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  #1  
Old Posted Aug 29, 2024, 9:56 PM
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Pittsburgh

I've always been fascinated by PGH - and heading there soon for work. Any opinions on what I should do with 5 hours (at most)? I have a national pass to botanical gardens so I may or may not stop by Phipps Conservatory. I'm more interested in weird stuff you can't usually find in midwestern cities (or any city) like the Duquesne Incline...or maybe that you can, like a cool museum.

What is the quintessential view of downtown? (maybe the below?)


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  #2  
Old Posted Aug 29, 2024, 10:30 PM
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There's a place called Grandview Avenue where you can get sweeping views. There's also the Rivers Casino and some good walking routes along the river where you can see all the bridges. The University of Pittsburgh campus is nice.

I liked the city when I visited for work too a few years ago with subsequent visits. Its low key underrated. An American city with a European city topography IMO.

If your renting a car, just drive around. Best way to explore, getting lost.

But for only 5 hours, walking along the river routes is cool.

Actually, want to talk about an underrated city... Atlanta. Its a poppin' city, literally. But another topic for another day. PA shines with its rivers and mountains/hills. Best attribute of the state.

If your ever in the East, near the Delaware, the river drive is nice. From Stroudsburg to Bucks county.
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  #3  
Old Posted Aug 29, 2024, 11:49 PM
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Originally Posted by chris08876 View Post
There's a place called Grandview Avenue where you can get sweeping views. There's also the Rivers Casino and some good walking routes along the river where you can see all the bridges. The University of Pittsburgh campus is nice.

I liked the city when I visited for work too a few years ago with subsequent visits. Its low key underrated. An American city with a European city topography IMO.

If your renting a car, just drive around. Best way to explore, getting lost.

But for only 5 hours, walking along the river routes is cool.

Actually, want to talk about an underrated city... Atlanta. Its a poppin' city, literally. But another topic for another day. PA shines with its rivers and mountains/hills. Best attribute of the state.

If your ever in the East, near the Delaware, the river drive is nice. From Stroudsburg to Bucks county.
Nice, thanks, and I agree about Atlanta - I had a friend that was doctoral candidate at Emory and I spent some time on the Beltline Trail and marveling at the treecover of the city for several days.
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Old Posted Aug 30, 2024, 4:32 AM
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Also looking for an appropriate NFL team, if such exists, to exact revenge on Kroenke.



The Steelers are the top candidate. We actually still make steel in metro St. Louis..
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  #5  
Old Posted Aug 30, 2024, 11:47 AM
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It's definitely very touristy, but if your time is limited, I would highly recommend taking the 90 minute river cruise boat tour. They launch from a place over near the bottom of the Monongahela Incline (do that too!).

Between the dramatic and scenic topography of the river valleys and cityscape, the gorgeously layered architecture of the downtown skyline, and the veritable museum quality collection of the city's many and varied bridges, a river tour is a magnificent way to take it all in.

What's more, the tour guide on the boat I was on was a hardcore Pittsburgh homer who was laying it in extra thick, almost obnoxiously so, which made it that much more fun (though YMMV).

Anyway, Pittsburgh is amazing, perhaps top of the heap when it comes to America's most underrated cities.



Also, I'm moving this thread to CD cuz the skybar barely gets any traffic these days.
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Last edited by Steely Dan; Aug 30, 2024 at 12:32 PM.
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  #6  
Old Posted Aug 30, 2024, 11:56 AM
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are you driving from st louis? because coming into the pitts via the fort pitt tunnel is the greatest urban experience in world, especially at night. not to be missed. i am not joking.
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  #7  
Old Posted Aug 30, 2024, 12:07 PM
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Five hours ain't much time to cover this city, but I'll try to summarize:

In terms of inclines, the Duquesne Incline has a better view, but there's nothing but a parking lot at its base, and the area of Grandview at the top is pretty lame, with a handful of expensive, underwhelming restaurants. Use the Monongahela Incline instead. It's just a few blocks from a number of scenic overlooks, and Shiloh Street is a much nicer business district to explore.

