Author Archives: ryochum
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The Insider Guide to Coraopolis
Abby Mendelson Wednesday, June 23, 2010
Sam Jampetro
Sam Jampetro, a deceptively young-looking Anglican priest with bright blue eyes, a ready smile, and an easy manner, works where he prays, and vice versa, at 1000 Fifth Avenue. It’s the office of Coraopolis’ Community Development Corporation (front room) and the Charis247 Church (back room), a faith community which he describes as “a little more relaxed” than your standard Anglican church. (Well, the conga drums in the corner are a dead giveaway.)Directing the former, serving as pastor of the latter, Jampetro, a third-generation Coraopoliser, and others are working to bring Coraopolis back to what it once was — or a reasonable facsimile thereof. When Fifth Avenue crackled and was spiffed up with new awnings all along the commercial strip. When there were six bowling alleys, three movie theaters, and too many dance clubs to count. Most important, when the population was a robust 11,086 (1940) instead of 6,131 (2000). “This was the place,” he recalls, “that people came to for recreation.”
These days, they’re banking on the big sports complex in nearby Neville Island and the many soccer fields that will bring in big numbers of out towners. Perhaps they, along with those people on the Montour Trail, will discover Cheers (your up-from-under sports bar), the Jailhouse Saloon, and `Anthony Jr.’s, with its truly outré Frank Sinatra imitator on Saturday nights.
The draw for residents, of course, includes the annual Memorial Day parade, complete with street vendors, snow cones, fire trucks, and folding chairs holding people’s places; as well as the St. Joseph parish festival every August. “There’s a certain continuity in that one piece of community life,” Father Jampetro allows. Still, he says, “Corapolis kept itself alive, but got kind of sloppy.”
Just 1.36 square miles of Ohio River landing, some 15 miles west of Downtown, easily accessed by both I-79 and Route 51, the 2.5-mile-long slice of pie is bordered by Thorn Run and Montour, Neville Island across the river, and hilltop neighbor Moon Township.
Like so many things Pittsburgh, the history of Coraopolis stretches back some 250 years, to the time that the Crown granted interpreter Andrew Montour some 350 acres. By 1773, Robert Vance, a member of Washington’s regiment, had built a log stockade — and grandly called it Fort Vance. Within 30-odd years, the area had morphed into something more civilized and called itself Middletown.
By 1840, the area’s most prominent family had become the Watsons, who owned a sawmill, and later a gristmill. In 1886, the name changed for good, to Coraopolis, either for 16-year-old Cora Watson or Greek for Maiden City, depending on which legend you prefer.
With the Industrial Revolution, Part II, hitting Coraopolis hard, in 1892 the village hosted the country’s first high-speed electric streetcar system — along with Consolidated Lamp and Glass, which employed 350 people. As a steel bedroom community, with its solid houses and easy access, Coraopolis folk worked in the shipyards and mills of nearby Neville Island, Aliquippa, and Ambridge.
Like virtually every traditional Tri-State river town, Coraopolis got hit with the double whammy of mill closures and demographics — what had once seemed like nothing so much as pasture land in Wexford and Washington County was suddenly irresistible for sub-divisions. As the mills closed, businesses dried up and blew away. And good, old fashioned leadership seemed in short supply.
The Old Railstation
Now, those trends may be reversing. Business is trickling in to Coraopolis, drawn by good location, solid real estate stock, and safe streets. Civitas, improved public spaces, will help as well, according to Jampetro, who points to the old railroad station, which the CDC is working to restore as a museum and coffee shop — and stop on the Montour Trail. Designed by accolytes of Henry Hobson Richardson in the style of the master himself, the 2,000-square-foot station closed some 30 years ago, and while all subsequent plans to renovate it have failed, no one has yet razed it. “Everyone,” Jampetro says, “has always understood that it was special. Now, we want to frame it as a symbol of hope.”
Borough of Coraopolis Clock
Actually, a bit more than hope may arrive from nearby Robert Morris University. With RMU’s main campus just over the hill in Moon, its athletic center right across the Coraopolis Bridge on Neville Island, and some 600 collegians already living in Coraopolis, “students figure strongly in our plans for revitalization,” Jampetro says. “We’re in a window of opportunity in terms of people’s willingness to hope again.”If you build it — or if you believe it, apparently — they will come. Or so say the business owners who are literally banking on a renaissance based on proximity and dollars and sense. Real estate is solid and prices are low. Now’s the time!
