Flashdance Road Trip | 1980s Fashion History & Travel to Pennsylvania
🔎 Start your learning adventure with Investigation Declaration
Join us for a historic road trip to the real Flashdance locations in Pittsburgh's steel country.
Beyond the iconic 1980s film, we explore how this movie shaped an entire city's identity and created visitable landmarks. Scott and Jenn walk you through the filming sites, the era's cultural impact on feminism and women's independence, and why this Steeltown girl's favorite movie is now your next destination.
Discover the intersection of pop culture history and urban heritage travel.
🚕 Google Map to Duquesne Incline that Alex rides
🎥 Filming Locations of Flashdance
-------------------------------------------------------
🗺️ Plan Your Next Historic Road Trip with Us 🗺️
🚗 Download our History or Drive travel app
Turn your next road trip into an American history adventure. Discover hidden local history, epic historic sites, battlefields, and maps with easy, one-click driving directions—history travel right in the palm of your hand!
-------------------------------------------------------
🎙️ Talk with History is the #1 Road Trip podcast for travelers on Feedspot!
⭐ Enjoying the journey? Leave us a quick review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify to help other history and travel lovers find the show!
-------------------------------------------------------
additional sound effects from https://www.zapsplat.com
Transcript
[Music]
Speaker:to give ourselves cute
Speaker:greetings and welcome to the talk with
Speaker:History Podcast I am your host Scott
Speaker:here with my wife and historian Jen
Speaker:hello on this podcast we talk about
Speaker:history's continuing impact on us and
Speaker:our personal journey through YouTube as
Speaker:we continue to explore record and share
Speaker:our history walks with you
Speaker:before we get into our main topic I want
Speaker:to briefly ask for for a review from our
Speaker:listeners Apple podcast reviews can get
Speaker:you on a future episode with a far five
Speaker:star shout out
Speaker:and if you do not have an Apple device
Speaker:you can reach out to us and ask us
Speaker:questions over on Twitter we'll talk
Speaker:with history or through our website talk
Speaker:with history.com
Speaker:also don't forget to check out our other
Speaker:podcast the history Buzz it's a little
Speaker:more relaxed when it's where we sit down
Speaker:and interview folks while chatting about
Speaker:history over a couple of drinks and we
Speaker:just let the conversation wander where
Speaker:it may it's a lot of fun
Speaker:[Music]
Speaker:if you love 80s movies music and the
Speaker:fashion that came with it all I think
Speaker:you're going to love today's topic
Speaker:Jen she's a Pittsburgh native and loves
Speaker:all those things I just mentioned
Speaker:so it's a natural fit that we're going
Speaker:to talk about one of the biggest movies
Speaker:of
Speaker:1983.10 what is the movie we're talking
Speaker:about today the last dance flash dance
Speaker:and why are we talking about Flash Dance
Speaker:well Flashdance had a huge impact on me
Speaker:as a young girl especially growing up
Speaker:in the 80s so much so that when I had an
Speaker:answering machine when people still had
Speaker:those and you could make your own
Speaker:recording part of it was that song just
Speaker:a steel town girl on a Saturday night
Speaker:looking for the time of her life that
Speaker:was on my answering machine yeah because
Speaker:it was so fitting for Pittsburgh girl
Speaker:and having fun because the movie
Speaker:Flashdance it takes place in Pittsburgh
Speaker:it takes place in Pittsburgh and it's
Speaker:really great in the 80s with the steel
Speaker:industry I mean she's a welder It just
Speaker:fits in with everything that's it is
Speaker:it's like the classic 80s movie it hits
Speaker:It's got good music it's it's it's so
Speaker:great and blue collar yeah right so we
Speaker:go in the video
Speaker:we go to a lot of those filming
Speaker:locations and for me that was a dream
Speaker:come true yeah that was that was super
Speaker:we try to recreate some of those we
Speaker:tried to recreate some of the shots like
Speaker:her biking to work you know across the
Speaker:bridge you know into the city like down
Speaker:the street around the corners and none
Speaker:of it had continuity because they're
Speaker:really looking for really great
Speaker:locations and scene settings in
Speaker:Pittsburgh and I talk about how she's
Speaker:not biking she's not living over here I
