I worked in Monroeville Mall for years. I’ve been a Romero fan since the 70’s (since Knight Riders), I remember when they were filming DOTD and I wanted to go there so badly but my dad wouldn’t drive us there at 4am. We used to go to the mall and look for all the spots in the movie. Around 2004 they revamped it so it’s different looking now, except those backroom/generator sections, they still look exactly the same. We used to slide down the escalator in Penny’s and get in trouble climbing into the elevator.
Later in life I met Jack (John Russo), he owned a store in another mall and sold NOTLD movie props and autographs. I bought tons and tons of autographed stuff. I even have a cast signed original theater marquee. I used to go on my lunch breaks and bother him for hours and hours with ridiculous zombie questions, he would actually answer them real seriously. We became friends and I still see him often. George Romero moved to Toronto, but I still see him when he’s in town. I see Tom Savini often as well, he really is a cool cat in real life. In fact I see almost everyone involved in NOTLD fairly often, they all still live here and have reunions and movie showings in theaters and my wife and I go to all the events. It really is a Pittsburgh thing, if you grew up here one of the things you wanted to be, as a kid, was a zombie in a Romero movie. Although I never got that chance I’m really happy to be friends with all the ‘Image Ten’ people.
You need to login in order to like this post: click here