Or so say a truly eclectic array of entrepreneurs, fitness center to yoga studio, media transfer companies to engineering firms, plus the requisite pizzerias and old-time hardware stores. “You know the kind,” Jampetro says, “with the old wood floor rubbed down smooth.”
Main Street to Broadway, Fourth Avenue to State Street, “there’s a lot of interesting things going on,” he adds.
Suburban Landscapes Garden Center
Developer Chris Connolly, who has invested in residential and commercial property in Coraopolis for twenty-some years, agrees. “It’s a great, untapped area,” he says. It’s got a lot of potential.” He cites the major roadways, the building up of Neville Island and the affordable rents as major draws. And he wants to know why five major engineering firms have recently moved in. Robert Morris University? A highway project? “Something is going on,” he says.And there’s more. Take, for example, the multi-storefront Victory Media Center, with its 27 employees and trio of armed-forces-related magazines — G.I. Jobs, Military Spouse, Vetrepreneur. Created nine years ago in Chris Hale’s Moon Township basement, within a year, Hale & Co. had moved to Coraopolis. “Cheap,” he gestures. “We needed cheap.”
“There’s a lot of opportunity here,” Hale adds, plus benefits all around, not the least of which is that everything is walkable — the bank, dry cleaner, grocery store, car service, drug store, lunch. “That,” he says, “is a tremendous advantage. That kind of convenience creates a better, more productive employee.”
So do all those cozy Colonial Revivals and Victorian fixer-uppers just a short stroll away on Ridge Avenue and further, creeping up the hill toward Moon. “You’re starting to see that turnaround,” nods Vincent Tucceri, an attorney involved in local development. “We’re really excited.”
Excited to the point of adapting a 20,000-square-foot building — complete with original hardwood floors and tin ceilings — for contemporary use.
Jim Baricella
A little less contemporary is Jim Barricella’s nearby Off the Avenue, a cornucopia of some 50,000 antiques and collectibles. Books to buttons to bowls to all kinds of brac-a-brac, he’s got 3,000 square feet of it. A six-year veteran of downtown Coraopolis, “my business has been recession-proof,” he says. “It’s a really great town,” he adds. “I feel comfortable here. It’s a walking community. I haven’t been to a mall in six years.”
Off The Avenue
Just as people find their way to Barricella’s, so they come to Segneri’s Wine Cellar, Sam Segneri, prop. Opened by Signor Segneri Sr. in 1954, the Wine Cellar draws a healthy cross-breed of customers, working-class Joes to the Sewickley upper crust, who cross the river for Segneri’s 20 different pasta dishes, tripe, polenta, wedding soup, scrumptious home-made lasagna and to-die-for chicken parm. “If you keep the food good and consistent,” Sam shrugs — he’s large on shrugging, “people always come back.”Finally, we swim over to Uncle Joe’s Scuba — that’s right, a bright, ocean-blue storefront scuba shop not in Shadyside or Sewickley but in Coraopolis. “It’s quiet,” owner Joe Petrella says. “It’s safe. It’s a friendly little town.”
Abby Mendelson’s latest book, End of the Road, a collection of short stories, is available at amazon and bn.com.
Photos: Sam Jampetro; Off the Avenue; Suburban Landscapes garden center; the old railway station; “Uncle” Joe Petrella; clock; Jim BaricellaPhotographs copyright Brian Cohen
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YWCA’s New Green Roof Contributes to Revitalization of the Wood Street Corridor
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
The 42-year-old YWCA building at 305 Wood Street received a $175,000 grant from the Richard King Mellon Foundation and Eden Hall Foundation to build a new green roof.
The new retro-fitted roof will protect the building envelope from moisture penetration, with a final layer of plantscaping, and is scheduled to be completed by late Fall of this year. Benefits of the new roof will include a longer material lifespan, energy savings, sound insulation, and improved aesthetic appeal and air quality for the neighborhood.
The roof, which the YWCA hopes will contribute to securing LEED certification, will be a landmark for the green revitalization of the Wood Street corridor, and it’s coming at a great time. Point Park University‘s new $244 million state of the art Academic Village is under construction nearby.
