Planning Evans City/Monroeville Mall Trip 2022 - Comments/Advise welcome

[DarklightZG]

It’s been so long since I’ve been on this site probably upwards of 20 years but when I was thinking of making a trip to Pittsburgh to take in some of the key locations of both Night & Dawn this site popped into my head (didn’t even know if it would still be on the go). Very happy to see its still about. Anyway, I thought it was high time to visit considering the profound impact Romero’s original trilogy had on me; Night & Dawn in particular, since I first watched them on VHS back in the early 80’s. It prompted a few friends and I to make a zombie film (Ireland’s first I believe!), ‘Zombie Genocide’ (its available on YT by the way if anyone is interested; upwards of 600k views, a large chunk came when we re-uploaded a better version a few years ago. It amazes me that people still comment on it from all those years ago, as well as many new viewers. Thankfully most understand the spirit of which it was made and are not too hard on it), that incidentally we sent to this site around 1993, to plug it, if my memory hasn’t failed completely, now that I just turned 50 . Plan to fly to Pittsburgh International around Aug/Sept (if the US has opened up fully) and rent a car. Key locations ,etc. as follows; • Evans City Cemetery and surrounding roads from the title sequence– Love the thought of being there at twilight…spooky • Night of the Living Dead Museum – I believe that is in Evans City • Monroeville Mall – Spend a day soaking up the vibes. I know it’s changed allot since Dawn was shot there which is a shame, albeit inevitable. It’s cool to see the mall has embraced the film, with all the memorabilia on view as seen from a post on this forum of a recent visit by one of the members. I seem to remember that back in the day they weren’t that happy with fans coming to the mall to pay homage. Few other locations I’m thinking about visiting. • Original location the ‘Night’ farmhouse was built on. I know this is now private land and obviously the house is gone, but since I would be in the area. Don’t want to hassle the landowner though so maybe not • Helicopter landing pad with ‘head-slice’ zombie and Flyboy’s crap shooting – Not sure exactly where it is, however, I know there is a small fence round it now. Is it on private land? • Basement from ‘Night’ & SWAT Roof assault from ‘Dawn’. I believe these are in the old Latent Image building in Pittsburgh but not sure if it’s likely fans would be granted access, especially to the roof. I’m less caring on this one as I have no real interest in driving into downtown Pittsburgh. Might just cab it if I stay in a hotel in the area as I know the airport is close So, any commentary or advise would be grateful on the above. I plan to go for about 5 days, however I can increase if required, or decrease if maybe that’s too much, as I know the main locations, Cemetery & Mall are fairly close to Pittsburgh, albeit in different directions. PS> Had thought about trying to attend one of the special events at the Mall as they look cool. I believe they allow access to areas that wouldn’t normally be accessible to general mall visitors, like the boiler room and long corridor that links that general area with the mall floor.

[Neil]

Exciting!

[JDP]

... and rent a car. It would be better if you can rent a bike, and a motorcycle gang along with it. It would make for a more spectacular and accurate triumphant arrival at the mall.

[DarklightZG]

It would be better if you can rent a bike, and a motorcycle gang along with it. It would make for a more spectacular and accurate triumphant arrival at the mall. Sounds like a plan however it's been about 30 years since I was on a bike so its likely to be straight to the ER if I try it, regardless of the presence of a biker gang for support

[Neil]

...likely to be straight to the ER if I try it, regardless of the presence of a biker gang for support Do Monroeville Mall in a wheel chair (or wheel barrow?) like Roger? Total immersion!

[JDP]

Do Monroeville Mall in a wheel chair (or wheel barrow?) like Roger? Total immersion! Yes, or ask for permission to enter and crawl around the air duct layout of the mall.

[DarklightZG]

I think if I do either of those approaches it'll be the inside of a jail cell or padded room, instead of the ER..

[deadhead412]

Pittsburgh Romero nerd here. So the Evans City Cemetery is fairly open and mostly not so different from how it is in the movie. You can ID specific graves, roads, buildings, etc. The mall is now home to the zombie museum but greatly changed from 1978(i.e. the ice rink is now the food court and the JC Penneys is a movie theater.) But you can piece together some parts. The airport they refuel at in Dawn of the Dead is still there in Monroeville but I believe slated for demolition. It's called the Pittsburgh–Monroeville Airport. The road where the four leads see the rednecks and national guard is also in Monroeville. The rooftop during which the raid scene occurs in Dawn of the Dead is on Fort Pitt Blvd, its under private ownership but you can spot the little door from the street. I believe the basement scenes from the original Night were also filmed in this building's basement and the elevator shaft and loft hideout in Dawn were here too. I think the docks from Dawn are a kind of public art exhibit by the river but the docks are all gone, I'm not 100% sure but I think its along the Monongahela River on the south side. The building where the lights start to flicker out at the start of Dawn is the US Steel Tower which you can't miss. The WGON news studio was in the north hills area but I believe is gone. The Day of the Dead bunker scenes were filmed in Beaver County(not too far from Pittsburgh) at the Wampum Mines. The old farmhouse in Night may be gone but the one from the 1990 remake is in Washington County, it can be seen from a distance though not best to go on private property and bug the owners. Traffic isn't bad downtown if you go on the weekend.You may spot Mr. Savini around the city if you're lucky.

