History & local legend
At the former Szechuan Gourmet on Bellefonte Street in Pittsburgh's Shadyside neighborhood, diner Kathi Iannamico reported repeatedly seeing an older man near the cash register. She faced the restaurant entrance during dinner while her friend sat facing the other direction.
The man stood in profile with his hands clasped behind his back. Iannamico remembered pastel plaid trousers, white slip-on shoes and short white hair around a bald crown. At first he seemed like an ordinary customer waiting near the entrance. Then she realized that each glimpse lasted only a few seconds before he disappeared.
She asked her friend to turn and look. The friend saw no one, and Iannamico did not see the figure again that evening.
Sources
- Kathi Iannamico, firsthand dinner account preserved in Matt Muller’s Pennsylvania discussion-board files
- Szechuan Gourmet’s advertisement, The Tartan, Carnegie Mellon University, January 28, 1991. Includes a locator map and the street address
- Carnegie Mellon Chinese Students and Scholars Association, Pittsburgh student guide, lists Szechuan Gourmet at 709 Bellefonte Street off Walnut
