The reputation of Pittsburgh

[DBR96A]

We have a "reputation" thread for Atlanta, and considering that I've lived in Pittsburgh and near Atlanta during different points in my life, I'm interested in finding out the rest of the country's ideas of what Pittsburgh is as well, but this time without the influence of sports. (I know exactly what people think of Pittsburgh's sports teams and fans, so I don't need any regurgitation there.)

You can be honest, though, about your impressions. Even if you hate the place, I seriously doubt you'll say anything that I haven't heard from, say, a Philadelphia, Cleveland, Cincinnati or Seattle (these days) sports fan. *lol*

[Segun]

I couldn't really say what impression it has across the country because it falls under the radar, but it has the most dramatic topography of any city I've ever visited and it looks older than it is.

[JManc]

i grew up thinking pittsburgh was a rundown cesspool chocking on its own pollution.

i went there in 2005 only to see this:

http://www.pbase.com/mancusoj/image/58747839.jpg

[holladay]

Hrmmmm.... Well, I haven't been to Pittsburgh so I hardly think my opinions are of value. But here goes : the housing market is really affordable and it's really easy to get a great old house or row; from the pictures I've seen I think proportionally more Pittsburghers (Pittsburghites?) drive American cars than in any other US city; the neighborhoods are often built on grids which are incongruent with surrounding grids because of the pattern of land-development and the topography; there is a great variety of rowhouses across the city; the freeways are generally narrow (4-6 lanes) because of the hills and tunnels so the city is not heavily reliant on them as arteries to the same degree as Sunbelt cities; the population is generally still very blue-collar; and the last thing i can think of is something I hear often (though don't necessarily believe) - Pittsburgh is the poster-child for the rust-belt because it has never gotten over the loss of the steel industry.

[tdawg]

My impression is that it's a center of research and higher education, high quality of life, tough winters, fantastic skyline and dramatic scenery.

[brickell]

http://www.spdconline.org/history/Gallery/images/coalminers.JPG
http://www.spdconline.org/history/Gallery/CoalMine31.html

[galaca]

I'd live there.

[LordMandeep]

steel, Steelers...

[Mr Roboto]

To me was that it had an awesome skyline when I'd go through there in the 90's. I took buses through there when I'd go from DC to chicago and back, to visit family, as a kid. The downtown was dense and pretty tall for a city that size. I thought there was a lot of trees there and that the whole 3 rivers thing was unique.

Also remember in the 80's it was supposed to be one of the best places to live. So thats one of the things I remember.

[tackledspoon]

I lived and went to school there for a year. My impression was less than fantastic, but I was also extremely depressed during the period that I was living there and a lot of my gripes had to do with the people who I came into contact with every day, rather than the city itself.
That said, here's my lists of pros and cons:
Pro: Lots of great neighborhoods; beautiful, affordable housing stock; active political community; good colleges; good public transportaion; great music scene.
Cons: Shit weather, limited cultural opportunities, poor traffic patterning, a general feeling of disconnectedness between neighborhoods and large swaths of abandoned and uninhabitable housing.

Edit: It's important to note that my only standard for comparison is New York and, if my list of pros and cons makes it sound like a bit of a backwater, it's because I tend to hold other cities to impossibly high standards.

[LostInTheZone]

Pittsburgh- I'll try and be fair, because Evergrey and Hero are two of my favorite forumers and they try to be nice to Philly.

"The Paris of Appalachia"- we have that other thread asking about the definitive city of each state, and Pittsburgh is an extrapolated version of every small town in Pennsylvania, with all the good (19th century vernacular architecture, history) and bad (postindustial garbage, HICKS) that comes with that. If I were to sum it up, I'd say that parts of Pittsbugh have a lot of potential, and I will live to see it become an attractive place to live. There's some good real estate there and it can't stay cheap forever.

the good:
-spectacular natural setting,
-the port-cochere on the PRR station is one of the most original things Daniel Burnham ever designed
-the cultural center in Oakland has some spectacular buildings, even if it's pretty anti-urban. My favorites are the Heinz Chapel and Cathedral of learning.
-beautiful 19th century architecture- I love seeing pics of the Mexican War Street area on here, and I saw some great victorians in Shadyside.
-Oakland is nice, as a 'college town'.
-I liked the south side, it reminded me of South Street in Philly, especially the 90s version I remember so well.
-a Primanti sandwich sounds gross when you describe it, but they're delicious when you eat them.
-the bridges.
-universities- you have internationally famous Carnegie-Mellon, they practically invented the internet, and some other good schools like Pitt and Duquesne, both of which I looked at going to.

