A Little
Bit of
ANKARA
in the Night
The Ankara bar pictured in an undated postcard. Author’ s collection.
A Turkish immigrant found his way into Pittsburgh, and for a while, was the toast of Pittsburgh’ s mob world. The days of big band dance clubs, floor shows and entertainers where regular joes comingled with the murky underworld of organized crime have disappeared into history. David S. Rotenstein, author and historian, details the fascinating story of Pleasant Hills nightclub, Ankara.
The Ankara was a point in Pittsburgh’ s bright light belt, a string of roadhouses and nightclubs that popped up around Pittsburgh during Prohibition. Founded in 1946 by Turkish immigrant Charles Jamal, the Ankara became a destination for Pittsburghers, as well as the well-heeled mobsters who later owned it. Jamal arrived in Pittsburgh in the early 1940s. He had come to the United States and worked in Butte, Montana as a waiter before moving to Pittsburgh. By 1942, he was living in Clairton where he owned a coffee shop.
Much of Jamal’ s personal life remains a mystery. He was a slight man, only 5’ 2” tall, and the only known photo of Jamal was published in 1947 in the“ Pittsburgh Bulletin Index,” a local magazine. Jamal never married, and his only local relative was a nephew, Remzi Gurcay, who emigrated in 1940 to study at Penn State.
In 1946, Jamal bought the first of two parcels in Pleasant Hill Township and opened the Ankara. He paid $ 2,000 for one of the tracts and assumed a $ 30,000 mortgage for the other— a big chunk of change for a smalltown coffee shop owner.“ The town ' s newest night spot, the Ankara, on Route 51, beyond Bill Green ' s, expects to open in another two or three weeks,” columnist Harold V. Cohen wrote in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
Jamal opened the club November 6, 1946. It was an instant sensation. Jamal turned away hundreds of people on opening
The Ankara dining room pictured in an undated postcard. Author’ s collection.
night. He soon had popular local and national acts performing there. Local society columnists raved about the fine food, music, and dancing.
Less than a year after opening the club, key figures in Pittsburgh’ s Jewish mob openly assumed leadership roles in the business when Sid Rubin became the Ankara’ s manager. Rubin came to the Ankara after running a bar in Larimer, the Merry-Go-Round. Rubin’ s stepfather, Nathan Mattes, was a former bootlegger and one of Pittsburgh’ s top numbers gambling racketeers.
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