Back "With more than 70 interviews, Rullo shows how the Beehive began to transform a post-industrial South Side and what it meant to both patrons and employees of the now-shuttered business that was once the hippest place in town for a burgeoning generational crowd. For anyone who frequented either Beehive location, "Gen X Pittsburgh . . ." will be a welcome reminder of how carefree and fun those days were, before the internet and cell phones ruined spontaneity, before so many baristas, janitors and regulars grew up, becoming established musicians, writers, promoters, and artists happy to remember their roots." -Fred Shaw, Pittsburgh Quarterly David Rullo is an award-winning journalist and a senior writer at the Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle . His work has appeared in national and international newspapers, magazines and literary journals. He has spent the better part of five decades exploring and contributing to the city's art and literary scene. Rullo's work has been exhibited and heard in Pittsburgh's cultural district, and his bands Digital Buddha, Architects of the Atmosphere and Centrale Electrique have explored the boundaries between electronic music, spoken word, performance art and experimental music. Rullo's collection of poetry, Tired Scenes from a City Window , was published in 2015. David is a Pittsburgh native, and he lives in the city's South Hills.