Monolith stolen outside Strip District business; owner bolts new one to ground

PITTSBURGH — You may have seen the tall silver structures, or monoliths, showing up in random places. A local business owner decided to make one to attract customers to his store in the Strip District. When he arrived to open up Grandpa Joe’s, it was gone.

“I was heart-broken this morning to find someone had taken my original monolith overnight,” said owner Chris Beers.

Beers said the gimmick worked. He put it up three days ago, and people have come from hours away to check it out.

“I came here to see the monolith. And it’s not here so I’m really disappointed,” Kammi Gallagher said.

“They’re driving 2, 3 hours to come see this and take a picture with it or hug it or take a selfie. They’re loving it,” Beers said.

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Once he discovered it was stolen, he sprang into action.

“I immediately gathered my team and we started building a bigger and better monolith. I just want it to be here. It supports the people who are coming out to see it. I hope this one lasts longer than the last one,” Beers said.

He told Channel 11 he’ll be bolting this one to the ground.

A monolith is a single great stone often in the form of an obelisk or column, according to Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary.

A team of biologists counting bighorn sheep discovered the first metal structure on Nov. 18 in a Utah desert. A slightly similar structure then appeared in Romania days later. A third was found in California and a fourth was erected in Texas.

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Cox Media Group