Part of life in any city is a litany of ambitious unrealized projects. I’m still grieving the loss of the giant blue lagoon (and Ferris wheel!) proposed as part of a mixed-use development on Pittsburgh’s North Side.
Recently, it looked like we’d be adding another casualty to the list: a volcano on East Carson Street. As reported by NEXTpittsburgh, the rebranded Spork Island Trading Co. (formerly Double Wide Grill) presented conceptual designs for its new tiki-themed restaurant at a Historic Review Commission (HRC) meeting on Dec. 6, 2023. The “bold” renderings for Spork Island’s proposed exterior at 24th and Carson St. — designed by New Jersey-based architecture firm Gruskin Group — showed a trellised roof, fence enclosed by mo'ai statues resembling those on Easter Island, palm trees, and, in one corner, a volcano with lava flowing.
The Commission, to put it mildly, did not warm to the idea. Carson Street is part of a city-designated historic district, meaning external changes to properties must be approved in accordance with design guidelines. Though the former Double Wide building — which sits right at the East Carson Street Historic District’s boundary at 24th St. — is considered a “non-contributing structure,” meaning that it was not built during the period of architectural significance, the Commission made it clear that it does not want us jet-setting to Spork Island anytime soon.
Commissioners deemed the concept “incompatible” with the historic district and not in keeping with the desired Victorian-era (1837–1901) aesthetic, with some members going as far as calling the tiki theme possible cultural appropriation and “not of this continent.” (As far as the volcano goes, lest we forget about Mount Saint Helens!) It also bears reminding that the building at 2339 E. Carson was originally a gas station. Nonetheless, the HRC voted to outright deny the proposal.
But don’t despair just yet, says Steve Zumoff, owner of Spork Island Trading Co., the former Double Wide Grill, and other beloved East Carson spots including Tiki Lounge, Lava Lounge, and the Beehive.
“It’s not dead,” Zumoff tells Pittsburgh City Paper, “It’s just not happening on the South Side.”
Zumoff explains that he knew building a volcano and theme restaurant on East Carson was a long shot. In his 33 years operating South Side businesses, this isn’t the first time he’s appeared before the HRC in an effort to comport to guidelines. In 2010, after parking a vintage camping trailer at Double Wide Grill and receiving an anonymous complaint, he successfully pled his case to keep the trailer displayed, receiving a “Certificate of Appropriateness.”
"I've seen people paint the front of their buildings and then they have to strip the paint because it doesn't match the historic look of the street,” Zumoff says. “So we might put a trailer back out there. We'll see.”
Despite past dealings with the Historic Review Commission, Zumoff and business partner Andy Tepper (former owner of Spork) shared "an affinity for tiki," and along with architect Kenneth Gruskin, thought they could make a case for the new tropically inspired restaurant. The team went as far as pulling old photographs to show “there would have been a volcano in Victorian times on a property.”
“We were trying to find a way to justify it … but that whole era of tiki and Polynesian, that was after the Victorian time,” Zumoff tells City Paper. (An editorial note that volcanoes have been erupting on Earth for four billion years and there were once Appalachian volcanoes.)
“We knew it was a possibility it wouldn’t get past, but we were hoping, maybe being a non-historic structure, we’d have a little more leeway,” he says.
The volcano’s failure to launch (or erupt) highlights differing visions about the South Side’s uncertain future. Double Wide’s rebrand comes amidst a wave of recent restaurant closures in the neighborhood including Carmi Soul Food, Hello Bistro, The Vault Taproom (in the former Beehive space), Stagioni, Doughbar, Fudge Farm, Lee's Coffee Shop, and Jimmy John’s, in addition to other businesses shuttering like Rite Aid and Buffalo Exchange. Discussing Double Wide's rebrand, Zumoff even told the Pittsburgh Business Times his business had "trickled off" in recent years, but the location could still pull in customers with the right concept.
“It would have been a tourist attraction to see the volcano,” Zumoff tells CP. “People were like, this isn't the Las Vegas Strip or a putt-putt golf course … Disneyland. But we thought it'd bring a lot of people to the South Side, which would be nice at this point.”
Moreover, theme restaurants and "eatertainment" are booming, says Zumoff, pointing to the success of immersive ventures like Pins Mechanical, Coop De Ville, and The Puttery.
If, like some of us, you’re wanting more specifics about the volcano — just off the top: how tall is it? How much lava flow are we talking? Is this a large adult version of your grade-school science project? — Zumoff tells CP they haven’t gotten that far yet. The initial design was concept art only.
Rest assured, though we'll never see Mount St. Carson, we might just be sipping cocktails and watching a lava stream soon enough.
A Pittsburgh volcano is dormant on Carson Street ... but not dead