the bad:
-the industrial landscape: un-adaptable cathedral-size factories, semidetached worker's tract houses no one wants to restore.
-everything is broken up by hills, rail lines, rivers, industrial areas- it's more of a collection of towns than a city. Yet there is no rail system to link them all together, though the tracks sit there, with plenty of extra capacity.
-the locals- yinzers- if america had cockneys, this would be them.
-urban renewal- removed all buildings from the Point and turned it into a rather pretty but very out-of-the-way, underused park with some Radiant-City towers surrounded by grass; the Hill, which could have connected Oakland to Downtown, was all ripped out for highways and the hockey arena.
-though the city is defined by the confluence of the three rivers, almost all of the waterfront is taken up by rail lines and industry.
-unfair and unquantifiable or not, multiple people I know who moved there for school said the whole place has a down, depressed vibe to it.
-downtown is dead, dead, dead, once the office workers go home.
-Harrisburg probably has more gay bars.
-yes, you have universities, but they don't seem to add to the 'cool' vibe, they just attract places that sell pizza and munchies to drunk suburbanites treating college like a perpetual spring break. To be fair, this is what college is like just about everywhere these days.

thats about all I can think of for now. I will say I have a fairly negative impression of Pittsburgh. I wouldn't really choose to move there. But, again, its got way more going for it than the Detroits and Buffaloes of the rust belt, and I think it will improve- parts of it anyway. Much like Philly, there are vast swaths of it that will simply have to be rebuilt from scratch.

[BTinSF]

I have maybe a wierd perspective on Pittsburgh because the one time I was there was to attend the wedding of one of my Med School roomates to a girl whose family must have been pretty wealthy. I remember they lived in a very large modern home with a winding private driveway even though it was in the city somewhere. It was said they had had several of the towering trees in the front yard moved to better set off the front of the house. There were a couple of servants and what looked to me to be some old and original art hanging in the bathroom (hard not to notice sitting on the john). I do know that their daughter, the bride, commanded an unexhaustible supply of cannabis which was freely available to the younger members of the wedding party.

Anyway, during the long weekend I was in Pittsburgh for the wedding, the families of bride and groom pretty much covered all expenses as we bounced around town having rehearsal dinners and batchelor dinners and such. I recall Pittsburgh being very hilly. The rehearsal dinner was in some restaurant on a small mountain on the opposite bank of the Allegheny River from downtown so it had a glorious view of the highrise area (and the conjunction of the two rivers) at night--which, even then (the early 70's) was impressive to me (a suburban kid from a low-rise city, Washington DC).

I do recall seeing some crumbling steel mills or something as we drove into town from the PA Turnpike, but the city itself left a very positive impression although I suspect I experienced the best it had to offer.

[Shawn]

Flashdance and the Steelers. That's about it.

[PhillyRising]

America's Most Livable City in 1985...a time when the region was seeing a mass exodus...the city had a very forward thinking mayor who was planting the seeds for the rebirth in future years. Sadly, he passed away at and early age and his successors dropped the ball and the city stalled.

Rolling hills that make the city interesting to look at...Mt. Washington being one of the great places to catch a view!

The surprise view first time visitors get when they come out of the Ft. Pitt Tunnel coming from the airport.

Free Summer concerts by the Pittsburgh Symphony at Point State Park.

Architecture that would be too costly to replecate today.

Kennywood Park...one of America's great old time amusement parks!

The fact that the inside of Station Square still looks the same as it did 20 years ago!

The fact that the city has so much rail line through it that it never developed a metro wide commuter rail system back when the city had over 600,000 residents.

Affordable, pleasant neighborhoods all over the city.

A downtown that rolls up the sidewalks at night....but has the potential to be a 24/7 neighborhood in the coming years.

A skyline that this Philadelphian was jealous of when he was a college student in Western PA in the 1980's. Thankfully...Philly wised up! There are cities bigger than Pittsburgh that would kill for this skyline!

Iron City Beer :yuck:

Mr. Roger's Neighborhood!

