Four years in Pittsburgh
Written: Jul 28 '00 (Updated Aug 24 '00)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: seek activities and you will find them
Cons: downtown lacks energy...
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| bethy's Full Review: Pittsburgh |
Only now, having been away from Pittsburgh for about a month, do I realize that I will miss this small city. I'll miss silly things, like the feeling of almost being "home" when I hit a certain stretch of road just before my apartment. I'll miss making runs to the suburbs for groceries or a meal at Chili's. I'll even miss the cramped parking lot in back of my building that sometimes required more than twenty minutes of maneuvering to free my car.
These features bear no relevance to most people, but one of the many things I learned during my four years of living in Pittsburgh (during college) is that it's the people who bring meaning to a place, not the attractions. Still, while I was there, I complained (somewhat unfairly) about Pittsburgh's lack of attractions, and I never doubted that I would leave as soon as I was able.
Were I a traveler, I would not think to choose Pittsburgh as my travel destination. Were I someone who was about to settle down, I would not choose Pittsburgh as my place of settlement. However, people do both of these things, and a number of them are probably happy.
As a vacation destination, Pittsburgh could, in fact, make a great weekend trip. Here are some suggestions on places to visit (some are more oriented toward the resident than the traveler); if you're interested in learning more, you can read about many of these things (and others I'm going to forget) on realpittsburgh.com, the city's very informative web site.
- The Carnegie Museum of Art and Science
- The Andy Warhol Museum
- The Duquesne Incline (read OdellBurgess's review of Pittsburgh to learn more)
- Kaufmann's department store downtown (an old-fashioned, 12-story department store - with a gigantic shoe department, girls)
- Carnegie Science Center, complete with Imax and the ever undying Laser Floyd Light Show
- The Pittsburgh Zoo, with its very contemporary-looking new aquarium
- The Mattress Factory (an art gallery)
- bars and clubs in the Strip District
- Sand Castle (a water park thing)
- Kennywood (amusement park with famous rollercoasters)
- Vintage shops, antique shops and record stores on the South Side
- Station Square
- Frank Lloyd Wright's Fallingwater (about an hour and a half away)
- Shadyside's section of slightly higher-scale retail stores like Banana Republic, Bennetton and Ann Taylor.
I'm not going to mention how many of these things I haven't experienced, because it only proves that I had nothing to complain about during my time there. The thing is, though, the most fun activities for me were the ones I had to travel outside the city to experience. Most notable was the 1999 Big Butler Fair in Butler, PA, at which I saw Joan Jett and the Blackhearts rock out to a mixed crowd of hicks, kids and other assorted audience members for free. The Washington County Rib Fest is also worth a visit for its edible delights and amusing musical entertainment.
Summertime in Pittsburgh also features other greasy food-filled county fairs, as well as numerous concerts. And, of course, you can always try to catch the local phenomenon that is one time pseudo new-waver and all-time cheesy rocker Donny Iris when he's in town.
As for sports, Pittsburgh teams generally aren't very good, aside from the Penguins, their hockey outfit. However, Pgh is in the process of building some cool new stadiums to draw fans for their less successful teams, the "Stillers" and the Pirates.
If you're thinking about living in Pittsburgh (after all, Pittsburgh ranks 9th as the most livable city in the nation, I read recently), here are some unordered observations:
- They don't have many movie theaters that show independent films. There's the Harris Theater and Pittsburgh Filmmakers, but they aren't large enough to show more than one or two films at a time, and films don't stay much longer than a week or two.
- Its bus-only public transportation is reliable and user-friendly, but crowded with unsavory characters (not an unusual characteristic of city public transport).
- It's not very green. Parts are greener than others, but its general aura is one of brownness.
- Its downtown isn't the hopping kind of downtown you see in movies. During lunch hour, people bustle down streets and it kind of looks like a real downtown, but it lacks an energy required for the sense of liveliness a city should possess. I think maybe they just need more food trucks.
- Some sections weren't very well laid out; some of the city's blocks are triangular rather than rectangular, which can cause extreme driver/pedestrian confusion.
- Fun fact: it houses the nation's second largest elderly population.
- People there are generally friendly.
- Its airport is beautiful.
- Oakland (where the University of Pittsburgh and Carnegie Mellon University are located) is generally dirty, but it's not a bad place to spend four years of your life.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
bethy
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Member: Beth
Location: NY
Reviews written: 60
Trusted by: 36 members
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