The Hill Street Blahg

Circa 1965. On the Northwest corner of Powell Ave. and West Lake Road in Millcreek Township stood The Sugar Bowl. “The Bowl” as it came to be called by the 100’s of teenagers, who hung out there, was a home away from home. Mr. and Mrs. Pianka where the proprietors and the parents we all wished we had at home. They “understood us” if you get my drift and they didn’t let our smoking upset them in the least and they faintly discouraged our underage drinking. All in all, The Bowl was the second home to many McDowell High School students, despite “The Hawk’s” disapproval. The Hawk was the pet name of the assistant principal of McDowell H.S. who along with Sgt. Norman Hammer of the Millcreek Police Dept. considered The Bowl a “Den of Iniquity.”

There was an always blaring juke-box spinning 45’s of all the top 40 hits of the period. Groups like the Supremes, The Temptations, Righteous Brothers, and many more could be easily found in the juke-box. Mrs. “P” would prepare her famous sub sandwich, burger, cherry coke or whatever else you wanted to snack on before heading home after school. Mr. “P” always seemed to have a bug up his rear-end and my guess Mrs. “P” was the bug.

At the rear of the lunch counter area stood the pin ball machines that never stopped dinging. I swear these things operated all day long. Some of McDowell High Schools most infamous young men of the mid-1960’s spent hour after hour shoving their change in these machines. I’ll attempt to name a few of the pin ball wizards from my fading memory; David Engel, Tom Scarpelli, Phil Shively, Ron Addessi, Dean Hunt, Pat Galvin, Doug Bock, Dennis Thieman, Tommy Tieman, Dennis DiFillipo, Ross Beatty, Dave Pifer, Dale Szuminski, Jimmy Johnson, Charlie Onorato, Joe Bruno, Fran Anger, Howie Hankey and the list goes on. I’ve lost track of most of these individuals throughout the years and wonder what ever became of them. Many never returned to Erie after their return from military service in VietNam and settled in other regions of the country. Some I am sure have since passed away and some most likely went on to bigger and better things as productive and successful members of the community.

The interior walls inside The Bowl were nothing more than graffiti covered partitions of artwork depicting who loved who, who was a jerk, where many of the guys were fighting in VietNam and any other thing you can imagine. Tom Scarpelli was the master of the artwork and for a nominal fee you could have your words of wisdom or whatever else you wanted drawn on the walls of fame and / or your very own sweatshirt with a new invention called a magic marker.

I think The Bowl closed down at its original location and relocated elsewhere for a few years and then just quietly faded away. I was told several years ago the Pianka’s purchased a bar in the Lakewood area of Millcreek and ended up getting a divorce. The name of the watering hole escapes me though. If anyone has any information regarding The Bowl or the Bar and they would like to contribute, please feel free to do so.