In summary...it's a city that almost anywhere you go...you can see a ornate house..a building..a street...a old factory and think that there is some interesting story behind who lived there...who worked there back in the city's industrial glory years. It feels like a place where things happened that mattered....that the city was the spine of the country during it's industrial heydey. You see the remains of that era everywhere and yet somehow...it doesn't feel like it's a city that has seen better days. It's landscape is more urban than cities far bigger than it...yet it still has enough small town charm to make you feel right at home. I never feel like I'm a visitor when I am there...I feel right at home...and one day I will convert all the yinzers into correctly calling it soda!

[ColDayMan]

Pittsburgh, along with every other rustbelt/northern/non-pop culture media thingie city, has a negative reputation generally. But perhaps that's a good thing for those to be surprised, versus cities that are overhyped. So take your bitchslappings Pittsburgh, you'll be stronger that way.

Or you'll just die, like Youngstown. Either or.

[seaskyfan]

I've heard what's happening now in Seattle compared to what happened a century ago in Pittsburgh - namely the creation of cultural and civic institutions by people who made a huge amount of money and decided to start spreading it around.

I've never been and I'd love to visit. Most of my impressions come from The Mysteries of Pittsburgh and the opinions of a friend of mine who was very active in theater there (he liked it but left to get away from his family).

[Attrill]

I have friends in Pittsburgh, and try to make it there at least once a year. I always look at real estate listings while I'm there, I love old industrial buildings and it blows my mind what is available there.

I avoid the Iron City and stick to the Church Beer Works and Yeungling Black and Tan :cheers:

[Rufus]

My perception of Pittsburgh:

It is cloudy a lot there, especially during winter. The weather is often extreme (warm one day, cold the next).

The architecture is distinctive; dark and heavy looking. The old buildings tend to be grimey-looking, I think from all the pollution that used to exist in the steel days.

There are large vacant industrial sites.

The topography is so unique among big cities. The hills are actually part of the dissected plateau (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allegheny_Plateau) just west of the Appalachians.

It has a rich history of industry. It built America with its coal and steel.

It has character. I enjoy the yinzer blue collar charm and accent.

It tends to be down on itself, like Philly, but at the same time there is a lot of civic pride.

I love it and plan to move there.

[LMich]

I've only driven through, so my opinion is only based on that, and whatever I picked up through pics, media, and other second-hand sources. BTW, I feel that I have to make the disclaimer to take any any negative things I have to say with a big grain of salt, first, because of my limited contact with the region, and secondly, and most importantly, because I'm orginally from Detroit, and live in Michigan, a city and state currently dogged more than Pittsburgh ever will be.

My general observations:

Pittsburgh looks like a city who's topography has been both a blessing and a curse. A blessing in that it makes a very for some great aesthetics and streetscapes, and cut down on the ridiculous types of sprawl in flatter regions. A curse in that it makes it feel very isolated, disconnected, and pocketed, both economically and socially. The rivers help to negate some of this, though.

It seems that it doesn't get anywhere near the national media attention it deserves, to the point of where I'd even say it almost seems as if its been put on some national media black list. I just never here about it, good or bad.

It's a region in which I can't place a finger on why it's stagnated in growth.

I also think of it as an excellent sports town.

Lastly, I see it as a very culturally/socially 'white' city, both of the American and ethnic European variety, with the latter becoming less-and-less prominent.

Really, outside of that, I don't really have any other opinion of it. I really do wish we'd hear more about it in this country. It seems that not only do people not go looking for it, but that the city and region doesn't toot its own horn as much as it should. Really, it seems like a lot of other cities in the Rust Belt in that they don't seem to be that effective in throwing, or even care to throw, off their 1980's image.

[Black Box]

Birthplace of Andy Warhol and August Wilson, maker of ketchup, Carnegie Mellon, three rivers and die hard sports fans. I've only been to the airport in Pittsburgh. It is very green and hilly. Queer as Folk is set in Pittsburgh.

[Derek]

my impression of Pittsburgh...US Airways hub...:shrug:sorry Pittsburgh

[LostInTheZone]

Queer as Folk is set in Pittsburgh.

queer as folk is set in a semi-fictional version of Toronto they call "Pittsburgh" for some reason. Let's not even go there please.