“In the spirit of being a good neighbor as Point Park undertakes this effort, we would like to restore and aesthetically enhance our facility to become a part of this transformation, as well as create a more environmentally friendly option that safely houses our programs and services,” says Carmelle Nickens Phillips, Vice President of the YWCA‘s department of Development and Communications.
Following the Richard King Mellon Foundation and Eden Hall grant, several other local foundations stepped up to help provide support for the new roof, including FISA Foundation, The Hillman Foundation, the PNC Foundation, and one anonymous source.
Writer: John Farley
Sources: Carmelle Nickens Phillips, VP of YWCA department of Development and Communications -
Many Suggest Ways to Save Mellon Arena
Wednesday, June 23, 2010By Patricia Lowry, Pittsburgh Post-GazetteWhen I asked for ideas for reusing Mellon Arena on June 13, I hoped to get at least a handful of responses. But almost 60 of you e-mailed or called with suggestions or simply encouragement to find a way to save the arena.
Courtesy of David Julian Roth Architect David Roth's very preliminary concept study suggesting that the Mellon Arena become an urban greenhouse in partnership with the Swedish company Plantagon, which aims to produce food where much of it is consumed, in cities.
Convert it to a market house, “a large open floor filled with vendor stalls of fresh produce,” writes computer programmer Joel Hess of Etna. “Imagine that, when the weather permits, the roof of the dome would be opened to create an instant fresh-air market. … Pittsburgh would have the most impressive market house in the nation along with the recognition that goes with reusing and preserving a historic piece of architecture.”
And both the Hill and Downtown would have something they’ve long needed — a grocery store. A dedicated shuttle service and walk-ins from the new surrounding neighborhood could eliminate the need for massive amounts of parking.
Architect David Roth took the market house idea a step further, suggesting the Igloo become an urban greenhouse in partnership with the Swedish company Plantagon, which aims to produce food where much of it is consumed, in cities.
“Our arena installation would be a self-funded food agora, with Plantagon produce and local farmers market stalls in each of the perimeter bays,” Mr. Roth writes.
Although his design shows the dome replaced by a new structure, the existing dome could be glazed.
Some of you think the arena’s best use is as a transit hub.
“The arena would make an excellent regional transit center in which the T (on its future way out to the East End, of course), Amtrak rail, bus services, and (hopefully at some point!) a high-speed line out to the airport, could meet,” writes Carnegie Mellon public policy student Sam Lavery.
“The building could easily be connected to the T system along with the bus system coming in from the far corners of the county and beyond,” writes figure skating coach Bob Mock of Turtle Creek. “The building would contain a Grand Central type of atmosphere with a retail/mall corridor for commuters. In addition this would connect all of the sports venues by the T. The T could then be extended to the airport, South Side, Oakland and Monroeville.”
“There has been considerable talk about an experimental maglev train between Greensburg and the airport. I thought that the arena would be a great location for a Downtown station,” writes Gordon Marshall of Belle Vernon. “The roof could be left partially open with glass panel inserts for natural lighting and a view of the city.”
Several people mentioned the lack of natural light inside the dome when it’s closed and also suggested replacing some of the stainless-steel panels with transparent or translucent ones.
Artist Carol Skinger of Fox Chapel writes, “I can imagine a new skin that is more like a white mesh or some slightly knocked down version of white. It would be possibly perforated or, by the character of the material, be simply translucent, so when you are inside it is luminous even on a gray day.
“At night the interior lighting could be various colors so it would not always appear to be a white or yellow glow. The overall color could and would change at night as light comes through the translucent skin. I think a yellowish light dimmed way down at late night would give it such a beautiful feeling of a candle lantern.”
A retail or mixed-use development appealed to some.
“Turn it into a shopping, dining, living and entertainment area,” writes retired teacher Colleen Kinevey of Mt. Lebanon. “In the middle of the arena, in a spot which would be most convenient to the Hill District, make an open thruway connecting the Hill District to Downtown. It could be enclosed like the Jenkins Arcade or open in the fashion of a courtyard/thruway. The thruway would have to be convenient and available at all times. On both sides of the thruway could be shops, restaurants, spas, lofts, offices and theaters. There are endless possibilities.”
“A giant mall,” writes Mary Segal of West View, that “includes retail shops, food court, grocery store, child care center, movie theater and something like a fun fest place for kids with blow-up bouncies, miniature golf, a place for families to have kids’ birthday parties.”
