I’m not really into the horror genre, but in college, I do remember watching the original Dawn of the Dead and laughing at the various scenes shot in Monroeville Mall. I particularly remember watching the heroes drive cars around the lower level and thinking that must have been fun. And, of course, the scene on the ice rink – I grew up in that area and remember skating on that rink. Seeing it used for “zombie hockey” was an odd experience.
For whatever reason, the Twitters dropped a link on me today: it seems a group of fans is putting up a bronze bust of George Romero at the mall.
There’s also a mention of a footbridge from the mall being preserved at the Heinz History Center. I have some vague memories of that bridge. The article includes a link to a story KDKA did in 2015, talking about the bridge’s removal, complete with scenes from the movie and people dressed up as zombies helping to load the bridge pieces into a van. According to the news story, there were plans to put it on exhibit sometime this year.
Photo by flickr user daveynin, used under Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic (CC BY 2.0)