Want To Move to Pittsburgh. (Canonsburg, Carnegie: home, neighborhoods, casino)

[TheHesitantMarylander12]

What kinds of things are there for a 21 year old guy in Pittsburgh. And what are the weather, people, and shopping and dining like?

[Moby Hick]

Lots, cold and windy, friendly and windy, varied, good and getting better.

[Hopes]

The people are friendly and windy?

[ctoocheck]

I would search the forum or general internets a bit (these questions have been answered lots of times; I'm sure you can even find a younger-20s guy who has asked this before) and come back more specific questions. There are all kinds of things to do, depends on what you like.

[bradjl2009]

I'm 22 so maybe I can help. The weather is pretty much what you'd expect in every season here but it can be cloudy from October to early April. Dining here until recently wasn't the best but there has been a decent increase in small restaurants especially in the city. Shopping here is average I suppose with most of the smaller and mom and pop stores on the city and plenty of big box stores in the suburbs. Where are you coming here from?

[SteelCityRising]

Originally Posted by bradjl2009

Where are you coming here from?

Judging by his screenname my guess would be Maryland.

[Tinare]

Originally Posted by Hopes

The people are friendly and windy?

Sorry, I have tried Beano...

[SteelCityRising]

Originally Posted by TheHesitantMarylander12

What kinds of things are there for a 21 year old guy in Pittsburgh. And what are the weather, people, and shopping and dining like?

1.) I'm a "young" 26, so I'm still in your age bracket. With that being said each individual is different. I'm not nor have I ever been an aficionado of imbibing; however, if drinking while watching a sporting event or drinking while trying to score a chick (dude?) is your thing, then we have a wide array of options for that in the city in neighborhoods like the South Side Flats, Shadyside, Lawrenceville, Bloomfield, and Downtown. If cultural amenities are your thing we're home to the Andy Warhol Museum, Carnegie Science Center (including a submarine tour), National Aviary, Pittsburgh Zoo & PPG Aquarium, Carnegie Museum of Art, Carnegie Museum of Natural History, the Cultural District (home to plentiful concerts and theatrical productions), Phipps Conservatory, and much more. We are home to one casino in the city proper, one about 20 minutes to our south near Canonsburg, and then two in the northern panhandle of WV. If you're outdoorsy, as I am, we have an extremely strong competitive running community here along with kayaking, hiking, mountain biking, whitewater rafting, bird-watching, skiing, and more all within a quick drive. We are also an emerging city for local and independent artists of all kinds, many of whom have studios or galleries in places like Lawrenceville and the North Side.

2.) The weather here varies considerably, and we have a true "four-season" climate. There's a tad less sun here during the winter months than I'd prefer, but then we can also typically have lengthy stretches of gorgeous weather from late-Spring through early-Fall. On the bright side to receiving so much precipitation throughout the year is that droughts are very infrequent, and I never feel guilty ecologically about taking a long cool shower after an invigorating run on a summer day. With that being said I'll take a city that's too cloudy ANYDAY over one that's more prone to natural disasters. I believe I read somewhere that Pittsburgh is the safest major U.S. city in terms of scarcity of experiencing natural disasters---hurricanes weaken by the time they get here, we're not along major geological fault lines for seismic acitivity, tornadoes are rare, blizzards are rare because we're too far inland to get the brunt of Nor'easters, droughts are rare due to our frequency of precipitation, etc.

3.) The people here, overall, are great. We're a metro area of 2.5 million, yet people never hesitate to strike up random conversations with me in elevators, on the sidewalk, in line at the bank, at the gas pump, etc. There are some local norms here that I abhor (i.e. putting a piece of your furniture on the street to "reserve" your own on-street parking spaces). With that being said even though I'm not a huge sports fan, for example (although I am a fan of Sidney Crosby for other reasons!), I do love how the Steelers and Penguins manage to unite people. I really wish we were a bigger baseball town as baseball is my favorite sport, but people here don't support losing teams, apparently. Pittsburgh's city proper only has a little over 300,000 people and is further subdivided into dozens and dozens of unique neighborhoods, which makes it feel like the city is really just a patchwork quilt of friendly smaller towns surrounding a massive skyline in the middle of Appalachia. The city proper tends to be heavily liberal (rainbow flags on churches, high hybrid vehicle ownership, appreciation of diversity, higher presence of those who support and/or rely upon social services programs, etc.) while the outer suburban areas and outlying rural areas are heavily conservative (God, gays, guns, etc.). This really isn't unusual from any other region in the country, though, where people are "blue" in the city and "red" around it.

4.) We are home to numerous shopping malls (Ross Park, Monroeville, South Hills Village, Robinson, Century III) along with just about every big-box retailer and chain restaurant imaginable. We also have a great variety of specialty shops and independent restaurants.

[bradjl2009]

Originally Posted by SteelCityRising

Judging by his screenname my guess would be Maryland.

Whoops but hey Maryland is a rather diverse state for its small size.

[Sealtite]

Originally Posted by TheHesitantMarylander12

What kinds of things are there for a 21 year old guy in Pittsburgh. And what are the weather, people, and shopping and dining like?

For someone your age, it depends on what you're into. If you're into sports and getting drunk, then Pittsburgh's your town. If you're a single dude, you'll probably continue to be single in Pittsburgh. It's a lousy town for singles. Especially in your age range. I personally find Pittsburgh women to be a little rough around the edges and somewhat manly, but that's just my opinion.

The weather just plain sucks. It usually precipitates in one way, shape or form just about every day, and you'll only have about 60 sunny days / year. About half of those sunny days will fall during the winter months, where it'll be well below freezing. You can cross-reference what I'm saying with any meteorological website. This isn't my opinion, it's a fact.

The people, as a whole, are alright. Use common sense and you'll get along just fine. As for shopping, it's sub-par. Mostly corporate. Dining in Pittsburgh is alright. There are a lot of corporate chains, as well as some decent local specialties. Again, use common sense. If a place looks like it could give you salmonella poisoning, then don't eat there.