In terms of downtown, one of the lesser known museums is the Fort Pitt Museum. It's tucked away in the reconstructed bastion of the old British fort (the fort itself is gone, though a 1764 blockhouse remains). Walking around Point State Park is also nice. Nicest street to walk down by far is Penn Avenue, where a lot of the theaters/event venues are located, and a lot of 19th/early 20th century walkups have been preserved.

Most of the museum action, though, is on the North Side. There's so many musuems here, from the National Aviary to the Andy Warhol Center. My favorite though, if you go a bit more afield, is the Mattress Factory - a great museum of installation art. While you're there, swing a few blocks away to check out Randyland, as it needs to be seen in person.

I'd not go to Phipps on such a limited time. Oakland necessitates getting on a bus, and while buses come frequently, there's really not that much else to see unless you want to go to the Carnegie Museums (which are nice, but an all-day thing) or just walk around looking at the civic architecture.
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  #8  
Old Posted Aug 30, 2024, 12:11 PM
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Originally Posted by mrnyc View Post
are you driving from st louis? because coming into the pitts via the fort pitt tunnel is the greatest urban experience in world, especially at night. not to be missed. i am not joking.
It's often jokingly said Pittsburgh is "the only city with an entrance" and it's true from that angle. The Liberty Tubes are also quite impactful. Even coming down from 279 is also dramatic at night, since you're going through a valley with no visibility and the city jumps into view with a bang as you turn a corner.

Only suck-ass view coming into the city is from the east, which is ironic, since that's where most people live.
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  #9  
Old Posted Aug 30, 2024, 12:31 PM
mrnyc mrnyc is offline
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Originally Posted by eschaton View Post
It's often jokingly said Pittsburgh is "the only city with an entrance" and it's true from that angle. The Liberty Tubes are also quite impactful. Even coming down from 279 is also dramatic at night, since you're going through a valley with no visibility and the city jumps into view with a bang as you turn a corner.

Only suck-ass view coming into the city is from the east, which is ironic, since that's where most people live.

yes, yes — i was going to say there are a couple other dramatic entrance views too, but i couldn’t remember. liberty and the one where you turn the corner. thanks.

and don’t sleep on people coming in from the west, those dramatic views are a real and immediate kick in the teeth wake-up to eastern ohioans.

but honestly, in the end do prefer my views of the clev from on lake erie.
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  #10  
Old Posted Aug 30, 2024, 3:22 PM
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Originally Posted by mrnyc View Post
are you driving from st louis? because coming into the pitts via the fort pitt tunnel is the greatest urban experience in world, especially at night. not to be missed. i am not joking.
Pretty stunning, particularly when you don't know what to expect as you're exiting the tunnel.
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  #11  
Old Posted Aug 30, 2024, 4:57 PM
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Pretty stunning, particularly when you don't know what to expect as you're exiting the tunnel.
The descent down to the tunnel has to be one of the steepest grades on the Interstate Highway System...possibly pushing 10%.