Speaker:think you said like she had the reason
Speaker:she has such great legs is because she's
Speaker:biking all over the entire city I love
Speaker:the city and like the Steep Pittsburgh
Speaker:Hills right and at one point one of the
Speaker:great scenes that they're going down the
Speaker:hill and it's right beside the hospital
Speaker:Allegheny hospital so you see a nurse
Speaker:walking up in the scene yeah and I tell
Speaker:you that's because she's right beside
Speaker:the hospital yeah and if you're if you
Speaker:haven't seen that episode go to our
Speaker:YouTube channel and look up and just
Speaker:search for Flashdance
Speaker:um but but we actually so we show the
Speaker:movie clip and then we show us doing
Speaker:that it's either is it that we should
Speaker:movie clip first and then we show you
Speaker:yeah so I so I so not only are you kind
Speaker:of standing in the spot where they
Speaker:filmed it but I'm trying to recreate as
Speaker:best I can with my amateur you know
Speaker:equipment and and technique to really
Speaker:recreate those shots it was just a dream
Speaker:come true for me it was super fun for a
Speaker:girl who always loved that movie yeah
Speaker:and we go to the Carnegie Museum where
Speaker:she it's supposed to be the ballet
Speaker:school in the movie and she gets
Speaker:intimidated filling out the application
Speaker:for ballet school she runs away she runs
Speaker:out yeah and so I kind of like recreate
Speaker:her running out and she's running out of
Speaker:the gallery basically of the museum yeah
Speaker:and again we try to recreate the shot so
Speaker:the move the shot in the movie is her
Speaker:running kind of that's the second floor
Speaker:and then it's like she must have to
Speaker:backtrack and then she's running the
Speaker:same
Speaker:way in the same distance on the bottom
Speaker:floor yeah yeah basically just to get a
Speaker:really good shot of that whole Gallery
Speaker:yeah but we recreate all that stuff
Speaker:right you're walking down down the thing
Speaker:I'm trying to do it where it's yeah the
Speaker:pillars are going by I'm doing the shot
Speaker:there yeah so it was and even like uh
Speaker:when she rides her bike up to the
Speaker:Carnegie Museum yes right in front so we
Speaker:talk about that's where she sees the
Speaker:ballet and she's leaving with Hannah and
Speaker:she sees uh Mick or she sees Nick with
Speaker:his ex-wife oh yeah you know so she's in
Speaker:front of the museum there so we talk
Speaker:about the front of the museum and the
Speaker:statues that are out there they use the
Speaker:Carnegie Museum for everything that's
Speaker:where she does her the side of the
Speaker:museum is where she does her dance
Speaker:practice Yeah right so they use that
Speaker:whole museum for a bunch of different
Speaker:things uh but it was really fun we go to
Speaker:like Hannah's house yeah which is still
Speaker:there I mean it's still like the house
Speaker:it's I mean it's it's awesome we've
Speaker:barely changed yeah there there's no
Speaker:Portico anymore and there's no Ivy yep
Speaker:on the side of the building we ride the
Speaker:Duquesne Incline that was neat that was
Speaker:neat and we talked about her riding the
Speaker:incline with her bicycle and if you're
Speaker:not familiar with Pittsburgh again let
Speaker:me let me step back and paint the
Speaker:picture so the decane incline and
Speaker:correct me if I'm wrong Jen but let me
Speaker:see if I I've actually learned something
Speaker:while we were out there filming they
Speaker:used to use it for the coal miners and
Speaker:they would transport all these materials
Speaker:up this super Steep Hill so if again if
Speaker:you're not if you've never been to
Speaker:Pittsburgh or certain parts of
Speaker:Pennsylvania
Speaker:very common for super steep hills there
Speaker:which is Nightmare driving in the
Speaker:wintertime
Speaker:um super steep hills super sharp turns
Speaker:so they're The Duquesne Incline it was
Speaker:actually originally to help transport
Speaker:materials and equipment and this that
Speaker:and the other up this super steep hill
Speaker:and then it basically turned into a
Speaker:tourist attraction yeah and then people
Speaker:would take it home after work and things
Speaker:like that so it was used for that as
Speaker:well and so most people
Speaker:Pittsburgh is on Three Rivers it's
Speaker:connected there's
Speaker:there's Bridges they call it the city of
Speaker:bridges because there's so many bridges
Speaker:that go across the rivers that kind of
Speaker:connect the whole city together yeah so
