Some of our building's previous inhabitants were knocking back Dillinger's Pure Rye Whiskey, "Bottled in Bond at the Distillery: Ruff's Dale Pennsylvania."
The image depicts what looks like an old steel mill, which doesn't seem so far off considering Ruff's Dale is part of the Mon Valley, known for its former prosperity in the makings of all things steel and all emissions sooty. But, as I have learned from this informative page on Mon Valley Whiskeys, that was actually the distillery. The buildings on the bottle are lined up in factory fashion, all labeled with letters from A-F, which could have been an inspirational, dashed acroynym for Pittsburgh Punx, Anti-Flag, who don't believe in god (I think) and later opened up their own A-F records, as you see in the last link. Known for their love of Jesse Jones and fine rye whiskey, as well as their hometown pride, Anti-Flag could be just the re-animator to enstill life in a local distillery to open its doors and begin once again invading people's livers and their personal lives.
Another interesting fact about the bottle is the pharmacy at which it was prescribed: The Larimer Pharmacy, of Pittsburgh's Larimer neighborhood.
(I know, the picture's not that great. But neither is the research, so you should appreciate the consistency, which, as all responsible journalists will tell you, is the Keystone of good newspapering.) The only information I can find on the long-gone Larimer Pharmacy is this obituary, from a retired pharmacist whose talents are now being used to medicate Jesus and his Weightless Deadites, living on top of Cloud Nine far above our heads. According to the Allegheny County Property Assessment site, the building that once housed this pharmacy has been razed. Here's a picture of the vacant lot where the pharmacy once stood, and its one-time neighbor, an apartment building whose owner has kept all taxes up to date. Whether or not the building is still being used is another matter altogether, so I think I'll take a field trip to the neighborhood before I speculate any further. I've got a feeling we can find some answers about this Dead Pharmacist, whose ties with the Pittsburgh Mafia were well documented, as well as his many aliases and near immortality.
The pharmacist's obituary mentions that he owned the Rx from 1964 to 1973, which does nothing to explain how he wrote this prescription, dated 11-25-26. And as a reputable journalist, I think I'm going to have to have a word or two with his patient, G. Bucco, to see if his thrice daily medication did the trick. Was this doctor peddling immortality? Well, his building didn't live to see the Reagan Administration outlaw atheism, so I doubt his patients are still around to see me administering my own brand of truth.
And now, back to our regularly distressed floorboards. ...
