Entry No. 40 — the Pittsburgh file — filed under: banjo
Pittsburgh Banjo Club at Allegheny Elks Lodge #339
Wednesday is the one night Allegheny Elks Lodge #339 lets the general public into its lounge — Thursdays and Fridays are members and guests only — and the reason is thirty-some banjo players who use the room for their weekly run-through. Doors at 7, music from 8 to 11, food served 7:30 to 9:30, and no cover at all. The lodge's own site flags the evening as 'Not an Elks Lodge Event,' which is technically a disclaimer and practically an invitation: the club plays, the bar pours, and the crowd is a mix of regulars, students and people who heard about it once and never stopped coming. It is 21+ unless you're with a parent or guardian, and the sound of that many banjos hitting the same downbeat in a wood-panelled room is not something a recording conveys.
→ Three more underground music & performance in Pittsburgh — never the same twice
The story
The Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks was founded in New York City in 1868 by a group of actors and entertainers, and the Allegheny lodge was the order's 339th when it organized in 1896. The building it ended up in, on the corner of Cedar Avenue and Pressley Street, was not built as a lodge at all: it went up as a house for the Metzger family, and after the Elks bought it they hired the Pittsburgh architect Edward B. Lee to rework the interior. A fire in 1924 forced a reconstruction that ran two years and added a bowling alley in the basement; the St. Patrick's Day flood of 1936 persuaded them to move the lanes upstairs, and six of them still run leagues from September through April. During the Cold War the building doubled as an air-raid shelter, and lodge members have spent recent years uncovering windows that were sealed with rebar and concrete block to make it one.
The banjo club is much younger than the room. It was founded in 1988; its founder and original leader, Frank Rossi, died in February 2018, and Norm Azinger directs the music now. Membership has thinned a long way from a peak near seventy, but the Wednesday session has never stopped, and the repertoire has not modernised either - Dixieland, jazz and standards written between the late 1800s and the 1950s, sometimes with a trumpet or a singer attached.
The thing to understand is that this is a rehearsal, not a concert. The club takes paid private bookings and needs the reps, and the lodge lets the public in to watch for nothing. The lodge's posted schedule makes the arrangement plain: Wednesday open to the public, Thursday and Friday members and guests only. One night a week, a private fraternal club with a jukebox, a bar and a six-lane alley upstairs becomes the cheapest live music in Pittsburgh.
What it's like
Doors are at 7 and that is genuinely when to arrive - by 8 the lounge is full and finding two seats together stops being realistic. Someone hands out lyric sheets at the door, so singing along is less an option than an expectation. The kitchen runs 7:30 to 9:30 only, which means dinner happens before or during the first set, never after. The bar is a lodge bar: cash, cheap, televisions and a jukebox on the walls, no cocktail list. Music runs 8 to 11 in sets with breaks, and polka dancing tends to break out without warning. A 50/50 raffle goes round for charity; buy in. Otherwise the etiquette is simply that of a guest in someone else's club - applaud between numbers, don't shout requests mid-tune, tip the bar, and go home at 11.
The move: Get there at 7 when the doors open, claim a table near the middle of the room rather than the back, eat whatever's on during the 7:30-to-9:30 window so you're not hunting dinner after, and stay through to the 11pm finish — bring small bills for the bar.
📍 Before you go Wednesdays only: doors 7pm, music 8-11pm, kitchen 7:30-9:30pm. Free admission, 21+ unless accompanied by a parent or guardian. Bring cash — it's a lodge bar, not a cocktail program. Lodge phone is (412) 271-2712; the club posts schedule changes and holiday breaks on its Facebook page, worth a look before a holiday week. Deutschtown street parking is usually findable within a couple of blocks.
- 📍 Pittsburgh
- 💸 $
- ⚡ Big night
- 🌗 Indoors
Where: 400 Cedar Ave, Pittsburgh, PA 15212
Hours: Added 2026-08-26 — confirm current hours before you go.
⚠ Seasonal or scheduled — always check before you go.
Pair it with
- The Government Center — It is about three blocks away on East Street and its bar opens at 5pm, so you can browse records and have a drink and still make the 7pm doors at the lodge.
- Photo Antiquities Museum of Photographic History — Two blocks up on East Ohio Street, a second-floor museum of pre-1939 photography makes the daytime half of a single North Side afternoon-into-evening.
- Randyland — Randy Gilson's painted courtyard is a short walk west and works as the loud, free, outdoor version of the same impulse - a Pittsburgh room that exists because one person kept showing up to it.
More weird in Pittsburgh
Good to know
Do I need a ticket or a member to sign me in?
Neither. Wednesday banjo night is free and open to the public, no membership and no reservation required. That is the exception, though: the lounge is members and guests only on Thursdays (7-10pm) and Fridays (6-11pm).
Where do I park?
On the street. The lodge notes that most surrounding streets are two-hour residential permit zones until 7pm, while the whole side of Cedar Avenue opposite the building is metered by day and free after 6pm - so a 7pm arrival lands you in the clear. There are also four bike racks.
Can I bring someone under 21?
Only if you are their parent or guardian. The stated policy is 21+ unless accompanied by a parent or guardian, and the room does draw a genuine range of ages under that rule.
Is there food, and is it cash only?
There is a kitchen, but only from 7:30 to 9:30pm, and the bar is a cash operation. Bring small bills for drinks, the food window and the 50/50 raffle; there is no tab-and-card rhythm here.
Does it run every week of the year?
It has run weekly for decades, but holiday weeks and the occasional break do happen, and the lodge's calendar fills up with its own events - Lenten Friday fish fries, bowling leagues from September to April. Check the Pittsburgh Banjo Club's Facebook page or call the lodge at (412) 271-2712 before a holiday Wednesday.
Plan a visit & invite your people →
Further reading: Official site · alleghenyelks339.weebly.com
last checked: 2026-08-26