Santaland Tradition Lives On Despite Macy's Closure

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- The Kaufmann's/Macy's holiday window displays are back again this season. But an empty store shows no trace of a longtime tradition called Santaland.

Rumors that Santaland had gone forever have proven to be premature. All they did was move the North Pole -- lock, stock and Santa -- about a half-block from the old Macy's to One Oxford Center.

John Bacha, a.k.a. Santa, says the Santaland crew is determined to keep the tradition alive.

"We bought all this stuff that's here, a lot of it from the original Santaland," Bacha said. "As a matter of fact, the chair that we have, Santa's chair, is the original chair from the '40s, '50s time frame, that we refurbished. And we're using it here."

Gene Stapleton, or Echo the picture-taking elf, says Santaland does not have to disappear just because Macy's did.

"The children love it," she said. "And sometimes they say it's five generations have been coming and doing this. And we could preserve it and keep it. It's something that has to stay in Pittsburgh. We couldn't have it go away."

But the new/old Santaland has yet to be discovered by many.

"A lot of people don't know where we are," John Bacha said.

For those who don't, it's in the Oxford Building, just past Starbucks. "Santa" John tells the story of a former Kaufmann's employee who did manage to find it.

"She was actually starting to cry. It was so beautiful," he said. "We had created Santaland again, and she was so happy, because she was worried when Macy's closed, that it was going to be gone forever."

For more information on Santaland, call 412-855-9666.

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