If you’ve ever driven through Pittsburgh after a heavy winter snowstorm, you may encounter a sight that leaves visitors scratching their heads.
A lawn chair sits in the middle of a freshly cleared parking space.
Not a traffic cone. Not a construction barrier. Not an official parking sign.
A chair.
Sometimes it’s a simple folding chair. Sometimes it’s an old wooden dining chair that looks like it came straight out of someone’s kitchen. Occasionally, you’ll see a battered recliner, a plastic patio chair, a child’s chair, or even a cooler standing proudly in the middle of a snow-free space.
To someone unfamiliar with Pittsburgh, the scene can seem almost comical.
Why would someone leave furniture in the street?
The answer is part practical, part cultural, and completely Pittsburgh.
The chair is a message:
Someone shoveled this spot. Someone intends to come back. Please respect the work that went into clearing it.
Welcome to one of Pittsburgh’s most recognizable winter traditions.
A Snowstorm Changes Everything
To understand the tradition, you first have to understand Pittsburgh winters.
Snow doesn’t simply make the roads slippery. In many of the city’s older neighborhoods, it creates a parking problem.
Pittsburgh has countless streets lined with closely packed houses and limited off-street parking. Many homes don’t have garages, driveways, or large private parking areas.
When several inches of snow fall, an ordinary parking space can disappear completely.
And before someone can park there again, somebody has to dig it out.
That means grabbing a shovel, putting on winter clothes, and spending a considerable amount of time clearing heavy snow from the street.
Depending on the storm, the job can be exhausting.
You shovel the snow away from the car.
Then you clear the space behind it.
Then the area in front.
Then you discover that the snowplow has pushed an enormous wall of icy snow against the edge of your freshly cleared space.
So you shovel some more.
By the time you’re finished, your back hurts, your gloves are wet, and you’ve spent a significant part of your morning simply creating somewhere to put your vehicle.
And that’s where the chair comes in.
What Does the Chair Mean?
The meaning is remarkably simple.
“I shoveled this spot. Please don’t take it.”
There isn’t necessarily a formal agreement between every resident on every street.
Instead, it’s an informal neighborhood custom.
Someone clears a parking space after a storm. They place a chair or another household object there. The object communicates that the space has been claimed according to local tradition.
It isn’t the chair itself that matters.
It could be:
- A folding lawn chair
- An old dining chair
- A plastic patio chair
- A battered recliner
- A bucket
- A cooler
- A traffic cone
- A child’s chair
- A homemade sign
The object is simply a visual symbol.
The real claim is based on the work that happened underneath it.
For Complete Cooking STEPS Please Head On Over To Next Page Or Open button (>) and don’t forget to SHARE with your Facebook friends.