[Black Box]

Yes, I know, Toronto is where they film it and call it Pittsburgh. Call HBO, or is it Showtime?

[EventHorizon]

queer as folk is set in a semi-fictional version of Toronto they call "Pittsburgh" for some reason. Let's not even go there please.

I think the producers of QAF wanted it to take place in an working-class/industrial city ... similar in that regard to Manchester - where the original UK version is set. It was a crap show anyway.

[fflint]

Pittsburgh is all but unknown to most people in California. It has no reputation at all. It is "back east" somewhere, and the Steelers come from there.

As for myself, before the forum, my only impression of Pittsburgh was of a hilly, green, rainy place with a good skyline.

[Black Box]

Hey, a football team from another hilly, green, rainy place with a good skyline lost the Super Bowl to the Steelers. I'm dumb.

[TheMeltyMan]

I lived in Pittsburgh for two years and when I still look at threads (most recently of East Liberty), I get shivers. The city is just so bizarre to me. The people were surprisingly smart and cultured but it can be an aesthetic nightmare for me. I think it all comes down to my perpetual fear of Appalachia and large portions of Pittsburgh felt like a strange/evil mix of industrial abandonment, decay and the creepy wooded coal mining territory.

Its just so disjointed and incongruous that it really had me itchy for a more planned east coast city the whole time I was there.

[ChrisLA]

Pittsburgh is all but unknown to most people in California. It has no reputation at all. It is "back east" somewhere, and the Steelers come from there.


He hit it on the nail, this southern californian and all the people I know have very little to no knowledge about this city. We almost never hear anything about Pittsburgh other than about its once famous football team.

Myself personally I just knew it had a nice skyline, and where downtown meets the river reminded me of a mini Manhattan. The other thing I knew of though history was it was once a huge steeltown. I was also aware the city once had a very bad polution problem. I read it was so bad that it look like nightime during the day, and the sun was barely visable because of it.

[PhillyRising]

I lived in Pittsburgh for two years and when I still look at threads (most recently of East Liberty), I get shivers. The city is just so bizarre to me. The people were surprisingly smart and cultured but it can be an aesthetic nightmare for me. I think it all comes down to my perpetual fear of Appalachia and large portions of Pittsburgh felt like a strange/evil mix of industrial abandonment, decay and the creepy wooded coal mining territory.

Its just so disjointed and incongruous that it really had me itchy for a more planned east coast city the whole time I was there.

It's funny how we see the city differently. I guess it was because I went to school in a place that you would have feared being in the middle of actual coal country (Indiana County) and Pittsburgh was civilization to me. The city just holds too many fond memories for me that I tend to overlook it's warts.

[MayorOfChicago]

I think it mostly flies under the radar of most people in the country.

For some reason growing up I always heard it was the "armpit of America" and a decaying industrial city that was shrinking pretty fast.

I went there though, and the downtown was very nice, it was surrounded by hills much more than I was expecting. It kinda keeps you from seeing the real expanse of the city, as you can only really see a very small portion of it when you're driving through at any given time.

I think it has a more negative reputation than its reality.

That's just the naive impression I get about the city from random people, I personally like the city a great deal.

[dfane]

My impression of Pittsburgh even though I only drove through is beautiful skyline. Nice stadiums (plan to vist PNC this year when Phillies are in town), hard working people and a area that produces great quarterbacks.

But my impression from people I know from Pittsburgh and from driving through was it seemed to be a little behind the times almost late 70 to mid 80ish.
I just hope it doesnt turn into Buffalo (no offense Buffaloeaons or whatever your called).

[shanthemanatl]

Pittsburgh first hit my radar as a kid during the Steelers dynasty, followed by the "We Are Family" Pirates team.

I do remember hearing alot about the steel industry and how the Pittsburgh area was being adversely affected by all the mill closures.

I remember thinking how beautiful and eerie the city looked in "Flashdance".

More recently, I've had several friends return from visiting Pittsburgh and commenting on how pretty it is---I think they still expected the old, smokey, sooty Pittsburgh.

I've never been but would love to visit!

[TheMeltyMan]

It's funny how we see the city differently. I guess it was because I went to school in a place that you would have feared being in the middle of actual coal country (Indiana County) and Pittsburgh was civilization to me. The city just holds too many fond memories for me that I tend to overlook it's warts.

