Eddie's Restaurant was an unassuming, inexpensive eatery frequented by many Hill District residents, most notably the group of playwrights and poets that made up the "Black Horizon Theatre Group" - including Rob Penny, Bob Johnson, Maisha Baton, Sala Udin, and August Wilson
"Another place we would hang out was Eddie's Restaurant...they would allow us to sit for hours
and didn't bother us. We didn't buy a lot of food, but they would always keep filling up our coffee cups."
-Sala Udin, recalling the spots favored by the Black Horizon Theatre group
It has been said that Wilson concieved Jitney, the first of his Pittsburgh Cycle plays, at Eddie's. While Eddie's is mentioned in The Piano Lesson, the play with the strongest connections to it is Two Trains Running, set in a fictional but similar diner, Memphis Lee's, located somewhere in the immediate vicinity.
Eddie's was torn down in 2006 as part of the construction of the new Hill District branch of the Carnegie Library - perhaps a fitting end for a place that nurtured so many writers with its endless cups of coffee.
