The last week of March is a big week in American history. Yes, I know it's April, but a few other blog entries needed to be published first.
The last week of March was when we saw the Reagan assassination attempt, Three Mile Island, and the 1973 debut of the "$10,000 Pyramid." The latter was a television game changer. Big, brassy theme, imposing set, big money for daytime television in those days, Dick Clark... I loved it the first time I saw it. I missed the debut by a few days, but I was home sick from school later that week. Rob Reiner was one of the celebrity guests that first week. Years later, I read where he thought she show would flop because it was too easy. Except for a few gaps, Pyramid has been on the air for fifty years.
The last week of March 2023 also marked the demolition of the Plotkin Shoes building at Penn and Linden in downtown Scranton. I'm sorry I wasn't there for the beginning of the demolition, so these photos will have to suffice.
To get you up to speed, fire heavily damaged the building back on a December night in 2020. It was too far gone to save. It had to come down.
I don't recall ever being inside. Still, watching the demolition crew pick it apart made me sad. Someone lost a business. Scranton lost a landmark. I think of all the shoes purchased there, who wore them, where they've traveled. Work shoes and boots were a specialty. I wonder what building projects those shoes, and the people in them, worked on.
I don't know what's planned for the lot. I suspect parking, at least for a little while. A city can never have enough parking.
Tires replace shoes at Penn and Linden.
