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Many hip to the music scene will miss this place
The Rock and Roll Hotel was an underground phenomenon of sorts over the past decade, but few outside the local music industry were even hip to its existence.
Unfortunately, the hotel's owner and sole operator Pietro "Perry" Petrone, 48, died on Sept. 8 of natural causes. Petrone, with his jet-black pompadour and ever-present leather cat coat, was as much of a constant in the local rock and underground music scene as hangovers and bad sound checks. A long-time session musician with a good dozen local acts, Petrone, who bore a comical resemblance to actor Joe Pesci, once told me he was tired of staying in "square hotels where you couldn't party or jam with your friends."
Because rockers keep even later hours than, say, Dracula or convenience store clerks, Petrone in the early 1990s set out to design a hostel of sorts for visiting musicians. It would be a place where no one would call the cops if you broke out a guitar at 4 a.m.and the rooms would be decorated with rock 'n' roll memorabilia and tour souvenirs.
Petrone was a marathon talker and hilarious launcher of schemes who managed to purchase an old residential property on Montour Street in the West End where he opened his hotel about 10 years ago. It was an instant success, with members of Los Lobos, the Ramones and even the Rolling Stones stopping by over the next few years.
Much to the frustration of fans and groupies, Petrone kept his hotel a secret from all but a select few in the local music scene. The parties he threw were as eclectic as music itself; visitors would sometimes find grungy rockers eating traditional Italian meals prepared by Petrone's mother, or jam bands comprised of disparate acts playing in the central meeting room.
Unfortunately, the Rock and Roll Hotel has heard its last note, long before most Pittsburghers ever got a chance to visit. But for a lucky few, it was one hell of a party.
