In the Greensburg area, you can meet philosophers while drinking coffee and looking at local art at the DV8 Espresso Shop and Gallery, shred the streets with a new skateboard from The Shop, watch a Led Zeppelin tribute group or a local hardcore band at The Keynote Café and get tattoos and piercings at Unique Ink.
By Jessie Farine
Staff Writer
In the Greensburg area, you can meet philosophers while drinking coffee and looking at local art at the DV8 Espresso Shop and Gallery, shred the streets with a new skateboard from The Shop, watch a Led Zeppelin tribute group or a local hardcore band at The Keynote Café and get tattoos and piercings at Unique Ink.
Unique Ink, relocated to 225 West Pittsburgh Street across from the BP gas station, offers tattoos and piercings from artists such as owner Nick Christofano, who has been inking people since 1997, and Dan Weyandt, who started his tattoo career in 1998. “I’m sure that some people still think tattoo shops are some rough biker hangout,” said receptionist Chris Goodman. “But the second you walk into our shop, any preconceived notions like that will evaporate.” The shop takes special care to make sure everything is as clean as possible. “A lot of people say our shop reminds them of a doctor’s office,” he said.
The DV8 Espresso Bar & Gallery is located next to the post office on Pennsylvania Avenue. It offers organic coffee, tea, and baked vegan goods. The two-room coffee café is a great place for meeting interesting people, whether it be knights from the Society for Creative Anachronism (who recreate the arts and skills of pre-17th-century Europe), or philosophers meeting for the weekly Saturday morning Socrates Café discussion group. On Thursday nights, DV8 is open until 9:00 PM for the “Sketch & Sip,” a challenge that invites anyone to draw an arranged set of still life, and customers vote all week determine the best sketch – the winner gets a free drink. The café hosts live performances from acoustic and electric musicians and poetry readings, sometimes by Seton Hill University (SHU) English professor Michael Arnzen. The café has also displayed the artwork of SHU art majors along its walls.
The Shop Skateboarding, located on the corner of Third Street and Main Street, features popular brands like Zero, Habitat, Alien Workshop, Spitfire and Fourstar. The Shop is owned by local skateboarder Erik Williams and ran part-time by various other local skateboarders, including Jesse Bisping and Mark Alcorn. Their dedication to the local skateboarding scene can be seen in the various videos they have uploaded on YouTube, shredding locales such as the Evolution Skatepark in Ohio. “We make these videos to show our passion for skating,” said Alcorn.
A short drive on Route 130, The Keynote Café on 416 Clay Avenue in Jeannette features a wide array of local musicians. It also features a showcase of adult artists in Westmoreland County. Jill Sorrels, the owner of the Keynote Café, has always had music be an intimate part of her life. “I was not a musician myself but growing up, I always supported local bands. That was where my friends and I would go to dance and socialize,” she said. Eventually, the music scene began to die out. “I’m not sure what happened,” Sorrels said. “Maybe that’s when disco took over, but for whatever reason, the live music just seemed to disappear in our area.” The idea to open the small café came when she encouraged her daughter’s friend to sing at an open mic, and without any preparation, she sang a capella and “brought down the house!” Sorrels thought that kids like her daughter’s friend needed a place where “they can go and sing and hone their skills performing in front of a live audience and take this experience with them to college.” Eventually, artwork came into the big picture when Sorrels needed something to fill the empty walls of the café. “I started inviting my artist friends to bring their work in, and we would have an ‘art opening’ and use our musicians to entertain ourselves. It was an easy win-win situation for everyone. The musicians celebrated the artists, and the artists supported the musicians!” Recently, The Keynote Café began to reserve every last Thursday of the month for “Songcrafter’s Night” where local musicians get to perform and be interviewed about their music, and a video of the session is uploaded onto YouTube.
Despite all of the wild and crazy things there are to do in Greensburg, there are still ways to pass the time more calmly. St. Clair Park on North Maple Avenue features an amphitheater and hosts concerts in the summer. Lynch Field Park on Route 119 offers sports opportunities, and in the winter there is ice skating in the Kirk S. Nevin Arena. For freshmen who are not Catholic and want to find their own sect, Downtown Greensburg contains a vast array of denominational Christian churches, including Methodist, Lutheran and Baptist. There is even a Jewish synagogue on 222 North Main Street, the Congregation Emanu-El Israel.
Greensburg still has some big city opportunities for a small town and can still provide a warm atmosphere for a diverse crowd.