How about a recreational use?
Retired Kennywood president Carl Hughes of Mount Washington called to suggest an indoor water park, an idea that also appealed to Avonworth High student Krystina Thomas.
“We don’t have one in the city, and during the summer you could open up the roof,” Ms. Thomas writes.
Artist Phil Rostek of Shadyside and his mother, Margaret, suggest “a major venue devoted to upscale public dancing,” with a dance floor surrounded by tables for dining, stars projected on the interior of the dome and dancing under the real stars when weather permits. The name would remain the Igloo, “where the ‘Burgh chills.” There would be dance and movement classes, too, for adults and kids.
Patricia Faloon, a professional clown who lives in Beechview, envisions a large indoor miniature golf course, with each hole interpreting one of the bridges, buildings, inclines or some other aspect of Pittsburgh.
An ice arena for kids’ hockey, figure skating and open skating would take advantage of what’s already there, two of you suggested. Or maybe an arena for professional boxing events, writes M.A. Johnson-Vaughn, passing along a friend’s idea.
Some ideas seem too similar to what Pittsburgh already has to be viable, such as a Pittsburgh Sports and Exhibition Hall of Fame Museum, a national museum of steel and industry, a giant aviary and botanical center, a home to nonprofits and a home (once again) for the Civic Light Opera.
Several writers suggested an industrial use, such as a place to assemble and warehouse solar panels and other green products. But the arena as cultural center appealed to others.
“A mall for artists,” writes former contractor John Mann of West Deer. “You could put shops all through it and have concerts and plays in the round.”
“Borrowing from the design of the Guggenheim in New York, maybe a spiral gallery could be built inside the dome,” writes Paul Carosi of Mt. Lebanon. “Visitors would take an elevator to the top and wind their way down the exhibit spaces.” He also floats the “Pittsburgh Music Hall of Fame, similar to the Experience Music Project in Seattle.”
“Since I was a little girl,” writes state welfare caseworker Lynda Regan of Dormont, “I’ve heard how Pittsburgh was the great American melting pot; a place where people of every ethnic and racial background came to work together, side by side, in the mills and factories, in order to make the American dream a reality for their kids and grandchildren.
“What I would like to see in the Civic Arena is a permanent monument to those hard-working men and women who labored all those years ago to make Pittsburgh the diverse, forward-moving city it is today. What I am suggesting is that the Civic Arena building be preserved and renovated into The Pittsburgh Folk Cultural Center, where locals and tourists alike, as well as educators, artists, performers and vendors, can come together to explore and to celebrate the contributions and traditions of the many ethnic groups which joined together to build Pittsburgh.”
Ms. Regan’s idea sounds like a permanent, ongoing Pittsburgh Folk Festival, an idea that celebrates the Hill’s history as a settlement place for immigrants of all nationalities. The dome would house classrooms, a dance studio, a small theater, ethnic restaurants, an international bazaar and a Grand Hall for banquets and wedding receptions.
Tom Galownia of Cecil has a different idea.
“If you want to really save the Igloo, then you first have to make them want to keep it, and the best way to do that in Pittsburgh, a city with low self-esteem, is to have someone else want it. So my suggestion is to start an effort to move it.
“Maybe you could advertise it on eBay. Once you get some serious interest, I guarantee you, Pittsburghers will demand it be kept.”
Architecture critic Patricia Lowry: plowry@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1590. -
A Day in Bedford County is a Reviving Trip Back in Time
By Rege Behe, PITTSBURGH TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Monday, June 21, 2010Bedford, a little more than 120 miles east of Pittsburgh, might be best known for being the stop on the Pennsylvania turnpike before Breezewood. But this charming town, settled in the early 1750s, is awash in history and nostalgia. First known as Raystown, the town took its current name from the British fort established there in 1759. It became a key site in the Whiskey Rebellion, with President George Washington arriving there in 1794 with 13,000 troops in tow.
Today, it’s a cozy small town that looks and feels like a Norman Rockwell painting. The shopkeepers are friendly, the town is clean and manageable, and there’s even ample free parking for visitors.
10 a.m.
