VIRTUAL STORYTELLING ON-DEMAND

Enjoy some nostalgia from Pittsburgh’s past, or explore some of the sights unseen throughout the city with our Virtual Storytelling–On-Demand.

All of our DOORS OPEN Pittsburgh Virtual Storytelling live events have been recorded and are available for on-demand playback through Patreon, our content host.

Watch as many as you want, when you want–and get access to new content when it becomes available.

Cost is $10 per month for access to all of our Virtual Storytelling On-Demand recordings. Each event is approximately 45-55 minutes in length. You can cancel your membership at any time. Please register with our content host, Patreon.

As a registered 501(c)(3), we rely on the support of patrons like you, who also love Pittsburgh, to support our educational programming for all ages and across all communities.”

Virtual Storytelling On-Demand

Abandoned Pittsburgh Ghosts and Gears graphic

Abandoned Pittsburgh: Gears & Ghosts

Join photographer Chuck Beard for a look inside some of Pittsburgh’s iconic and historic sites, including Duquesne Steel Works, Carrie Furnace, St Nicholas Croatian Catholic Church, Overholt Distillery, Hazelwood Brewery,

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August Wilson’s Hill District

This story will provide a sense of what the Hill District was like during the era when Pulitzer prize-winning playwright August Wilson was growing up there and how this iconic

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Bayernhof Museum: Music Boxes & Other Obscure History

We invite you for a virtual on-location peek inside one of Pittsburgh’s most unusual mansions–the Bayernhof Museum. This mansion contains a world-class collection of music boxes and other antique automatic

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Behind the Beer: A Peek Inside Penn Brewery

Let us take you on a behind-the-scenes tour of Penn Brewery where you will learn the fascinating history behind our 19th-century building, as well as show you how we make

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Behind stage doors: rocking at the Thunderbird Cafe graphic

Behind The Stage Doors: Rocking at the T-Bird

The Thunderbird Cafe & Music Hall had humble beginnings. In 1933 this space was known as Michalski’s Café and was granted the 2nd liquor license in the city of Pittsburgh

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behind stage doors a promoter's life graphic

Behind the Stage Doors: A Promoter’s Life

Do you enjoy large-scale concerts in the 70’ and 80’s here in Pittsburgh? Ever wonder who makes that happen? Meet one of Pittsburgh’s prominent concert promoters, Rich Engler, of DiCesare-Engler

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Behind the Stage Doors: If These Walls Could Talk

Go inside Pittsburgh’s only “juke joint” and meet Moondog’s owner, Ronnie Esser. Moondog’s is one of the region’s most significant stages for Blues music over the last 30 years, consistently

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Behind Stage Doors: Shama Lama Ding Dong graphic

Behind the Stage Doors: Shama Lama Ding Dong

If you are a music fan who grew up in Pittsburgh over the last 50 years, you know the name Johnny Angel. Johnny invites you into his museum, Ginchy Stuff,

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Behind the Walls of Western State Penitentiary Virtual Storytelling

Behind the Walls: Western State Penitentiary

Western State Penitentiary is a former Pennsylvania state prison, originally constructed between 1878 and 1893 on the east banks of the Ohio River. The facility has been closed since 2017,

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Dead-end streets in Pittsburgh's East End

Beyond the No Outlet Sign: Private Spaces in Public Places

How many times while driving around Pittsburgh have you seen a street sign which states No Outlet? Pittsburgh may lead the country with the number of dead-end streets. Many are

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City Stairs Virtual Storytelling graphic

City Stairs: Stepping Back into Pittsburgh’s History One Staircase at a Time

City steps were the first mass transportation system, designed to bring workers from the hills to the mills. Did you know that Pittsburgh has the most stairways of any other

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Clemente Museum: Telling the Humanitarian Story

We commemorated MLK Day 2021 by celebrating Roberto Clemente, a black Latino, known as The Great One. Incensed by the injustice, inequality and racism, Clemente extended his humanitarian activism to

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Culinary Journey from Portugal to Pittsburgh

Pittsburgh has evolved in all things having to do with food and culinary. With humble beginnings dating back to the produce terminal in the Strip District to Pittsburgh being a

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Daniel Burnham: Made No Little Plan in Pittsburgh

Did you know that, outside Chicago, no other city has more Burnham buildings? Learn more about this man and the buildings he built in Pittsburgh from local author and historian,

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Development of Oakland

Oakland is home to museums, universities, and medical centers, but do you know how it all started? You will learn how Mary Schenley’s land holdings, combined with major philanthropy of

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photo of George Westinghouse's home Solitude

Finding Solitude: George Westinghouse

What happened to the mansion called Solitude – the mysterious Pittsburgh home of one of the world’s greatest inventors and industrialists? Why can’t we visit it today…or can we? Pam Gianni

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Frank Lloyd Wright in Pittsburgh

Frank Lloyd Wright was the most talked about “starchitect” of the mid-20th century and inventor of Prairie style architecture. He had a twenty-year relationship with Pittsburgh. Fallingwater was only the

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Ghosts of Pittsburgh

Join storyteller Alan Irvine for an evening exploring the darker side of Pittsburgh’s history with ghost stories from the City’s days as a frontier settlement up to modern times. Discover

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Glen Hazel’s WWII Housing: 80 Years of History

