Local landmarks home to sweet memories

‘You might want to sit down … Sarris Candy caught on fire this morning."

This was the text message I woke up to the morning of Feb. 3. While the news was not so traumatic that I needed to take a seat, it did rattle me.

I immediately harnessed the power of Google to learn more about what had happened. While I was waiting for the search engine to load, I thought about what Sarris Candies meant to me. I'm sure I am not the only Duquesne student who has made memories there.

I also thought about other Pittsburgh landmarks that were not so fortunate, the ones whose accidents closed them forever, or the ones that closed before their time and left nothing behind.

I am a chocoholic, and Sarris candies are my drugs of choice. I've eaten sweet treats from the candy store since I was a little girl. I prayed for ballet slipper-shaped chocolates in my Easter basket. Sarris was a staple at our house for major holidays.

On special occasions, like my birthday, we would travel to the Canonsburg store for their famous hard-capped sundaes.

After wolfing down as much as I could of the chocolate-ice cream delicacy, my father would take me to the back of the store to purchase some candy. I loved looking at everything almost as much as I loved eating it: the multi-colored M&Ms, the pastel colored jelly beans and the unbelievable assortment of chocolates in every shape imaginable. My favorite was the chocolate castle.

Sarris is where many of my childhood memories took place. Frank Sarris, the founder of Sarris Candies, died in 2010. CBS reported his Canonsburg legacy has been around for almost five decades.

As I read the articles about the fire, I was relieved to learn that the blaze hadn't destroyed the store. In fact, according to one Pittsburgh Post-Gazette article, the store had only suffered minimal structural damage and the ice cream was safe, even though some of the chocolate candy had melted.

Current owner Bill Sarris told the Post-Gazette that the operations would resume in "days, not weeks."

But other Pittsburgh landmarks have not been so fortunate.

Gaines Funeral Home in Larimer caught fire in 2011. The Post-Gazette reported that it was, "the longest-operating minority-owned business in western Pennsylvania." The Gaines started the business in 1919, and it became known as the "Funeral Church" because it housed the Mount Ararat Baptist Church.  

While the funeral home was not in operation when it burned, owner George Gaines expressed to the Post-Gazette the same memory-inspired emotions that I felt about Sarris when it became endangered.

"There was no attachment to the brick and mortar," he said. "It's just the memories. I've been going into that building since I was a kid." Gaines Funeral Home was destroyed.

James Shawley expressed similar sentiments in a Daily Courier article he wrote in 2011 entitled "Losing Our Historic Landmarks." He wanted the Pittsburgh & West Virginia Railroad in Connellsville to be preserved since many Connellsville landmarks from his youth had already been destroyed.

"I can recall a lot of business places that are now vacant or no longer exist," he wrote. "There were two movie theaters, three bakeries and two or three hotels that no longer stand. There were two five-and-dime stores that are no longer in business. The buildings remain empty."

And there is the recent destruction of the old home of the Pittsburgh Penguins. The Civic Arena opened in 1961 and closed in 2010. That's 49 years of memories for Penguins fans of all ages, as well as larger historical implications for the residents and families of the Hill District, many of whom were displaced by its construction.

As I sift through chocolate-scented memories from Sarris, my only hope is that, when this chocolate paradise ends its reign, which hopefully will not be for a long time, someone will look after it and see that it does not become just another burnt-out shell, vacant lot, abandoned building or parking lot. Its places like these where memories are built and shared through generations.