Old Bedford Village successfully re-creates the feel of an 18th-century village, with about 50 buildings on the grounds reassembled from sites in Bedford County. There’s everything a family from that period would need — a doctor’s office, carriage house, general store, schools and a church — along with period-specific crafts such as a whitesmith (a tin maker) and a basket shop. Re-enactors often are present, notably the blacksmith and coopersmith. Feather’s Bakery serves great cookies and other snacks, and, on certain days, the Pendergrass Tavern (modeled on the pub that sat outside the walls of Fort Bedford in the 1750s) serves simple repasts from days of yore. Make sure you say hi to Jack, the white cat with brown, black and gray markings, who roams the grounds as the unofficial mascot.
Upcoming events include Gunfiight at the OK Corral on Saturday and Sunday, and an 1820s Weekend on July 17 and 18.
Old Bedford Village, 220 Sawblade Road, Bedford. Hours: 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily through Labor Day; closed Wednesdays. After Labor Day, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Thursdays to Sundays. Admission: $10 adults, $5 students, under 6, free. Details: 800-238-4347 or here.
Noon
Head south to Bedford, just a few minutes away. The downtown area has the feel of mid-20th century America, with small shops and restaurants lining the streets.
For lunch, stop at the Green Harvest Company, which features a variety of teas, coffees, pastries and breakfast and lunch entrees. The decor is simple but comfortable, and many of the menu items are fit for the health-conscious. Notable was a tropical shrimp wrap ($6.65), which featured chilled shrimp, greens, pineapple, coconut, onions and green peppers.
For bargain hunters and antique collectors, Founder’s Crossing is a must. Located in a building that once was home to a G.C. Murphy’s store, the co-op of 145 dealers features three floors of crafts and collectibles, from old photos to housewares and jewelry to knickknacks. Plan on spending at least an hour here browsing through the many items. There’s also a small cafe, The Eatery, on site.
Details: The Green Harvest Company, 110 E. Pitt St.. Hours: 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. Mondays to Saturdays. Details: 814-623-3465 or here.
Founders Crossing, 100 S. Juliana St. Hours: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Mondays to Saturdays; noon to 3 p.m. Sundays. Details: 814-623-9120.
2 p.m.
Stop at the Bedford County Convention Bureau for a walking tour. From a Civil War monument to Fort Bedford to the Espy House, where George Washington commandeered troops to quell the Whiskey Rebellion, it seems there’s a remnant of history on almost every street corner. A self-guided walking tour of downtown Bedford takes about 30 minutes. Every Friday through the end of October, free guided tours are offered at 3:30 p.m. starting at the convention bureau, and lasting about 90 minutes.
There are 14 covered bridges in Bedford County, ranging from Turner’s Bridge, which sits off a gravel road near Mann’s Choice, to Snook’s Bridge just north of Spring Meadow. Ten of the bridges still are drivable (four are privately owned, but accessible for photos). A complete tour takes up to three hours, but shorter tours can be mapped that last half that time. It’s possible to visit just one or two bridges. Maps and other information are available at the Bedford County Convention Bureau.
Details: Bedford County Convention Bureau, 131 S. Juliana St. Details: 800-765-3331 or here.
6 p.m.
No visit to Bedford County is complete without a stop at the refurbished Omni Bedford Springs Resort & Spa. Since it opened in 1806 as the Bedford Springs Resort, the property has hosted presidents, diplomats and celebrities, many of whom came to be nourished by the renowned restorative powers of the nearby springs.
The venue has been refurbished and re-opened in 2007 after years of decline. There are tempting dining options, notably in the elegant Crystal Room or the cozy Frontier Room, and live entertainment is offered on weekends. The setting, no matter what you’re there for, is simply breathtaking.
Details: Omni Bedford Springs Resort, 2138 Business Route 220. Details: 814-623-8100 or here.
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Another Big “Whew!” in Manchester
Staff Blogs
by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Wednesday, 02 June 2010 4:27 PM
Some people make the trek down to Grant or Ross Street for a zoning, planning or historic-review hearing and leave frustrated because the case was continued or the agenda was packed and half their day was spent waiting in a hot room. But today, the room was bearable and a long Historic Review Commission agenda was drastically pruned by a request Councilman Daniel Lavelle made to the Bureau of Building Inspections.
