December 13, 2023 - Pittsburgh City Paper

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IN THIS WEEK’S ISSUE: POLITICS 04 Mayor Ed Gainey says diversity is

key to Pittsburgh’s future success

14 ATHEATER tribute to the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust adult sippy cup

BY AMANDA WALTZ

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FOOD

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9/15/23 3:42 PM 3 PITTSBURGH CITY PAPER DECEMBER 13 - 20, 2023

POLITICS

CP PHOTO: MARS JOHNSON

Mayor Ed Gainey during a visit to the City Paper office on Dec. 5, 2023.

GAINEY THE OPTIMIST A look back — and a look forward — at the mayor’s ambitious plans for Pittsburgh.

BY COLIN WILLIAMS // COLIN@PGHCITYPAPER.COM

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ayor Ed Gainey has a host of policy goals and ambitions for the remainder of his first term, but underpinning many of them is a simple message: “Diversity is good.”

Among other agenda items — including his zealous pursuit of the 2026 NFL Draft — Gainey has spent much of his first term so far working to restore city employees’ morale, taking a multi-pronged approach to combating violence, and assembling a diverse staff. The mayor is aware of and working on the city’s lower-hanging fruit in terms of crime and homelessness, but he said the key to longer-term stability is the city’s ability to attract and retain talented residents of all stripes.

“We’ve brought in different communities that have never had a pathway to the mayor’s office,” Gainey told Pittsburgh City Paper during a recent visit to its office on Dec. 5. As part of an effort to build relationships with local media, he and his communications team have been visiting various outlets to speak with editorial boards and answer questions. (A notable exception is the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, which Gainey refuses to engage with while Newspaper Guild of Pittsburgh members remain on strike. City Paper and the Post-Gazette are both owned

by Block Communications, Inc. but are not otherwise affiliated.)

Gainey’s recent media junket stands to benefit the mayor by giving him and his staff the opportunity to tout successes.

Though Gainey and his team spent the first 10 minutes of the meeting celebrating recent hires and the city’s overhaul of its 311 services, CP had most of an hour to ask him probing questions about Downtown, policing, pedestrian safety, his recently proposed budget, and the future of the city as a hub for tech and film. Gainey and his team answered these questions in detail.

SETTING PRECEDENTS Gainey has built his administration on the ideal of community. His recent budget, for example, “reflects extensive in-person engagement from across the City of Pittsburgh, as well as input derived from resident responses to surveys.”

However, this budget also signals the end of the American Rescue Plan Act windfall that made possible a massive investment in infrastructure, meaning Gainey has much narrower margins heading into the second half of his term.

“WE’VE BROUGHT IN DIFFERENT COMMUNITIES THAT HAVE NEVER HAD A PATHWAY TO THE MAYOR’S OFFICE.” As Pittsburgh’s first Black mayor, Gainey is cognizant of the precedents he’s setting and has built a staff that more closely reflects the city’s demographics. “This is the most diverse administration this city has ever seen,” he told CP. His office now includes Jake Wheatley, the city’s first Black chief of staff; Maria Montaño, the city’s first trans communications director; and others who bring Caribbean heritage, Hispanic culture, and disability inclusion to the City-County Building.

This year, Gainey also appointed Larry Scirotto, the city’s first gay police chief, and Amera Gilchrist, the city’s first Black woman to be Chief of Emergency Medical Services.

The mayor said he’s sharply focused on “break[ing] down segregation and silos.” Among changes his administration hopes to implement is a stronger connection between the Hill District and Oakland, bridging the divide between Bakery Square and Larimer Ave., and exploring broader implementation of inclusionary zoning.

Gainey said he hopes for a city where people can’t say, “I can tell who you are by your ZIP code.”

The city is preparing for a comprehensive planning process that will engage residents in all 90 neighborhoods. This long-term plan would be the first in the city’s history. “Our comprehensive plan will focus on sustainability and renewal with a dedication to ensuring that the Pittsburgh of 25 years from now is one where everyone who calls Pittsburgh home can thrive,” Gainey said in a press release.

The city announced last week that the Department of City Planning was moving forward with legislation to conduct the process with “two African American womenled firms.”

Last week, the city also released its community strategic plan for digital equity, which envisions improved access to broadband

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PITTSBURGH CITY PAPER DECEMBER 13 - 20, 2023

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and computers, and more equitable skills training for local residents.

“We’re centering those communities that have been left behind for too long,” Montaño told CP. She said the city has kept lines of communication with nonprofits including 1Hood to better understand locals’ needs and wants, particularly when it comes to economic access and public safety.

REVIVING AND ‘REIMAGINING’ DOWNTOWN Downtown has drawn attention in recent years for its visible presence of unhoused people and drug users as well as scattered safety incidents, including a recent shooting at the Greyhound Station on Liberty Ave. “Violent situations were on the uptick when I was coming in,” Gainey told CP. “Homicides have to come down for a safe, welcoming, thriving city … That has a direct impact on the economy.”

Still, Gainey said some narratives from sources, including the Post-Gazette and KDKA Radio’s Marty Griffin, paint a bleak picture that isn’t grounded in facts. He also acknowledged the city’s limited role in stemming the growing homeless population (the county manages the city’s public shelters). The mayor lamented the way some of those suffering in the open in Downtown were being used by media outlets to push a story of decline.

“IN TERMS OF TECH STUFF, WE’RE SEEING A SHIFT AWAY FROM TECH LIKE AUTONOMOUS VEHICLES AND MORE TOWARD, QUITE FRANKLY, MORE PRACTICAL THINGS.” “I’m from a community that’s been exploited our whole existence,” he told CP. “We’re not in the business of exploiting those individuals.”

Although homelessness remains a difficult problem to solve, the mayor said Pittsburgh has done much to stem the rise in violent crime in Downtown and elsewhere. One indicator, he said, was the sharp decline in murders. “At the end of year, you’re gonna see a reduction in homicides in the city,” he told CP. “We’re leading compared to cities of our size.”