Speaker:you have the Monongahela
Speaker:the Allegheny in the Ohio
Speaker:and those are the three rivers that make
Speaker:up the and we used to have Three Rivers
Speaker:Stadium there and so all of that area is
Speaker:Pittsburgh all around those rivers and
Speaker:all around those bridges and it's very
Speaker:Steep and it's very hilly and The
Speaker:Duquesne Incline it has a beautiful view
Speaker:it's where we shoot the very last um
Speaker:scene yeah at the top of it if you ever
Speaker:go to visit Pittsburgh I mean you should
Speaker:go do it it's it's pretty neat it's not
Speaker:like some fast ride it's very slow you
Speaker:know in the movie she actually uses it
Speaker:and she takes her bicycle she uses it to
Speaker:take her bicycle she's going to see
Speaker:Hannah she's ridden all she's written
Speaker:all over the city all over the city up
Speaker:these Hills and around the corners and
Speaker:she doesn't want to ride a little bit
Speaker:further you know up the hill but I get
Speaker:it
Speaker:so for a young girl to see this movie
Speaker:right Alex is supposed to be 18. she's a
Speaker:welder her dream is to be in the ballet
Speaker:but she's uh she's a welder by day and
Speaker:then she dances at night and she she
Speaker:dances in a place where it's not
Speaker:nudity yeah so it's not quite a strip
Speaker:club that's quite a gentleman's club
Speaker:yeah she dances and but that's kind of
Speaker:her way to kind of keep her dream alive
Speaker:yeah to practice her love dancing on
Speaker:stage with like the super uber famous
Speaker:you know scene with the water scene you
Speaker:know she drops of water on herself yes
Speaker:like the bucket of water on herself and
Speaker:dances around like and that scene I mean
Speaker:the weight of that water must have been
Speaker:intense it has a lot of water it's a lot
Speaker:of water that's a lot of weight
Speaker:um but so here we have like this
Speaker:conflict yeah right where oh not only is
Speaker:she doing a job that is a predominantly
Speaker:male job in a huge industry in
Speaker:Pittsburgh Pennsylvania especially then
Speaker:especially then you can imagine the
Speaker:money she would be making now at that
Speaker:at that age she wouldn't be a full
Speaker:welder she'd be an apprentice welder but
Speaker:you would still be making a ton of money
Speaker:based on her age yeah you can talk about
Speaker:it yeah based on her age because you
Speaker:have to have so many years experience
Speaker:welding to to be a master welder and so
Speaker:Apprentice welder but you're still
Speaker:making a ton of money Pittsburgh is a
Speaker:city of Steel yeah it's this welding
Speaker:everywhere and so we go to the location
Speaker:where she's working and she gets the
Speaker:sandwich yeah her lunch her lunch break
Speaker:yeah and you see all this the steel yeah
Speaker:and it was very interesting again kind
Speaker:of from a behind the scenes perspective
Speaker:so that's definitely that's absolutely
Speaker:the spot but the building has actually
Speaker:been kind of added on to a little bit
Speaker:and so we really had to kind of do some
Speaker:double takes because I was trying to
Speaker:recreate this shot and I couldn't quite
Speaker:get it to match because there's like a
Speaker:different building in the background now
Speaker:where there wasn't back then and they've
Speaker:built on they've kind of added this uh
Speaker:kind of truck dock station
Speaker:um actually on to the onto the building
Speaker:where she was next to so we do like the
Speaker:best job we can but like there's just I
Speaker:mean think about it was filmed you know
Speaker:in the early 80s it was released in
Speaker:1983. sure and uh here we are 40 years
Speaker:later which is crazy
Speaker:um and uh
Speaker:you know and so so the the cities change
Speaker:so the city's changed yeah so
Speaker:and here She Wants to Be a Dance she
Speaker:wants to be a ballet dancer so she wants
Speaker:to be a classically trained ballet
Speaker:dancer and the whole premise is she
Speaker:hasn't had any schooling right right and
Speaker:so she meets a guy and this is you know
Speaker:this movie I think does a lot for
Speaker:feminism but it also does a lot from
Speaker:misogyny it absolutely does it's super
Speaker:80s in that we're in that way because
Speaker:here's this guy who comes sees her dance
Speaker:yeah he's like oh she's hot and he and
Speaker:his friend tells him her social security
Speaker:number oh does he really and he goes
Speaker:what is that her phone number he goes to
Speaker:her social security number she works for