“Councilman Lavelle asked for a hold on all the demolition projects in Manchester,” said the BBI’s acting chief John Jennings. Today, that spared 1302, 1326 and 1328 Adams Street, 1516 Chateau Street and the perennial poster-house for dodging the wrecking ball, 1218 N. Franklin Ave. All were up for demolition consideration. (Manchester, as one of the city’s historic districts, comes under scrutiny by the commission, which is supposed to make decisions to keep the historical integrity of the district intact. In Manchester’s case, it seems that the commission’s biggest challenge is keeping the district itself intact.)
Stanley Lowe, who has become the managing director of the Manchester Citizens Corp., told the commission today that the owner of the Franklin property “was supposed to be here.” Mr. Lowe promised a community barn-raising of sorts to shore up the Franklin property late in the winter, a one-day extravaganza of rehab that has not happened yet.
Two other owners with almost-doomed houses did show up before the commission, explaining their efforts to work as they can with the money they can save to keep their properties. Daphnie Milam is fighting damage from a March fire at the house she owns on Chateau and left the meeting buoyed by the moritorium on demolitions.
“I was a nervous wreck!” she said. She has a building permit, a structural engineer and a contractor and is “just waiting for the insurance company to finalize the paperwork.”
Walkabout hopes to follow up with Daphnie and follow the saga of the demolition list, of which Councilman Lavelle wrote in an email:
“Due to Manchester’s historical nature and the painstaking process of the last few years to work towards its revitalization, it is in a positive light that I view and support the moratorium on demolition. This will allow the community to take the necessary next steps to take hold of the reigns of its future and guide it in a direction of greatest benefit to its principal stakeholders, the citizens and residents of Manchester.”
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Pennsylvania Rail Museum Gets Critical $5M
By Marie Wilson
PITTSBURGH TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Friday, June 4, 2010More than 40 pieces of Pennsylvania’s railroad history are deteriorating from sun, rain, snow and wind as they sit outside the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania in Lancaster County.
But $5 million from Gov. Ed Rendell’s office will help build an indoor facility to house the artifacts.
“That kind of money will certainly enable it to be upgraded and attract a much larger audience,” said Arthur Ziegler, president of Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation. “That’s good for Pennsylvania particularly — not only because it’s a nostalgic interest in railroads and a historic interest in how they served the country, but railroads are on the way back.”
Design of a roundhouse — an indoor shelter for locomotives — will require about $500,000 of the money released Thursday, said Charles Fox, museum director. The remainder will go toward design and construction of an interpretive exhibit to better explain the commonwealth’s railroad history.
The focus of the exhibit’s redesign is not to acquire artifacts but, instead, to better connect the railroad industry’s past to the present, said Kirk Wilson, spokesman for the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission.
“It is important to the future of the railroad and to be able to tell an aspect of Pennsylvania history,” Wilson said.
The museum hired Gerard Hilferty and Associates, an Ohio-based museum design company, to redesign the internal exhibit, Wilson said. Hiring a design company is the next step in constructing the roundhouse.
“We don’t want it to be all about the machines,” Fox said. “It’s a way to tie it all together into a comprehensive story and to make it about people.”
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Small Movie Theaters Trying to Find a Niche in a Megaplex Era
Thursday, June 17, 2010By Kaitlynn Riely, Pittsburgh Post-GazetteThe seat folds down, the lights dim and the screen brightens. For most, the movie theater is a familiar experience.The Motion Picture Association of America, which collects detailed figures about movie trends, found that more than two-thirds of the U.S. and Canadian population saw a movie at a theater in 2009 and most people saw an average of 6.5.
Is it 2010 -- or 1939? It's hard to tell from the marquee above The Strand on Main Street in Zelienople. In the early 1980s, The Strand closed its doors, but it reopened last year.
In 2010, the movie theater experience, generally speaking, is the multiplex one. Small neighborhood movie theaters are dwindling, most pushed out by the rise of the multiplex and the fall of the weekly movie-going culture.
Nationwide, the numbers are not good for small theaters. When the motion picture association put out its 2009 report, the United States had 6,039 theaters. Of those, 75 percent were multi- or megaplexes, meaning they have at least eight screens; 21 percent were miniplexes, having two to seven screens; and only 4 percent were single-screen theaters.
A few of these small theaters in the Pittsburgh area are bucking the trend and staying open. Some — the Denis Theatre in Mt. Lebanon, for example — are trying to reopen and stake a place in their community’s future.
