PITTSBURGH (KDKA) – With little fanfare and almost no warning, the first panel of the Civic Arena came crashing down on Saturday.

Since the early 1960s the stainless steel retractable dome of the Civic Arena has been a part of our heritage and a part of our skyline.

People have come here for decades to see events and games, but many have never seen it in its current state.

“It was really odd because this is the first time I’d really seen it with the roof like that and I was driving into town and I was like, ‘Wow it’s pretty crazy what it looks like now,’” Kristin Striegel said.

Zac Weiss was born in 1992, which was almost a decade after the roof opened one summer night for the Chicago concert, and years after Michael Jackson played sold out shows there.

Weiss stopped by to take pictures and to remember his high school graduation from Alderdice.

“Got the cap and gown and received the diploma right in there and it’s unbelievable that it’s tearing down and it feels like a part of my heart is going with it,” Weiss said.

Weiss was hardly alone as it seems the realization has hit that she really is coming down.

“I’ve been walking by here since college started and the stainless steel used to be on there and it just slowly came off and I just saw the video of the roof coming down and it’s just unbelievable,” John Rolewski said.

“Walking down here, I just couldn’t stop staring at it. It’s a shell of its former self that’s for sure. I wouldn’t even know how to describe it other than the fact that I’ll miss it forever,” Jake Vranish said.

Saturday’s demolition took down the first panel.

There will be many more like it with the entire project to be finished by spring.

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