[DarklightZG]

Pittsburgh Romero nerd here. So the Evans City Cemetery is fairly open and mostly not so different from how it is in the movie. You can ID specific graves, roads, buildings, etc. The mall is now home to the zombie museum but greatly changed from 1978(i.e. the ice rink is now the food court and the JC Penneys is a movie theater.) But you can piece together some parts. The airport they refuel at in Dawn of the Dead is still there in Monroeville but I believe slated for demolition. It's called the Pittsburgh–Monroeville Airport. The road where the four leads see the rednecks and national guard is also in Monroeville. The rooftop during which the raid scene occurs in Dawn of the Dead is on Fort Pitt Blvd, its under private ownership but you can spot the little door from the street. I believe the basement scenes from the original Night were also filmed in this building's basement and the elevator shaft and loft hideout in Dawn were here too. I think the docks from Dawn are a kind of public art exhibit by the river but the docks are all gone, I'm not 100% sure but I think its along the Monongahela River on the south side. The building where the lights start to flicker out at the start of Dawn is the US Steel Tower which you can't miss. The WGON news studio was in the north hills area but I believe is gone. The Day of the Dead bunker scenes were filmed in Beaver County(not too far from Pittsburgh) at the Wampum Mines. The old farmhouse in Night may be gone but the one from the 1990 remake is in Washington County, it can be seen from a distance though not best to go on private property and bug the owners. Traffic isn't bad downtown if you go on the weekend.You may spot Mr. Savini around the city if you're lucky. Many thanks for your feedback. I had thought about the Day of the Dead mine however I thought it was somewhere in Florida. Maybe I'm thinking about some of the exterior footage at the start. I'll look into that now that I know it's close to Pittsburgh. Can you actually enter the bunker? Also how likely do you think it would be to get access to the 'Night' basement in the Pittsburgh building? As for seeing Mr. Savini, who knows considering I ran into him by pure chance in 2017. I work in Pharmaceutical's and we have a site in Pennsylvania that up until a few years ago I would have travelled to every now and again. I normally fly into, and leave from Newark airport. Anyway I arrived for departure and was heading towards the International gates when I noticed someone coming towards me I thought I recognized. When they passed I thought that sure looks like Tom Savini; I was rather shaken to think it might be.. I continued down to where my gate was then decided after getting a slice of pizza that this was probably one of the only times I would meet him and of all people in the World to randomly walk past that had such an impact on my childhood and later adult life, seemed like too good an opportunity to pass up. I walked round to the local boarding gates and low and behold he was sitting at the very end, by himself. After I got up enough courage I walked over and as I started to take by bag off of my should he said, 'sorry my wife is sitting there' as he obviously thought I was going to sit on the free seat beside him. I asked him if he was Tom Savini (what a moron ). He said yes and I asked for a pic with him (too large to attach according to the site or else I would have). Didn't have anything to sign. Shook his hand and said it was an honor and walked off. In hindsight I wish I had of spoken to him further and also to offer condolences about George dying that year, but I was that star struck I never thought. PS I never saw anyone else sit down so his wife was probably not even there...

[deadhead412]