Gainey said Downtown is critical to Pittsburgh’s overall image and revenue potential because it’s central to the city’s tourist attractions. His administration has worked closely with the Pittsburgh Downtown Partnership to boost tourists’ sense of security, including on a $1 million public-facing ambassadors program that has added to existing services such as the PDP Clean Team. Other projects geared toward making Downtown more hospitable is the “reimagining” of Market Square and Mellon Square to be more “entertaining.”

“We have to be able to entertain 365 days a year, and what we’re setting up ensures that we can do that,” Gainey told CP. He said his staff visited Cincinnati and Buffalo “to see how they’re doing it in those cities.” Gainey said his administration would share further plans for Downtown at an upcoming presser with the Allegheny Conference.

Gainey, Montaño, and press secretary Olga George all said it’s clear the Golden Triangle has changed since the onset of COVID. Gainey acknowledged the neighborhood has changed — “This is not yesterday’s Downtown!

Downtown is growing and thriving. You can look at the restaurants, coffee sales, how many people are going to shows,” he told CP, highlighting that some 21 new businesses have opened this year.

“Residential is hot Downtown,” Montaño added, noting that the numbers bear this out. She said Pittsburgh was in a “unique position” at the beginning of the pandemic due to its heavy focus on corporate real estate but has pivoted effectively to condominiums. Residential growth in places like Downtown and the Strip District could play a key role offsetting population decline in other parts of the city in the years ahead.

PREPARING FOR THE FUTURE The size issue for Pittsburgh is an important one. The city currently has just over 300,000 residents, and Gainey said his administration is focused on doing what they can to stem further population loss, secure the city against the effects of climate change, and entice people with Pittsburgh roots to move back from other states. Part of this bid is Gainey’s jump-starting of the Pittsburgh Land Bank, which buys up and repurposes blighted property.

“So many people left because they couldn’t find greener pastures because of the segregation that existed for so long,” Gainey said.

Other efforts include improvements to public services. Gainey said his team had invested in snow plows, consolidated the city’s 311 services, and solicited input from police officers in all zones while working toward a new contract. Gainey said police “wanted a disciplinary matrix” to hold other officers accountable and boost morale. That matrix was part of a new contract

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that police officers overwhelmingly approved in March, which Gainey said is a far cry from “defunding the police.”

Notably, Gainey would not share further details on potential plans for a law enforcement complex in his home neighborhood of Lincoln-LemingtonBelmar. Press secretary George said Scirotto and Gainey had no interest in engendering “a repeat of Atlanta[‘s Cop City]” and were instead “focused on making sure officers can connect and communicate with residents” as they did while recently averting violence in local schools.

Gainey said his administration is investing in youth by launching the Youth Civic Leadership Academy, working to curb violence, and seeking a better relationship with Pittsburgh Public Schools. This goes hand in hand with the city’s efforts to refashion itself as a hub of “meds and eds” and a forwardthinking tech city, which Gainey says are key to youth staying after they finish school or college.

“The reality is we don’t have a problem with recruiting; we have a problem with retainment,” he told CP. “When young people don’t see values and culture in the city, they’re less likely to stay.”

“HOMICIDES HAVE TO COME DOWN FOR A SAFE, WELCOMING, THRIVING CITY … THAT HAS A DIRECT IMPACT ON THE ECONOMY.” Montaño says that prominent misfires like Uber’s brief tenure don’t mean Pittsburgh can’t be a lasting tech hub. “In terms of tech stuff, we’re seeing a shift away from tech like autonomous vehicles and more toward, quite frankly, practical things like space and aeronautics,” she said, highlighting Astrobotic’s development of lunar technology.

On a much more practical level, George said this “city of mountains” is working to literally shore itself up against the high potential for landslides, which has increased with heavier rain. “FEMA and PEMA are recognizing the work we’re doing here to mitigate climate change,” she told CP. It’s infrastructure projects like these, alongside pedestrian safety initiatives such as traffic calming, and improvements to the city’s parks, that are probably the most tangible sign of Gainey’s work over this first term. As he looks toward the end of it in 2025, Gainey is also looking back to projects like the quick reconstruction of the Fern Hollow Bridge as an indicator of what he’s accomplished so far and what’s possible for the city. Even with the end of federal COVID relief funding — Gainey quipped that the city has “gotta get skinny for next two years” and isn’t planning any new capital projects — the mayor says his focus is squarely on making Pittsburgh a place where all residents have an opportunity to thrive regardless of what the future holds.

“I don’t believe in catering to anybody, but in serving,” Gainey said. •

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FOOD

CP PHOTO: MARS JOHNSON

Kura Revolving Sushi Bar opened its doors in September in Pittsburgh's SouthSide Works.

SPINNED FISH P

BY AMANDA WALTZ // AWALTZ@PGHCITYPAPER.COM

KURA REVOLVING SUSHI BAR. 415 CINEMA DRIVE, SOUTH SIDE. KURASUSHI.COM

icture it — Syracuse, 2010.

I leave the comfort of Pittsburgh and drive the width of Pennsylvania to complete an orientation for my master’s program at Syracuse University.

The Central New York town known for its snow and salt potatoes (literally spuds cooked in extra salty water) has yet to impress me.

Luckily, a friend who just so happened to be attending SU at the time took me on a tour that included a visit to something I had never experienced before — a revolving sushi restaurant.

We sat in the bar area as small plates covered with plastic domes slowly moved past us, offering a variety of maki, nigiri, and other delicacies, as

well as seaweed salad and desserts.

The restaurant, Sakana-Ya, still operates to this day (I even found a few recent YouTube videos reviewing it).

