Web site offers bar specials

Lauren Zammerilla has been a Pitt student for almost an entire year, and she’s already a… Lauren Zammerilla has been a Pitt student for almost an entire year, and she’s already a local celebrity.

But perhaps the real glory belongs to Michael McDade, the creator of PGHtonight.com.

McDade, a junior communication major, created the site that lists local bar specials with the bars’ hours and contacts, in addition to upcoming events, photos and message boards.

Students wanting to know the specials on a certain night need to click on a link for that day.

Currently, the Web site hosts information for five Oakland bars — Bootleggers, Hemingway’s Cafe, Peter’s Pub, Pittsburgh Cafe and Spice Cafe. McDade said the site will soon expand to include other areas in Pittsburgh, including South Side and Station Square.

‘Most of the owners around Oakland are good guys,’ he said. ‘They took a chance with us and it’s worked for their benefit so far.’

McDade said the idea for the Web site came to him over winter break when he was looking for a job he could balance with classes and soccer. McDade said he wanted to create something that would involve his skills as a communication major and his interest in sales and would ‘get people together.’

With the help of his Internet-savvy roommate, Samuli Ahola, who created the site’s design, PHGTonight.com appeared on the Web in early February. McDade said that the site now receives about 50,000 hits per week.

‘I think it’s exciting,’ said McDade. ‘We’re taking it slow, but it’s been pretty successful so far.’

The day the site gets the most attention, McDade said, is Wednesday, when he updates the ‘girl of the week,’ another feature of the site.

So far, he said the girl of the week has been a friend or acquaintance. The section shows a photo and some background information about the featured girl, like her major and an embarrassing story.

Zammerilla, a freshman neuroscience major featured the first week in March, participated because McDade asked her, she said.

The events, McDade said, have started to increase in popularity, noticing new faces and more people attending. With a $5 cover charge, the events hosted at several of the participating bars offer two hours of free beer, contests and giveaways.

Word of the site is also beginning to reach beyond Oakland. McDade said the Pennsylvania Bikini Team recently contacted him, interested in becoming part of one of his hosted parties. He added that Miller Light is also now a sponsor and the site’s official beer.

For McDade, the site is not only a flexible job he can work into his own schedule, but also acts as an internship that gives him credit toward his major.

Eventually, McDade said he hopes to hire other Pitt students as interns to take charge of other sections of Pittsburgh to successfully expand the site.

To get the word out about his site, McDade originally passed around flyers in the dormitories on campus. Initially, McDade intended not only to list bars, but also house parties posted by other students.

Resident Life Director Shawn Brooks called a site like this ‘potentially problematic’ for the on-campus residents, because most are not legally allowed to drink.

‘We really are trying to do our best to have students think very carefully about how they choose to engage with alcohol, and we’re not in a position to promote its use,’ Brooks said.

Only about 10 percent of Pitt students living in the dorms are older than 21.

But McDade said the reluctance of students to post these parties forced him to abandon the idea and change his marketing strategy.

Now McDade said he markets through word of mouth in addition to a Facebook group students can join.