Father Pitt

Tag: Christmas

  • White Christmas

    Above: Japanese Barberry (Berberis thunbergii) under a Christmas snow. Below: English ivy (Hedera helix).

  • Light Up Night, 1998

    Luminarias surround the obelisk on PPG Plaza. We had to forgo Light Up Night this year, but it will be back when large crowds closely packed seem like less of a threat.

  • Horne’s Christmas Tree in Afternoon Sun

    Once again the season has arrived to decorate the corner of the old Horne’s department store. Though the store is long gone, the current owners of the building keep up the ancient tradition.

  • Christmas at the SouthSide Works

    The Town Square at the SouthSide Works, decorated for Christmas. The SouthSide Works Cinema is a good imitation of an Art Deco neighborhood movie house, though the Deco entrance leads to a modern multiplex.

  • The Horne’s Christmas Tree

    For decades the corner of Horne’s department store was made into a gigantic Christmas tree every year. Though Horne’s is long gone, the current owners of the building have kept up the tradition, and for good reason. There would be riots in the streets if the tree failed to appear.

  • Wreath at the Fifth Avenue Place Arcade

    Fifth Avenue Place replaced the beloved Jenkins Arcade, and in order to soothe the feelings of appalled Pittsburghers the new skyscraper included a shopping arcade in the lower floors, connected by a pedestrian bridge to the Horne’s department store. It was very successful early on, and even now, with Horne’s long gone, it manages to keep most of the storefronts filled. For Christmas the colossal clock over the Liberty Avenue entrance is surrounded by a colossal wreath.

  • Christmas at PPG Place

    Christmas tree at PPG Place

    In old-postcard colors, the Christmas tree and skating rink at PPG Place.

    Christmas tree at PPG Place

  • Light-Up Night

    Abstract Christmas tree

    It would be hard to explain Light-Up Night to an out-of-towner. The abstract idea of a night when Christmas lights are turned on for the season is not hard to convey, but no words could describe the seething mass of cheerful humanity that gathers downtown, stuffing trolleys like rolling sardine cans and tying up traffic for hours. It is a night when every good Pittsburgher feels obliged to pay his respects to the Golden Triangle. There are bands, orchestras, choirs, street performers, multiple fireworks displays, lights, ice skating, and even a few random acts of kindness. Every year it’s a bigger deal than last year.

    Diamond decorated for Light-Up Night
    Christmas tree
    Horne’s Christmas tree

    The Horne’s Christmas tree, above, is a tradition that predates Light-Up Night by decades. The Horne’s department store is gone, but the owners of the building still graciously allow us to admire the famous tree that takes up a whole corner of what used to be our second-largest department store.