'Birthplace of Pop Culture' deserves its own hall of fame
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Andy Warhol holds a camera in New York in 1976.
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With VisitPittsburgh promoting a new city slogan to attract visitors -- "Birthplace of Pop Culture" -- here's an intriguing thought: What if folks in Pittsburgh took the concept one step further and established the official Pop Culture Hall of Fame here?
Goofy? Sure. A tourist draw? Nodoubtaboutit.
Big Macs, Heinz ketchup, bingo, "Night of the Living Dead" zombies and Andy Warhol are just some of the icons the city can claim as its own. So what if Frisbees, Slinkys and Barbie dolls originated elsewhere? They can be part of it, too. As can Elvis and Doritos commercials.
Think of what's been accomplished in other cities. Cleveland and Ohio leaders in 1985 successfully urged the New York City-based Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Foundation, which was considering purchasing a brownstone for a museum in the Big Apple, to place it instead on the shores of Lake Erie. Ten years later the Rock Hall opened, bringing in 450,000-plus visitors annually (more than 8 million so far) and generating more than $107 million a year in economic impact.
Ninety percent of the visitors to the Rock Hall come from outside Cleveland.
Who or what would you nominate to be inducted in a pop culture hall of fame? Andy Warhol's Campbell's soup can? Mr. Rogers' red sweater? Actor Michael Keaton? Share your thoughts on Facebook at www.facebook.com/pittsburghpostgazette.
About 60 miles up the road in Canton, Ohio, is the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Opened in 1963, it's not quite the economic engine that the Rock Hall is, but still draws roughly 190,000 to 200,000 visitors a year.
Make it a hall-of-fame trifecta in the region with Pittsburgh's Pop Culture Hall of Fame (actually a quadfecta if you count the The National Cleveland-Style Polka Hall of Fame).
Teaming with those other museums to market the region as a hall-of-fame hotbed could strengthen the tourist draw and no doubt encourage folks to drive the extra two hours to Pittsburgh, especially with the one-of-a-kind Andy Warhol Museum here. The Rock Hall, according to its officials, draws more visitors than any other hall of fame in the country, and is the No. 1 tourist attraction in northeastern Ohio.
First Published February 19, 2012 12:00 am
