"Service policy of 'Y' Restaurant to be Changed"
The Jewish Encyclopedia
of Western Pennsylvania
A project of the Rauh Jewish Archives at the Heinz History Center
The Y Restaurant was a semi-independent dining room located within the Young Men’s and Women’s Hebrew Association building at 315 S. Bellefield Ave in Oakland. It opened around the time the YM&WHA dedicated its Oakland building in 1926 and operated under various formats, names, and managers through at least the 1950s.
Although most commonly known as the Y Restaurant, the establishment was also known at times at the Y Samovar, the Y Dining Room, the Y Tea Room, the Y Snack Bar, and the Hadassah Restaurant. From 1943 until 1945, the Y Restaurant was converted into the Y Canteen Lounge for World War II servicemen stationed in Oakland. In the late 1950s, the Y Restaurant was closely associated with Club 315, an onsite “teen might club.”
The Y Restaurant regularly promoted itself as a kosher facility. Through the years, it occasionally offers Shabbat dinners and holiday specials for Passover and Chanukah.
The Y Restaurant was overseen by the Restaurant Committee of the YM&WHA, which contracted with various independent managers over the years. Known managers of the Y Restaurant include B. Haber and her son Maurice Haber, Joseph M. Pomarlen, William B. Wiedman, Abe Soltz, Jay Palley, and Olive Skarlsky. Starting in 1953, the Pittsburgh Chapter of Hadassah briefly oversaw the restaurant, under the management of Mrs. Perry Stearn.