If you just plan to drive through a few of the major tunnels you will inevitably see a lot of other interesting stuff. Liberty Tunnel, Squirrel Hill.
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  #12  
Old Posted Aug 30, 2024, 6:18 PM
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are you driving from st louis? because coming into the pitts via the fort pitt tunnel is the greatest urban experience in world, especially at night. not to be missed. i am not joking.
Many years ago I was driving from Toronto to Houston when I decided to take the short detour off the interstate to see Pittsburgh. Coming out of that tunnel while having no idea whatsoever what to expect was very nearly... heart stopping. I mean... HOLY COW!
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  #13  
Old Posted Aug 30, 2024, 8:39 PM
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I'd wander around Downtown, go to the Point, take a bus/Uber to UPitt, take another to the South Shore... Make sure you get a townhouse district. Don't go into anything except briefly for lunch. The conservatory is nice but that's for Day 2 or 3 someday, as is the Warhol Museum. The inclines are a little out of the way but ok for Day 1 or 2.
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  #14  
Old Posted Aug 31, 2024, 2:02 AM
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Originally Posted by mhays View Post
I'd wander around Downtown, go to the Point, take a bus/Uber to UPitt, take another to the South Shore... Make sure you get a townhouse district. Don't go into anything except briefly for lunch. The conservatory is nice but that's for Day 2 or 3 someday, as is the Warhol Museum. The inclines are a little out of the way but ok for Day 1 or 2.
I'm presuming you meant the South Side, rather than the South Shore, as that's a different area (mainly just Station Square). Regardless, I would not suggest going to the South Side these days, considering he only has five hours. It's well past its prime and a bit run down now. It isn't directly COVID-related - started before that - but COVID didn't do it any favors.

If he wanted to experience a 20+ long walkable commercial strip, I'd suggest going to Lawrenceville instead.
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  #15  
Old Posted Aug 31, 2024, 2:50 PM
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In 5 hours, I would do:

~ Duquesne Incline/Grandview Overlook on Grandview Boulevard
~ Skyline view from PNC Park, and the Andy Warhol Museum a few blocks away
~ Oakland neighborhood, including trying to see the inside of the Cathedral of Learning and/or Heinz Memorial Chapel, going to the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh (museum), seeing other great architecture like the Soldiers & Sailors Memorial Hall, and the outfield wall to historic Forbes Field
~ Church Brew Works for a beer in one of the first innovative reuses of a church, plus an early craft brewery (but this is on the bottom of the list)

Primanti Brothers, famous for the fries on the sandwich, is now a chain (they have a location as far east as Lancaster), so if you want a Pittsburgh food staple but don't have time to visit the original location in the Strip District (46 18th Street), just go into any of them.
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Old Posted Aug 31, 2024, 2:52 PM
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Call me a heathen, but I was a little underwhelmed by primanti brothers (I went to the one in the strip, which I was told was the original).

Fries are a side.

There's a reason why the other 8 billion restaurants on our planet serve them on the side.
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  #17  
Old Posted Aug 31, 2024, 8:25 PM
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I've been there once and the sandwich was bad. The bread was like Wonder Bread. My mom ordered a salad (!) and that was terrible too. This is the one at Fifth & Forbes.
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  #18  
Old Posted Aug 31, 2024, 10:13 PM
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Primantis is awful, and is the #1 most offensive thing that is pushed on visitors. It needs to go away.

Honestly, when someone has such limited time, I immediately send them to the Strip District. Go hungry. It has been the regional food distribution hub / warehouse district for well over a century, and has a unique chaotic market neighborhood vibe during the daytime hours. You'll have a big mix of nonsense trash shopping, family-owned grocery stores and markets with food from all over the world, gourmet places, new wave foodie spots, and other shopping.

The latest iteration of the Strip District is a housing/condo boom & autonomous vehicle industry layered on top of all of this, so it's a pretty interesting time down there. It is quintessential Pittsburgh.

If you get bored of the Strip, it's a short walk to "trendy" Lawrenceville (if you want to get a feel for a busy PGH row-house neighborhood), and it also abuts downtown (where you can check out Point State Park).

Best bang for your buck, time wise imo.
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  #19  
Old Posted Sep 1, 2024, 3:04 AM
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I second the Strip District. Very cool place and lots to see and do.
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  #20  
Old Posted Sep 1, 2024, 1:36 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Steely Dan View Post
Call me a heathen, but I was a little underwhelmed by primanti brothers (I went to the one in the strip, which I was told was the original).

Fries are a side.

There's a reason why the other 8 billion restaurants on our planet serve them on the side.
I don't like coleslaw, so I've never been there at all.
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