I’ve always been fascinated with time capsules. Those that have been buried, those that have been opened, and those that are about to be buried. All time capsules. That’s why I’m excited to learn about an old-time capsule that was once buried in downtown Erie.
I’m staring at that time capsule right now. It’s now on display inside Serafini’s Trattoria on State Street. This sturdy steel capsule was buried in September 1960 in the area that will be the future courtyard of Serafini’s. Opie Hughes found the capsule while cleaning out the basement of the restaurant that he and his wife opened last October.
“I cleaned it up and pulled it upstairs on wheels and started showing everybody,” he tells me.
Opie saw the forged plate on the capsule with lettering that revealed the date the container was buried. He also learned that the capsule was opened, as scheduled, 25 years later in 1985. He relied on AI to learn what the letters WLEU meant.
“I didn’t even consider a radio station,” recalls Opie. “I had no idea what is WLEU. I’m trying to pronounce it. Waloo? What is this?”
WLEU was an Erie radio station that launched a major campaign against rock and roll in 1959. The station was changing its format from rock and roll. So, it held a funeral for rock and roll. The station piled all of its then-unneeded rock and roll records into a hearse. With a police escort, the hearse paraded to Presque Isle Bay and the rock and roll records were buried at sea, so to speak. One year later, Newspaper and magazine articles about the funeral were included in the now-empty time capsule that Opie found in the restaurant basement. Opie laughs at the notion that rock and roll would die.
“Rock and roll obviously didn’t die,” he declares. “Nine years later there was Woodstock.”
Serafini’s wants to re-fill the time capsule and bury it during an upcoming ceremony to celebrate the opening of its courtyard for outdoor dining. That ceremony will honor rock and roll. The restaurant is asking people to write tributes to rock and roll on Post-it notes.
“And get local musicians to throw a drumstick, a guitar pick, a broken guitar string, whatever they want, into the time capsule as well,” says Opie.
Opie says he will also invite rock celebrities that have a connection to Erie to contribute to the time capsule. Stars such as Pat Monahan. Opie also wants the time capsule to include mementos from current downtown businesses. Mementos such as restaurant menus. He also is asking visitors to write messages of hope that they would like people to read in 25 years.
The burial ceremony is expected to take place around Memorial Day.