Speaker:you and it's like dude how do you have
Speaker:her social security number memorized
Speaker:like are you stalking her I forgot about
Speaker:that like you you know her you have her
Speaker:social security number just you can just
Speaker:rattle it off so there's some issues
Speaker:there right so then he sees her the next
Speaker:day and he's like I saw you dancing and
Speaker:she's like what like okay so that's kind
Speaker:of how they start talking and yeah
Speaker:there's some issues right and then they
Speaker:start dating they start dating and she
Speaker:kind of lets him in on her dream right
Speaker:like I want to study ballet it's always
Speaker:been my dream and then he
Speaker:being her boss of a welding industry you
Speaker:can imagine he has money heck yeah so he
Speaker:has connections and this is the art and
Speaker:culture of Pittsburgh so he has
Speaker:connections to that ballet industry and
Speaker:so he tries to help her get an audition
Speaker:and she loses her mind because she
Speaker:doesn't want help right she wants to do
Speaker:everything on her own feels like our
Speaker:daughter
Speaker:I she doesn't want help she can do it by
Speaker:herself she doesn't need anybody's help
Speaker:she's she's gone she's come this far on
Speaker:her own like you don't really get into
Speaker:family background but she's you can
Speaker:pretty much she's independent and
Speaker:isolated yeah right she's in Pittsburgh
Speaker:she's living in a where I mean I don't
Speaker:know how they can
Speaker:like I don't know how they can
Speaker:symbolize any more than that yeah that
Speaker:you're more alone and on your own than
Speaker:that
Speaker:so she gets upset that he helped her and
Speaker:because of that she doesn't want to do
Speaker:the audition right and so he really is
Speaker:passionate he is in the end of a good
Speaker:guy and he's really passionate that
Speaker:if you don't follow your dream you die
Speaker:and all I did was get you the audition
Speaker:you've got to get into this point and
Speaker:there's and there's there's part of the
Speaker:conflict is too is like she sees him
Speaker:with his ex-wife right because they have
Speaker:some business dealing or something like
Speaker:or some prior commitment ballet
Speaker:committee together because she sees him
Speaker:at the ballet right and he wasn't doing
Speaker:anything bad he was just literally there
Speaker:she's of course jealous and you know she
Speaker:doesn't want to be taken for a fool
Speaker:right and then she has a best friend who
Speaker:is also following her dream of being in
Speaker:the ice capades that's right and she
Speaker:falls and doesn't get into the ice
Speaker:capades and she basically throws
Speaker:everything away and starts working at
Speaker:the strip club and then doesn't she kind
Speaker:of encourage then from there she
Speaker:encourages her like hey you need to
Speaker:follow your dream do your thing well
Speaker:she's she just she gets her friend out
Speaker:of the strip club and she realizes how
Speaker:far her friend has lost her Focus yeah
Speaker:because she's lost her chance and so I
Speaker:think she sees all of that and
Speaker:goes for the audition and what I love
Speaker:about the audition
Speaker:is first of all the auditions filmed in
Speaker:La not even filmed in Pittsburgh so yeah
Speaker:there's there's big chunks if you look
Speaker:it up so actually
Speaker:this one wasn't as difficult to research
Speaker:for locations because there's a there's
Speaker:a website that that does a lot of this
Speaker:stuff yes and we were able to find a
Speaker:good portion of them some of them we
Speaker:kind of had to do some hunting yes
Speaker:because Nick's house is in La yeah yeah
Speaker:the where she dances is in La it's
Speaker:actually like a Bob Hope Center because
Speaker:if you look on the wall there's all
Speaker:these pictures of service members and
Speaker:it's actually a Uso Bob Hope Center that
Speaker:she dances at and
Speaker:I I think her Warehouse place is
Speaker:actually in La like so a couple of these
Speaker:places they actually filmed in the bar
Speaker:I'm pretty sure is is oh yeah not in
Speaker:Pittsburgh either so a couple of these
Speaker:places are not yeah local
Speaker:but one of the cool things and of course
Speaker:is the dance yeah right so at the very
Speaker:end of the song and I think the song was
Speaker:nominated for the Oscar I think it wins
Speaker:the Oscar What a Feeling yeah I think
Speaker:that song in Maniac we're both nominated
Speaker:yes and What a Feeling wins right but um
