The benches lining the North Promenade at the North Side’s Allegheny Commons Park were designed to give visitors a place to rest.
Now, 30 of them, which stretch the quarter mile between the fountain and the statue of George Washington, offer something more: stories.
Six years ago, as part of the promenade restoration project, the Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy created a bench dedication program. Today, there are dozens of memories written in black and bronze and anchored to the benches. The memorials are funny and heartbreaking. Some celebrate lives lost, while others commemorate anniversaries, family histories and even marriage proposals.
Funds raised through the dedications support park maintenance and improvements while giving donors an opportunity to honor loved ones, milestones and meaningful moments.
Here are a few.
Arlene Hardy
“Here lies Arlene Hardy. In her lifetime she changed over 250,000 rolls of toilet paper.”
The plaque almost demands a laugh.
That was what Arlene Hardy wanted.
Born and raised on Pittsburgh’s North Side, Hardy later lived in Monessen and spent more than 40 years commuting Downtown by bus to work as a legal secretary. She was known for her work ethic, her baking skills and her ability to find humor in almost any situation.
As a single mother working two jobs, she managed to keep everything running at home. One of her favorite jokes centered on a universal frustration: the empty toilet paper roll.
Her children, Chad Hardy and Brooke Howard, remember hearing her frustration, often from behind a closed bathroom door whenever she discovered yet another empty roll.
She told her family the quote she wanted on her headstone. If they failed to honor her wishes, she warned, she would haunt them.
Years later, after deciding against burial, the family discovered the bench dedication program. It offered a way to preserve her memory and her personality.
Even during the approval process, Hardy stood her ground. When organizers suggested replacing the phrase “toilet paper” with the more formal “tissue paper,” her response was:
“No. It was toilet paper.”
Today, her bench sits near the fountain across from Allegheny General Hospital. Last season, it was featured in the TV show “The Pitt,” where Noah Wyle and a group of doctors and nurses shared a beer in that exact spot after a long day.
The Zahren family
“The Zahren Family. North Side proud since 1890.”
For Jeff and Jennifer Zahren, the bench is a family tribute and a declaration of neighborhood pride.
The family’s North Side roots stretch back to 1890, when Jeff Zahren’s great-grandfather, George Peter Zahren, immigrated to the United States from Germany. He settled on Brighton Road and operated a bakery on Beaver Avenue.
Five generations followed, also settling in the North Side neighborhoods of Perry South and Brighton Heights, where some family still lives. One of his uncles was the vice principal of North Catholic for years.
Jeff’s first apartment was in Allegheny West. One of his earliest dates with Jennifer was a walk through Allegheny Commons. Today, their adult daughter, Shelby, lives in Manchester.
For the Zahrens, the dedication was an opportunity to support the park while honoring not just a single story, but an entire family tree.
Luz Maria Gerena
“In loving memory of Luz Maria Gerena.”
Two elephants frame the inscription.
For Davidjohn Gerena, the bench represents something he never expected to need: a place to grieve.
His mother, Luz Maria Gerena, was born in Puerto Rico before moving to New York City and later Philadelphia. A lifelong educator, she worked as a teacher, interpreter and advocate for children with special needs.
After a breast cancer diagnosis, she moved to Pittsburgh to be closer to family and receive treatment. The move led to a new chapter in her life.
She met George, a North Side resident, and the two built a life together.
Luz Maria loved being around people. At a local senior center, she became known as a helper, entertainer and educator. Over time, Lewy body dementia made independent living impossible for her, so Davidjohn and his wife moved his mother and George to Dormont so they could provide care.
She died in 2025.
The bench was a gift from Davidjohna’s wife. She knew he longed for a place where he could remember his mother without the formality of a cemetery.
Its location carries special meaning. It sits near the George Washington statue — a nod to George, whose first and middle names are George and Washington. It is also near a school, fitting for a woman who devoted her life to education.
The elephants tell another story.
Luz Maria loved them. Elephant jewelry, elephant figurines, elephant-themed gifts — anything involving elephants delighted her. For years she kept one near her doorway as a symbol of luck and protection.
Davidjohn admits he has not yet visited the completed bench.
The anniversary of his mother’s death is approaching, and the loss remains fresh.
Still, he is comforted knowing the place is there when he is ready.
Cousins
In Loving Memory of Cousins
Kevin Sean Price Sr. &
Tarae Starling Washington
Forever In Our Hearts
Every July, the bench becomes a gathering place.
A dozen or so family members and friends arrive carrying blessing bags filled with snacks, hygiene products and small necessities. They hand out cold bottles of water to people in Allegheny Commons. Some years they distribute kindness pins. Future service projects are still being discussed, but the purpose remains the same: honoring loved ones by helping others.
Afterward, the group heads toward Gus and YiaYia’s. There are icy balls, popcorn, music, laughter and children playing on the nearby playground.
What began as a memorial has evolved into a family tradition.