Upon moving back to Pittsburgh, a city more populated and exciting than Syracuse (sorry/not sorry, feel free to meet me in the parking lot after school), I felt a bit cheated. While my adopted home features several fine sushi establishments, I couldn’t help but wonder why we lacked one with a conveyor belt. Plus, if Syracuse can sustain one, we definitely can.

Imagine my excitement when Kura Sushi USA , described as an “innovative and tech interactive” Japanese restaurant chain, announced the launch of a location SPINNED FISH, CONTINUES ON PG. 12

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Ready for an adventure.

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SPINNED FISH, CONTINUED FROM PG. 10

in the SouthSide Works.

The SouthSide Works Kura, which opened in October, adds to the aggressive redevelopment and reinvention of the South Side shopping and entertainment district that has unfolded over the past several years — for context, Kura now sits beside Pins Mechanical, a two-story adult arcade that debuted in 2021, and just a few doors down from the new Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams scoop shop.

Revolving sushi restaurants have existed since the late 1950s — according to Wikipedia, the first one opened in Higashiōsaka, a city located in Japan’s Osaka Prefecture — and, over the past several decades, have slowly expanded beyond their country of origin. Established in 2008 as a subsidiary of the Japan-based Kura Sushi Inc., Kura Sushi USA has brought the concept to cities in California, Illinois, Florida, and other states — currently, Pennsylvania boasts locations in Pittsburgh and Philadelphia.

Given my vegetarianism, I decided to recruit a meat eater to cover as much sushi ground as possible.

Walking in, I was struck by the lack of decor — besides a handful of posters for the anime series Jujitsu Kaisen, I was otherwise surrounded by sterile white walls. One aspect that differed from my previous revolving sushi experience was the layout — unlike in Syracuse, where diners are limited to sitting at an open bar area, Kura offers two sets of booth seating areas, each one surrounding respective conveyor belts. Yes, belts, plural — one offers a continuous string of tiny sushi plates while another “express belt” quickly delivers food ordered on a computer screen provided in each booth.

My partner and I tried several dishes that spoke to the restaurant prioritizing novelty over taste.

As expected, the majority of the bite-size dishes — most priced at a more than reasonable $3.65 a pop — feature fish, with a few beef selections in rotation as well.

My partner tried the crispy rice with spicy tuna, seared eel with

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miso cream cheese nigiri, spicy tuna roll, and California roll. Overall, he seemed less than blown away, but happily ate the seared eel and both rolls (the various emotions he displayed while trying the crispy rice, however, suggested he was more on the fence with that one.)

As for the vegetarian selections, I tried two cucumber-based dishes — one salad and one roll — and found them both tasty enough. When the inari, balls of rice wrapped in pockets of thin tofu, failed to show up, I ordered one, along with a bowl of kitsune udon. The udon, with its thick noodles, two slabs of tofu, salty broth, and green onions, was hearty and satisfying. The inari stood out as my favorite of the night, a pleasant little treat defined by a bright sweetness and filling rice.

My partner and I came to a consensus on the desserts we ordered, and would gladly return for the fried sesame balls and warabimochi, bits of chewy, chilled, jelly-like mochi covered in soybean powder.

Oh yeah, did I mention the robots?

While various humans staff the South Side Kura, from the back-ofhouse sushi makers to the hosts, anyone ordering drinks will meet the restaurant’s automated members, who roll around playing what’s best described as generic rock music (my partner compared it to the fictional Mouserat band on the NBC series Parks and Recreation).

Any criticisms about Kura are dashed by the childlike wonder elicited by its various ridiculous components — the robotic waitstaff, the weird joy of watching a bowl of soup rush down the express belt, the little bikkura pon prizes earned by Kura rewards members. The quality of the food mattered little to the many families, couples, and college-age Asian diners who occupied the other booths during my visit. Like me, they were looking for more than sushi — they were looking for an experience, something Kura is more than happy to deliver. ” •

CP PHOTO: MARS JOHNSON

Kura Revolving Sushi Bar opened its doors in September in Pittsburgh's SouthSide Works.

CP PHOTO: MARS JOHNSON

Salmon Nigiri from Kura Sushi in the SouthSide Works.

PITTSBURGH CITY PAPER DECEMBER 13 - 20, 2023

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THEATER

CP PHOTO: COLIN WILLIAMS

Old Trust Art Cup versus new Trust Art Cup

SIPPING SENSATION A tribute to the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust adult sippy cup

BY AMANDA WALTZ // AWALTZ@PGHCITYPAPER.COM

N

othing makes a night at the theater more magical than several ounces of bottom-shelf merlot.

As 21-and-over crowds descend on Downtown Pittsburgh for various holiday shows and other performances — primarily at the Cultural District’s main venues, the Byham Theater and the Benedum Center — they have the option of elevating their experience with the adult equivalent of a sippy cup. The Pittsburgh Cultural Trust, in a valiant effort to fill seats, has, for over a decade, offered a sublime marriage of lidded, theme park-style drinkware and cheap booze, giving patrons the chance to build a serious buzz while taking in an opera, ballet, or touring Broadway musical.

I first experienced the Trust sippy

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cup while attending a production of A Musical Christmas Carol, an annual local crowd-pleaser based on the classic Dickens holiday parable. The venue’s bar offered a limited selection of beer and wine, and after choosing what was probably a cheap cabernet sauvignon, the bartender asked if I wanted to add the sippy cup. It was pitched as not only a great deal in the short term but over time, as bringing it to future Trust shows would mean discounts on an alcoholic beverage of choice.

My husband and I both bought one and spent the show sipping our room-temperature drinks through bendy, reusable straws, laughing as a wealthy misanthrope was terrorized by ghosts. The Trust-branded cups now sit in our cabinet awaiting

the next round of semi-drunken culture appreciation.

Pittsburgh City Paper reached out to the Trust about the origins of this welcome addition to the local arts landscape. What is known formally as the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust Reusable Art Cup was initially proposed by Marc Fleming, the organization’s chief marketing officer and vice president of Broadway programming.

