Beloved Pittsburgh documentarian Rick Sebak returned to his hometown of Bethel Park on Nov. 2 to present his short film “A Short History of Route 88” to community members at the Schoolhouse Arts and History Center.
Tim Moury, president of the Bethel Park Historical Society, introduced Sebak to the audience as a Bethel Park High School 1971 graduate, to excited cheers and applause.
“We’re at the point with the building now that we can have programming,” Moury said about the arts and history center, which served as the local high school in the early 20th century. “We’re focusing on the history within the community, but also education, returning the building to its roots. I think Rick, being a Bethel grad, he does both, and we’re excited to have him as part of our lecture series.”
Released in February 2018 as part of WQED’s series “Nebby: Rick Sebak’s Tales of Greater Pittsburgh,” the 28-minute video hits all the quintessential Sebak film notes. Its showing evoked fond and nostalgic memories, imbued the audience with a sense of warmth and gratitude for communities and life’s simple pleasures, and taught some interesting history along the way.
“Being that Rick Sebak is a native of Bethel Park, he wanted to come back here and speak on behalf of the Schoolhouse and Bethel Park Historical Society,” John Oakes, executive board member of the historical society and municipal council president, said. “I think Mr. Sebak likes what the community is doing with the Schoolhouse and the historical society, and kind of the leaps and bounds we’ve made in terms of trying to preserve a lot of the history and being a repository for all the historical things in Bethel Park.”
Points of interest
Oakes said he especially liked the part of the film about a stretch of Old Route 88 just south of downtown Finleyville. According to the film, this old brick section, which veers off the main contemporary route, “may thrill you if you’re a highway history buff.”
“You can still see the original brick road from Route 88. I thought that was very interesting. I didn’t know that, just found that out, myself,” Oakes said, noting that he wants to take his family to see the section.
One newer element in the Route 88 video that you won’t find in Sebak’s earlier films is the occasional use of soaring, establishing drone shots, courtesy of “drone wizard” Matt Conrad, according to the program’s credits.
The film opens with once such shot, which starts on the “three-bedroom, red-brick split-level house in Bethel Park” Sebak grew up in, then rises over the trees to reveal the bustling two-lane Route 88.
Beginning where Route 88 starts in Overbrook, the film takes its viewer south on a tour of the winding road, stopping along the way to profile the many attractions and communities the highway runs through, the first of which is the borough of Castle Shannon.
Audience member Chris Cooper particularly enjoyed the Castle Shannon segment and the segment about Mineral Beach, the now-closed public pool in Union Township.
“I grew up in Castle Shannon, which is along route 88, lotta good memories. And I also worked down near California (Pa.), so I was familiar with all the small towns along the way that he mentioned,” Cooper said. “It’s a shame that so many places are closed now, especially Mineral Beach.”
A first for Bethel Park
Although several other locations featured in the film have since closed, such as Simply Baked bakery in Charleroi, their memories live on in “A Short History of Route 88.”
Moury particularly enjoyed the segments about Bethel Park, one of which focuses on high school English teacher and local history buff Cortney Williams and her recounting of the nation’s first armored-car robbery.
“If you are driving south on 88 and you start to come up Brightwood Road, you might not expect that the first thing you’re going to see is the area of the first armored-car robbery in the nation, and it happened here in Bethel Park,” Williams says in the film.
On March 11, 1927, a man named Paul Jaworski and eight of his associates, sometimes known as the Flathead Gang, robbed two armored cars, although they were eventually caught. Williams, in fact, wrote a play about the events that her students performed in 2017.
During Sebak’s visit to the Schoolhouse, alongside the screens showing the film, were two tables featuring memorabilia relating to the film’s contents. Among the items was a model barrel of gunpowder and a detonator next to photos of the wrecked armored cars and a comic book page depicting the Flathead Gang.
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After raising $1.3 million and putting lots of work into revitalizing the schoolhouse, Moury and the rest of the historical society members are excited to continue hosting various programs and events.
“It’s great to bring it back and have it as a community asset,” Moury said. “Everything here is operated by volunteers. We don’t have a paid staff, so everything that is done is done by the people that volunteer.”
Work sessions at the Schoolhouse are on Tuesdays and Thursday nights.