JOHNSTOWN, Pa. – The streets of this small town are littered with relics from the iconic movie “Slap Shot” filmed here 40 years ago.
There’s the statue of the dog that, in the movie, saved the people of fictitious Charlestown from the 1938 flood. There’s the park in the center of town with the fountain where Paul Newman and Lindsay Crouse shared a memorable scene. There are familiar storefronts. The Aces restaurant is still in operation. The steel mills are still standing. Then there’s the Cambria County War Memorial ice rink.
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People in this town take pride in the movie, but Johnstown is somehow different than it was 40 years ago.
It’s depressing.
The rust-belt town took a massive hit to its economy when Bethlehem Steel Corporation, America’s second-largest steel producer, closed its mill in 1982. The town’s population was well over 70,000, but after the mill closed, the downturn began.
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“The steel mill left. The jobs left. The people left,” said Johnstown police Capt. Chad Miller.
In 2003, the U.S. Census showed that Johnstown was the least likely city to attract new residents. In 2013, CNN listed it as one of the seven fastest-shrinking cities in the country, citing a 70 percent drop in population since the 1920s, including 13 percent since 2000. Today, the population is under 20,000.
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Johnstown has dealt with more than its share of tragedy and adversity. In 1889, more than 2,000 people died in the “Great Flood,” the country’s worst natural disaster until Hurricane Katrina in August 2005. Johnstown had massive floods again in 1936 and 1977.
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After the mills closed in the 1980s, the town has been trying to pick itself up ever since. A new campaign dubbed Vision 2025 is designed to make Johnstown a destination once again for industry and technology.
“We’re going through the same things that every other small town in Western PA and Ohio is going through,” Artim said. “We have those issues, but those issues won’t define us. … We’re starting to be a mini Pittsburgh. We’re starting to make that connection and ‘Slap Shot’ is to Johnstown what the Steelers are to Pittsburgh. People embrace hockey here and it’s great to see.”
There’s a lot of negativity around this small town. But the people here believe they will overcome their problems.
“It’s faith, family and hard work,” Artim said.
And “Slap Shot.”
Source: https://t-tees.com
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