Mt. Lebanon Classic

If your idea of a lovely time is watching a movie that makes you laugh with 250 of your neighbors while you munch popcorn, eat M&Ms and enjoy a perfect 80 degree evening, nothing would have made you happier than the first-ever Last Saturday showing of Bringing Up Baby last night on Parse Way, next to the T Station, under the stars, in Mt. Lebanon.



There were cheers when Anne Kemmerer, head of the Denis Theatre Foundation, which spearheaded this event, thanked people for showing their support for the much beloved Denis Theatre. And what broad support is was. We saw families with kids who decided to spread a blanket rather than sit on the folding chairs provided by the Foundation, couples holding hands, adult children helping elderly parents to their seat, groups of teenagers enjoying a welcome change of pace and even a dog or two--exactly the same sort of audience (well, except for the dogs) we expect to see in the theater when the Denis reopens.



Rolliers Hardware was the primary sponsor for this free event (a tip of the hat to our favorite hardware store), Empire Music provided free muscial entertainment before the movie, and a number of restaurants on Washington Road stayed open to lure the crowds after the show. It was exactly the sort of summer night we hope the re-opening of the Denis will lead to. Even better, film critic Elaine Wertheim led a discussion of the movie at Bistro 19 for those interested in joining.



There are two more Last Saturday movies planned, each with special guest speakers--My Bread, My Sweet, which used Mt. Lebanon as one of its filming locations, on July 25, and Mad, Hot Ballroom on August 29. Join us on Parse Way if you can. Movies start at 9. It's great fun as well as a way to keep the momentum going for our Denis.

A Neighborhood Theater Re-opens

A return for Dormont's Hollywood Theater! Read more.

Another Mt. Lebanon Traditon

There are many things that make a community--its people, its businesses, its values and its traditions. Yesterday, I took part is a long-time Mt. Lebanon tradition, one that stretches back at least to my childhood and certainly much earlier: the Memorial Day parade.

We had perfect weather--sunny and warm--and the sidewalks along the cemetery and across the street were crowded by the time my daughter and I arrived at 11. My daughter's fifteen and her attendance was more of a gift for her nostalgic mother than a desire on her own part. Nonetheless, I enjoyed seeing her find a shady spot on the curb near the Public Safety Building and glance eagerly to where Washington road disappears over a rise, waiting for the first paraders.




We sat between the two places I knew my mother, who brought me to the parade every year until she passed away when I was eleven, had worked. Where the office building at the southeast corner of Washington Road and Shady Drive East stands was a house that held the offices of Stewart Brothers Real Estate in the 60s and 70s, and across from the Public Safety building in one of the one-storey buildings--I can't remember which one--was a builder or real estate broker's office in which the receptionist's desk, in full view of passers-by, sat under a huge, deep sea marlin mounted on the wall. Exotic places for me as a child.



The first paraders appear. Onlookers dart into final position. I feel a bit envious of the folks who live in the apartments that line this particular block. I can see them sitting on their balconies, enjoying the show. We watch firetrucks and politicians, Shriners and cub scouts. I'm a big kilt and bagpipe fan, and there were two sets of those. My favorite is the bands, though, and we see two--Keystone Oaks's and Mt. Lebanon's. I feel the vibrations from the drums in my heart, a sensation that unlocks such specific childhood memories I tear up automatically, though I hide the tears from my daughter. I can almost see my father in his trenchcoat across the street, holding his Brownie 8 movie camera and capturing both my sister and I jockeying for position on the curb and my cousins Mary and Donna marching, Mary for the Dormont Boosters and Donna in her Brownie troop. My father and sister are gone now, too, and Donna and Mary have stepped in as sisters in my life.







Almost as soon as it started, the parade is over. My daughter and I walk the length of Washington Road, past the Denis Theatre and the Municipal Building and the place where Horne's used to be, to our car. It has been a perfect hour, one more layer of memory for each of us.

Gwyn Cready
www.cready.com

Elkhart's doing it, too.

Yes, it's been forever. Starting a new job, the holidays, quitting the new job, turning in the latest book. These things take time. But I'm back, and I promise to be a more faithful poster.

We were driving home from Chicago last weekend and stopped in Elkhart, Indiana for a lunch at Culvers. If you haven't ever eaten at a Culvers, which line the interstates of the Midwest, I highly recommend it. The burgers there are called Butterburgers, and if that's not enough to pique your interest, I don't know what would be.

In any case, I happened to pick up the local paper there and what do I find on the front page? The headline, "Work to Restore the Jewel of Main Street Has Begun." And that Jewel? You got it. Their vintage neighborhood theatre. Elkhart is transforming the Elco Theatre into the Elco Performing Arts Center and is paying for it with a $10.5 million bond issue. Interestingly, the city decided to buy the space next to the theatre to convert it into an add-on flexible events space, for proms, weddings, reunions, etc. As Elco Theatre Executive Director Ellie Billey says, "Arts offer quality of life, not profit. The flex space will offer the profit."

The plans for the Denis include space that can be rented for parties and events. I can already taste the punch...