{"id":1213,"date":"2013-11-15T12:01:00","date_gmt":"2013-11-15T12:01:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/?p=1213"},"modified":"2015-01-09T15:39:46","modified_gmt":"2015-01-09T20:39:46","slug":"the-downtown-kaufmanns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/2013\/11\/15\/the-downtown-kaufmanns\/","title":{"rendered":"The Downtown Kaufmann\u2019s"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\" <\/a> <\/div>
\"1912: <\/a>
1912: Kaufmann’s on Smithfield between Diamond and Fifth <\/div> <\/div>
\"\" <\/a> <\/div> <\/div>
\"1968: <\/a>
1968: Kaufmann’s clock get decorated <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"1960: <\/a>
1960: Christmas shopping at Kaufmann’s <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>\n

It may be called Macy\u2019s now. And even Macy\u2019s is quite an old chain.<\/p>\n

But Pittsburghers still remember and at times even refer to the big department store with the iconic clock at the corner of Smithfield and Fifth as the Downtown Kaufmann\u2019s. That<\/em> was the store \u2014 no<\/em>, the institution \u2014 that kept its doors open for more than a century and whose name has been associated with many significant moments and personalities in Pittsburgh\u2019s history. There was the Tic Toc restaurant, the ornate clock, holiday parades, the Secret Santa and the Kaufmann family.<\/p>\n

Kaufmann\u2019s first emerged in 1871 as a small men\u2019s store in South Side founded by Jacob and Isaac Kaufmann. Six years later, the brothers moved their store location Downtown and it became known as The Big Store. The building has been remodeled multiple times, acquiring Neoclassical and Renaissance features over the years. It expanded and at one point became the largest department store in Pittsburgh with 12 retail floors that hugged the entire city block.<\/p>\n

Kaufmann\u2019s was more than just a store, though. It laid a foundation for many traditions, symbols and truly became a part of the Pittsburgh community. Its Christmas animated windows were the talk of the town. Its original brass plaques of the flagship department stores still decorate the building. Kaufmann\u2019s clock this year has tick-tocked for a century.<\/p>\n

Although the Kaufmann\u2019s was acquired by the California-based May Company in 1946, the Kaufmann\u2019s chain still operated under the leadership of Edgar J. Kaufmann. The loss of Kaufmann\u2019s headquarters in 2006 after the acquisition by Federated Department Goods Inc., hurt Downtown Pittsburgh economically and emotionally.<\/p>\n

The Big Store became a Macy\u2019s. But people to this day still say they\u2019ll meet under Kaufmann\u2019s clock.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It may be called Macy\u2019s now. And even Macy\u2019s is quite an old chain.<\/p>\n

Look at the picturesThe Downtown Kaufmann\u2019s<\/span><\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1216,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"gallery","meta":{"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true},"categories":[945],"tags":[972,1197,1042,1195,1043,1046],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/11\/tumblr_mwa23tdazp1rr5swxo1_1280.jpg?fit=1280%2C761&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":2196,"url":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/2012\/12\/19\/sunday-christmas-shoppers-at-kaufmanns\/","url_meta":{"origin":1213,"position":0},"title":"Sunday Christmas shoppers at Kaufmann\u2019s","date":"December 19, 2012","format":"gallery","excerpt":"Cash registers rang out a Merry Christmas tune in the three biggest stores in the Golden Triangle on this particular Sunday.","rel":"","context":"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/12\/tumblr_mf6rmqCmFC1rr5swxo1_1280.jpg?fit=1200%2C976&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":41,"url":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/2014\/11\/26\/black-fridays-of-the-past-long-before-macys-and\/","url_meta":{"origin":1213,"position":1},"title":"Black Fridays of the past","date":"November 26, 2014","format":"gallery","excerpt":"Black Fridays of the past, based on the photos we found, looked suspiciously civilized.","rel":"","context":"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/tumblr_nfmdszhT4a1rr5swxo4_1280.jpg?fit=1200%2C703&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2322,"url":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/2012\/11\/05\/the-parade-to-end-all-parades-in-pittsburgh\/","url_meta":{"origin":1213,"position":2},"title":"The parade to end all parades in Pittsburgh","date":"November 5, 2012","format":"gallery","excerpt":"We at the Digs have witnessed some astonishing parades in our city.","rel":"","context":"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/tumblr_mctxowhcmk1rr5swxo1_1280.jpg?fit=1200%2C910&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2003,"url":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/2013\/03\/01\/tension-arrests-during-pittsburghs-department-store-strike\/","url_meta":{"origin":1213,"position":3},"title":"Tension, arrests during Pittsburgh\u2019s 1950s department store strike","date":"March 1, 2013","format":"gallery","excerpt":"We found in our files several dozen photographs made during the department store strike of 1953-55.","rel":"","context":"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/tumblr_miyecaiG0p1rr5swxo2_1280.jpg?fit=1200%2C905&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":9302,"url":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/2018\/12\/24\/pittsburgh-christmas-photos-old-traditions\/","url_meta":{"origin":1213,"position":4},"title":"Photos from Pittsburgh’s Christmases past","date":"December 24, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Christmas is a holiday of traditions, and every city has its own. A look through the Post-Gazette\u2019s photo archive shows that some traditions are timeless, but others have evolved or completely disappeared over the years. Today, many Pittsburghers mark the beginning of the holiday season by crowding Downtown for Light\u2026","rel":"","context":"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/christmas042.jpg?fit=1200%2C745&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":4927,"url":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/2015\/01\/28\/pittsburgh-bank-robberies-from-the-past\/","url_meta":{"origin":1213,"position":5},"title":"Pittsburgh bank robberies from the past","date":"January 28, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Bank robbery scenes: unrecognizable, wild and weird.","rel":"","context":"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/Bank-robberies-4.jpg?fit=1200%2C809&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1213"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1213"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1213\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4214,"href":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1213\/revisions\/4214"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1216"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1213"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1213"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1213"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}