Courage

Courage is what it takes to make a change in a life.

Comfort is where we are, what we are accustomed to each day.

Stretch is leaning into the desired life. Taking the steps. Being the goal.

Calm is the result of forming a life to your will Courage will get you there. Breathe, and take it all in.

I must have been born with courage. people who know me well exclaim, “Nothing scares you!” That is outwardly true. I would entertain the kindergarten class every morning in the front of our piano playing teacher, Mrs. Price, by leading the class in her songs. What fun! That is key. I was so excited about the music and the comradery that I had no idea that stage fright is a thing! I had never been to school before so I thought that this is the normal day of a student. There was joy in the song and the percussion instruments played by the children in a great circle around the piano. This is one of the most profound examples in my life of Courage to stand up with people and work together leading to a great result. It would not be the last.

I belong to a musical family. As a kid I would sing “Winchester Cathedral” with my dad playing the guitar. Mom and I would belt out “You are my Sunshine” while doing the supper dishes. These are special memories we created together through joy and song.

Music again showed me the way to happiness and bravery. At age ten I was trained as a portable xylophone player in a student music company called the Bellaire’s. Our group of fifteen middle school students learned and performed holiday and popular songs. When the All-City Bellaire’s scouts came to our school to select two of our musicians for their larger, All- City group, The judges took all 15 of us! What fun! We were told to miss half or full days of school to travel by streetcar (trolly) and bus as a group to different high schools in Pittsburgh in order to rehearse. We could be found teaching each other Christmas songs we worked out at the bus stops while we waited for our connections. Around 100 students gathered to rehearse with their bells and we separated into 3 sections and made magnificent music together. We did classics like “Downtown” and “I Think I’m going Out of My Head”. My favorite was “The Dance of The Sugarplum Fairies”. Once polished, we were joined by the All-City Choir who had practiced two of our same numbers. Strings and percussion joined in at the dress rehearsal. We performed two nights at the Syria Mosque in Oakland and 2 nights at Heinz Hall on Sixth Street in Downtown Pittsburgh. What a thrill it was to be a part of such a big production! I had made friends there who would be my pen pals for years. Courage allowed for this big adventure. I am thankful for those days of togetherness and the warm memories that I still cherish to this day.

It should then come as no surprise that I met my husband to be through my love of music. I had requested music class at my High School, St Francis Academy School for Girls. To my surprise, our school’s music instruction was the marching band of the all-boy school nearby named South Hills Catholic. I wanted to continue my bell playing there, but they instead handed me a flute. The band director Rex Gatto said that they did not have bells in their band and this is the instrument they needed me to learn. I needed courage to again learn something new, I was rewarded by being in the center of a great musical entourage once again. This time we won a trophy for doing “The Hustle” in a rainy-day parade in nearby Etna, PA. You never can tell where things will go when you take a chance and change.

I never dated anyone from “South” in Highschool. I didn’t like the odds! There were 52 members of the band of which eight were the other girls from my school. The practices were at South every morning and marching was at South’s field every Friday afternoon. That was too much exposure for little me. It wasn’t until 10 years after graduation that I dated the big bass drum player, Charlie when I spotted him when I was a guest at his fine dining Italian restaurant, F. Tambellini’s 7th Street.

Years later I needed to really dig down deep to make a big change in my business and career life. My wonderful husband Charlie and I were in charge of his family business, F. Tambellini Ristorante at 7th and Penn Avenue in Downtown Pittsburgh. Charlie’s courageous mother Mary Tambellini had the gumption to purchase a building and run a fine dining Italian restaurant in 1950 as a single woman with her younger sister Frances and their Uncle Francesco. F. Tambellini’s became a beacon in town with great Italian dishes and 5 theaters within a block of the front door. The restaurant would fill up at 6 pm and most everyone would be out the door for an 8 o’clock show. Tambellini’s would take on a life of its own! Everyone was gussied up for their long-awaited theater event and ready for fun. We met countless townsfolk and catered to many a celebrity. You never knew when a Star would be sited!

Dom DeLouise just loved our delicious food, as did two-time Emmy Award winner Sally Struthers of TV’s “All in The Family” fame. Sally was at the Benedum Theater for the Performing Arts next door starring as Miss Hannigan in charge of the orphanage in the musical production of Annie! She was energetic and exciting with a very contagious smile. She posed for a photo with my husband Charlie. See www.JanetJax.com for the photos The lively Frank Gorshin, the Riddler, from the original Batman TV series was here when he was performing at the O’Reilly Theater two doors down from us on Penn Avenue.

When actress Ann Margaret was in Pittsburgh performing at Heinz Hall as the lead role in “The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas” she had someone call us to make dining arrangements. We set our upstairs second-floor private dining room for her and around ten of her closest entourage. She even brought her tiny dog in a little basket with her who happily slept through Ann’s whole meal!

