A piece of Hazelwood history, a legacy for neighborhood’s future

The Speck Block building at the corner of Second and Hazelwood avenues in 1934. Photo courtesy of the Greater History Historical Society of Pittsburgh

By Juliet Martinez, managing editor

The 139-year-old building at the corner of Second and Hazelwood avenues has housed restaurants, artists and a cigar store. It sits empty now, awaiting a new life as part of a revitalized Hazelwood.

The building’s owner is the community development corporation Hazelwood Initiative Inc. The organization is now gathering input from residents on the building’s future as part of its mission of development without displacement.

Recent past

Hazelwood Initiative bought the building from its previous owner, Alexander Jozsa Bodnar, just days before his death in 2022. Mr. Bodnar was the restaurateur owner of Jozsa Corner, a small and lively eatery where customers enjoyed Hungarian dishes in a family-style atmosphere.

Mr. Bodnar bought the building in 1984 and became a fixture in Hazelwood. His restaurant was featured a 2006 episode of WQED’s “What Makes Pittsburgh Pittsburgh.” Anthony Bourdain ate there while filming an episode of his series, “Parts Unknown.” He called it less of a restaurant than “a house party with food.”

The building that housed Jozsa Corner was built in 1886. JaQuay Carter is the founder and president of the Greater Hazelwood Historical Society. He has said that Mr. Bodnar told him the building was built in 1886 by workers from Homestead. It was named for German lawyer and land speculator, Jacob John or “J.J.” Speck. The development originally included two more sections that have since been demolished, according to Mr. Carter.

Standing at the gateway to Hazelwood’s five-block business district, the building has been known for most of its existence as a place to eat or pick up a newspaper and maybe a smoke. Mr. Carter said in a 2023 presentation to Hazelwood Local that one of the earliest businesses in the building was George C. Helt & Co., a book and newspaper dealer who also sold cigars. During the 1930s, Smoke Dry Cigar Store moved in selling Slitz Stogies. In the 1950s family-owned Anton's Pizza took over, followed by Freida’s Hoagies in the ’70s.

Looking forward

During the May 13 Greater Hazelwood community meeting, participants heard one possible vision for its future. Ernst Valery, CEO of the Aequo Foundation, floated the idea of creating an artists’ space on the first floor with housing for artists and makers of color above. At that meeting, Hazelwood Initiative Inc. Executive Director Sonya Tilghman said an engineering evaluation of the building found it suitable for first-floor commercial and upper-floor residential uses.

Mr. Carter wrote in a June 9 email that the building’s legacy is worth preserving because of its role as a witness to the neighborhood’s growth in the 1890s to its decline 100 years later.

The land next to the building on Second Avenue is slated to be developed as a cooperative grocery store. The Hazelwood-based nonprofit People of Origin Rightfully Loved and Wanted is spearheading that project. The organization is commonly known by its acronym, POORLAW.

Saundra Cole-McKamey, founder and CEO of POORLAW, wrote on June 5 that she wants to see Black-owned businesses in the building. She mentioned possibilities like a hardware store, laundromat, retail stores, sit-down restaurants, a music studio and lounge.

Hazelwood resident Eric Williams commented on Facebook that he would like to see the exterior restored to its original beauty, and a used bookstore and neighborhood historical center inside. He suggested that Hazelwood Café could sell coffee in the bookstore. That locally-owned coffee shop is currently located at the corner of Second and Tipton avenues.

Another Facebook commenter echoed that vision of a welcoming place for everyone. Eileen Jardini wrote, “At the top of my head I would like to it become a historical building open to all, serving people, a bookstore/ coffee house with comfortable chairs.”

Email your ideas for the building’s next chapter to info@hazelwoodinitiative.org.