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The 31st Street Pub gained a reputation for its raucous live music shows, unapologetically grimy punk atmosphere, and sometimes unexpected entertainment — for example, the famed heavy metal group Mastodon would recall sharing space with strippers when playing the Strip District club.
“They didn’t have a stage for them, there was just a pole,” Mastodon drummer Brann Dailor told the Beaver County Times in 2019. “All I remember is that it was interesting.”
The venue, nestled next to one of Pittsburgh’s many bridges at the corner of Penn Avenue and its namesake street, showcased local talent, as well as then-emerging names — the White Stripes and Black Keys both played there before making it big. Legendary punk acts and metal groups also passed through its doors.
This Pittsburgh music institution came to an end when, in 2015, owner Joel Greenfield closed its doors. He then moved to Florida, where, according to those who know him, he could ride his motorcycle every day.
Before closing, however, the 31st Street Pub, which opened in 1996, served as a hub for those seeking good music and rowdy times, back when the Strip District was a wild swath of nightclubs, bars, and vendors selling bootleg sports merchandise. The business was also part of a community that, over the last two decades, has slowly dwindled, with the demise of fellow punk music venues like Howlers, Hambone’s, and the South Side’s Smiling Moose.
Now, 10 years after its closing, fans can relive the glory days of the 31st Street Pub during a reunion at Mr. Smalls Theatre. The event, taking place Sat., Aug. 30, will feature live performances by The Cheats, Argus, Böttle Rät, and Porno Tongue, all bands that graced the Pub’s stage.
Michelle Harding, who served as a bartender and bar manager at the Pub for 16 years, organized the reunion. Harding, who worked at the Pub until the day it closed, tells Pittsburgh City Paper that the venue appealed to her and her husband, Aaron, a musician with the band Silver Tongued Devil. Harding says that, at the time, the Pub fell in with a network of local clubs that included The Decade, Club Laga, and Graffiti in Oakland, Gooski’s in Polish Hill, and Bloomfield Bridge Tavern, all of which she and other music fans frequented.
“You get to know that scene and the people in it, and that’s where I was, and that was my life, and that’s what I liked to do,” says Harding, who bartended at bars and clubs in Greensburg, Pa. prior to 31st Street Pub. “So, it seemed fitting to work in those kinds of places.”
Like Harding, Todd Porter, lead singer of The Cheats, has a long history with the venue, dating back to when it was a biker bar called the Greenfield Pub. After the owner converted it into a music venue, Porter says his then-band, Iron City Pounders, was the first to play there.
“Some dude threatened my life,” Porter laughs while telling City Paper about the experience, speaking to the Pub’s sometimes “unruly” clientele at the time. “We ripped on the Grateful Dead a little bit for being hippies and this guy pulled out a knife and said, ‘I’ll skin your fat ass.’ We were just laughing like, whatever, dude.”
Porter was also involved with events at the Pub, including organizing tribute shows that saw local bands playing songs by the Ramones, Misfits, and Motörhead, among others. “Joel would take chances on anything,” Porter says, recalling how they convinced a Swedish band called The Hellacopters, who were “huge everywhere except America,” to play a surprise set at the Pub.
Harding remembers how fans would flock to the Pub for certain bands, including when the Pittsburgh punk group Half Life played a reunion show there. She says the event attracted over 400 people, more than twice the Pub’s capacity.
“They were out on the sidewalk, out on the street,” she says. “They knew they couldn’t fit in the building, but they paid the cover just to hang out outside so they could hear the music.”
Local musician Zach Schweitzer has a deep love of the Pub that goes back to his late teens — the Facebook page for his band Böttle Rät even declares it was “Born on 31st Street.” Schweitzer remembers the Pub cultivating a certain familial atmosphere where he and his friends could play, hang out, and support each other’s bands.
“That was our regular go-to spot,” Schweitzer tells CP.
That familial feel extended beyond the Pub’s patrons. Harding, who occasionally booked shows for the Pub, says that, if they couldn’t accommodate a band, they would refer them to another venue in town, creating a sense of “camaraderie.”
“We would help each other,” she says.
Those behind the reunion at Mr. Smalls promise a memorable night for anyone who experienced the venue’s glory days. It was announced that Jeff Lamm from Half Life will appear with The Cheats to sing a few of his former band’s songs. In addition to live music and special merch, there will also be tons of memorabilia ranging from old show flyers to one particularly nostalgic visual element — the iconic 31st Street Pub logo that was painted on the back wall of the former venue’s stage. Harding says that, when the club closed, her husband, Aaron, cut the logo out and has kept it for the last decade.
“We really just wanted to do [the reunion] for our customers,” says Harding. “We had a lot of regulars, and they were definitely heartbroken and devastated when [the 31st Street Pub] closed.”
She adds that, unlike when the 31st Street Pub was open, the reunion will also be all ages so the children of patrons can come and experience, to some degree, their parents’ younger punk days.
While the reunion provides an opportunity for attendees to hear longtime local punk bands and relive a bygone era of the Pittsburgh music scene, Harding sees it as a gathering of people who, like her, loved the 31st Street Pub and view it as an important part of their lives.
“We don’t all get together anymore,” she says. “We’re never in the same room. I just wanted to get everybody together. That’s what all of this is about.”
31st Street Pub 10-Year Reunion. 8 p.m. Doors at 7 p.m. Sat., Aug. 30. Mr. Smalls Theatre. 400 Lincoln Ave., Millvale. $10 cash cover. All ages. mrsmalls.com
This article appears in Aug 27 – Sep 2, 2025.
