Paradise lofts - Struggling artists find low-rent homes in a former East Liberty car dealership
Sunday, March 14, 1999 at 12:00PMPittsburgh Post-Gazette - March 14, 1999
By Caroline Abels
Things are getting messy at 5720 Friendship Ave.
Drops of paint have spilled in some apartments. Sawdust and other debris blanket the floors. Smudges of clay are detectable on the walls and there's live music coming from behind the doors.
Don't call the landlord.
Punishing the residents of the building for making a mess, or too much noise, would be like berating an auto mechanic for dripping oil on the body shop floor. Oil is what used to spill at the corner of Friendship and Baum Boulevard, when the property was home to the city's first Gulf gas station and, later, the Constantin Pontiac dealership.
Now artists occupy the 1927 landmark, and they're leaving their mark - as they should. The Spinning Plate Artist Lofts is a building designed for them. It's mission is to make life easier for low-income visual and performing artists by charging cheap rent for good apartments that can double as studios.
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