Downtown Living? (Pittsburgh, York, Bloomfield: fit in, best neighborhoods, spring break)

[Bostonnewcomer]

I've contributed to a few other posts on best neighborhoods with this question -- sorry for the repetition. I am relocating from Boston, and scoured the city on tours to find a neighborhood that had an urban feel, with mixed residential and commercial uses (can walk outside and go to a bar or restaurant, etc.) I found that many of the neighborhoods people first recommended, such as Shady Side or Squirrel Hill, had clusters of houses with accompanying sparse commercial strips (Walnut, Ellesworth), not much density. Also important to me is the ability to get to 376 and then 79 south very quickly without traffic -- a problem for those two neighborhoods, I suspect.

In light of these criteria and concerns I have settled, I think, on the Downtown/Cultural District area. The boosters say that "more and more people are moving downtown." Seems a bit dead after 9, and very dead earlier on Sunday's!

Am I crazy for picking Downtown? The Strip District might work as well, but that seems a bit industrial for me at this point.

Thanks very much for any advice.

[PreservationPioneer]

Not at all, downtown is very popular and is on the upswing, in terms of residential units. It's just pricey. Since you mentioned you like density and uban feel, you might want to check out the South Side Flats and Deutschtown on the North Side. Both of these neighborhoods are very dense, walkable, urban, with great business districts.

[Blackbeauty212]

I haven't been to a city yet, were Sunday mornings are anything but dead.....Even here in Manhattan Sunday Mornings are definitely the slowest time for NYC....

Most people sleep in on Sundays...Even the Bruncher's don't get things going until 11 and 12noon

[Faer]

I like downtown, but it is kinda slow off business hours. Getting better, but still slow. Did you look at the Southside? Because that sounds like a good fit.

[Bostonnewcomer]

Thanks -- I took a look at Southside Flats because that sounded like a very good fit indeed. But the residential areas looked quite run down -- and I heard that it was very young and rowdy, as in "someone might throw up in your garden on a Saturday night" as I was told. (I am a middle-aged professional)

In response to an earlier post -- I am not familiar with Deutschland. What are the streets that define it, and can I get to 376 very easily from there? I don't think I hit this neighborhood, at least not knowingly.

[SteelCityRising]

I really would advise against Deutschtown. It's a neighborhood on the upswing, but unless I'm visually-impaired I just never saw this "huge" and "thriving" business district there that AA referenced. The neighborhood is cut apart by wide I-279 (stupid "urban renewal" projects of the 1960s-1970s in this city).

If you are seriously most interested with living Downtown, then that is where I would recommend. I'd actually first suggest the Strip District to you, but if it feels "too industrial" for you now then it will for years to come as well. You'd be able to easily walk Downtown, Lawrenceville, Bloomfield, the North Shore, or Polish Hill. If it wasn't so expensive I, too, was interested in living Downtown. I have seen radical change there since I first visited in 1998 to when I last visited for Spring Break in 2009, and I foresee that area becoming more lively in the upcoming years as more and more people move there. Market Square and the Cultural District are great, and you'll continue to see more gentrification, in my opinion, in and around the new Consol Energy Center (arena for the NHL Penguins and also the venue for the Power, Pittsburgh's new Arena Football team). I love being able to walk Downtown from where I currently live in Polish Hill, and I only pay $550/month for an upscale 1-BR loft because the surrounding neighborhood is on the poorer side.

[jay5835]

Originally Posted by Bostonnewcomer

Thanks -- I took a look at Southside Flats because that sounded like a very good fit indeed. But the residential areas looked quite run down -- and I heard that it was very young and rowdy, as in "someone might throw up in your garden on a Saturday night" as I was told. (I am a middle-aged professional)

What did you not like about Shadyside and Squirrel Hill? And where in Boston did you live?

You're really not going to find the kind of neighborhood here I remember Boston being filled with (Back Bay, Beacon Hill, South End). And I haven't been to Boston in a long time, so I imagine it's probably got more truly walkable neighborhoods than it did before.

[jay5835]

Originally Posted by Blackbeauty212

I haven't been to a city yet, were Sunday mornings are anything but dead.....Even here in Manhattan Sunday Mornings are definitely the slowest time for NYC....

Most people sleep in on Sundays...Even the Bruncher's don't get things going until 11 and 12noon

I was so surprised when I moved from NY to discover that restaurants in other cities open before 11:30 on Sunday.

[Bostonnewcomer]

RR, thanks very much for your thoughtful reply. What I might do is start out Downtown with a one year lease and see how I feel about the Strip or some of the other places you mentioned. I've heard that the Strip is poised for even more residential development, and that might make it feel less warehouse-like eventually From Downtown, I can, conversely, walk to the Strip and the other neighborhoods you mentioned -- thanks for those recommendations. Bottom line is that it is very comforting for a former New Yorker to be near Sonoma Grill and Seviche and the other cultural and eating places along Penn Ave, I must say.

The price for your apartment sounds terrific -- again, once I know my way around a bit more, I might feel better about being more adventurous.

[Bostonnewcomer]

One clarification of what I meant by Downtown closing up earlier than 9 on Sunday...I meant 9 PM, and what I've found is that many restaurants are closed Downtown on Sunday night. Even those that are open often close early...8 pm, for example. The Rennaissance hotel has a sheet that they hand out to guests with the short list of places open on Sunday. Even when there was a Steelers' game one Sunday afternoon the Downtown area was relatively dead. I guess that there just isn't enough critical mass of residents to support a truly thriving after business hours scene. The Upper West Side of NYC is very active on Sunday nights. I wholeheartedly agree that it is uncivilized to be out and about before noon on a Sunday unless one is skiiing or some such.