Popular South Side Coffee House To Close
Follow KDKA-TV: Facebook | Twitter
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) - Word that the Beehive coffee house on the South Side will close later this year was not well received by its patrons, including Rachel Silver who worked there years ago.
"It's really sad. This was more a community than a job," said Silver.
With all kinds of unusual artwork on the walls and porn-free graffiti in the restrooms, the Beehive -- for 28 years -- was a gathering place for artists of all types, says Karla Boos, artistic director of Quantum Theater.
"The Beehive really represented a wonderful artistic community and a community that was quite diverse, and I hope that the South Side will continue to reflect that, and it's hard to imagine without the Beehive," said Boos. "It's an anchor for people like me."
Owners Steve Zumoff and Scott Kramer are selling the Beehive, saying the business is not what it used to be.
"It's time. Business hasn't been as busy. A lot of people have moved to other parts of the city," Kramer told KDKA money editor Jon Delano on Thursday.
And business wasn't helped when someone was shot and killed next door at the Rowdy Buck.
Still, there are lots of memories, like when Ann B Davis, Alice in the Brady Bunch, camped out there.
"Alice was sitting in the back cornerback there, and I thought that was pretty odd. I didn't know why, and I found out that she was performing at City Theater."
"But she was here every day for a month."
The owners will take much of the artwork with them, but there's one piece they hope will have a public home.
This iconic mural, designed by Pittsburgh artist Kevin Schlosser, has been here at the Beehive from the very beginning, sort of a signature piece.
And the owners say they've offered it up to the Heinz History Center.
The new owners hope to renovate this space and the neighboring former Rowdy Buck into a full-service restaurant, but coffee and art lovers have at least two months to say goodbye to the old Beehive.