Inside Switch and Signal Skatepark, far from the trendy crowd in up-and-already-came Lawrenceville, is Constellationโs new sister cafe, aptly named Satellite. Opened this past July, Satellite almost didnโt happen. Switch and Signalโs owner, Kerry Weber, was a long-time regular at Pittsburgh cafe, Constellation, but when he first approached owner Amy Weiland about setting up and running the cafe he wanted in his Swissvale skatepark, she said no. Weiland was coming off a serious biking accident and also wasnโt interested in doing the same thing twice. But when she finally said yes, she did anything but repeat Constellation: though both cafes are owned and run by Weiland and use coffee from Ceremony Coffee Roasters, they have a very different feel.
Satelliteโs design, like the skatepark it inhabits, incorporates many recycled elements from the bowling alley that originally occupied the building. The bartop used to be a bowling lane, the crown molding a gutter. The tables and benches in the cafeโs seating area are built from the pinboy benches that were behind the pin decks, back before the pin-resetting process became automated. Those pinboysโ nicknamesโRed, Box, Boneโare graffitied on the back wall of the skatepark. Weber and his designer, Michael Whartnaby, worked with Construction Junctionโa construction reuse nonprofit and longstanding fixture in Pittsburghโto reuse as many building materials as possible in the cafe and for Switch and Signalโs ramps. Not all repurposed design elements came from the bowling alley, though: Satelliteโs walls have a unique tile border running around the top made from recycled skateboard tiles from Art of Board, a Hanover, PA company.
Weiland said she sees Satellite as โConstellationโs punk rock little sister.โ Where Constellationโs design is elegantly understated, Satelliteโs is more playful, a bit more rough-and-ready. Where Constellationโs menu is a little more โprecious,โ as Weiland admits, Satelliteโs is simpler and more focused on service. This pared-down menu is designed to satisfy coffee enthusiasts while allowing baristas to be able to really engage with the community theyโre in. Swissvale is a lower-income, less homogenous part of Pittsburgh. Locating Switch and Signal there was intentional on Weberโs part, who wanted to open his skatepark somewhere where it could really be a positive influence in the community, especially for ย youth. He also wanted the cafe to be entirely plant-based, a challenge that intrigued Weiland and played a role in her eventual decision to accept Weberโs proposal.
Other than espresso shots, cappuccinos, and lattesโmade on a two-group La Marzocco LineaโSatellite also serves a seasonal beverage, like the coconut iced mocha with coconut whipped cream on the menu this summer. The default milk option is Sunrich Naturals soy milk, but they also serveย Califia Farms almond milk, Oatly oat milk, or, on occasion, lesser-known alternatives likeย Ripple pea milk. Getting to experiment is part of the fun for Weiland. Cappuccinos and espressos are served in beautiful red notNeutral VERO glassware. For filter, Satellite only offers batch brew coffee, made on a FETCO using a BUNN grinder. Not offering pour-over โopens up a focus on service,โ said Weiland, in keeping with Satelliteโs and Switch and Signalโs goal of engaging with the community. Thatโs also why Satellite only offers Rishi bagged tea and not the loose leaf Song Tea on Constellationโs menu.
Satellite has the addition of a food menu, and itโs all-plant-based, too. Baked goods come from Gluuteny, a local gluten- and dairy-free bakery. Onion Maiden, a Pittsburgh vegan pop-up restaurant thatโs finally found its brick-and-mortar home in Allentown, provides the bagels and cashew cream cheese, muffins, and paninis on Satelliteโs menu. In keeping with the environmental motivation behind the plant-based menu and the recycled building materials, Satellite is focused on sustainability, and everything except the straws at the cafe is compostable.
Satellite isnโt a soothing-office-away-from-home kind of space. It wasnโt designed to be. It was meant to be the kind of space where the countercultural creativity that can be found in both the specialty coffee and the skateboarding worlds could flourish. Itโs a place to try new things, to meet new people, to take off the headphones, to engage. Union Switch and Signal, the railway signaling equipment manufacturer from which the skatepark takes its name, used to be the largest employer in Swissvale. Switch and Signal Skatepark and Satellite hope to play an important and positive role in this community, too, one coffee-drinking, vegan-bagel-eating, skateboarder at a time.
Rachel Grozanick is a freelance journalist based in Portland, Oregon. Grozanick has contributed previously toย Bitch Magazine,ย 90.5 WESAย in Pittsburgh, andย 90.7 KBOOย in Portland. Read moreย Rachel Grozanick on Sprudge.