Speaker:so she dances at the end and of course
Speaker:you're watching this girl who has had no
Speaker:training whatsoever Rock This Dance and
Speaker:then would you come to find out is
Speaker:actually three people actually four
Speaker:people yeah do this dance before
Speaker:including her including her yeah do this
Speaker:dance so here's a person who's
Speaker:pretending to not have any dance and
Speaker:actually this so it's the the dancer who
Speaker:does all the dancing right the
Speaker:professional the professional who her
Speaker:face is kind of skewed in most things
Speaker:because Jennifer Beal is not a dancer so
Speaker:there's a woman who does all of her
Speaker:dancing and then there's a gymnast
Speaker:so they have a gymnast do the leap yeah
Speaker:yeah she has like this beautiful perfect
Speaker:Super Famous shot yeah just a gymnast
Speaker:for that one shot and then you have a
Speaker:break dancer right who's actually a guy
Speaker:yeah who's doing the break dance move
Speaker:and so and then you have some Jennifer
Speaker:Beal so you have four people creating
Speaker:this one dance
Speaker:of a person who's never took and dance
Speaker:in their life yeah that was great and
Speaker:and part of the and one of the things
Speaker:about this movie too as I was as I was
Speaker:editing it and things like that
Speaker:[Music]
Speaker:it was all the different kind of fashion
Speaker:that came out of this so the fashion was
Speaker:like so there's the there's the movie if
Speaker:you Google Flashdance if you've never
Speaker:seen it if you've never seen it
Speaker:after you're done listening to this
Speaker:podcast go go watch Google it because I
Speaker:can just the off the shoulder yeah the
Speaker:the holes that's that's from her that's
Speaker:all from Flash and didn't she kind of do
Speaker:some of that hers so she claims that she
Speaker:cut the hole so basically she said she
Speaker:couldn't fit her head in her sweatshirt
Speaker:it was too small so she cut the hole and
Speaker:they just kind of went with it hung off
Speaker:her shoulder yeah and they just kind of
Speaker:went with that and that's that's the
Speaker:move that's the cover of the movie yeah
Speaker:and she wears the rat of jeans yeah and
Speaker:this changes fashion for the 80s like
Speaker:yeah and then she did the leggings the
Speaker:wart like the warm-up leggings yes with
Speaker:like the leotards she wore those like on
Speaker:from the calf down yes like it's just so
Speaker:great so much fashion influence from
Speaker:this movie and you might think well no
Speaker:that was 80s no that was Flash Dance
Speaker:yeah like people think that the chicken
Speaker:came before the egg or no Flashdance
Speaker:came and then fashion caught up with it
Speaker:yeah it was like this whole kind of
Speaker:dance Jazzercise aerobic after
Speaker:Flashdance with the leg warmers and all
Speaker:that stuff but the cutting off of the
Speaker:sweatshirts hanging off your shoulder
Speaker:the holes in your jeans that's all
Speaker:Flashdance influence yeah it was it was
Speaker:it was really cool just kind of doing
Speaker:like finding pictures and and finding
Speaker:the shots and
Speaker:um and all this stuff and just there's
Speaker:so many classic scenes and classic shots
Speaker:in this movie and classic songs people
Speaker:still recreate the water on you still
Speaker:see that today recreate or Maniac people
Speaker:trying to like Yeah Yeah Chris Chris
Speaker:Farley you know for for my guy listeners
Speaker:out there you know Chris Farley and uh
Speaker:and what is it Tommy Boy yes right
Speaker:um you know so it's it's famous more
Speaker:than just outside of the 80s yes and
Speaker:it's so you get that it's the high it's
Speaker:the third highest grossing film of the
Speaker:80s so I was having this of 83 yeah so
Speaker:it's having this influence on people but
Speaker:the story of Alex is supposed to be
Speaker:based on a real character I think I
Speaker:talked about this that was very
Speaker:interesting so it's her name was Maureen
Speaker:martyr and she was a construction worker
Speaker:welder in Toronto yeah and she danced at
Speaker:night so just like Alex right and she's
Speaker:she sells her story
Speaker:for twenty three hundred dollars
Speaker:somebody in Hollywood Universal I don't
Speaker:remember wants to just kind of pitch it
Speaker:pitch the story so she sells it for
Speaker:twenty three hundred dollars so then
Speaker:when it's the third highest grossing
Speaker:movie of 83 she tries to come back yeah
Speaker:and get reimbursed like some back and
