Mt. Lebanon : Buzz

In the news again is our highly talented and wildly creative Pop Filter editor, Jennifer Baron, with her new music project The Garment District. This time she's in collaboration with filmmaker Keith Tassick as part of the production of the video for her song, "Nature-Nature," which is set to 500 of her photos in this video. The artsy and techy video was just named a finalist for the DATA Awards for--what else--the intersection of arts and tech category, given annually by the Pittsburgh Technology Council (on June 7th this year).

And who's doing vocals? Her lovely and talented cousin, Lucy Blehar from Mt. Lebanon, a student in the theatre program at DePaul University in Chicago. The song was recorded by Pittsburgh native Kevin C. Smith in his Friendship studio. Hats off to all.

See the video here.

Larrimor's -- Pittsburgh's family-owned, premier men's and women's clothier -- has been named a "Best of Class" retailer, as noted in the spring 2010 issue of Esquire Magazine's Big Black Book. The 2010 listing marks the third time Larrimor's has been honored with this recognition.

Esquire's Best of Class list in the Big Black Book (its twice-yearly style manual for men) is a collection of the best men's specialty stores in the country.

"Larrimor's is one of a select few that has stood the test of time and meets these criteria," noted an Esquire spokesperson.

Larrimor's has two store locations: Downtown Pittsburgh (249 Fifth Ave.) and Mt. Lebanon (The Galleria).

Read the complete Esquire Magazine article.

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The Wall Street Journal recently featured Rollier's Hardware in its Fast Fixes feature, which profiles "an entrepreneur who thinks outside the box."

Rollier's was founded in 1922, and now maintains a brick-and-mortar location in Mt. Lebanon (its longtime Shadyside shop closed in 2002), as well as a successful supplementary website, HardToFindItems.com. Brothers Brett and Derek Satterfield, whose great-grandfather started Rollier's, realized the neighborhood hardware shop needed a fresh way to compete with big-box stores, so in 2008 they launched the site, which houses tons of niche-type items, from white wires instead of green, to grill thermometers.

HardToFindItems added $1.3 million in revenue to Rollier's takings in 2009, and will likely add about $3 million in 2010.

Click here to read the complete article on Rollier's Hardware.

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Elaine LeBalme, Pop City's "New Girl in Town," gets profiled in mtl magazine, which covers the Mt. Lebanon area where LeBalme lives. LeBalme discusses how and why she and her family chose to relocate from San Francisco to Pittsburgh, and the parts of the city she grows to love more and more and she becomes a part of the Pittsburgh community.

In addition to Mt. Lebanon's old brick homes, Primanti sandwiches and the shops along Butler Street in Lawrenceville, LeBalme is charmed by Pittsburgh's low cost of living, great schools and opportunities for personal and professional advancement--since coming to Pittsburgh just two years ago, LeBalme has organized a women's social group and a "Mammas for Obama" blog, and has launched the "New Girl in Town" column at Pop City.

To read the complete mtl article, click here, then flip to page 56.