As a boy, Louis J. Grippo Sr. was banned from the Original Oyster House on Market Square for sneaking out without paying.
He vowed, according to his 27-year-old daughter, Jennifer Grippo of Mt. Lebanon, to someday buy the restaurant and fire those who kicked him out.
On Oct. 12, 1970, on the restaurant’s 100th birthday, trial attorney Louis Grippo saw an opportunity and took it. He bought the Oyster House and expanded it to nine locations in less than a decade, fulfilling his prophecy. He died of congestive heart failure May 25 at age 86.
“He had a very deep love for Pittsburgh,” Ms. Grippo said. “He was always a story teller and would tell us about his shenanigans in the city.”
Born in the Strip District on April 25, 1931, Mr. Grippo would call Pittsburgh his home his entire life. He graduated from Central Catholic High School in 1948 and attended Duquesne University. During a brief period after his undergraduate studies, Mr. Grippo served as a lieutenant in the Marine Corps, earning his flight wings while stationed in Hawaii. He returned to Pittsburgh and attended law school at Duquesne.
But it was with the Oyster House that he put his mark on Pittsburgh. Lead bartender Shelly Treininger of McKees Rocks, 63, said he was the Oyster House. Ms. Treininger recalled her very first day there: Good Friday, the busiest day of the year for the restaurant.
“It was a long first day,” Ms. Treininger said. “When he hired me the day before, I said, ‘I know you’re not going to hire me because I’m old,’ but then I started right after. He was respective, admired and friendly to all. He gave people second chances, and every day that I worked with him stood out.”
In the late 1980s Mr. Grippo decided he wanted to put more focus on the Original Oyster House Downtown and began closing the restaurants across the city’s neighborhoods. And though the restaurants he opened were modern for the time, the Original Oyster House never changed. San Diego resident but Carnegie native Mike Poremba, 67, said he comes back to Pittsburgh about once a year, always making sure to stop by the restaurant at least once.
“The bar hasn't changed at all,” Mr. Poremba said. “I remember coming here on a street car. I never really liked oysters until this place. It always brings back old memories.”
Through all the expansions, closings and debates about change, Mr. Grippo continued to practice law. In 1993 he provided counsel to former Pennsylvania Supreme Court Justice and old friend Rolf Larsen as he faced a corruption investigation.
As an attorney and restaurateur, Mr. Grippo is remembered as a “workaholic” by his daughters. Ms. Grippo’s half-sister, Cynthia Robbins of Churchill, 64, said “the man would work day and night and never stopped.” She likened him to a train barreling down a track.
“That’s him in a nutshell,” Ms. Robbins said. “He was the conductor of the train of life and you could either come on or get out.”
Mr. Grippo is immortalized on a mural by artist Ken Heusey that was unveiled in January 2014, though persuading Mr. Grippo to be in it wasn't easy. And picking a spot wasn't any easier.
Regulars didn’t want the place to change, nor the pictured faces of local athletes and celebrities to be moved. So the 7 foot by 6 foot painting replaced a large caution sign that was invisible to regulars inside and next to a side entrance to the restaurant.
And now alongside him on the mural stand longtime friends and family members and, at the center, his son Lou Grippo Jr., a lawyer who lives in Holland.
In addition to Ms. Grippo, Ms. Robbins and Louis Jr., Mr. Grippo is survived by his wife of 28 years, Renee B. Grippo of Peters, another son James Grippo, and daughters Jodi Watling and Janice Hodge, all of Churchill, as well as many grandchildren, nieces and nephews.
Visitation is from 2 to 8 p.m. Saturday and Sunday at William Slater II Funeral Service in Mt. Lebanon. The funeral Mass is at 10 a.m. Monday at St Bernard Church in Mt. Lebanon. He will be buried at Calvary Cemetery.
The family suggests memorials to the American Macular Degeneration Foundation.
Adalberto Toledo: atoledo@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1458.
First Published: June 3, 2017, 4:05 a.m.
