the almanac S e p t e m b e r 21, 2025
SOUTH HILLS COMMUNITY NEWS
a thealmanac.net
facebook.com/SouthHillsAlmanac
@shillsalmanac
FILE OF LIFE PROGRAM AVAILABLE TO AREA RESIDENTS PAGE A6
Holy Cross Greek Orthodox Church with a new look heightened by the addition of 40 icons.
PHOTOS: ELEANOR BAILEY/THE ALMANAC
‘Windows to heaven’ Greek iconographers create images for Mt. Lebanon church By Paul Paterra Staff writer
ppaterra@observer-reporter.com
Holy Cross Greek Orthodox Church in Mt. Lebanon has undergone a transformation. Greek iconographers came to the church at 123 Gilkeson Road earlier this summer and added 40 icons to the interior design. Icons in a Greek Orthodox Church are not considered mere decorations, but sacred images – a “writing” of holy persons and events that serve as “windows to heaven” to aid prayer, worship and contemplation of the divine. “For the last eight years, we’ve been working with these iconographers from Thessalonica,” explained the Rev. Michael Kallaur, the church’s pastor for the last 13 years. “We had certain icons that were here. We wanted the iconographers to match (what we had). We didn’t want them to be in a completely different style. If you look at the before and after, they go together. It looks like this could have been here from the very beginning. It was quite an undertaking.” Two brothers, Panagioti and Dimitri Christodoulou, came to Holy Cross at the request of Gerontissa (Abbess) Olympiada of Holy Protection Monastery of White Haven, where the brothers
ABOVE: An icon depicting the Pentecost is pictured. RIGHT: The Rev. Michael Kallaur, pastor of Holy Cross Greek Orthodox Church is shown.
were working on an iconography project at the time. After eight years of proposals, meetings with the iconography committee and two more visits from the Christodoulou brothers, a consensus was reached and the project was given the green light. Not involved in the work of the iconographers was the church’s dome, which was added in 1977,
and is now considered a prominent South Hills landmark. “We didn’t touch the dome,” Kallaur said. “(The icons) were already there.” Scaffolding took over the church from the altar to the back of the choir loft while the iconographers worked in July.
PETERS TOWNSHIP HOSTS UPPER ST. CLAIR IN FIERCE FIGHT PAGE B1
FARMS ATTRACTING MORE PEOPLE, REVENUE THROUGH AGRITAINMENT PAGE B3 What’s happening, B3 Real estate transactions, A2 Classifieds, B4-6
SEE WINDOWS PAGE A2
Classics ‘Gold Rush,’ ‘Phantom of the Opera’ to be part of silent film festival By Brad Hundt Staff writer
bhundt@observer-reporter.com
The first week of January 1926 in Uniontown was unseasonably warm, with high temperatures bumping up close to 60 degrees, which might have made the post-holiday doldrums a little easier to bear. But even as residents settled back into their wintertime routines, Uniontown’s Morning Herald was trumpeting an attraction coming to the city’s State Theatre that promised to be an eye-opening – and shudder-inducing – spectacle. Four months after it opened at the Astor Theatre in New York, “The Phantom of the Opera,” with its story of the deformed, deranged and lovelorn phantom who haunts and terrorizes the Paris Opera House, was going to be screened over four days. A score was set to be provided by the theater’s own orchestra, and students of Winona MacDowell, a local dance teacher, were scheduled to perform a live prologue as ballet girls. Screenings would start at 10 a.m. each day and continue to about midnight. Theater management advised that “due to the importance of the engagement, ladies and children are
BRAD HUNDT/OBSERVER-REPORTER
The Terrible Trolley celebrated the Pittsburgh Steelers’ four Super Bowl championships from 1975 to 1980. An ad from Uniontown’s Morning Herald newspaper for a showing of “The Phantom of the Opera” at State Theatre.
asked to attend the matinee performance if possible.” The movie’s image of Lon Chaney as the phantom, with his skull-like head, bulging eyes, fractured teeth, and thin, matted hair was said to have caused some audience members to faint 100 years ago. Even though a century has gone by, Chaney’s performance in “Phantom of the Opera” is still considered one of the greatest in Hollywood history. “The Phantom of the Opera” turned out to be just one of a handful of movies re-
leased in 1925 that film buffs and historians consider to be unassailable classics, along with the Soviet-made “Battleship Potemkin,” which is a staple of college film courses, Charlie Chaplin’s comedy “The Gold Rush” and the anti-war drama “The Big Parade.” To mark their centenary, these and other films from 1925 will be shown as part of the Pittsburgh Silent Film Festival, which starts Sunday, Sept. 28, and finishes on Sunday, Oct. 5. SEE SILENT PAGE A2
‘Immaculate resurrection’ Pa. Trolley Museum unveils restored Terrible Trolley By Brad Hundt Staff writer
bhundt@observer-reporter.com
Pittsburgh was both on the ropes and riding high when the 1980s got underway. The steel industry and other types of manufacturing were declining, unemployment was rising and families were looking elsewhere for jobs and opportunities. But even when the region as a whole was absorbing
some hard punches, Pittsburgh’s professional sports teams were at their most triumphant. The Pittsburgh Steelers won a Super Bowl in 1979, its third since 1975, and the Pittsburgh Pirates won the World Series nine months later. Three months after that, the Steelers pulled off another Super Bowl win, handily defeating the Los Angeles Rams. To celebrate the Steelers’ victories, Port Author-
ity Transit in Pittsburgh launched what it called “the Terrible Trolley,” named after the yellow Terrible Towel that Steelers fans waved at games and rallies. Painted in black and gold, it traveled down the city’s streets from 1980 to 1986. It was rebuilt in 1989, then finally retired in 1998. But what started its life as Streetcar 1713 in 1949 is back. SEE TROLLEY PAGE A2