It debuted in 2012 at the Benedum Center when the venue hosted the national tour of Jersey Boys.

“During the first three years following the reusable art cup’s debut, the branded logo cup was available at the Benedum Center and Byham Theater,” reads a statement. “This guest experience concessions initiative was a successful revenue builder for the

Pittsburgh Cultural Trust and was later woven into several Pittsburgh Cultural Trust fundraising campaigns.”

While alcoholic beverages had long been available in the theater bar and lobby areas, the Art Cup, with its snap-on, spill-proof cover, allowed for guests to enjoy boozy treats at their seats during performances.

The Art Cup adds to entertainment venues slowly adopting more lax attitudes toward alcohol, especially in Pennsylvania, a state notorious for its puritanical laws around beer, wine, and liquor sales. The historic Manor Theatre in Squirrel Hill renovated its lobby in 2012 to include a full-service bar, and permits patrons to bring drinks into screenings. Various Carnegie Museums have, for years, hosted 21-and-over nights that invite patrons to drink, dance, and carouse among ancient artifacts and classical art.

The evolving rules may appear gauche to those who would rather plastic wine cups and high-brow art not mix. However, histor y supports blending the two — for instance, a synopsis for the 2021 book Feasting and Fasting in Opera: From Renaissance Banquets to the Callas Diet by Pierpaolo Polzonetti states that, from the 17th to the 19th century, food and drinks were “available when desired” at opera venues, “showing that high art and refreshments are not incompatible” (this was before famed composer/total buzzkill Wilhelm Richard Wagner imposed “new rituals of opera going based on self-abnegation and abstinence to enforce absorption”).

Similarly, in Shakespeare’s time, theaters often attracted raucous crowds that loudly drank and ate, as well as heckled cast members, during performances. “You wouldn’t have heard the quiet crinkling of a candy wrapper coming undone, but the much louder noises of someone cracking open oysters, digging into a meat pie, or loudly belching after taking a swig of beer,” reads one 2023 Grunge article.

Over the last decade, the Art Cup has gone through several redesigns and rebrands — this includes a

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PHOTO: COURTESY OF PITTSBURGH CULTURAL TRUST

Original Pittsburgh Cultural Trust Reusable Art Cup

special edition release in 2013 promoting a national public art project that brought an enormous yellow rubber duck to The Point in downtown Pittsburgh. Another Art Cup, released in 2019, commemorated the much-anticipated, highly successful Pittsburgh premiere of Hamilton at the Benedum.

promise of the occasional blitzed ballet or touring Broadway show, the vessels offer other perks — for $25, guests receive two cups (available to purchase at either the Benedum or Byham) and a Partner Member membership offering deals on tickets, restaurants, and more. The Trust has also added disposable lidded cups to

their lineup for frugal and/or pocketless patrons, though these lack the aesthetic panache of the bedazzled Art Cups.

So take it from me — if you’re looking for a gift for the local theatergoer in your life, you could do much worse than a cup that overfloweth with wine and deals. •

R

The cup has also expanded beyond the Byham and the Benedum and gained entry into the O’Reilly Theater, Harris Theater, and Greer Cabaret Theatre, all of which are owned and managed by the Trust.

This year, the Arts Cup has, once again, been rebranded with new art featuring the famed Benedum chandelier and ceiling lights. Beyond the

R

THE ART CUP, WITH ITS SNAP-ON, SPILL-PROOF COVER, ALLOW[S] GUESTS TO ENJOY BOOZY TREATS AT THEIR SEATS DURING PERFORMANCES.

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SPORTS

PHOTO: COURTESY OF BOB MOCK

Skaters at Monreoeville Mall Ice Palace

PHOTO: COURTESY OF BOB MOCK

Bob Mock in his office

REMEMBERING THE MONROEVILLE MALL ICE PALACE A former manager looks back on the rink’s star-studded glory days.

BY RACHEL WILKINSON // RWILKINSON@PGHCITYPAPER.COM

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PHOTO: COURTESY OF LAWRENCE SLAUGH

Monroeville Ice Palace

PHOTO: COURTESY OF BOB MOCK

A

fter learning that the food court at Monroeville Mall was once a fullsized ice skating rink, it’s easy to see the remnants of it. Still at the center of the mall’s lower level, everything about the space is reminiscent of ice: slick floor-to-ceiling white tile, marble-like pillars, white wall sconces emitting warm light.

“Just where we’re sitting right now, so many amazing things happened,” Bob Mock says.

“Olympic skaters skated here, ice show stars skated here, celebrities skated here.”

Mock worked as a manager at what was once the Monroeville Mall Ice Palace from its opening in May 1969 until just after its closing in March 1984.

He started at 18 — his second job after working in a supermarket — launching a professional skating career in which he’s run his own programs and coached competitive skaters worldwide for more than 50 years. He was once contacted by the FBI about the infamous 1994 Nancy Kerrigan attack (he was at a facility in Portland, Ore. where Tonya Harding trained at the time), and last August, he was inducted into the Professional Skaters Association Coaches Hall of Fame in Florida.

Monroeville Ice Palace

But Mock returns to the former Ice Palace, he says, because people still contact him about it “constantly.” Even after decades of traveling internationally for skating, he still describes the rink as first-rate and “a game changer.”

“Probably one of the finest, if not the finest, ice rink in America,” he tells Pittsburgh City Paper.

The foremost thing to understand about the Ice Palace, Mock believes, is that the name wasn’t hyperbolic: it was built to be a palace, and there hasn’t been a rink as grand since.

The ice rink opened at the same time as Monroeville Mall — itself a lavish $30 million shopping complex that was part of an explosion of baby boom-fueled retail in the east Pittsburgh suburb.

