There\u2019s a place in Point Breeze with a vibrant lunch counter, a lush backyard garden dining area, an art studio and a devoted neighborhood following.<\/p>\n
That place, Frick Park Market, is also a tourist destination drawing fans of the late hip-hop artist Mac Miller from around the world.<\/p>\n
To see the market in action is to see two worlds collide. Customers stroll in for their favorite sandwich, like an \u201cEdgerton\u201d Italian-style with fresh tomatoes. At the same time, tourists pull up in cars wanting to catch a glimpse of memorabilia celebrating Mac Miller.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Somehow, owner Dave Gancy flawlessly manages both groups of customers. While chatting up his neighbors, he can easily spot the out-of-towners examining the market\u2019s merchandise and mementos.<\/p>\n
He\u2019ll drop everything and offer them a tour of the market, showing off photos of Mac Miller, an upstairs lounge with a record player and a guestbook to sign.<\/p>\n
I arrived for my first time incognito a few weeks ago, and he did the same with me before I formally introduced myself.<\/p>\n
A couple from Los Angeles told me Gancy, friendly and accommodating, spent an hour with them over the weekend.<\/p>\n
Miller, born Malcolm McCormick, grew up nearby and immortalized the market in his 2011 hit song \u201cFrick Park Market.\u201d He was a frequent customer as a youngster, stopping by many days for a slushie or snack.<\/p>\n
Marcus Chin, 19, and his girlfriend, Bene Kanotz, 20, flew to Pittsburgh from Los Angeles for their first visit to the city and the Steelers game against the Atlanta Falcons. Huge Mac Miller fans, they visited the market three times in four days and were on first-name terms with Gancy by Monday.<\/p>\n
Like thousands of others, Chin wrote a note in a guestbook to Mac Miller\u2019s mother, Karen. The rapper died eight years ago.<\/p>\n
\u201cMac has made an imprint on all of our lives,\u201d Chin told me on Monday as Miller\u2019s music played in the background. \u201cIt feels like he\u2019s still here. It really does.\u201d<\/p>\n
The market\u2019s former garage has been transformed into another dining area, complete with U.S. and world maps covered in colored push pins marking the hometowns of visitors.<\/p>\n
Juggling Mac Miller fans and locals<\/p>\n
Gancy didn\u2019t quite know what he was getting into when he and his wife, Katie, bought Frick Park Market five years ago.<\/p>\n
He was looking for a place where he could cook. He didn\u2019t know much about Mac Miller at the time.<\/p>\n
Gancy had spent much of his career in food, including training at the Culinary Institute of America in Napa Valley, Calif., working at a French restaurant called Daniel in New York City and cooking at Heinz Field and the William Penn Hotel.<\/p>\n
Then came the market.<\/p>\n
\u201cI had no idea what I was walking into,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
He\u2019s still figuring it out \u2014 and still improving the Point Breeze neighborhood institution. He educated himself about local hip-hop and became the market\u2019s de facto tour guide.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s a lot of work,\u201d Gancy said. \u201cIt means a lot to a lot of people.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lunch is the busiest time, with customers coming in throughout the afternoon.<\/p>\n
The kitchen isn\u2019t huge, so the focus is on what the market can do well: hot and cold sandwiches, salads and house-made soups.<\/p>\n
He also embraced the market as a destination, with T-shirts, hats and other merchandise.<\/p>\n
Gancy talks about longtime residents and characters who have helped make the neighborhood special, including gardeners and artists who have lived nearby for decades.<\/p>\n
One is a previous Frick Park Market owner, Ronnie Fuchs, a 90-year-old painter who still paints daily and once lived above the market. He has lived less than a block away for 61 years.<\/p>\n
Another is a gardener who tends the garden across the street and shares it with the public.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s almost like Mayberry,\u201d Gancy said.<\/p>\n
In the family<\/p>\n
The brick, three-story building dates to around 1900 and originally housed an A&P supermarket before becoming Lang Pharmacy. In 1940, the Fuchs family reopened it as Frick Park Market, beginning a new chapter for the neighborhood landmark.<\/p>\n
The Fuchses lived upstairs and raised their sons, Bob and Ronnie. Around 1980, the brothers took over the market and ran it until 2000.<\/p>\n
Ronnie Fuchs remains a fixture, often sketching or painting on a bench out front on Reynolds Street or in the back garden.<\/p>\n
He joked that he has become part of the tour at Gancy\u2019s request.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy former living room upstairs is like a museum to Mac Miller,\u201d Fuchs said. \u201cDave is making the place grow, and everybody loves his sandwiches. They\u2019re so good.\u201d<\/p>\n
Of the Mac Miller following, \u201cRap really isn\u2019t my thing, but apparently that\u2019s the thing of today. I talked to somebody from France last week, and from London.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jesher Espinosa, 36, visited the market in March while in Pittsburgh attending a conference. He\u2019s from Las Vegas and works in sales for UNLV.<\/p>\n
During a lunch break, he hopped into an Uber from the David L. Lawrence Convention Center bound for Frick Park Market.<\/p>\n
Of course, Gancy spotted him and gave him the tour.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m a huge Mac Miller fan, and getting to see a part of his childhood and what he spoke about was super cool,\u201d Espinosa said. \u201cThe owner, Dave, really took time out to show me around. It\u2019s a special place.\u201d<\/p>\n
Gancy never forgets how much the market means to people.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey come in and talk to me,\u201d he said. \u201cI find it goes a long way. Just five minutes for these fans. I see what it means to them.\u201d<\/p>\n
For Gancy, it\u2019s rarely, if ever, only five minutes.<\/p>\n
There\u2019s too much to say and too much to show at Frick Park Market.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"There\u2019s a place in Point Breeze with a vibrant lunch counter, a lush backyard garden dining area, an…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":853278,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[53],"tags":[88,216],"class_list":["post-853277","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-entertainment","tag-music"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/853277","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=853277"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/853277\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/853278"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=853277"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=853277"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=853277"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}