I'm just too used to the SE PA sprawl. Exton being a perfect example of the sort of environment I'm used to. It was a huge difference moving into a crummy old Victorian in south south oakland next to Schenley Park and rusting steel bridges.

[LostInTheZone]

you know, one of my first impressions of San Francisco when I went there was "It's like Pittsburgh, with nicer houses."

[asher519]

I first discovered Pittsburgh when I was about eight years old and borrowed a seemingly--in retrospect--self-published book from the library called "Moving to Pittsburgh." (I plowed through the entire "Moving to" series as I was a mere child of five when I decided it was necessary to leave my native Dayton, Ohio.) I was instantly enamoured. Something about it seemed so familiar and comforting and safe.

Having recently visited for the first time while researching grad schools, I can understand some of the negative perceptions people may have of the city. However, I can't personally abide by them. There's something so magical about Pittsburgh. Perhaps because it's familiar and comforting and safe. And gorgeous and cultured and real. It's filled with a certain buzz; a vibe that is normally reserved for cities on the West Coast.

Unfortunately, that buzz is not so well extended to the rest of the country. I have to agree with those who have mentioned they never hear about the place. I'm in Oregon currently and would never hear about the place at all if I wasn't consciously keeping abreast of happenings there. Also, I wish Pittsburghers would stop being so down on the wonderful place they call home (that does not, of course, include those I met from this forum). I think that attitude is changing, but it still seems rather prevelant.

Amazing things are happening in Pittsburgh. I look forward to being a part of its transformation.

[dktshb]

All I know is that the photos posted on this site make it look awfully purdy.

[LSyd]

george romero/zombies
steel
"birmingham of the north"
mountains
underrated
overlooked by bigger, shinier neighbor

-

[volguus zildrohar]

I spent a day about town and summed it all up in three words:

Fertile yuppie soil.

If that city had come up on the radar 15 years ago it would probably be indistinguishable from your Austins or your Charlottes (well, maybe not Charlotte) because so much of Pittsburgh is begging to be massaged back into relevance. Its perception is what's keeping it so low-key (as our West Coast friends clearly indicate) because, looking at some of the other places I've been, there's nothing most cities that have seen a resurgence in the past 15-20 years have done that Pittsburgh couldn't do twice as well with half the fat. It just needs to get the word and raise its profile.

[Attrill]

you know, one of my first impressions of San Francisco when I went there was "It's like Pittsburgh, with nicer houses."

I guess you weren't in the Castro on Halloween?

[Wheelingman04]

It is one of my favorite cities.

[BG918]

I've never been but the pictures make it look pretty nice with the rivers and hills. I would possibly move there for a job but I would have to defend my reasoning to people. Pittsburgh? Why Pittsburgh?

[steel]

The reputation sucks. But unfairly so. The cities that really do suck are the ones people are flocking to in many cases

[Taller Better]

When I think of Pittsburgh, I think of a city that had fallen on hard times, but apparently turned things around and revitalized the core nicely. I've not been there but would like to, some day!

[Fusey]

What do I think of Pittsburgh? My girlfriend's crazy sister is moving there in the fall, so Pittsburgh, best of luck to you.

[donybrx]

Pittsburgh, like Philadephia and much of PA doesn't spend time tooting it's own horn....there's no "tear-their-heads-off-with-our-stuff braggin' like NYC and others......and I never minded that attitude, actually.....at the same time, Pittsburgh has survived the collapse of big steel after having been critical to the nation's evolution for so very long, after having had the 2nd largest number of American corporate HQ's after NYC for years (including many of the oil companies now HQ'd in TX).

And, unless things have changed recently, it's still the nation's largest inland port....bigger than more than a few seaports, actually...a great city...... still.

[lawsond]

we went to pittsburgh thinking god knows what.
to have a good laugh?
what we found was amazing!
the andy warhol museum.
the funicular.
the cathedral of learning.
funky nightlife.
super friendly people.
clean streets.
a great market.
there's that mini-manhattan thing goin on.
it was the most surprising city in the u.s. i've ever been to.
in a good way.

[dimondpark]

I have to agree with fflint, Its one of those cities "back east" to most Californians. Ive actually been there and found it pleasant.

