Are you ready for the West End Photo Tour? (neighborhood, transportation)

[PreservationPioneer]

Originally Posted by Drover

A couple shops and a cafe opened up on Main. But then the restaurant that anchored the would-be revival (used to be Temperanceville Tavern, then became Grill 424) got shut down because some a-hole stole their liquor license from behind the counter and then mailed it to the PLCB as proof that they were operating without their license. That really seemed to take a lot of steam out of the West End renaissance before it really got off the ground.

The Grill 424 was open when I was there, actually!

[PreservationPioneer]

This photo tour is just of the West End, also known as "West End Village."

Sheraden, Elliott, Esplen, etc. are commonly referred to as west end neighborhoods, but they are separate neighborhoods.

[PreservationPioneer]

Originally Posted by Drover

I would occasionally hang out at Temperanceville Tavern back in the late '90s, and in all honestly it was kind of creepy. Not the tavern, but the whole neighborhood. The West End defines the "isolated neighborhood" sensation you get in some of the hilly parts of town. It really feels like its own little Appalachian holler village; someone who wasn't familiar with Pittsburgh would have no idea they were less than a mile from downtown if they were knocked unconscious and dropped off in the West End.

This is actually what I love about the West End. It seems like a small town in the city.

[Drover]

Originally Posted by alleghenyangel

The Grill 424 was open when I was there, actually!

Grill 424 has been closed for a couple years now. Last I heard that space was occupied by some place called Village Trattoria or something.

Originally Posted by alleghenyangel

This is actually what I love about the West End. It seems like a small town in the city.

Yeah it has that quality... almost to a fault. Other than Temperanceville Tavern, it's like nothing else was going on in that neighborhood, except maybe when it was being used as a Fort Pitt Tunnel bypass during rush hour (which is how I discovered T-ville Tavern in the first place). During other times, I half-expected to see tumbleweeds barreling down the street.

[nuwaver88]

Originally Posted by alleghenyangel

This is actually what I love about the West End. It seems like a small town in the city.

This was Neil Tennant's influence when writing this song.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sd_K6Yk4-oE&ob=av3e

[szug-bot]

'call the police/theres a madman around!' LOVED that back in the day. that woman with the ice cream cone always bugged me, for some reason.

the west end is just...weird. and i like it alot. i sometimes fantasize about quietly buying up properties and restoring them, and having some small homes built - with amazing landscaping and in an architectural style that is modern yet very sensitive to the ambience of what is there already.
then the PG shows up and does a feature, like "What the heck!?! look at this place and how europeanesque it is!"

gee, thanks nuwaver - got me hearing the Pet Shop boys and suddenly im talking about flowers and champage parties on a closed off section of Wabash Street.

[AngryIrishman]

Originally Posted by Pghuser

What street did you grow up on?

Nile St. I seem to remember walking up wallbridge as well. I went to St. James when it was still a church and school.

[AngryIrishman]

I don't know what you mean by "slated for revitalization," like you can just affect a revitalization on a predetermined time schedule. There was a time a couple years ago where West End looked like it would become the city's best hidden gem. A couple shops and a cafe opened up on Main. But then the restaurant that anchored the would-be revival (used to be Temperanceville Tavern, then became Grill 424) got shut down because some a-hole stole their liquor license from behind the counter and then mailed it to the PLCB as proof that they were operating without their license. That really seemed to take a lot of steam out of the West End renaissance before it really got off the ground.[/quote]

I saw something on google where a lot of money was about to be dumped into the west end area to try and revitalize it: West End Village launches six-month master plan to revitalize up-and-coming area

[Drover]

And that's just it, West End has been "up and coming" for the better part of a decade -- or two, depending on who you ask. You can make all the plans you want but you can't just make a revitalization happen. A "plan" to revitalize an area is only that -- a plan. You have to get a lot of investors, developers, and most importantly, tenants and buyers on board before a revitalization goes from plan to implementation to reality. West End has some assets working in its favor to be sure, but it has to compete with a whole lot of other areas that also have the same or better assets in its favor, not to mention the East End which seems to have Hoovered up most of revitalization resources over the last decade.

[Copanut]

Ah, the West End. At one time, about 25 years ago I thought it was the hot spot. Anyone remember the Temperanceville Tavern, great place. Hard to believe that an area that close to town is doing so bad.