Speaker:money right and takes him to court and
Speaker:everything and the court finds no you're
Speaker:2300 by the way yeah you sign it away
Speaker:that's what you got to read that fine
Speaker:print yeah I mean it Crystal 200 million
Speaker:oh my gosh that's crazy 200 million
Speaker:dollars and so the court told her sorry
Speaker:I mean I don't even think they gave her
Speaker:even a kickback just to be nice probably
Speaker:not I mean legally they don't have to
Speaker:right that's kind of that's business
Speaker:right that's if you sign it away you
Speaker:know it could have been it could have
Speaker:never made it into a movie at all and
Speaker:she would have made twenty three hundred
Speaker:dollars but it did and it became an
Speaker:enormously influential and popular movie
Speaker:sure and so we talk about its influences
Speaker:on feminism yes so I talked a lot about
Speaker:the bicycle yeah right because Susan B
Speaker:Anthony was very
Speaker:adamant about women learning how to
Speaker:Bicycle she wanted the bicycle to be the
Speaker:symbol of the feminist movement and she
Speaker:wanted that because it showed women
Speaker:having real Independence in their
Speaker:transportation because at the time women
Speaker:were very much
Speaker:you just had to be
Speaker:whatever you're Reliant yeah you're
Speaker:reliant on your husband or your
Speaker:significant other or whatever yeah
Speaker:whatever they had for a carriage or
Speaker:maybe a trolley you know so it wasn't
Speaker:like you're reliant on mass
Speaker:transportation you don't have your own
Speaker:individual it was very symbolic right
Speaker:the bicycle kind of became the symbol I
Speaker:mean they were like when I was again
Speaker:when I was looking at pictures yeah of
Speaker:kind of the women's right rights
Speaker:movements and stuff like that
Speaker:um they were they're posing there with
Speaker:their bicycles yeah so you it's so
Speaker:evident in the movie another like
Speaker:another symbolism she's bicycling
Speaker:everywhere in this movie she doesn't
Speaker:have a car she could easily afford a car
Speaker:she's a welder she was making 1980s
Speaker:actually making really good money in
Speaker:Pittsburgh Pennsylvania she could buy a
Speaker:car but she's not she's using her 10
Speaker:speed from her dance studio at night in
Speaker:the rain right at one point Nick is
Speaker:following her in his Porsche and she's
Speaker:bicycling home in in the rain so they
Speaker:make a point to really show this symbol
Speaker:yeah that she's that she's independent
Speaker:they drive that that's if there's one
Speaker:theme that they're driving through this
Speaker:right it's being independent and for her
Speaker:following her dream yes following her
Speaker:dreams so that that's the whole momentum
Speaker:here is that you're there it's a huge
Speaker:influence in pop culture is following
Speaker:your dreams maybe sometimes you do need
Speaker:help from other people it's okay to take
Speaker:the help from other people yeah the
Speaker:story of struggle yes we all need help
Speaker:every now and then that's okay you can
Speaker:still make your dreams come true and you
Speaker:know that you need people to believe in
Speaker:you in the end but I think the biggest
Speaker:thing is like opportunity when it meets
Speaker:preparation yes equals success
Speaker:absolutely and I think that's kind of
Speaker:what it was trying to show there like
Speaker:she's still doing it on her own because
Speaker:she was prepared for that moment right
Speaker:she had the opportunity she got it the
Speaker:opportunity from help but her
Speaker:preparation led to her success so I
Speaker:think
Speaker:that was the huge message that they were
Speaker:trying to get across especially for
Speaker:women in the early 80s you can do it
Speaker:yeah you know make sure you're prepared
Speaker:for when opportunity presents itself to
Speaker:you yeah and there was there was one
Speaker:other thing before we finish up that I
Speaker:want to talk about that I thought was
Speaker:really neat
Speaker:and that was the crossing guard oh yeah
Speaker:so we we go there the crossing guard
Speaker:what was this do you remember his name
Speaker:that's right and so I actually was able
Speaker:to find like original old footage on
Speaker:YouTube of vixianka he did it for 30
Speaker:years he did it so and if if you again
Speaker:if you haven't seen the movie finish
Speaker:this podcast then go watch the movie if
Speaker:you have seen the movie if you remember
Speaker:when she's crossing the street with her