[Jeff_in_Dayton]

Like most other people my age, it was heavy industry, steel mills and air pollution, but also Pittsburgh Paints and their peacock logo, and the famous shot of the point and the skyline, where the rivers meet, sometimes "before and after" shots of the point to illustrate the benefits of urban renewal.

Of course, after actually visiting the place my opinion was drastically revised and expanded, in a positive direction.

From what I can tell Pbgh would be an excellent place to live in.

And I like the people there, too.

[PhillyRising]

I spent a day about town and summed it all up in three words:

Fertile yuppie soil.

If that city had come up on the radar 15 years ago it would probably be indistinguishable from your Austins or your Charlottes (well, maybe not Charlotte) because so much of Pittsburgh is begging to be massaged back into relevance. Its perception is what's keeping it so low-key (as our West Coast friends clearly indicate) because, looking at some of the other places I've been, there's nothing most cities that have seen a resurgence in the past 15-20 years have done that Pittsburgh couldn't do twice as well with half the fat. It just needs to get the word and raise its profile.

I agree....Pittsburgh is ripe for growth. If the area could lure back half the people that left in the past few decades it would be a miracle!

[SSLL]

Great skyline, three rivers, steel, resurgent hi-tech industry

[SteveD]

I didn't read prior posts because I didn't want to be influenced by them.

Pittsburgh to me:

Rivers
Mountains
"Uptown" Appalachia?
Steel
Pubs
Football
Carnegie
Declining population
Underrated
Higher Education
Excellent Medical Facilities?
Cloudy
Cold
Old
Iconic skyline view from some nearby hill or mountain

[STLgasm]

One of America's great cities. And my girlfriend happens to be from there, which makes both the city and her, even more lovable.

[bricky]

Prior to coming to this forum, I (growing up in NJ, living in RI, LA, and now NY) had virtually no thoughts about Pittsburg. It just didn't figure in my worldview, like for instance Akron or Des Moines still don't. But from the photos I've seen here, it seems to have a ton of potential to gentrify, perhaps in 20 or 30 years.

From the photos though, it seems like a large Allentown. Perhaps Allentown x 3 or x 4. Is there some truth to this? Allentown also has beautiful late 19th and early 20th Century architecture, but at the same time feels like it has some lost in time cloud hanging over it, just now being punctured by exurb development finally spilling over into PA from metro NY.

[donybrx]

^^^Pittsburgh had been so hoping for your upgrade.....:)

[bricky]

^^^Pittsburgh had been so hoping for your upgrade.....:)

I'll take that as sarcasm hehe. Sorry if I came across as patronizing. Not my intention! But frankly for Pittsburgh to come back, it has to get back on the radar screen for far more people and businesses. Unfortunately I don't think SSP will have much to do with that. Perhaps more business friendly policies? I don't know.

[PhillyRising]

I'll take that as sarcasm hehe. Sorry if I came across as patronizing. Not my intention! But frankly for Pittsburgh to come back, it has to get back on the radar screen for far more people and businesses. Unfortunately I don't think SSP will have much to do with that. Perhaps more business friendly policies? I don't know.

It's a fallacy to think big corporations pay the amount of taxes they should in higher tax states. It is the small business owners who get wacked or hurt.

[Sulley]

I think it's a beautiful capital city... the capital city of West Virginia, that is!

[DBR96A]

I think it's a beautiful capital city... the capital city of West Virginia, that is!

:koko:

[Austinlee]

Sulley: Quit cohorting with Coldayman. We're surrounded by assholes in Pittsburgh. Sulley to the north (& south); Colday to the West.... We're trapped!

[PhillyRising]

I think it's a beautiful capital city... the capital city of West Virginia, that is!


So I guess that makes it about the same as Birmingham being the capital of Good Ole Boy Dixie that hasn't been swallowed up by Atlanta's sprawl machine....except Pittsburgh has far less trailer parks and more dentists per capita. :D

[ColDayMan]

Sulley: Quit cohorting with Coldayman. We're surrounded by assholes in Pittsburgh. Sulley to the north (& south); Colday to the West.... We're trapped!

And that makes you the Asshole Capital of the World?

[Sulley]

I love West Virginia :(

[Wheelingman04]

I love West Virginia :(

YAY!:tup:

[SteveD]

:previous: me too. "Almost heaven...."

