The Burgh needs to do away with "DOWNTOWN" (Philadelphia: neighborhoods, university)

[Blackbeauty212]

Look Downtown Pittsburgh has a long ways to go to become Center City Philadelphia a pure neighborhood downtown....but this is ultimately the goal of the city planners.

I almost feel like if Downtown Pittsburgh is become a neighborhood, Planners need to come up with a new name for Downtown...as the term "Downtown" does not say "neighborhood" to alot of people its more just a generic term for a CBD and nothing more....

Now it would be hard as all hell to get natives to use the new neighborhood name as opposed to Downtown (hell some people in Philly still call Center City "Downtown") but for marketing the neighborhood to new comers, travelers, and national publications it would stand out....

To get people acclimated once a new name for Downtown (and please "Golden Triangle" is dead and so 1980's) has been chose, have PAT buses and trains rename all destination signs, schedules, and other prints from downtown to the new name...have the local media start using the new name in their broadcasts...along with the local newspapers and mags...if the residents of the city are plastered with the new name as opposed to "Downtown" people will start to become more accustomed to the new neighborhood name...


What do you think would be a good new name for new Downtown...something that says neighborhood

[Johnny C]

Uptown? Intown? Just town?

Downcity?

Neighbortown?

Get autta taun?

[Tinare]

I think Downtown is just fine as a designation. But then I think "North Shore" is silly. Rivers don't have shores, they have banks.

[Jrn14]

Ummm I'd prefer to just stay "DownTown".... if they changed it's name to like Oak Garden or something generic like that people would think we don't have an actual downtown with skyscrapers.

[pman]

center city caught on but it's still downtown. of course, downtown in pittsburgh is a lot more geographically fixed. center city was the name given to the original borders of the city of Philadelphia (in penn's time). downtown to some means all of that are, to others it's the area of west market and south broad, etc. really, people say all sorts of things "I work downtown" "I met him in a bar in center city" "I'm going to the city tonight." downtown, center city, the city are all used interchangeably. to the extent that center city caught on is probably due to the fact it fit a need in the local lexicon (south philadelphians call it uptown)...because downtown didn't really mean cc. they also came up with university city (caught on, includes several neighborhoods, some of which still exist, some of which were penntrified) and international city (never caught on, airport area).
my suggestion:
The Fish Sandwich
"I got an apt in the fish sandwich"
The Nipple
the city (NY ripped it off from london, why not Pittsburgh? besides, what other city would you be talking about if you live in lawrenceville or mt. lebanon?)

as noted earlier, Pittsburgh doesn't have any problem nailing down the borders of downtown, so you'd be fighting an uphill battle with what gain?

[BrianTH]

Golden Triangle goes at least back to 1914. I honestly think you have a better chance resurrecting that (or a variation like "the Triangle") than inventing something new. I have also seen "The Point District" in some older texts.

Personally, though, I see nothing wrong with "Downtown". The fact is that it IS our biggest CBD. And places like the Financial District in Manhattan (aka FiDi) are booming as residential neighborhoods, so I don't see a problem with that branding.

Finally, I'd suggest it might be a good idea to actually subdivide Downtown. The Cultural District already has a strong branding established. "First Side" seems to be a common term for the other side of the Triangle (see how smooth that is?). For the area in between--how about "the Diamond"? Forbes used to be Diamond Street, and the market in what is now Market Square used to be called the Diamond Market. That all dates back to regional custom of calling a central city square a "diamond", so Market Square was once Pittsburgh's Diamond. And if you squint a bit, the area defined by Stanwix, Liberty, 7th, Grant, and Boulevard of the Allies looks like a cut diamond.

[Little Mizz Pittsburgh]

Tribridge

[BrianTH]

Originally Posted by Little Mizz Pittsburgh

Tribridge

I'm not sure what that means ("triangle with all those bridges"?), but it sounds really cool.

[DaBurgh]

Yinzville

[pman]

Originally Posted by BrianTH

I'm not sure what that means ("triangle with all those bridges"?), but it sounds really cool.

that could work for the north shore as well no?