Scottdale area teens have a place to hang out

When Norene Price was a girl growing up in Scottdale, there weren't any places suitable for kids to go hang out.

When she moved back two years ago, after a 30-year absence, that hadn't changed.

That's why she created the Hop.

Officially named 'The Hop 1', but commonly referred to as simply 'The Hop,' it opened at the beginning of January. Located at 10 South Broadway in Scottdale, it has a pool table, tables and chairs and a karaoke machine. Fans, a disco ball and shiny multicolored decorations, reminiscent of palm fronds, hang from the ceiling. A large screen TV sits in front, displaying karaoke lyrics, and musical notes and silhouettes of instruments adorn the walls.

Lines would form for the pool table in the afternoon after school let out. Kids would sign up, leave, come back and still have to wait, said Price.

To remedy that situation, she bought some space just around the corner, at 103 Pittsburgh Street, creating the 'Hop 1 Annex'.

The Hop Annex offers three pool tables to accommodate the high demand. Alas, it seems the higher the supply, the less the demand. There's little trouble getting a table nowadays. Price wonders where all those patient pool players went.

The Hop Annex, open from 2 to 10 p.m. in the summer, also offers video games, a pinball machine, a soda machine, a juke box and an air hockey table.

'I wish we had a place like this near us,' said Sarah McHugh, visiting from the North Hills of Pittsburgh.

She tried to think of comparable places near her, where she and her friends could hang out, but couldn't come up with any.

Price maintains a kid-friendly atmosphere, where smoking and swearing are taboo.

'I don't tolerate cussin' or fussin',' said Price, from whom any curse words within earshot are meet with, 'Hey!'

That's usually all that's needed to correct the behavior, she says.

The smoking, however, is a little harder to moderate.

She can't prohibit smoking on the sidewalk in front of her store. However, she can post a 'no loitering' sign, said police. That'll keep the smokers moving on by, which is what Price tried to achieve before.

While she does discriminate against smoke, she doesn't discriminate against smokers, so when her customers would leave to smoke, she would tell them to at least walk up and down the street while they smoked.

She's already posted a 'no loitering' sign at The Hop, and is considering doing the same at The Hop Annex.

She doesn't want people thinking it's a hangout for bad kids, she said.

And it really isn't. In fact, it's one of the most pleasant, friendly places around. The staff, though less than angelic in appearance, is as amiable as anyone could want. And it's hard to believe anyone could hang around Price long and not be amiable.

Melissa Potoka, an eighth-grader at Southmoreland, said she goes to The Hop Annex about three times a week to play pool, listen to music and 'talk to Norene,' as she calls Price.

Says Price, 'The kids, I love them. I really do. These kids, they keep me young.'.

John Szczygiel, who works at The Hop Annex, says he likes getting to know the regular customers.

But he had worked there less than a week. That's The Hop's biggest problem: Not enough customers.

Price says she sees lots of kids walking by on the sidewalk. 'I don't know why they're not here,' she says.

But the adults are even worse. Price had thought The Hop would be mainly an adult karaoke place, especially after she created The Hop Annex, but the kids were the ones who seemed to like the karaoke more.

She had to extend the kids' karaoke hours because they were using it more than were the adults.

The great majority of The Hop's customers are from Scottdale. Price said she hoped it would start drawing some customers from the Connellsville or Mount Pleasant areas.

'It's good for the kids to mingle with other people,' she said.

She doesn't want The Hop to be seen as strictly a kids' place, though she worries that it might be, especially because, even at adult karaoke, cigarettes, alcohol and swearing are prohibited.

'We're here to set an example,' Price says.

There are many places where a smoky bar features karaoke singers, beers in hand, struggling to read the prompter. There are few where an atmosphere is maintained that a mother would be proud of.

And maybe that's part of the problem. People that want that kind of atmosphere may have long ago given up on finding it in a pool hall or karaoke bar.

Price hasn't given up on finding customers; however, if more don't show interest, the area may be end up losing one of the most unique and well-intentioned businesses to come along in a while.

'We're not nonprofit, but we're not making any money,' says Price. Part of that may be attributable to Price's considerable generosity. She is often lax in enforcing the rule posted on the door to the Hop, namely, that each customer is required to spend at least $1 on a snack or beverage.

She said that oftentimes kids would show up with only $1, enough to meet the minimum requirement and thus be allowed to hang out for the afternoon, but not enough to leave Price with much of a profit.

The Hop Annex, aimed more toward the younger crowd, doesn't even have a minimum-purchase requirement. Admittance is free except on Fridays and Saturdays, when it costs $2.

Employee Heather Show, a senior at Southmoreland High School, likes Fridays the best, because that's when the dances are held.

'That's when we get our big crowd,' she says.

DJ Rick Gardner of Bear Rocks performs at the dances, held from 6 to 9 p.m. He brings strobe lights, a smoke machine, rotating colored lights and lots of music.

'If you want to hear it, I have it, or I can bring it next time,' he says.

He says the most popular styles of music at the dances, which are attended by kids around the ages of 14 through 19, are techno, rap and alternative.

Every other Saturday or so, Price will host a dance in The Hop, and she allows kids to bring their own music, as long as it contains no foul language.

On Sundays, The Hop can be rented out for parties. (Call (724) 887-3675 for information.) Parties are welcome on other days of the week without a rental charge, but Price requires that any food served at the party be purchased through The Hop.

As for the future, Price has plans to have a lock-in, where kids hang out there all night. She said there could be a pool duel (a pool tournament between randomly chosen teams of two.) Also, she may include a storytelling session and karaoke contests.

So Price has succeeded in creating a place where, as Show puts it, 'Everybody knows everybody and everybody gets along.' Now the goal is to get that 'everybody' to expand in diversity and in number, so they continue to have a place where they all get along.