Mount Washington's Beloved Star Wars Pepsi Machine Vanishes, Fans Demand Answers

A nearly 30-year-old Star Wars vending machine that turned a quiet corner of Mount Washington into a pilgrimage site for Pepsi collectors and prequel-era fans has vanished, replaced by a painted copy that fooled almost no one. The machine, a leftover promotional relic from the 1999 release of Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace, had stood outside Pittsburgh Bureau of Fire Station 27 on Virginia Avenue for close to three decades before it disappeared this week.

The switch was first noticed by locals who spotted obvious differences between the original hardware and its replacement, according to CBS News. The new unit sitting outside the firehouse has ten beverage selection buttons instead of the original nine, a coin return slot on the right side instead of the left, and a different change interface altogether, as WPXI reported. Those hardware mismatches confirmed for skeptical neighbors that this was not a repaint job but an entirely different machine standing in for the missing original.

Mount Washington resident Hannah Wood told CBS News she saw a crew moving what she believed was the new machine into place, one of the few firsthand accounts of the swap itself. Stephen Crnkovich, another local voice quoted in the CBS News report, said he had never seen anyone tamper with the machine until the week the story broke.

A Pop-Culture Relic Born From a $2 Billion Deal

The machine's roots trace back to May 1996, when PepsiCo signed a $2 billion global promotional agreement with Lucasfilm covering the special edition Star Wars re-releases and the 1999 debut of The Phantom Menace. Guinness World Records recognizes that arrangement as the largest single film cross-promotion deal in history, spanning soft drinks, snacks, and fast-food tie-ins with chains like Taco Bell and Pizza Hut. Most of the branded vending machines built for that campaign were eventually scrapped or converted once the promotion ended.

Pittsburgh's example survived because Fire Station 27 firefighters quietly took it over. After PepsiCo stopped servicing the machine in the mid-2000s, station members claimed personal ownership to keep it running, according to a Facebook post from the Neighbors on the Mount group. Proceeds fed the firehouse's House Fund, which covers extras the city does not, including coffee, Wi-Fi, and lounge furniture.

Quarters, Faygo, and a Corporate Comeback

For years the firefighters stocked the machine with Faygo and other non-Pepsi sodas priced between 50 and 75 cents, generating roughly $150 a year for the station, per the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. The machine ran exclusively on quarters after its paper bill validator failed, and firefighters found that dollar coins like Susan B. Anthony dollars would jam the aging coin mechanism entirely.

That decades-long grassroots upkeep eventually caught PepsiCo's attention. On May 4, 2022, timed to Star Wars Day, the company sent technicians to repair the machine, donated $10,000 to Fire Station 27, and supplied a year's worth of Pepsi products, according to Patch. The gesture turned a forgotten promotional leftover into an officially recognized civic landmark, sitting at the intersection of Virginia Avenue and Shiloh Street near the top of the Monongahela Incline, a stretch that draws steady foot traffic to nearby shops like the gift store love, Pittsburgh.

Suspicion Falls on a Content Creator

Online chatter quickly pointed toward TikTok creator Braeden Days, who has close to one million followers and was accused, per the CBS News article, of previously saying he wanted to take the vending machine as a stunt. CBS News reported the creator had no current posts confirming involvement in the disappearance, and no social media post has claimed responsibility for the machine actually going missing. The accused creator was contacted by KDKA about the situation, as was Pittsburgh Public Safety, which fielded outreach from the station regarding whether a formal theft investigation had been opened, since the machine is privately owned by firefighters rather than the city.

Neighbors have not waited quietly for that question to be resolved. Crnkovich called for a task force of local figures to help track down the original machine, floating names including actor Joe Manganiello, rapper Wiz, actor Michael Keaton, and Steelers offensive coordinator Mike McCarthy as people who could lend a hand.

Why Mount Washington Won't Let It Go

Crnkovich compared the missing machine's cultural weight to the Pittsburgh Steelers' Terrible Towel, according to CBS News, underscoring how a decades-old soda promotion became woven into the neighborhood's identity. The comparison speaks to nearly 30 years of history sitting on one street corner, transforming a corporate leftover into something residents now describe as irreplaceable. Original 1999 Phantom Menace vending machine front panels have fetched up to $500 on eBay, per the Post-Gazette, reflecting how rare and collectible intact 1990s promotional hardware has become as the prequel era fades further into nostalgia. For now, the painted stand-in remains outside Station 27 while the original's whereabouts stay unknown.