Speaker:friend and they're kind of being playful
Speaker:with their play being playful with this
Speaker:crossing guard who's making him he's got
Speaker:very big arm movements and he you could
Speaker:you can tell he's got white gloves and
Speaker:he's being very he's having fun with it
Speaker:right he's kind of a little bit of a
Speaker:character sure but I didn't realize like
Speaker:he was a Pittsburgh staple yes for 30
Speaker:years he did that because you can
Speaker:imagine the traffic at rush hour yeah
Speaker:and he's he directed traffic for 30
Speaker:years getting people in and out of the
Speaker:city now that location was actually
Speaker:difficult to find very difficult because
Speaker:things have changed we we we're pretty
Speaker:sure we found the right spot where we
Speaker:were filming someone I think came back
Speaker:to us later and said hey no he actually
Speaker:used to stand over here that's where the
Speaker:shot is we're at
Speaker:537th Avenue were raid by the the
Speaker:Benedum theater yeah
Speaker:um word wood and Liberty like we're
Speaker:right there but I think the person said
Speaker:maybe it was Atwood and Liberty yeah I
Speaker:think we're like once again things have
Speaker:changed Bridges have been updated and
Speaker:stuff like that right since the you know
Speaker:the early 80s
Speaker:um but that was just such kind of a neat
Speaker:little tribute to to Pittsburgh history
Speaker:yes and he was in maybe so we say good
Speaker:that's right that's right he was a Navy
Speaker:guy
Speaker:um and little things like that are for
Speaker:me always kind of like a real pleasant
Speaker:surprise because here's this neat
Speaker:piece of History this neat character he
Speaker:wasn't seeking fame right he was just
Speaker:serving his community he was a police
Speaker:officer he was directing traffic and
Speaker:here here he is and now he's featured in
Speaker:a movie and he had he was well known
Speaker:before that right and now here he is
Speaker:cemented and another classic That's a
Speaker:classic scene it's not a big scene it
Speaker:doesn't really contribute too much to
Speaker:the story other than she's just having
Speaker:fun around Pittsburgh and here's his
Speaker:crossing guard they're being playful and
Speaker:he's having a good he's being playful
Speaker:right back that was just to me that was
Speaker:just like something that I that I took a
Speaker:lot of joy out of yeah just like it
Speaker:shows you very Community oriented
Speaker:Pittsburgh is just that loves its people
Speaker:yeah and he's got like classic 80s
Speaker:mustache oh man he's got the Tom Selleck
Speaker:mustache all day and he's pulling it off
Speaker:like a champ it was that that was just a
Speaker:ton of fun for me like that little piece
Speaker:I just got a ton of enjoyment out I
Speaker:loved filming this one I just loved
Speaker:being in Pittsburgh Pennsylvania it was
Speaker:fun it was fun driving her on Pittsburgh
Speaker:and again it's just such a fun movie so
Speaker:again if you haven't ever seen the movie
Speaker:or you haven't seen our video
Speaker:stop listening to this podcast once
Speaker:you're done go watch our video then go
Speaker:watch the movie
Speaker:um but because it's just such a blast
Speaker:it's a classic 80s movie and and filming
Speaker:it and driving around Pittsburgh was a
Speaker:ton of fun
Speaker:so Flash Dance was not only a great
Speaker:movie that showed how women and their
Speaker:independence were on the rise
Speaker:shifting out of that era of the 50s 60s
Speaker:and 70s
Speaker:but some of the underlying messages of
Speaker:women's rights and feminism while not
Speaker:giving up what makes them unique as a
Speaker:woman is what Flashdance is truly about
Speaker:that
Speaker:and that a steel town girl can still
Speaker:love a guy that loves her enough to not
Speaker:let her dreams die
Speaker:so thank you again for listening to the
Speaker:talk with History Podcast and please
Speaker:reach out to us at our website talk with
Speaker:history.com but more importantly if you
Speaker:know someone else that might enjoy this
Speaker:podcast any of these fans out there
Speaker:please share this with them especially
Speaker:if you think today's topic would
Speaker:interest a friend shoot him a text and
Speaker:tell them to look up the talk with
Speaker:History Podcast because we rely on you
Speaker:our community to grow and we appreciate
Speaker:you all every day and thank you Scott
Speaker:for loving the skilletown girl enough to
Speaker:not let her dreams die we'll talk to you
Speaker:next time
Speaker:[Music]
