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I consider it eastern and I'm from there. Even in far western Beaver County, which has a border with Ohio, people think they are Pennsylvanians, hence, easterners. However, I disagree with the rowhouse issue. Many major cities everywhere have rowhouses. We have some in Denver. I don't think rowhouses mean a city is eastern or anything else. It was just the way houses were built at a particular point in time.
You know I always respect your opinion even when I disagree...like now! With the exception of the Northeast (Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Washington D.C.) most cities do not have a heavy concentration of rowhouses. OK, OK, Chicago has quite a few, but it's so big and it certainly isn't a rowhouse city; St. Louis has a couple here and there; New Orleans--same as St. Louis; San Francisco has them, but they are so diffferent from the eastern ones anyway.
However, the entire old city of Allegheny is filled with them. This means Germantown, MWS/Central Northside, Allegheny West, and Manchester. Now before the Hill became a total slum, it was completely filled with rows too, having 40,000 ppl / sq. mi. Uptown is all rows; Southside Flats is all rows; Bloomfield is mostly rows; Lawrenceville is all rows; most of South Oakland is rows; and the little bits in Polish Hill and the Strip are rows. Then we have rowhouses scattered throughout the rest of the city....my point is: this is more than a few rowhouses, this is the core of Pittsburgh = rowhouse neighborhoods (not that we compete with the like of Philly or B-More, but we have quite a few). Now, PGH's proximity to the east coast, is the likely influence for this.
Pittsburgh, Buffalo, and Cleveland (and maybe Detroit) are in their own category - eastern Great Lakes/northern Appalachia. They have fairly strong ties to both the Northeast/Mid-Atlantic and Midwest but are distinct from both.
Pittsburgh is northeast. Pennsylvania is a northeastern state. Pittsburgh is in Pennsylvania. Therefore. . .
I asked DH from Omaha, NE his opinion on this matter. He thought it funny that anyone would think Pittsburgh anything but NE. I would say the same for Buffalo.
PS to ainulinale: I tried to find some pictures of Omaha's row houses, but I"m having trouble with my computer downloading pictures. Trust me, they're out there in the big city on the mighty Mo.
I voted Boston, Providence, Hartford, NYC, Philly, Baltimore, DC.
Baltimore and DC are not Southern. Maybe at one time they were considered somewhat Southern, maybe they are south of the Mason-Dixon line, but right now, in 2008, they have far more in common with Philly and NYC than Atlanta or even Richmond. For what its worth, I consider DC's burbs in Northern Virginia to be basically Northeastern, too. Regional borders are fluid and contain gray areas, but if you look at the politics, demographics and lifestyle of the DC and Baltimore metros, they are certainly the Northeast. It's the BosWash corridor, after all.
Regarding Pittsburgh, I'm from the NYC area and I think if you ask people from BosWash most will tell you that Pittsburgh is not the Northeast. It's generally considered the Midwest, if anything. However, ainaulinale makes some good points about the place and I'd be hard pressed to say that it is quite the Midwest, though I've never been there. I think Western PA/Western NY is one of those gray zone border areas. It's certainly not the Northeast, though....they say pop in Buffalo.
Also, to say "Pittsburgh is PA, PA is Northeast, therefore Pittsburgh is Northeast" doesn't make much sense. Regions are largely social and cultural constructs that cut across states. Large states even have regions within them (Northern California and Southern California are quite distinct, for example).
Look people, i live probably about 10 or 15 miles from the PA line in Ohio (near Youngstown). I agree that Buffalo, Cleveland and Pittsburgh are all of one region......perhaps you want to call it the rust belt.
Being that i live about 60 miles from both cleveland and pittsburgh i feel that NE Ohio and Western pa, including pittsburgh are more alike than different. Even though i consider Ohio midwest, i don't identify at all w/places like nebraska, iowa, etc. I also don't identify w/columbus or cinci. I probably identify more w/North Eastern cities than i do w/midwestern cities outside of the great lakes.
I don't consider Pittsburgh Ne even though it is in PA. If Pittsburgh is NE, then Youngstown, Cleveland and Akron are NE, of course this is ridiculous!!!
Besides, NE Ohio used to be part of the Connecticut Western Reserve so it does have a lot of New Engand type influence as does pittsburgh, this is because so many New Englanders settled here first. Many Great Lakes cities, NE Ohio, Western PA, and parts of New York should be considered their own region apart from Northeast and Midwest. Just my 2 cents!
I asked my daughter, 20 yrs old, Colorado born and bred, her opinion and she said, "Of course Pittsburgh is a northeastern city. What else would it be?" Pittsburgh may be close to Cleveland, Akron, Youngstown, etc, but it is in Pennsylvania. This is a time when political boundaries, e.g. state lines, make a difference. We in Beaver County all knew we were Pennsylvanians. No one I know from there considered themselves a midwesterner.
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. Not sure if they were just being smart alecs or what?