Monroeville Mall was a rejoinder by developer DonMark Realty (now Oxford Development Company) to South Hills Village, the largest enclosed mall between New York and Chicago when it opened in 1965. Don-Mark proposed building the largest shopping mall in the country, and designed it 20% larger than South Hills, according to journalist Zandy Dudiak.

Monroeville Mall’s grand opening ceremony on May 13, 1969 touted 125 stores, a two-story “Clock

of Nations” with animatronic puppets representing Pittsburgh’s different nationalities, and “a new rink-le in shopping,” according to a promo in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette — an indoor ice skating rink bigger than Rockefeller Center’s.

No expense was spared, Mock recalls. To construct the Ice Palace, architects consulted with George Lipchick — who became the rink’s other manager — an Ice Capades trained skater who’d also taken draftsman classes. The resulting ice surface was supersized — 200 feet long by 90 feet wide — with a state-of-the-art compressor system that both maintained the ice and kept the surrounding air temperature between 65 and 70 degrees.

“The climate control was amazing,” Mock tells City Paper. “You could skate in [the] ice rink and just have a shirt on.” He remembers going to work in a sport coat and tie, a testament, he says, to both the comfortable temperatures — “we’re back to freezing to death again at all the rinks” — and the upscale feel of the Ice Palace.

In addition to the engineering, developers pulled out all the stops on the rink’s aesthetics.

“They tried to make it look like a palace,” Mock says. The rink was enclosed in glass, and everything

REMEMBERING THE MONROEVILLE MALL ICE PALACE, CONTINUES ON PG. 18

PITTSBURGH CITY PAPER DECEMBER 13 - 20, 2023

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REMEMBERING THE MONROEVILLE MALL ICE PALACE, CONTINUED FROM PG. 17

gleaming white, including what Mock heard were Italian marble pillars purchased for $100,000 apiece. The ice itself was such a pristine sheet that, when Mock first saw it, he inspected to see if it, too, was made of marble.

Until the day the rink closed, customers would kneel and touch the ice wondering if it was plastic. Painted orange and blue circles decorated the ice, the colorful design extending up the walls, something “very unusual” for the time according to Mock, since it predated standard hockey rink lines.

Adding to the ambiance, a bevy of restaurants including Di Pomodoro and Schrafft’s offered views of the ice rink, and diners came to watch skaters — later in the rink’s tenure, these included Olympic figure skaters and Penguins players — while eating dinner.

“Absolutely everything there was the very best of the best,” Mock asserts. “The best rental skates, the best operating machinery. That’s the experience that people [would] have when they walk[ed] in, that they should be treated like royalty.”

Though Don-Mark Realty said the new rink was a gift to the community, it opened during a proliferation of indoor ice rinks, then a novelty, in the 1960s. There was also a sort of feedback loop between the mall and the Ice Palace: shoppers were drawn in to skate and skaters would stay at the mall to do their shopping. A hot dog stand called Pup-A-Go-Go (which outlasted the rink, eventually slotting into the new food court) served snacks at the rink’s entrance, and at one point Mock was told it was the highest-grossing business in the mall.

At first, the Ice Palace attracted families, offering public skating and figure skating with an option to take lessons.

Twenty years before the Penguins won their first Stanley Cup, hockey was just gaining widespread popularity locally.

“You couldn’t give a Penguins ticket away,” Mock says. “[Now] you can’t believe it, right?” But as local schools started up hockey teams in the 1970s, the rink added ice hockey,

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expanding its hours such that it was bustling 18 to 20 hours a day.

Kids, teenagers, and adults took to the ice; couples met and got married. Groups of seniors who’d skated at Duquesne Gardens (which hosted Pittsburgh’s first professional hockey game on its own state-of-theart indoor ice rink before closing in 1956) came in droves to the Ice Palace, and skated to organ music by special request. An annual Christmas show featured Santa Claus — “this building rocked when Santa came,” Mock recalls. Zandy Dudiak writes in her 2009 book Remembering Monroeville that, at its peak, the Ice Palace pulled in 5,000 people each week.

were in town performing and called asking to skate that night; an assistant manager told them no.

“She thought it was like the [local] police,” Mock says. “It’s like, you idiot! You just turned down Sting and The Police!”

Monroeville Mall is still most associated with George Romero’s 1978 zombie film Dawn of the Dead.

Filmed in the mall overnight during winter 1976-77, the movie’s production team stashed their equipment at the Ice Palace. Zombies appear there in the movie, fumbling on the ice and entangling themselves in hockey nets. In 1983’s Flashdance, the rink is also where Jennifer Beals’ character watches her friend figure

"THE ICE ITSELF WAS SUCH A PRISTINE SHEET THAT, WHEN MOCK FIRST SAW IT, HE INSPECTED TO SEE IF IT, TOO, WAS MADE OF MARBLE." “I always say I had the best job in skating in the entire country,” Mock tells CP. “Worked around the clock, loved it.”

A half mile away was Monroeville’s Holiday House (today’s Holiday Center strip mall), once billed as “the nation’s finest supper club and motel.” From the 1950s to ’80s, the nightclub brought in top acts including Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr., Frankie Valli, and Kenny Rogers.

Mock remembers making an agreement with the talent that “whenever they wanted to come over and skate, day or night, we would take care of them.” Rather than the royal treatment regulars got, the staff pledged “not treat them like stars … but as good customers. And they loved that,” he says. Actor Eddie Fisher and daughter Carrie Fisher glided around the rink, as did Goldie Hawn.

One time, rock band The Police

skate (at the Ice Palace’s final skate session, “Flashdance” was the last song played).

Naturally, the rink also saw its share of athletes: Pirates left fielder and Hall of Famer Willie Stargell; Steelers running back Rocky Bleier; and tennis stars Vitas Gerulaitis and Billie Jean King.