Explore 80 years of the Glen Hazel Defense Housing Project’s history. Originally built for relocation of steelworkers during World War II, the project was the largest of four federally owned

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H. J. Heinz—Secrets of a Pickle King

We all know about the ketchup and pickles. But what do we know about H.J. Heinz the man? Sunday schools and opulence, alcohol and purity, love, and betrayal. This is

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Henry Hornbostel’s Impact on Pittsburgh

Pittsburgh’s beautification efforts are ever evolving. Henry Hornbostel’s early twentieth century advancements in elegant architecture made Pittsburgh a leader in the City Beautiful movement. Employing his mastery of the Beaux

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Holiday Cheers! A Truly Unique Winery Experience

Join head vintner, Duane Rieder, on-location at the Engine House 25 Wines, a discreet and private wine cellar under the Clemente Museum. DOORS OPEN Pittsburgh gives you an on-location tour

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I Shall Always Love You Isaly’s

Take a walk through Isaly’s history to learn why so many Pittsburghers have fond memories of the company, why its ice cream and chipped ham are still regional favorites, and

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Inside the City of Pittsburgh Vault

Get virtual access inside the City’s Vault. The City Vault is where hundreds of years of legislative records are stored and preserved. In 2016 the City hired the first-ever archivist

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Jewish Squirrel Hill: 1907-1957

Squirrel Hill has been the “Jewish part of Pittsburgh” for nearly a century. How did that happen? To find the answer, we’ll follow the trail year by year, looking at

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Jonas Salk ends paralyzing summer graphic

Jonas Salk Ends Paralyzing Summers

Everyone who is old enough remembers where they were on April 12, 1955 when the Polio Vaccine was heralded. Horns honked, church bells rang, people celebrated in the streets. It

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Kennywood Pak Behind the Screams graphic with roller coaster

Kennywood Behind the Screams

Kennywood Park has been Pittsburgh’s playground since the 19th century, when baseball games, track races and pony rides were more common than Potato Patch fries and amusement rides! One of

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Lost Treasures of Pittsburgh

Get nostalgic and reflect on the lost treasures of Pittsburgh with local author Rossilynne Culgan who is writing a book about the lost treasures of Pittsburgh. Rossilynne will share her

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Mapping: From Pittsburgh to Middle-Earth

Maps change how we see the places where we live. For the past seven years, local cartographer Stentor Danielson has been drawing maps of Pittsburgh and other real cities in

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Multi-stories skyscraper & the tycoons who built them graphic

Multi-stories: Skyscrapers and the Tycoons That Built Them

Back when skyscrapers were a new invention, business tycoons in Pittsburgh and across the country invested in this new form of high tech to proclaim their power. Learn about some key

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Nationality Rooms: Uncover a Connection

Join DOORS OPEN Pittsburgh as we visit the Nationality Rooms in Oakland’s Cathedral of Learning. These rooms were created to celebrate the cultural diversity of Pittsburgh. Learn about the thematic

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Nellie Bly: How a Sassy Girl from Pittsburgh Became a Legend

This is the story of a girl from Pittsburgh who proved her mettle one front page headline after another. She took on prickly social issues. She went undercover when undercover

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Obscure Pittsburgh

Did you know the ball in Pittsburgh goes up instead of down? Join DOORS OPEN Pittsburgh and storyteller Chris Whitlatch as he shares the obscure holiday traditions of Pittsburgh along

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Painting Pittsburgh Neighborhoods at Ron Donoughe's studio

Painting Pittsburgh Neighborhoods, by Artist Ron Donoughe

Join DOORS OPEN Pittsburgh for a virtual visit to the studio of artist Ron Donoughe. He has been painting Pittsburgh and Western Pennsylvania for the last 30 years. His studio

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Pittsburgh Astronomer’s Tiny Abode

Ever wonder what it might be like to live in a “tiny house?” DOORS OPEN Pittsburgh invites you into a Pittsburgh astronomer’s tiny house. This 500-square-foot house was built by

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Pittsburgh Jazz: Home of the Innovators

The Pittsburgh jazz community has fostered diversity across sectarian lines of race, gender, age and socioeconomic factors for decades. Learn about the depth of the jazz scene of the 60s

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Pittsburgh City of Glass Virtual Storytelling

Pittsburgh: America’s Glass City

For more than 200 years, Western Pennsylvania has been a center for the production, design and marketing of glass. It is also home to an internationally-known education center and studio,

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Pittsburgh’s First Pandemic: The White Plague

Join DOORS OPEN Pittsburgh for the inside story behind the White Plague that ravaged Pittsburgh at the turn of the century. Little was known about tuberculosis and we can learn from

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Pittsburgh’s Lost Chinatown

In the early 1900s, Pittsburgh’s Chinatown was thriving. With more than 20 restaurants, bakeries, import shops, and food markets, it was a lively center for commerce. Its temple, social halls,

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Secrets of Pittsburgh’s Bridges

Think you know Pittsburgh’s bridges? Think again. Join author and engineer Todd Wilson for a virtual tour of Pittsburgh’s bridges where he will point out many of the secrets of

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Significant African-American Buildings of Pittsburgh

Significant African-American Buildings in Pittsburgh

Explore the region’s historically-significant buildings which document the accomplishments of Pittsburgh’s African American Community. We share the architecture and more importantly the pride, perseverance, and perspective of resourceful and creative local

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