For children’s author Kelly Starling-Lyons, the bench honors two people whose absences are still deeply felt: her brother, Kevin Sean Price Sr., who died from cancer, and her sister-cousin, Tarae Starling Washington, who was murdered.
The location was chosen with intention.
Though Starling-Lyons now lives in Raleigh, North Carolina, some of her strongest childhood memories are rooted on Pittsburgh’s North Side. Her family attended nearby Brown Chapel AME Church, where generations of relatives worshipped together. Sundays often extended beyond the sanctuary. After church, cousins gathered in Allegheny Commons, visited the Aviary or cooled off with icy balls from Gus and YiaYia’s.
Kevin and Tarae were part of those memories.
Today, the annual Cousins Day gathering — held each July near National Cousins Day — keeps those connections alive. Family members travel from different places, reunite in the park and spend time together in a space that holds decades of shared history.
The bench serves as a reminder of loss, but it also celebrates continuity.
Violet’s park
“Trust the idealism of your heart: a beautiful world is possible. The Commons | Violet’s Park.”
Unlike many of the plaques along the promenade, this one is not rooted in remembrance.
It is rooted in hope.
Sarah Olexsak and her husband, Jacob Robison, moved back to Pittsburgh in 2018 after more than a decade in Washington, D.C. Both grew up north of the city and eventually made their home in the Mexican War Streets, just blocks from Allegheny Commons.
For Olexsak, the park represents one of Pittsburgh’s great civic spaces — a place where people from every background can gather, play, walk and connect.
She watched the restoration efforts transform the Commons and saw how improvements to the park rippled through the surrounding neighborhood.
The dedication is for their daughter, Violet, who is 3.
As a child of the city, the Commons is her backyard.
The bench serves as a reminder of the ideals Violet’s parents hope she carries into adulthood: “optimism, imagination and a belief that positive change remains possible.”
For Laura
“For Laura: From Pittsburgh to Paris, all I want is to sit next to you.”
In April 2024, Nick Grimes led his girlfriend, Laura Basciotta, on what appeared to be an ordinary walk through Allegheny Commons before dinner.
The weather had been miserable all week, and Grimes worried rain might derail his carefully planned proposal.
Grimes, a New Jersey native who moved to Pittsburgh to attend the University of Pittsburgh, met Basciotta while both were studying marketing. They began dating in 2019.
Part of the rhythm of their life together was walking through the park. Countless times, they had passed the bench site.
The proposal transformed a familiar place into an unforgettable one.
The inscription references two places important to the couple — Pittsburgh, where their relationship began, and Paris, a city symbolic of romance.
But the final phrase may be the most meaningful.
All I want is to sit next to you.
Simple words.
A lifetime commitment.
Tim McNulty
“Here it is, Tim! We’ll never forget you or your love for Pittsburgh.”
On an October afternoon in 2024, family and friends gathered in Allegheny Commons Park to keep a promise.
Near the restored George Washington statue, they dedicated a memorial bench and a newly planted white oak tree to honor Tim McNulty — journalist, public servant, Pittsburgh advocate and devoted father.
For his wife, Jen, the location was deeply personal.
Before McNulty died on July 5, 2024, after an eight-year battle with colon cancer, the couple talked about how he wished to be remembered. Jen told him she hoped to dedicate a tree and bench in the park near their home. The idea immediately resonated with him.
“He was pleased that he would be remembered in a place where he had fond memories of walking our daughter Lily to school, teaching her to ride a bike, taking her to playgrounds and the Aviary, and trying new vendor offerings from the weekly farmer’s market,” Jen recalled.
In McNulty’s final years, the park took on new meaning. Following treatments at Allegheny General Hospital’s cancer center, McNulty often walked through Allegheny Commons on his way home. One favorite stop was the restored fountain near Cedar Avenue and North Avenue, a project he enthusiastically supported.
“One of his last civic acts was to call 311 to be sure to let folks know the fountain wasn’t working,” Jen said.
Choosing the bench became a family project. Jen and Lily visited the available locations and “sit-tested” each one before selecting a spot overlooking the George Washington statue. Later, they discovered that some of the final photographs on McNulty’s phone were images of the newly restored monument taken from multiple angles.
“It certainly felt like confirmation that we had his approval and chosen well,” Jen said.
Nearby, a white oak tree was planted as a companion memorial — a symbol of longevity, shade and service for future generations.
Most meaningful of all is what has happened since.
Friends, neighbors and even Lily’s teenage classmates continue to send messages.
“They let us know they ‘sat on Tim’s bench today’ or ‘visited Tim’s tree,'” Jen said. “It’s been a particularly meaningful and active way that helps all of us stay connected and keep his memory alive.”
The plaque itself carries a touch of McNulty’s humor. Years earlier, he purchased a commemorative paver for his baseball-loving mother and inscribed it simply: “Here it is, Ma! Love Tim.”
The bench echoes that same understated style.
Here it is.
The bench they promised.
A place to sit. A tree to watch grow. A corner of the city he loved.
And a reminder that, in Pittsburgh, some stories continue long after the final chapter.
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