Greetings From Fayette Nam

Breaking in with a shirt related post today. 

I’ve been thinking a lot about my hometown and the surrounding areas.   Sites like Champ Yinz and My Fresh Factory have capitalized on the local flavor of Pittsburghers.  Being from SWPA or more to the point Fayette Nam as we call it, we don’t have a lot of catchy “wink, wink, nod, nod” shirts.  Well, I am hoping to change that.

Happy To Be Hungry

A couple of years ago, I did a pseudo homage/replica shirt of a local eatery which used to be a well known place in my hometown of Connellsville.   Winkys was pretty well known in and around the Pittsburgh area.   Some of you may remember the “There’s no Winkys in Wilmerding” saying of the 70s.   Eventually, in the late 80s, our Winkys was replaced with a Chumley’s, then an Arby’s.  Now, it’s a Rite-Aid store.

But for those of us old enough to remember the 70s, we’ll remember these.

And for those of you looking for a sense of nostalgia, pick up a Winkys shirt.

 

Winkys Shirt From Zazzle

Mammoth Park

Another well know place in and around my hometown is Mammoth Park.  It's located in Mammoth, PA… more commonly known as Mt. Pleasant.  Mammoth was founded as a Coke mining town and a park was built nearby.  

One of the main features of the park is the Giant Slide, which was built into the hillside.  The metal sliding board takes a double dip and ends in a long straightaway, which is needed to slow you down.   The reason was that, instead of flaying about three layers of skin from the back of their thighs, most people would bring wax paper to ride down the slide, increasing speed.   So, I wanted to capture that idea by putting together an classic/retro parody of the idea with a shirt for a fictional paper company in the area.  Hence, the Mammoth Wax Paper Company was born.

Even though it's considered Westmoreland County, us Fayette Nam residents still claim it as our own.

Mammoth Wax Paper Company Dark Apparel
from Skreened

Mammoth Wax Paper Company
from Skreened

East Park and Shady Grove Pool

These two ideas are still in the mix, but one of the features of East Park is either the tunnel or the newly restored Castle Lookout.  I’m still theorizing how to approach the idea.  The same goes for Shady Grove.  That one may not be a reality as it is still in business, I think.

Irwin Is the End of the Universe

Lewis Black once spoke about the end of the universe being in Houston. There was a Starbucks across the street from another Starbucks. Well, that was awhile ago and it appears that it’s spreading.

Irwin, PA is now the new “End of the Universe”. And it’s much worse. First, National City got bought up by PNC and instead of making the existing one a First Niagara, it became another PNC. Then, the Walmart finally went in on Barnes Lake Road. It wasn’t bad enough that Hills and Ames succumbed to the pressure of the low cost retail giant a few miles away. Now, we have one here at the scene of the crime.

Finally, they began opening new stores around Walmart hoping to get their cast offs. Now, there is a Starbucks on one side of Route 30 and on the other, there is a Target, with a Starbucks inside it. How the F@#$ did Irwin get to be so high falutin’ that it needed more than one Starbucks? We can’t keep businesses in the shopping centers around it. The Norwin Cinemas is now a gym. The Blockbuster is now an urgent care center. Payless Shoes is now an eye doctor’s office.

Well played universe… well played.