But bucking the megaplex is not easy; the past few months have seen the closing of several Pittsburgh-area movie theaters, such as the Squirrel Hill Theater and the Hollywood Theatre in Dormont, which had just reopened in August.
It’s survival of the fittest, and when it comes to community movie theaters, only a few are surviving.
Movies, radio once only choiceThere was a time when the community movie theater business was a booming one. Ed Blank, a film critic at the Pittsburgh Press for 25 years, can remember when it was not unusual for five to seven movie theaters to be within walking distance of his East End home.
In the late 1940s, when Mr. Blank began going to the movies, Americans were starting to buy television sets, but going to the movie theater remained a popular pastime.
“It’s very hard to get a grasp of this now, but they were where you went for the evening, if you weren’t going to listen to the radio,” Mr. Blank said.
But the passing decades, evolving technology and changing market desires resulted in declining numbers of local movie theaters. Television enabled people to watch programs at home, multiplexes gave moviegoers more options under one roof and VCRs allowed people to watch movies on demand.
So, the small movie houses started to die out.
The Strand, ZelienopleOne of the casualties, initially, was The Strand Theater in Zelienople. An Italian couple opened it in 1914, designating half of the building a fruit market, the other half a theater. It thrived for decades but could not compete with the rise of the multiplex and the VCR. In the early 1980s, The Strand closed its doors.
In 2001, Ron Carter was driving through Zelienople when he saw the old theater, in a state of decay, sporting a for-sale sign. Someone, he thought to himself, should do something.
He became that someone. Mr. Carter formed a board of directors, started a nonprofit and began the process of resurrecting The Strand. A combination of private donations and federal and state grants added up, and after two years of renovations, The Strand reopened in 2009.
It’s a happy ending worthy of a Hollywood script, but keeping the one-screen cinema open remains a challenge.
“We don’t try to compete with the multiplexes,” Mr. Carter said. “We focus on classic films, vintage films, as well as our live programs.”
A couple weeks ago, the theater ran a silent-film festival with musical accompaniment, the same type of show the theater presented when it opened in 1914.
The Strand is still learning as it goes, Mr. Carter said, trying to figure out what movies and performances people will pay to attend. Running The Strand as a nonprofit also involves educating people about the benefits of the traditional movie theater experience.
Denis Theatre, Mt. LebanonWhen Anne Kemerer talks about movie theaters, her face lights up. There’s no better way to watch a movie, she said, than to watch it in a theater with people who are laughing when you laugh and crying when you cry.
It’s a comfort place for her, she said, and fundamentally a communal experience.
Ms. Kemerer’s love of movies and belief in the movie theater is not a casual interest — it’s her full-time job. Since 2008, she has focused on resurrecting a small cinema on Washington Road in Mt. Lebanon.
The Denis Theatre shut its doors in 2004 in a state of disrepair. Ms. Kemerer, executive director of the nonprofit Denis Theatre Foundation, is determined to see it reopen, which means $750,000 must be raised by June 30, when the purchasing option for the building expires.
Once the foundation owns the building, the renovation process can begin, which means raising more money to open one screen, start showing movies and re-introduce people to what Ms. Kemerer believes is the irreplaceable movie theater experience.
She envisions a three-screen theater that will show art films and also be used as rental space during non-movie hours, for training sessions, auditions, and film education.
As they near the June 30 deadline, the campaign has raised nearly $400,000, including a $100,000 grant from The Pittsburgh Foundation. They’ve also been promised a $155,000 grant from an anonymous foundation, if they can match that amount by the end of the month.
A ferocious winter postponed a major fundraiser for the theater twice, and when it finally was held, six inches of snow stranded some people at home. But no one asked for a refund, and the fundraiser brought in $32,000. It’s a sign that people, particularly South Hills residents, are getting behind the concept of a Main Street theater once again taking its place on Washington Road, Ms. Kemerer said.
“Virtually everyone I talk to wants it to succeed,” she said. “Virtually no one doesn’t want it to happen.”
On June 30, she’ll know whether the theater has made it to its first fundraising goal, to buy the theater.
Ms. Kemerer is confident the Denis will succeed.
“The Dormont and Squirrel Hill closing down was a wake-up call to people that Main Street theaters require the passion and commitment of everyone around them,” she said.