Many thanks for your feedback. I had thought about the Day of the Dead mine however I thought it was somewhere in Florida. Maybe I'm thinking about some of the exterior footage at the start. I'll look into that now that I know it's close to Pittsburgh. Can you actually enter the bunker? Also how likely do you think it would be to get access to the 'Night' basement in the Pittsburgh building? As for seeing Mr. Savini, who knows considering I ran into him by pure chance in 2017. I work in Pharmaceutical's and we have a site in Pennsylvania that up until a few years ago I would have travelled to every now and again. I normally fly into, and leave from Newark airport. Anyway I arrived for departure and was heading towards the International gates when I noticed someone coming towards me I thought I recognized. When they passed I thought that sure looks like Tom Savini; I was rather shaken to think it might be.. I continued down to where my gate was then decided after getting a slice of pizza that this was probably one of the only times I would meet him and of all people in the World to randomly walk past that had such an impact on my childhood and later adult life, seemed like too good an opportunity to pass up. I walked round to the local boarding gates and low and behold he was sitting at the very end, by himself. After I got up enough courage I walked over and as I started to take by bag off of my should he said, 'sorry my wife is sitting there' as he obviously thought I was going to sit on the free seat beside him. I asked him if he was Tom Savini (what a moron ). He said yes and I asked for a pic with him (too large to attach according to the site or else I would have). Didn't have anything to sign. Shook his hand and said it was an honor and walked off. In hindsight I wish I had of spoken to him further and also to offer condolences about George dying that year, but I was that star struck I never thought. PS I never saw anyone else sit down so his wife was probably not even there... You're right the above ground shots in Day are all Florida, all the underground scenes were filmed at Wampum. It's still there and is used for storage kind of like in the movie. I've heard you can tour it but haven't confirmed for myself. The Night basement is a tough nut to crack, I've read a few things maybe someone here can confirm. There is some conflicting online info about where the basement was but ya want 247 Fort Pitt Blvd office(Pretty sure this is the right one because I've seen pics and that building was used in Dawn extensively). Not sure who owns it but I've worked downtown and I'd bet like most buildings theres a few companies on different floors. The elevator goes to it but will be key locked, I've heard of FEDEX guys letting folks in. While you're downtown the Byham Theater isn't far and that's where Night first premiered but it was called the Fulton Theater at the time. The movies are pretty culturally intwined to Western PA, most the rescue stations in Night are real towns I grew up next to those too. Yeah Tom's a true Yinzer! I've run into Greg Nicotero from Day of the Dead and The Walking Dead(he's from the area too.) fame at the Ross Park Mall.

[DarklightZG]

I looked up the Wampum Mines website and watched their promo video. Some of the scenes look straight out of Day. Decided to drop them an email regarding a tour so we'll see. You are obviously from the area from what you've said. Maybe I should be thinking about hiring you as a guide..

[deadhead412]

I looked up the Wampum Mines website and watched their promo video. Some of the scenes look straight out of Day. Decided to drop them an email regarding a tour so we'll see. You are obviously from the area from what you've said. Maybe I should be thinking about hiring you as a guide.. Let me know if you're in town I'll help out best I can!

[DarklightZG]

I really appreciate that. If it all comes together its likely to be sometime in Aug or Sept. I'll let you know

[ProfessorChaos]

i took a trip up that way about 4 years ago, a lot sure has changed since our beloved films came out. as deadhead stated, the living dead museum (which was in evans city at the time of my trip) has relocated to the monroeville mall last i heard. definitely a cool stop on our trip, probably still worth a visit if you're traveling that far. evans city was neat, but it is a very small town, you can probably cover all that in a day. we went to the cemetery and the old farmhouse location, which is now private and has a no-trespassing sign up near the driveway. we also saw a few locations from the crazies, like the post office and some downtown areas. the trip to the night 90 cemetery and farmhouse (again, private property, no trespassing, etc) was also worth the drive. there is a county road or access road of some sort that is across the field from the property where you can get a good view of the layout and see the buildings. what's neat is there is a cemetery way up on a hill near that house that you can just barely make out on the horizon, though it's not the one the opening of the film takes place in....but it's right up the hill a short jog away, so it was something that struck me as kind of peculiar. as for the mall, its was sadly almost unrecognizable on my visit. a lot of the locations have been repurposed, for example the wishing well fountain is now a play area for little kids, which really delighted my son who was just shy of two years old at the time... in fact, his first trip down a slide took place there, which is pretty special to me given my fondness of the film and roger's funny trip down the escalator. the airfield and road the national guard scenes were filmed at are both a short drive away. the airfield was almost unchanged, in a state of extreme neglect, and fenced off. of all the locations i visited, the evans city cemetery and airfield were the most memorable and closest to what we've seen in the films. i also attended a couple of baseball games at pnc park and watched my local team play there and had great seats in a beautiful ballpark and even made it on back home broadcast on the tv with the wife and kid. we did some driving in downtown pittsburgh, which is a beautiful but kind of busy city. we drove right by the old latent image office and i recognized the rooftop buildings from dawn but didn't bother stopping to take pics. maybe next time, as i plan to go back one of these years, lord willing. here's a quick link to the thread i posted upon returning: https://forum.homepageofthedead.com/...097&highlight= safe travels, have fun, and take lots of pics to post here! i wish i had taken more.

[DarklightZG]

Thanks for the feedback. I've decided to delay my trip this year in favour of going over next year and doing the Dawn convention in the Mall as I think that would be the best way to get the most out of the trip(does it run yearly or is it more intermittent?); couldn't make this years. I'll still be renting a car and driving up to Evan's City cemetery and surrounding area there and the mall. When I do get over I'll be posting a shed ton of pics