We had a lovely dinner with Star Trek’s George Takei in the main dining room with our son Evan serving the meal. George was friendly and exciting with his tales of travel and showmanship. When my husband Charlie told George how much Charlie enjoyed George on The Howard Stern Radio Show, George could only reply with his signature, “Oh My!”

The whole J. Geil’s Band came over for dinner and “The Boss “, Bruce Springsteen and the East Street Band had their dinners delivered to them at the Civic Arena by us at F. Tambellini’s. Robert Goulet gave us his whole planned menu for the week for us to prepare for him while he was in Pittsburgh.

Barry Manilow Can’t smile without us! I met the nicest people who were going to his show. Our guest, Carole even brought me a photo of her and Barry that I proudly hung next to Barry’s autographed glossy on our wall of Fame. This still makes me smile. Yes, we helped to bring the band” Chicago “to Pittsburgh too! One March evening a dear guest at my restaurant had an extra ticket to the stage show “Celtic Thunder”. It turns out that one of their family members had to stay home. They gave the seat to me. I even got a kiss on the cheek from one of the handsome singers from that Celtic Thunder show when I was driving my car out of the parking lot to go home! Their talented voices and arrangements were exciting and very moving! I thank you my friends for this great opportunity!

Fred and Anne Rogers from Mr. Rogers Neighborhood would visit regularly. Fred enjoyed our capellini with tomato basil which chef Dwayne would make fresh for Mr. Rogers. Another local actor, Bill Burchinal who performed as a ghoul in the original Evans City PA. production of “The Night of the Living Dead” enjoyed our vibe as well. One could often find Bill telling movie production stories while dining at our bar. Wow, would he have been surprised to see the actor Butch Patrick who played Eddie Munster stroll through our doors! I don’t think Bill was there that day or he might have signed Butch up for “The Night of the Living Dead Part II”.

We catered for the Rooney’s in their home and for the Steelers for their Monday night home Games at the stadium. We even hosted fund raising dinners for our local charities. Pittsburgh Steeler Andy Russell requested that we hold a Black and Gold Dinner for the benefit of “Animal Friends”. We did the tables in gold linen with black linen napkins. It looked very impressive. Just about every Steeler in town came over to dine that evening in support of their teammate and his favorite charity. These were very good times.

The Pittsburgh Penguins and the Islanders Hockey teams would come in when they were in town. Pittsburgh Pirate baseball’s #21 Roberto Clemente even signed an 8” by 10” glossy photo for us! He was kind and wonderful.

We even won international recognition from Italy with our restaurant endeavor. We were the only family to win the Gold Medal from Lucca Italy’s social group “Lucchese Nel Mondo” two times. Mary Tambellini Pellegrini won the medal in 1986 for her support of Italian culture in America and her charitable contributions. Her son, my husband Charlie then won it again in 2010! We packed up the family and headed off to Italy to receive this prestigious award. It was a fantasy trip of beautiful scenery and warm greetings from the hospitable Italian people. In addition to our seven cousins in Italy, we even met a new cousin who saw our announcement in the Italian publications which he read daily. Mario Pellegrini and his wife Simone came to Lucca for the festivities to meet us. Upon our return to Pittsburgh, we hosted a beautiful Gold Medal Wine Dinner. Many of our local Pittsburgh friends came out to see our photos, luminary candles from the Festa di Santa Croce, and of course…Our Gold Medal!

Keeping up with this kind of energy was a job for the young. Our two children helped us out with serving the people who flocked into our iconic restaurant. Neither of our kids had an interest in giving their life’s work to the place. We did own the building and therefore needed to support the City of Pittsburgh with our share of the city tax responsibility of which 25% comes from Downtown. This is a high bar for a small business the carry and we were wondering what to do. We had a casual conversation with a respected club operator, Robin Fernandez, outside our places one warm afternoon. Robin inquired as to what our rent was at this great location right next door to the largest eastern staged Benedum Theater. When we told him that we owned the building, He asked us, “Why are you working here”! Wow, we had never asked ourselves that. We thought that we were trapped into a bustling life of serving the public forever. Changing this mindset and making a lifestyle change would take unsurmountable courage! Taking down a 63-year establishment would be an embarrassment to say the least. So many loyal diners in Pittsburgh would miss dining here before their shows. We did not want to let them down. What would our matriarch Mary Tambellini have to say?

As many people in Pittsburgh already know, Mary Tambellini Pellegrini had a heart of gold. She told us to do whatever was best for the family. She said to use her and her good name whenever it was needed. Mary was with us all the way. She had the courage to start the restaurant business and she had the courage to see it through to the end! With her support we were ready to get educated. We would need help to dissolve the company. We would need the help and services of a mentor, a real estate agent, and a coach. We all attended every educational course we could get ourselves to from across the country. Charlie and I took online commercial real estate classes. We learned that there was a local real estate group which met monthly right in our neighborhood. Since there is no lesson like doing, we put a downpayment on a 4-townhouse complex. Now our time was even more in demand! We worked on the townhouses in the mornings. Then we rushed home to get dressed up pretty for the evening dining crowd! Yikes!