[sprtsluvr8]

I have never been to Pittsburgh, but my perception of it:

Beautiful scenery
Mountains
Rivers, cool bridges
Steel
Awesome skyline
Mellon Bank
Carnegie-Mellon U.
Three Rivers Stadium
NLCS Playoffs
Big East basketball
Boys on the Side
Queer as Folk

[atlantaguy]

I haven't been to the actual city in years, except to change planes when it was still a hub for USair. That being said, I'm old enough to remember many trips as a child when we lived in Cleveland. Back then steel was still going full blast, and the city was absolutely filthy! Dark, grey, very polluted.

From what I have seen and heard lately, there has been nothing short of an amazing turnaround, but we do hear a lot about how bad the economy is (still). Would love to go for a visit sometime.

[SpongeG]

i think it was seen as a city that fell on hard times, had huge unemployment, was dirty, unhealthy and people who lived there got cancer and was nothing exciting and backward since Andy Warhol left it

but lately have heard that it is a former industrial town that has turned itself around for the better and is setting an example for other cities to follow

oddly though i have a strange obsession with the place and can't wait to visit it one day

[TheMeltyMan]

I think I was too young and stupid to appreciate it.

[PhillyRising]

i think it was seen as a city that fell on hard times, had huge unemployment, was dirty, unhealthy and people who lived there got cancer and was nothing exciting and backward since Andy Warhol left it

but lately have heard that it is a former industrial town that has turned itself around for the better and is setting an example for other cities to follow

oddly though i have a strange obsession with the place and can't wait to visit it one day

The funny thing is that even in the 1980's...when the steel industry collapsed in the region and people left to find jobs someplace else...Pittsburgh was still a lovely city. It hadn't been smoky for years even then. The city added three of it's four tallest towers during the early 80's as well to seal the skyline as one of the country's best. One of the most relaxing things to do on a nice late spring or summer night is to sit up on a bench on Mt. Washington with a friend and chat while you watch the sun shine dim off the skyline and the lights of the city come on.....I did that a number of times back in college when staying in town with friends who lived in the city.

...and if anyone think it's a yahoo backwards kind of city....I saw Harvey Fierstein perform in Torch Song Trilogy at the Syria Mosque theater, when I was a freshman in college in the spring of 1985. The audience was packed and a good number were your average Mr. and Mrs. Heterosexual from Pittsburgh. I didn't think such a blue collar town would be as tolerant towards gays and lesbians as Pittsburgh tends to be. The Pittsburgh Arts Festival was always a big deal. Really...the best way to describe Pittsburgh is that it's a mid-sized city with big city amenities.

[SpongeG]

cool

i would love to visit if not move to it one day

i almost went to school nearby, hence why i started to find out all i could about the area and it being the closest big city to where i would have been

[donybrx]

I noticed today that the downtown workforce has increased by 20% over the past decade...article in the Post-Gazette......

[BMikeSci]

I noticed today that the downtown workforce has increased by 20% over the past decade...article in the Post-Gazette......

The downtown is going through another rennaissance. It's the third one for PGH. Lots of the projects are opening in 2008 to coincide with pgh's 250 year celebration.

[sprtsluvr8]

...and if anyone think it's a yahoo backwards kind of city....I saw Harvey Fierstein perform in Torch Song Trilogy at the Syria Mosque theater, when I was a freshman in college in the spring of 1985. The audience was packed and a good number were your average Mr. and Mrs. Heterosexual from Pittsburgh. I didn't think such a blue collar town would be as tolerant towards gays and lesbians as Pittsburgh tends to be. The Pittsburgh Arts Festival was always a big deal. Really...the best way to describe Pittsburgh is that it's a mid-sized city with big city amenities.

Oh my God you're so old!!! Anyone who even remembers Torch Song Trilogy (or Harvey Fierstein at <300 lbs) is ancient, myself included. I have a few friends who are mid 20ish, and not one of them gave any recognition when I mentioned T.S.T. I saw the movie in - I think - 1988 at the Janus Theater in Greensboro. Gay themed movies were few and far between even in the late 80's, and I just realized that a 25 year old would have been in 1st Grade in 1988. But don't they look in the "Alternative Lifestyles" section or do they always go for "New Releases"? Just another reason for having a dating cut off of 30...if he's extra hot we can have an all business relationship tho, no age restrictions in that area. :) I might even show him Torch Song Trilogy.

[donybrx]

:stunned: