Peter’s Pub tapping out

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

He is an Oakland native who had made a living as a hairdresser and a bridge painter and never went to college, but his legacy was enjoyed by legions of local university students: Peter’s Pub, an iconic University of Pittsburgh haunt that will close at the end of next week after 44-years in business.

Peter Leventis told his staff Wednesday that next Friday will be the final day of service for the watering hole he co-owned with his brother George. It is slated to become the third location of Mario’s, another venerable collegiate favorite first opened on the South Side in 1983.

“I had my second thoughts, but at this stage in my life, it’s time,” Mr. Leventis, who grew up about a half-mile away on Robinson Street and will turn 76 next month, said. He said that family members still own Lot 17 in Bloomfield and the soon-to-open Forbes Tavern, Downtown.

It was a fortuitous stumble out of an all-night card game with George that ultimately led to the creation of Peter’s.

“We bought the building in ‘72. We were coming out of a coffee shop across the street at 7 a.m. after playing cards all night and we saw the woman that owned the building sweeping the street, and we said we wanted to buy the building,” he said.

There was already a bar there called the Pink Panther, which did not have a good reputation.