There are four doors within about twenty addresses on Penn Avenue. At 3337 is Lola's Eatery. Next door at 3339 is Engine House 25, the old firehouse that holds the Roberto Clemente Museum. At 3345 is The Forge, and across the street at 3354 is Second Story Spirits, the newest of the four. Each keeps its own schedule. Together they cover the street from 8 a.m. breakfast to an 11 p.m. last call, and between the two bars something is open every night of the week.
Peoples Gas plans to start Phase 4 of its Penn Avenue pipe replacement this fall. The footprint runs along Penn from 39th Street west to the Penn and Butler intersection, a short walk from these four doors. The block's daytime businesses keep roughly the same hours as a utility crew. On weeknights, the bars open just as the crews' permitted work day ends at 4 p.m. or later.
The week, door by door
These are the hours each business publishes. Lola's lists its schedule on its own website. Second Story Spirits posts hours on secondstoryspirits.com. The Forge's hours come from its OpenTable page.
| Day | Lola's Eatery, 3337 Penn | The Forge, 3345 Penn | Second Story Spirits, 3354 Penn |
|---|---|---|---|
| Monday | 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. | 5 to 11 p.m. | Closed |
| Tuesday | 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. | 5 to 11 p.m. | Closed |
| Wednesday | 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. | 5 to 11 p.m. | 4 to 10 p.m. |
| Thursday | 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. | 5 to 11 p.m. | 4 to 10 p.m. |
| Friday | 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. | 5 to 11 p.m. | 4 to 11 p.m. |
| Saturday | 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. | 5 to 11 p.m. | 1 to 11 p.m. |
| Sunday | 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. | Closed | 1 to 8 p.m. |
Read across the rows and the closed days line up. The Forge carries Monday and Tuesday on its own, since Second Story is closed both nights. Second Story carries Sunday evening, the one night The Forge is dark. Wednesday through Saturday both bars are open. On Saturday the block has someone serving from 9 a.m. to 11 p.m. with no gap, because Second Story opens at 1 p.m., an hour before Lola's closes. Sunday works the same way, with service running from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m.
The only quiet stretch comes on weekday afternoons. From 2 p.m., when Lola's closes, until 4 p.m. on Wednesday and Thursday or 5 p.m. on Monday and Tuesday, no kitchen or bar on the block is open. That's the slot the firehouse at 3339 fills.
Engine House 25 fills the afternoon, by appointment only
The Clemente Museum doesn't have walk-in hours. You see the collection on a ticketed guided tour or at a scheduled open house. Docents lead the tours through memorabilia, photography, documents and ephemera, and the story covers Engine House 25's history along with Clemente's. A tour runs about 75 minutes. The building stays locked until 10 minutes before your tour time, and no bags are allowed on tours. Parking is free in the lot next to the building, according to the museum's visitor page.
The November guided tours on the museum's tour schedule are $21 each. Several land in exactly the weekday gap the restaurant hours leave open:
- Friday, Nov. 6, at 2 p.m.
- Wednesday, Nov. 11, at 6 p.m.
- Friday, Nov. 13, at 2 p.m.
- Saturday, Nov. 7, at noon, 2 p.m. and 4 p.m.
- Saturday, Nov. 14, at noon and 2 p.m.
- Sunday, Nov. 15, at 1 p.m.
A 2 p.m. Friday tour ends around 3:15. Second Story opens at 4, The Forge at 5, and Lola's closed at 2 as the tour began.
One evening breaks the pattern. On Friday, Nov. 6, the museum runs a 21+ guided tour at 6 p.m. for $30, which includes a glass of Engine House 25 wine. The wine comes from the same building. Engine House 25 Wines is a winery that buys grapes from growers and makes its wines by hand. It offers small-group winery tours and seasonal winemaking sessions by arrangement, and online orders can be picked up at the museum.
The museum posts its schedule about a month ahead, and no December dates were up yet as of late October.
The two bars run on different clocks
The Forge is the older of the two. NEXTpittsburgh reported that it opened at 3345 Penn on Dec. 27, 2019, and its hours have changed since that opening report. It's 21+, it takes reservations through OpenTable, and it serves cocktails with Mediterranean small plates. Discover the Burgh's September review notes how easy the place is to miss from Penn Avenue, with little more than a small sign out front. The review also mentions a modest pizza menu.
Second Story Spirits held its grand opening on Sept. 3, 2026. Pittsburgh City Paper describes a 40-seat cocktail bar that also makes its own liqueurs. The first house bottles are Nam Hom Coconut and Chilaca Chocolate, served alongside cocktails, Pennsylvania beer and nonalcoholic options. The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette covered the opening the same morning.
The two bars run on different clocks. Second Story opens earlier, at 4 p.m. on weeknights and 1 p.m. on weekends, and closes earlier on Sundays. The Forge opens at 5 p.m. six nights a week and stays open until 11. Before September, the block had no bar open on Sunday or on a Saturday afternoon. Second Story added both.
Where the gas crews come in
Peoples Gas started its Penn Avenue Pipe Replacement Project in 2024. It's replacing a cast-iron main installed in 1886, and the work is split into four phases across Bloomfield, Garfield and Lawrenceville. What the project page says about Phase 4:
- Footprint. About 4,000 feet of pipe in total, covering Penn Avenue from 39th Street west to Butler Street and Ligonier Street from Penn Avenue to Liberty Avenue.
- Starting point. Crews are scheduled to begin at Ligonier Street and Liberty Avenue and work northeast to Penn.
- Timing. Peoples says the phase will start in fall 2026. It calls everything on the page tentative and hasn't posted a calendar start date.
- Work hours. Permits allow work from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m., Monday through Saturday, but standard work plans cover Monday through Friday only.
- Access. Delivery trucks, transit, ambulances and trash collection can still get through the work zone. Sidewalks stay open, with help from crews where needed.
- Notice. Customers with a gas meter inside the building get a letter about 30 days before work starts, other customers get one about 15 days ahead, and automated calls follow shortly before crews arrive.
Put those hours next to the table and the block divides cleanly. Lola's 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. service sits entirely inside the crews' standard weekday window, and so do the afternoon museum tours. Second Story opens at 4 p.m., the minute the permitted work day ends. The Forge opens an hour later. Sunday falls outside the work schedule completely, and Saturday does under the standard plan.
The previous phase gives a sense of how long a finished street takes to look finished. Phase 3 covered Penn from 45th Street to 39th Street, plus 39th Street and a section of Liberty Avenue. As of Peoples' August 2026 update, pipeline installation and concrete restoration on its Penn Avenue segments were done, but final milling and paving hadn't happened yet. Separate service-line work on Liberty was projected to wrap up by October. Phase 4 begins once Phase 3 is complete.
The rest of the Lawrenceville calendar
Two neighborhood events fall in the same weeks. The first Lawrenceville Cat Crawl runs Saturday, Nov. 14, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. It starts at Iron City Boulders, 143 51st St., with stops including Lawrenceville Pet Supply, Ivy's Ice Cream Pawlor and Kinship Gift. The Clemente Museum has a 2 p.m. tour that afternoon, and Second Story opens at 1.
The 30th annual Lawrenceville Cookie Tour is set for Saturday, Dec. 12, from noon to 5 p.m. Participating small businesses hand out free cookies, and the route and participant list are still to be announced.
At New City Pittsburgh, we follow the blocks around our Lawrenceville projects one storefront at a time, including how the Penn Avenue pipe work changes access and daily rhythm along the corridor. If you're weighing a home near this stretch and want to know how a single block's businesses and street projects shape everyday life, schedule a free consultation and we'll walk it with you.