Ste e l e rs q u a r te rb a ck Te rr y Bradshaw — who later met and married Olympic figure skater JoJo Starbuck — stopped by after a Super Bowl win to sign autographs. The rink promoted it, requiring that anyone wanting an autograph wear skates.

“We had [about] 500 pairs of skates,” Mock says. “Every pair was [rented] out. And then people had their own skates.” Bradshaw was so mobbed that staff snuck him in through a fire exit, but once inside, he signed every autograph — “a true gentleman,” Mock believes.

More than anything, Mock says, he felt a sense of magic at the Ice Palace, that you never knew who might come through the door on a given day, that anything could happen. One summer morning, he was at the rink teaching a figure skating class when monkeys escaped from the mall’s pet store. He and his young students, still laced up in their skates, ran out to see a crew of mall security guards pursuing a troop of monkeys.

“Nobody could catch them!”

Mock laughs. Tired of the chase, the monkeys climbed up a lava rock waterfall beneath a skylight — part of the mall’s opulent decor — and curled up to sleep in the sun. As the guards approached with the crowd of kids still watching, “the alpha monkey let out some sort of war whoop,” Mock remembers. “And all the monkeys started running towards them, climbing all over them… All these grown men [were] running through the mall scared to death … One of the best days ever.”

The decision to close the ice rink in 1984 was multifaceted, Mock believes. Following the death of one of the co-owners of Don-Mark Realty, the company divided up property.

With Monroeville Mall nearing its 15th anniversary, retail had evolved, and food courts were in vogue. Mock also believes the decline of Pittsburgh’s steel industry decreased business and hastened the Ice Palace’s end.

Senior skaters mounted a protest, skating around the rink with signs.

Mock even penned a letter appealing to President Ronald Reagan to save the rink.

For years, Mock couldn’t come back to Monroeville Mall, where the food court still stands nearly 40 years later, part of the rink’s original flooring beneath the tile.

“The ghosts are here,” he says. “All the ghosts are in this building. They’re just walking around.”

But at 73, Mock can sit at a table where center ice was and point to the former Zamboni room; the thencutting-edge ice resurfacer used to

PHOTO: COURTESY OF BOB MOCK

Protesters at the Ice Palace

emerge from the News Corner Store. His old office, once outfitted with a private bathroom and adorned with 1960s fabric art, is a Crispy’s Fish & Chicken.

“I’m at peace now with this,” he tells CP. “I can sit there and I can say, you know what? … I saw people [pass] their gold medal test here… We had Scott Hamilton here. We had nationals here one year … I can go on. All the top skaters were here. All of them, right here.”

He stays active in skating, following a long, high-flying career.

Today, he’s the skating director at Ice & Blades of Western Pennsylvania, and you can still skate with him at Harmarville’s Alpha Ice Complex.

“I’ve done 10 more rinks, but this one was really special,” Mock says. “It could’ve lasted. It would still be operating today.”” •

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PITTSBURGH CITY PAPER DECEMBER 13 - 20, 2023

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NEIGHBORHOOD

SEVEN DAYS IN PITTSBURGH

BY CP STAFF

textiles, woodcrafts, jewelry, and more, all while helping to support Pittsburgh nonprofits — this year, the organization will donate a portion of the event proceeds to Girls on the Run. 10 a.m.-4 pm. 4701 Butler St., Lawrenceville. $3, free for kids under 12. avantgardeshows.com

MARKET • POINT BREEZE

Vintage Mart Holiday Special. 10 a.m.-4 p.m.

Construction Junction. 214 N. Lexington St., Point Breeze. Free. facebook.com/thriftburgh

PARTY • DOWNTOWN

Community Day: Holiday Edition. 11 a.m.-2 p.m. August Wilson African American Cultural Center. 980 Liberty Ave., Downtown. Free.

Registration required. All ages. awaacc.org

MARKET • LARIMER

Crafts and Drafts Holiday Market. 12-4 p.m.

East End Brewing Company. 147 Julius St., Larimer. Free. eastendbrewing.com

MUSIC • UPTOWN

Trans-Siberian Orchestra: The Ghosts of Christmas Eve. 2:30 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. PPG Paints Arena. 1001 Fifth Ave., Uptown.

Tickets start at $39. ppgpaintsarena.com

, SUN. 7 1 DEC.

THEATER • BLOOMFIELD

The Glitterbox presents A Holiday Variety Show. 7 p.m. Bloomfield Liedertafel Singing Society. 410 S Mathilda St., Bloomfield. $10-20. theglitterboxtheater.com

MUSIC • HIGHLAND PARK

PHOTO: COURTESY OF KEN PHILLIPS PUBLICITY GROUP

It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Alaska …A Christmas Show at Carnegie of Homestead Music Hall

THU., DEC. 14

FRI., DEC. 15

SAT., DEC. 16

LIT/ART • POINT BREEZE

PARTY • BLOOMFIELD

MARKET • LAWRENCEVILLE

Opening Reception and Book Signing with Ed Panar and Melissa Catanese.

6-8 p.m. Bottom Feeder Books. 415 Gettysburg St., Point Breeze. Free. bottomfeederbooks.com

ART • OAKLAND

Winter Exhibition Celebration. 6-8 p.m.

Carnegie Museum of Art. 4400 Forbes Ave., Oakland. Free. carnegieart.org

MUSIC • LAWRENCEVILLE

A visual artist joins local musicians to, as one statement puts it, “bring more Psychedelia to Pittsburgh.” Head to Spirit for Sync’d, an event that, since 2009, has combined live music and film to “create a unique cinema experience.”

The latest Sync’d includes live performances by three Pittsburgh bands, Astrology Now, The Garment District, and Melt, as well as psychedelic projections by Synæsthetic Oil Spill Lightshow, an Ohio-based artist who specializes in light and sound installations.

9 p.m. Doors at 8 p.m. 242 51st St., Lawrenceville. $10. spiritpgh.com

Bloomfield Holiday Party. 5-8 p.m.

