August 18, 2025

As the start of the school year threatened, we rushed to visit neighborhood locations that are only open during the day. Our top priority: historic Gus and YiaYia’s, a shaved-ice cart founded in 1934. It’s the only independent frozen dessert vendor in Pittsburgh to be depicted in the Carnegie Science Center’s Miniature Railroad and Village and to have its own Wikipedia page.

While longtime owners Gus and Stella Kalaris have passed, the Gus & YiaYia’s tradition continues. In fact, just last month an honorary street sign was hung at a nearby corner, designating this stretch of West Ohio Street as “Gus & Yiayia Way.” We grabbed delicious “ice balls” with ice carved fresh from the block. Pippa had a blend of lemon and lime, Edmund had a blend of watermelon and peach, and Liddy had pineapple.

While enjoying our ices, we took a walk through Allegheny Commons, walking by memorials to the Civil War and the Spanish-American War (including pieces of the USS Maine). Allegheny Center, the planned center of the now-annexed Allegheny City, is also home to the National Aviary and the Children’s Museum.

Fun Fact:
An unassuming statue of a deer close to Gus & YiaYia’s is one of the oldest pieces of public art in Pittsburgh. When an Allegheny City councilman in the 1870s was unable to provide a promised actual deer to the Mayor as a trophy of a hunting trip, he commissioned this iron statue instead.