#4638 - Rich's Parkside Den, Elizabeth Township, PA - 6/10/2022

Rich's Parkside Den, Elizabeth Borough, PA

So I was sitting in the Port Vue Pub chatting with Shorty about 86 lists. They don't have an 86 list here in that old bar in the borough of Port Vue, Pennsylvania. But Shorty, the bartender (who sometimes also goes by "Heather"), tells me "My ex owns a bar with a list like that with over a hundred names on it."

"Are they open now?" I ask.

It took me a while to find Rich's Parkside Pub, because Shorty says it like "pork side," and so I was hearing it as "port side." But I did find it, and also found it was the second real bar I've ever been to that requires customers to ring a door bell to be let in (not counting "speakeasies"). Once the bartender let me in, there was the list, right on the side of a fridge full of White Claw and Bud Lite Lime.

I tell the bartender that's the longest 86 list I've ever seen. She says, "Well, Mckeesport is right down there." She points toward the Boston Bridge, which stretches almost from their doorstep, across the Youghiogheny River, and into Mckeesport, which has a rough reputation, with lots of closed bars, boarded up buildings, and larger structures that long ago bricked up their big windows leaving only a few glass blocks cemented into the tops. "Is that why the door is locked?" I ask. But she says no, "that's for COVID."

The "Lifetime Ban" list seems to include a who's who of the most malevolent and pernicious characters ever to darken the doors of the greater Elizabeth Borough area. I mean, sure, "Pepsi Mike" seems benign, but there's also "Huggie Theif [sic] Paul," "Crazie Debbie," and "Letter theif Gina." There's both "Little Bear" and "Little Bear's stepson." There's "Slow John," "Beer and Wine Bob," "Bob from Yates Street," and "Heidi (Soap in the Kitchen)." There's "Jeremy (Amanda's Boyfriend," "Jim (Roxanna's Ex-boyfriend," and "Jarrod (Black Anchor Tattoo)." One would hate to stumble upon the unfortunate gin mill those hooligans populate today.

Over 100 names on the "Lifetime Ban" list

Of course I was delighted to find this place, as the dying art of 86 Lists is a favorite of mine. You can see a few more in the Flickr album I've collected here:  

https://www.flickr.com/photos/peterga/albums/72157699557589111

Rich's is directly adjacent to the Great Allegheny
Passage, a 150-mile rail trail between Pittsburgh
and Cumberland, Maryland. in the shadow of the
Boston Bridge over the Youghiogheny River.

1907 Donner St, McKeesport, PA 15135 - (412) 896-1966
Est. 2009 - Building constructed: ?
Previous bars in this location: Patty's?
Web site: richsparksideden.biz - facebook 
Reviews: yelp - tripadvisor