Should A Notorious Bootlegger’s House Be Saved?
Should a 138-year-old house in Uptown linked to bootlegging and an illegal lottery be preserved as a historic landmark? Or demolished for new development? Folklorist and public historian Dr. David Rotenstein researched the Tito-Mecca-Zizza house and its garage for NEXTpittsburgh, revealing its connections to Pittsburgh’s Black history, prohibition, the secret history of Rolling Rock beer, and the Italian immigrant experience in the 1920s and ’30s.
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