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I'm not sure you were actually in the south side of Pittsburgh -- it is mostly independent stuff, not chains. South side is centered on E. Carson St from about 10th St. to about 26th st. The only national chain stuff I can think of there would be coffee shops or fast food.
You may have been at Station Square, which is directly across the Monogahela from downtown. It is chain / tourist bars and restaurants, like Inner Harbor. Someone may have told you it was on the south side, which technically it is, but that's not the area that's called the South Side. Another possibility is you were at South Side Works, which is a retail development on the eastern edge of the South Side neighborhood (but not at all like the actual neighborhood).
I do like some of Baltimore's neighborhoods, they can be fun.
No, it wasn't Station Square. After poking around Google Maps, I guess I was around Water and 27th: https://goo.gl/maps/HpfTcmYiZaw. It felt very suburban: there was like a Cheesecake Factory, an H&M, and a PF Changs.
However, judging from Google Maps, the area between Station Square and Water and 27th, looks pretty neat.
I'll be back in Pitt sooner or later, and I'm looking forward to exploring the city in more detail. I sense that there's a lot going on if you scratch below the surface.
No, it wasn't Station Square. After poking around Google Maps, I guess I was around Water and 27th: https://goo.gl/maps/HpfTcmYiZaw. It felt very suburban: there was like a Cheesecake Factory, an H&M, and a PF Changs.
However, judging from Google Maps, the area between Station Square and Water and 27th, looks pretty neat.
Oh, that's South Side Works, yeah that's a retail development, not the neighborhood itself. but you were nearby. If you go west from there on E Carson St from 26th to 10th St, that's the business district of the South Side neighborhood. It's much, much different from where you were. a very large neighborhood with a wide variety of things.
While I can see Vancouver, I did not get that feeling. Yes, there are a lot of all glass high rise apartment complexes, but at street-level, it's not like that.
I agree that Seattle and portlands downtown proper are oddly sterile. There inner neighborhoods are where those cities shine.
That's only if you have a very narrow view of Downtown. For example, Pioneer Square and the Pike Place Market area in Seattle and Old Town and the Pearl District in Portland are not sterile and those areas are frequently considered part of Downtown. If you limit "Downtown" to only the areas with the tallest buildings that are active from 9-5 on weekdays, then yes they're sterile. But that can even be said for cities with Amazing Downtowns like Chicago and San Francisco. Have you been to the Financial District in SF or (at least portions of) The Loop in Chicago? Those areas feel pretty sterile too.
That's all fine & good but more importantly, will there actually be a complete, full square mile in D.C. that will have a resident population of 80,000?
I could definitely see Union Market/NOMA/Northwest One/Mount Vernon Triangle/Union Station/H Street getting there.
A bunch of new, shiny developments doesn't really help the case for a downtown becoming less sterile imo. Sounds like DC will continue on its current track for sterile developments.
A bunch of new, shiny developments doesn't really help the case for a downtown becoming less sterile imo. Sounds like DC will continue on its current track for sterile developments.
Isn't every single city in the nation building new shiny buildings? Seems like the real problem is that you don't like modern architecture. I love it. Old buildings don't have rooftop pools and live oxygen plant wall fitness centers. You can have the old busted buildings. I need floor to ceiling windows. I have yet to see a building go up anywhere in 2015 that doesn't look the exact same. They aren't building anything like they did 100 years ago.
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