We learned all about leases and property management and maintenance. This was a wonderful experience because we felt that our commercial lease downtown was too important to be the first lease that we ever did. We learned everything we could about real estate so that we would have the confidence to converse with the Big Boys in town. This path also gave us the passive income we needed in order to change careers away from the demands of a crazy busy restaurant. We learned that our unsuccessful attempt at selling our building was truly a Godsend because that would not be the best answer for our future. We realized that there were multiple streams of income that the building could generate in order to support the city, County and School (and now Park and Library) taxes. Our dear friends at WQED did teach us to Keep the Park Clean for the Pigeons! We hired a business broker and marketed our fine dining restaurant for lease. Within months we found an entrepreneur who wanted to strike a deal. She turned our bar area into a new brick oven for handmade pizza. She turned our dining room into a bar with 30 beers on tap. Proper Brick Oven and Tap Room was born and My business was changing again. Proper did not need my banquet rooms or private dining on the second floor, so I got busy with the plans for remodeling. Second floor office space was not in high demand that year, so we hired an architect to design luxury apartments as soon as Proper was open for business.

The rooms upstairs were very large. Perhaps they were big enough for several studio efficiencies or small one-bedroom lofts. Most of the Downtown apartments were dormitory style boxes with stackable laundry inside the bathroom. We decided that with our high ceilings, that we should go with a grander scale. We designed a 2260 square foot Luxury suite which not only has room for a gourmet kitchen and 2 banquet sized tables, but also has 2 king sized suite bedrooms each with California closets and private on suite full bathrooms. To keep these areas secluded from the main entertainment capable space, a powder room was added just near the entrance door. With 160 square foot laundry area with storage hanging and shelving compartments in the rear of the apartment we decided that the plans were perfect.

This was a courageous move to build what few other people were doing for the Pittsburgh clientele. We had learned that in the event of a down economy, the Penthouse is always rented. This thought stuck in my mind. This main space on our second level is the top floor! We even designed for a spiral staircase to be installed for our residents to have access to over 750 square feet of rooftop private garden space to enjoy the great outdoors right from home. The Cultural District has many outdoor events in town including Live Jazz Bands in Agnes Katz Plaza just across from our rooftop patio every Tuesday night in the warm months. I could see that it would be so great to soak in all that entertainment that our city has to offer and then snuggle away to your private loft with a few friends to relish refreshments on a private patio overlooking the hustle and bustle of the city life from a top hat vantage point. Everything begins with a thought. With these thoughts and plans at hand, “The Penthouse” apartment was born! *There is an exciting one-minute video posted on our website, www.StarloftsPGH.com so that you can see for yourself! This and more references are listed for you at the end of this reading.

Our architect then got to work on the second wing of our building. We mirrored the finishes for the other top floor apartment with the high end shiny white tall Kitchen cabinets to make the storage for everything you need in dining and entertainment. Again, we went with one sizable home on each floor. I liked the idea of a luxury space for an executive or family working in the city and enjoys all that Downtown Pittsburgh has to offer. Large spaces for a family or entertaining friends from out-of-town who may come to Pittsburgh to see you and say, a sports event, Billy Joel or Def Leopard at the PPG Stadium. Space for nice people and all their eclectic items to be comfortable was my goal. I wanted to leave the ceilings high and let the light in. I wanted to create a superb way to unwind from the workday with your favorite beverage and perhaps a few dear friends. This goal is accomplished in the one-bedroom Starloft and the larger two-bedroom top floor Skyloft apartments.

Sometimes courage stems from sheer fear itself. When the pain of staying the same exceeds the fear of changing, Change happens. We were quite unearthed with our change from the restaurant business and our loss of the daily control of it, and also quite relieved. We were also concerned about how the new concept would be received by the public. Proper Brick Oven and Tap Room did a beautiful job with the dining room design and planning of the pizzas and menu. We did realize though, that these were not our former customers that she was attracting. It turned out that this was a very good thing. Her clients were there every day if there was a show at the theaters or not. Her bar was packed at 9 pm when our 35 employees had usually been alone at that hour cleaning up after the onslaught! Proper Brick Oven and Tap Room even won the Best Italian Restaurant in Pittsburgh Award for the past two years in a row! Hats off to a great restaurant operation putting the great people of Pittsburgh first!

When you are deciding what avenue to take next in your life, I want you to remember one thing.

Every time in my life that I had the courage to abandon my current situation and embrace the unknown to achieve a new adventure, I had the most gratifying and life enhancing results. Each step in building my business life made me more secure and stable for the future. /

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