Trace Brewing. 4312 Main St., Bloomfield. $30 in advance, $40 at the door. facebook.com/BloomfieldPGH

MUSIC • LAWRENCEVILLE

Molemania: Hardcore Against Cancer Benefit with Concealed Blade, Dark Thoughts, No Time, Delco MFS, Illiterates, The Hell, Speed Plans, and De Rodillas.

6 p.m. Spirit. 242 51st St., Lawrenceville. $25.

All ages. spiritpgh.com

THEATER • DOWNTOWN

Pittsburgh CLO presents A Musical Christmas Carol. 7 p.m. Continues through Sat., Dec. 23. Byham Theater. 101 Sixth St., Downtown. $53-75. pittsburghclo.org

Find something a little different for a loved one this holiday season at the Pittsburgh Winter Avant-Garde Art & Craft Show. Taking place at the Teamsters Local Union 249 Banquet Hall, the event features over 50 local makers specializing in the offbeat or eclectic. Shop

Chatham Baroque presents Alegría: Music of Baroque Spain and the Americas. 7:30 p.m. Hicks Memorial Chapel-Pittsburgh Theological Seminary. 616 N. Highland Ave., Highland Park. $20-45. chathambaroque.org

SUN., DEC. 17 MARKET • LAWRENCEVILLE

Made & Found Holiday Market. 11 a.m.-5 p.m.

Doors at 8 p.m. Spirit. 242 51st St., Lawrenceville. $10. spiritpgh.com

FILM • DOWNTOWN

The Red Shoes. 7:30 p.m. Harris Theater. 809 Liberty Ave., Downtown. $9-11. trustarts.org

SA DEC T., . 16

MUSIC • LAWRENCEVILLE

Punchline Holiday Show Extravaganza with Kahone Concept, Another Cheetah, and Bradley. 7:30 p.m. Doors at 6:30 p.m.

Thunderbird Music Hall. 4053 Butler St., Lawrenceville. $22. thunderbirdmusichall.com PHOTO: COURTESY OF

Pittsburgh Winter Avant-Garde Art & Craft Show

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., THUR14 DEC.

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DRAG • MUNHALL

Add a little naughty fun to your holidays when a celebrated drag performer appears at Carnegie of Homestead Music Hall.

RuPaul’s Drag Race fans can see Alaska Thunderfuck 5000, one of the series’ biggest stars, when she touches down in Pittsburgh for It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Alaska …A Christmas Show. The event offers what one press release describes as a “heartwarming evening of story and song that will melt your heart and the polar ice caps,” as well as “holiday classics, not-so-holiday classics, and yuletide tomfoolery.” 8 p.m.

Doors at 7 p.m. 510 E. 10th Ave., Munhall. $35-65. librarymusichall.com

MUSIC • SOUTH SIDE

TUE., DEC. 19 ART • NORTH SIDE

Don’t miss a new exhibition at Artists Image Resource showcasing the work of two dynamic Black artists. Silkscreened selfportraits by Gavin Benjamin, a Guyana-born, Pittsburgh-based artist, will share space with screen prints by Mary Martin, a local multimedia creative and member of the esteemed Women of Visions collective.

The dual show is part of the AIR Resident Projects. 12-3 p.m. and 4-8 p.m.

518 Foreland St., North Side. Free.

Guests are encouraged to email info@ artistsimageresource before visiting. airpgh.org

bar italia with I4A. 8 p.m. Doors at 7 p.m.

Club Cafe. 56-58 South 12th St., South Side. $18. ticketweb.com

WED., DEC. 20

MON., DEC. 18

Winter Wonders and Cool Carols: An Evening with Colin Aikins. 8 p.m.

Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens.

One Schenley Park, Oakland. $24.95-39.95. phipps.conservatory.org

LIT • NORTH SIDE

Searching for Sense in Senselessness with Rotten Evidence author Ahmed Naji.

7-8:30 p.m. Alphabet City. 40 W. North Ave., North Side. Free. Registration required.

Livestream available. cityofasylum.org

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MUSIC • OAKLAND

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ESTATE NOTICE

ESTATE OF GREEN, CONSTANCE, L., DECEASED OF PITTSBURGH, PA

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ESTATE OF KNAPP, JAKE R., DECEASED OF PITTSBURGH, PA

ESTATE NOTICE

ESTATE OF McMICHEAUX, EULA, M., DECEASED OF PITTSBURGH, PA

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Constance L. Green, deceased, of Pittsburgh, PA. No. 022307648 of 2023.

Raychelle Green, Adm., 100 Jamal Place, Apartment 204, Pittsburgh, PA 15213. Or to Jacob Murphy Landau of Robert Peirce & Associates, P.C. 707 Grant Street, Suite 125, Pittsburgh, PA 15219.

Jake R. Knapp, deceased, of Pittsburgh, PA. No. 022307937 of 2023. Robert Knapp & Dana Knapp, Adm., 928 Holly Lynn Drive, Pittsburgh, PA 15236.

Or to Jacob Murphy Landau of Robert Peirce & Associates, P.C. 707 Grant Street, Suite 125, Pittsburgh, PA 15219.

Eula Mae McMicheaux, deceased, of Pittsburgh, PA. No. 022307741 of 2023. John Robert Morgan, Adm., 911 Oranmore Street, Pittsburgh, PA 15201.

ESTATE NOTICE

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ESTATE OF TOMEDOLSKY, JOSEPH, B., DECEASED OF GLASSPORT, PA

Joseph B. Tomedolsky, deceased, of Glassport, PA. No. 04347 of 2023.

Troy Tomedolsky, Ext., 309 Meadowbrook Rd., Burlington, NC 27215., And Tracy Lindberg, Ext., 160 Leech Rd., Greenville, PA 16125. Or to Danielle Barozzini Markovic, Esq. 886 Clifton Road, Bethel Park, PA 15102.

