Pittsburgh's Original Oyster House marking 150 years in age of coronavirus

Pittsburgh’s Original Oyster House has operated through two world wars, floods, the Spanish flu pandemic, the Great Depression and the collapse of the steel industry.

Owner Jen Grippo is confident it can get through the coronavirus pandemic.

“If we can survive all that, I would hope that we can survive this as well,” Grippo, 30, of Shadyside said Friday. “It has a lot to do with our customer base. They are loyal to a fault and we appreciate them supporting us through all this.”

The landmark bar and restaurant has stood on the corner of Market Place and McMasters Way in Market Square since 1870 and is believed to be the longest continuously operating bar and restaurant in Pittsburgh. It has been designated as a city landmark by the Pittsburgh History and Landmarks Foundation.

“As far as I’m concerned, we are the oldest,” Grippo said.

Her late father, Louis J. Grippo, bought the place in 1970 after vowing as a boy that he would one day own it.

Grippo said her dad, who grew up in the Strip District, would purchase fish sandwiches and pop at the Oyster House for kids from a local church with money given to him by the pastor. Sometimes the kids grabbed the food and ran out without paying. Then-owner Louis Americus vowed to have Louis Grippo and the others arrested, she said.

“The last time my dad was in there he stood in the doorway and said, ‘Mister, one day I’m going to buy this place and fire you,’ ” she said.

His threat came true when he bought the Oyster House from Americus’ widow. Americus had owned the business since 1916.

Jen Grippo said her dad used to take her out to dinner and tease the restaurant staff by describing to her within their hearing distance how easy it was to walk out on a check.

“It would be so embarrassing,” she said.

The Oyster House is known for its breaded oyster and codfish sandwiches that seem to appear immediately after they’re ordered. Iron City beer pours from the taps. Grippo said staff still uses the same breading recipe created by Mary Americus, wife of the former owner.

Staff prepares food on the third floor and sends it down a dumbwaiter to the main floor kitchen for cooking.

The bar side of the business has changed little over the years with its vintage tile floor and pictures of Miss America contestants dating to the 1920s on the walls and a large yellowed poster of boxer Rocky Marciano behind the bar.

Louis Americus for years attended Miss America pageants in Atlantic City and brought the panoramic photographs home with him, according to Grippo. Americus was known as “Silver Dollar” for the coins he liked to flip.

“He would play with a silver dollar with his fingers and he would flip it to the girl he thought would win,” Grippo said. The Oyster House will celebrate its sesquicentennial on Oct. 12. Grippo said plans for a celebration are uncertain because of the pandemic.

She said still plans to mark the 150 years in some fashion.

“Oct. 12 actually falls on a Monday this year,” she said. “We were looking to do something that Monday and the entire week. Unfortunately it’s been put on hold right now.”