Ambridge Family TheatrePassion and commitment sometimes go a long way to keep a small theater open. In Ambridge, for example, Glenda and Rick Cockrum have been running the Ambridge Family Theatre for the past 11 years, since Ms. Cockrum, who had worked as an assistant manager with Carmike Cinemas, persuaded her husband to help her buy the one-screen theater.
They both work other jobs to support themselves, and by the end of the year, the theater manages to pay its own bills, she said.
But it’s a genuine family business where their daughter learned to count by working behind the concession stand.
The Oaks, OakmontRandy Collins, manager of The Oaks Theater in Oakmont, is working toward creating a special identity for his theater.
“We have to adapt,” he said.
The Oaks still shows a lot of first-run movies, Mr. Collins said, but it’s trying to capitalize on the movies that sell well in its market and exploring events that could capture the imagination of its audience, such as opera series and concert events.
Not all happy endingsTravel east to Latrobe, and a similar business model has not worked out. The Zimmerman family has been in the movie theater business for 50 years, though their focus is a drive-in. Five years ago, Lee Zimmerman decided to expand to include an indoor theater, the two-screen Latrobe Family Cinemas.
But the indoor theater never attracted enough patrons, perhaps because it was close to a multiplex, and in five years, Mr. Zimmerman lost $150,000 on the deal. Early this month, the family closed the indoor cinema to return their focus exclusively to the drive-in. Mr. Zimmerman said he’s not sure what will happen with the building.
It could be torn down like the old South Hills Cinema on West Liberty Avenue in Dormont, which is being razed to make way for a CVS pharmacy. Or it could sit empty like the Hollywood, also in Dormont, waiting for a new owner.
The Hollywood was, for a short time, a success story. A nonprofit based in Franklin, Ind., discovered it and poured time, money and effort into opening the single-screen theater again.
It remained open for less than a year.
Last month, Bill Dever, of the nonprofit, the Motion Picture Heritage, decided that the Hollywood, with meager attendance numbers, was no longer viable. It had gotten to the point that he was throwing good money after bad, he said in a phone interview, and he decided to close it.
A few weeks before announcing the theater would close, Mr. Dever was pessimistic about the state of the Hollywood and about the state of community movie theaters in general.
“What I see is, quite simply, that the whole idea of movie-going is going to be centralized in the home environment, and the whole idea of community film watching is going the way of the dodo,” he said.
Key to survivalFew would deny that the movie theater business is a difficult one, but some are not so pessimistic.
Screenwriter and producer Carl Kurlander, who teaches in the film studies department at the University of Pittsburgh, recently made the film, “My Tale of Two Cities,” about his return to Pittsburgh from Hollywood.
Pittsburgh, he reminds us, was the site of the birth of the modern movie theater, the Nickelodeon, in 1905.
The key to survival for movie theaters, he said, is reinvention. The movie theater that can reinvent itself, that can create a niche that no other business can fill, is the one that will survive.
“It’s hard for me to believe the city that literally invented the movie theater … is going to give up and not have one,” he said.
The national trendThe United States has 6,039 movie theaters with 39,028 cinema screens. As the industry continues to shift toward theaters with more screens, megaplexes — 16 or more screens — have become the main source of theater growth. The closing of single-screen theaters and miniplexes — two to seven screens — nationwide means that nearly half of the screens in the country are located in multiplexes — eight to 15 screens.
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Pa. Historical Panel Raises Concerns About Mellon Arena
Thursday, June 17, 2010By Katie Falloon, Pittsburgh Post-GazetteThe Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission has expressed concerns about the speed of the planned demolition of the Mellon Arena, prompting a response today from the Sports & Exhibition Authority.
In the commission’s letter sent Wednesday, director Jean Cutler requested more information.
“We are sympathetic with the need to move quickly, however we also want to ensure that we have received all crucial information in a fashion that allows us to fully understand both the process and the project’s effects on historic resources,” Ms. Cutler said in the letter.
Following today’s SEA board meeting, Executive Director Mary Conturo said members think moving through the process quickly is best, Ms. Conturo said. Mellon Arena will be vacant come August, and the costs of maintaining the building will fall on SEA, she said.
Utilities and insurance for the arena will cost between $78,000 and $100,000 per month, depending on whether the intention is to keep the arena dark or there is an opportunity for reuse, said Christen Cieslak, principal at Chronicle Consulting.
“We think everything done to date is very thorough and very well done,” Ms. Conturo said.
