Adele Morelli, owner of Boutique La Passerelle
• – • Harris Theater
About the speaker
Boutique La Passerelle (call us BLP, for short) was established on Wood Street in 2010 by Cidalia Duarte, an immigrant from Portugal. Cidalia brought European fashion not found anywhere else in the U.S. right here to the ‘burgh. She sold BLP to Adele Morelli in 2013, and Adele continues the trips to Europe each season to import unique and exclusive pieces of women’s clothing from Portugal, Spain, Italy and France. Mix in the domestic clothing, shoes and accessories and BLP has the self-proclaimed aesthetic of European Fashion with Pittsburgh Flair.
When I found out Cidalia was selling the boutique, I jumped from my job in Corporate America and into the world of small business ownership. Being a frequent shopper at BLP, I knew she was onto something and didn’t want it to go away. As a Pittsburgh native and Downtown resident, I am very vested in the vibrancy of my neighborhood and appreciate the value locally-owned small businesses bring to it. I want BLP to be part of that vibrancy and provide an experience and merchandise you won’t find anywhere else in the ‘burgh.
Additional details
About the Harris Theater
The Pittsburgh Cultural Trust’s Harris Theater is one of the most active arts facilities in the region showing art films nearly every day of the year.
Formerly known as the Art Cinema, the Harris Theater represents a milestone in the redevelopment of Liberty Avenue. The Art Cinema was the first moving picture house in Pittsburgh to commercially show art movies until competition from other city theaters led to its conversion to an adult movie house in the 1960s. As part of its mission to transform the Cultural District, the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust purchased and restored the facility leading to further conversions of run-down properties along the Liberty Avenue corridor. With a total of 194 seats, including a fully restored balcony, the Harris Theater officially opened to the public for movies and live performances on November 9, 1995. The theater is one of the few that has retained 35mm film projectors that are utilized regularly.
The Harris was named through a gift from the Buhl Foundation after John P. Harris, co-founder of the Nickelodeon—the first theater solely dedicated to the showing of motion pictures—and a Pennsylvania State Senator. The Harris Theater features contemporary, foreign, and classic films.
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