22

ESTATE OF MAKAR, JOSEPH, JR., DECEASED OF WHITE OAK, PA Joseph Makar, Jr., deceased, of White Oak, PA. No. 022305922 of 2023.

Laura Massie, Adm., 13989 Valley View Drive, White Oak, PA 15131, Or to D. Scott Lautner, Attorney.

68 Old Clairton Road, Pittsburgh, PA 15236.

WWW.PGHCITYPAPER.COM

ESTATE OF BOYKO, STANISLAV, DECEASED OF PITTSBURGH, PA

Stanislav Boyko, deceased, of Pittsburgh, PA. No. 022307637of 2023.

Igor Boyko, Adm., 120 West Manilla Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15220.

Or to Jacob Murphy Landau of Robert Peirce & Associates, P.C. 707 Grant Street, Suite 125, Pittsburgh, PA 15219.

ESTATE OF SCHMIDT, JOYCE, E., DECEASED OF JEFFERSON HILLS, PA

Joyce E. Schmidt, deceased, of Jefferson Hills, PA. No. 02230775 of 2023.

Frederick C. Schmidt, Jr., Ext., 320 Wray Large Road, Jefferson Hills, PA 15205, Or to D. Scott Lautner, Esquire.

68 Old Clairton Road, Pittsburgh, PA 15236.

OFFICIAL ADVERTISEMENT THE BOARD OF PUBLIC EDUCATION of the SCHOOL DISTRICT OF PITTSBURGH

ADVERTISEMENT FOR BIDS Sealed proposals shall be deposited at the Administration Building, Bellefield Entrance Lobby, 341 South Bellefield Avenue, Pittsburgh, Pa., 15213, on January 09, 2023, until 2:00 P.M., local prevailing time for:

PGH. CONROY

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Project Manual and Drawings will be available for purchase on December 06, 2023, at Modern Reproductions (412-488-7700), 127 McKean Street, Pittsburgh, Pa., 15219 between 9:00 A.M. and 4:00 P.M. The cost of the Project Manual Documents is non-refundable. Project details and dates are described in each project manual.

We are an equal rights and opportunity school district.

IN The Court of Common Pleas of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania: No. GD-23-12392, In re petition of Michelle Los, parent and legal guardian of Kelsea Los, a minor, for change of names to Michelle Pasquerilla and Kelsea Jean Pasquerilla. To all persons interested: Notice is hereby given that an order of said Court authorized the filing of said petition and fixed the 10th day of January 2024, at 9:30 a.m., as the time and the Motions Room, City-County Building, Pittsburgh, PA, as the place for a hearing, when and where all persons may show cause, if any they have, why said name should not be changed as prayed for.

Eric 724-409-0907 Advertise in City Paper.

Call 412.685.9009

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The University of Pittsburgh’s Alcohol & Smoking Research Lab is looking for people to participate in a research project. You must: • Currently smoke cigarettes • Be 18-49 years old, in good health, and speak fluent English • Be right handed, willing to not smoke before two sessions, and to fill out questionnaires Earn up to $260 for participating in this study.

For more information, call (412) 407-5029

OUTGROWTH

BY BRENDAN EMMETT QUIGLEY // BRENDANEMMETTQUIGLEY.COM

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Feeling Nostalgic?

ALSO

available in Hoodies and Totes

ACROSS

1. Keep the beat?

7. Big holiday party 11. Psaki of MSNBC 14. “Yoo-hoo!”

15. Bitly reductions 16. Deodorant named after a tool 17. Torrone, e.g.

18. Unadventurous doctor’s bag?

20. Sticky stuff in a hospital wards?

22. Turkish inns 23. Egyptian cobras 24. With all one’s marbles 25. ___-majesté 28. Took the bench 30. “Get cracking!”

34. What was removed from 20-Across 35. Not many 37. Uno, dos, o tres 39. Pre-Christmas decoration ritual, and a clue for this puzzle’s theme 42. Charger someone took from you?

43. Evasive 44. Wrist band?

45. Looked up and down 46. Put a spell on 47. Midnight ___ 48. Stamp of approval 51. Shoe company with an arrow

in it’s logo 54. Some slender freshwater fishes 57. Belt it out in the shower?

61. Gore on the Super-G? 63. Sandwich meat 64. What was removed from 57-Across 65. Space to work 66. Low scoring soccer line, say 67. The “S” of “NES”: Abbr.

68. Tolkien tree creatures 69. Patriot Paul

DOWN

1. What was removed from 61-Across 2. Love, in Los Cabos 3. As a result 4. Kabaka Pyramid’s genre 5. Exams whose answers are on the tip of your tongue?

6. Lull 7. Hazel’s boyfriend in The Fault in Our Stars 8. Painter who may take a long time to do a wall 9. Woolly Peruvian beast 10. Like some crocodiles and elephants 11. Copacetic

12. Way out 13. Team with a B on a basketball for its logo 19. Unreal 21. City of North Rhine-Westphalia 25. River that flows past the cave Hypnos 26. Cartoon character who studies space history, astrophysics, and star geometry 27. Whack, biblically 29. “Shucks!”

31. Brooklyn Bedding competitor 32. Neighborhoods 33. Meter readers?

35. Ob-gyn’s org.

36. What was removed from 18-Across

37. Kraken’s org.

38. 180° turn, slangily 40. Scrooge’s last name 41. Ranger’s home 46. Lacks 47. Bullet train technology 49. The Hobbit setting 50. Coach Prime 52. Snowboard helmet feature 53. Goofier than goofy 54. Vientiane’s nation 55. Moisturizer brand 56. Raises questions 58. Drop off 59. Dubai dignitary 60. Bananagrams piece 62. Winter Meetings execs

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PITTSBURGH CITY PAPER DECEMBER 13 - 20, 2023

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