Few pieces of Pittsburgh pop culture have the devoted following of the Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace vending machine on Mount Washington.
For decades, the 1999-themed vending machine has stood outside Pittsburgh Bureau of Fire Station 27, becoming an unexpected landmark and pilgrimage site for Star Wars fans. So when the machine recently disappeared, social media quickly erupted with concern, speculation and criticism.
The beloved machine hasn't gone far, though.
With permission from Fire Station 27, local content creator Braeden Days took possession
of the vending machine so it could undergo repairs aimed at restoring one key feature: making it work again.
"The goal is to get the inner part of the machine working," Days said. "A lot of people want this thing to work. Most importantly, the people that own the machine want it to work."
The original machine was temporarily replaced with a painted replica while restoration efforts continue. The substitute sparked mixed reactions online, with some fans questioning why the original had been removed and others worrying it might never return.
Days said the focus of the project is not changing the machine's appearance or replacing a piece of Pittsburgh history, but repairing the internal components that have long been nonfunctional. He is currently working with restoration experts and evaluating who is best suited to take on the project.
"It's just to take care of the inside," he said.
As a lifelong Star Wars fan himself, Days understands the attachment many Pittsburghers have to the machine. He said he regularly visits the landmark and even attends the annual May the Fourth celebrations, when large crowds gather around it to celebrate the franchise.
Online criticism intensified after some users noticed "Los Angeles" listed in Days' Instagram bio, leading some to accuse him of being an outsider who removed the machine. Days said those claims are inaccurate.
While he does much of his content creation work in Los Angeles, he says he is a Pittsburgh native who grew up appreciating the machine just like everyone else.
In the meantime, Days wanted fans to have something to visit while the original undergoes repairs.
"While this thing was getting repaired and while it's in my possession, I wanted to leave something there that people can go interact with and look at," he said.
There is still no timeline for the vending machine's return to Mount Washington. But Days insists Pittsburgh's most famous vending machine is not gone forever.
Instead, he said he hopes the restoration will ensure that when the machine returns to Fire Station 27, it won't just be a piece of nostalgia. It will once again be a working piece of Pittsburgh history.
This article by Gabby Sartori was created with the assistance of Artificial Intelligence (AI). Journalists were involved in every step of the information gathering, review, editing and publishing process. Learn more.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: A new hope for Pittsburgh's Phantom Menace vending machine
