On a typical weekday at noon, there would be nothing out of the ordinary about passersby headed into Wilson’s Bar-B-Q for lunch, drawn by the sweet smell of smoldering embers and meat smoking on a 4-by-8-foot yellow brick pit.
But Wednesday at the intersection of North Taylor Avenue and Buena Vista Street, that comforting aroma was replaced by the stink of charred plastic, linoleum, paint, ceiling tiles and beams after a fire had gutted the business some 18 hours earlier.
A steady stream of saddened and downright reverent patrons past and present walked or slowly drove by the bare bones shop in the Mexican War Streets neighborhood of the North Side. They were paying their respects — for now at least — to Pittsburgh’s most iconic barbecue shop, a regional destination for those in search of ribs with a crusty bark encasing tender, fall-off-the-bone meat.
Owner George Wilson Jr., and his longtime girlfriend, Lynn Hogan, who ran the business and lived in the apartment upstairs, were evacuated about 6 p.m. Tuesday by two Pittsburgh police officers who happened to be in the neighborhood and saw the fire. Also safe were their two dogs, one of which had to be rescued by city firefighters.
Outwardly at least, Mr. Wilson was taking it in stride Wednesday.
“I used to always tell people, well, I never had a fire. But boy when I have one, ain’t it a fire,” he said, forcing a chuckle.
“What I’m real glad about is none of the neighbors’ property got damaged, which is a blessing. Nobody died. And nobody got hurt. The only person who got to deal with this and eat this is me.”
Pittsburgh Public Safety spokesman Chris Togneri said in an email that the fire was being investigated, but Mr. Wilson suspects he knows exactly what happened.
He thinks grease ignited the coals in the pit chamber. He tried to put the fire out, but, “The heat was so intense, I had to bail out. I wanted to close the damn top pit to try and contain it, but it was so hot I couldn’t get close to it.”
The 60-year-old had visible blisters on his right forearm.
His father, George Wilson Sr., who died last year, founded the business. A native of Louisiana, Wilson Sr. told the Post-Gazette in a 2010 interview that he learned barbecuing by watching his great-grandfather, a former slave. He opened Wilson's Bar B-Q in May 1960 in Manchester and moved the business to its present location in 1970.
Carleen King was born a year later, grew up nearby, and was raised on Wilson’s food.
“That was my ‘hood. It was walking distance from my house. I remember Mr. Wilson always having a welcoming smile, and when you went in came out smelling like the wood. I remember the brick oven and Mr. Wilson showed me how it worked. The ribs and the chickens and the sauce — It was just wonderful. It was a staple in my childhood. It was a treat. If it was a really good week, we got Wilson’s.”
She and her husband, Michael, opened Carmi Soul Food nearby on Western Avenue in 2010 (it’s since moved to the South Side), and she said Wilson’s was influential.
“It’s always an inspiration seeing a restaurant with people who look like you being so successful, and for so long. Having that black-owned business that was always there — it lets you know that the possibility [exists].”
The Red Cross has provided Mr. Wilson and Ms. Hogan with temporary housing, and a neighbor has helped him to set up a crowd-funding campaign. Mr. Wilson said he does not have insurance to cover his loss, and the business was his only source of income, but hopes he and Ms. Hogan will be able to soldier though.
“I have loyal customers and I love them to death, and they love me,” he said. “I just never been a crybaby on that level. Stuff happens and you got to deal with it.”
Dan Gigler: dgigler@post-gazette.com; Twitter @gigs412
First Published: November 7, 2019, 11:30 a.m.