City Guide: Best of the Burbs and Best of the City Neighborhoods - August 2011 (Pittsburgh: house, promotional)

[lifepgh2op]

I decided to make this a new thread because I thought these would be helpful articles to both new and old residents...

City Guide: Best of the 'Burbs - City Guide - August 2011

City Guide - Pittsburgh, PA

[raubre]

I'll have to pick up this issue.

[ferraris]

It seemed odd to me how they wrote on a bunch of individual neighborhoods in the east and south, and then wrote about the "North side." And they really did mean the north side as a whole, not just the north shore and trendy neighborhoods. I thought that part was kind of useless, but the other guides were good. I didn't mind that they combined Friendship - East Liberty - Garfield into one section, that combination makes sense.

[UKyank]

Nice guide, should be pretty useful for the many where should I move to questions here.
The only negative, if it's a negative was that at least for my neighborhood (SouthSide) they article touched on more out of the norm places & such; just wondered if that held true for other areas too

[BrianTH]

Overall I like the entry on Regent Square, but I'd take issue with the claim the name originally only applied to the parts west of Braddock, and did not originally include parts of Wilkinsburg and Edgewood. Here is the history as I understand it:

History of Regent Square

In 1863 Judge William Wilkins acquired a 650 acre L-shaped tract of land in the Eastern environs of Pittsburgh. . . . The [Devon Plan] was recorded in April 1872 and extended from Hutchinson to Forbes Road (Avenue). It was on both sides of what was then called Park Street (now Braddock Avenue) from Richmond Avenue to Trenton Avenue. In 1910 the Devon Plan was extended to include Trevanion Street and a new southwestern sector. In 1913 William E. Harmon of Brooklyn, NY acquired a southern portion of the Devon Plan, and in 1919 he purchased the remaining portions of the Devon Plan, but he named it Regent Place. Eventually in his promotion materials he named the neighborhood Regent Square and touted it as a select area including Pittsburgh, Wilkinsburg, Swissvale and Edgewood sectors.

[stburr91]

Originally Posted by BrianTH

Overall I like the entry on Regent Square, but I'd take issue with the claim the name originally only applied to the parts west of Braddock, and did not originally include parts of Wilkinsburg and Edgewood. Here is the history as I understand it:

History of Regent Square

I've heard both claims, I wonder which history is correct.

I believe the book in which the history from the link you provided was taken, also makes the claim that Regent Square only applied to the area west of Braddock Ave. I don't have the book myself, but I know someone who has a copy, I may have to check it and see.

[BrianTH]

Originally Posted by stburr91

I believe the book in which the history from the link you provided was taken, also makes the claim that Regent Square only applied to the area west of Braddock Ave. I don't have the book myself, but I know someone who has a copy, I may have to check it and see.

I'll be interested to find out what you learn (I've always assumed people were getting confused by the fact that Regent Square is also an official neighborhood in the City, which ends at the City border). For what it is worth, I've confirmed the part about the Wilkins family acquiring the area on both sides of Braddock and laying it out, but not what it might have been called at that time or later.

[squarian]

Someone once lent me a dog-earred photocopy of a collection of old newspaper cuttings relating to Regent Square (now, how's that for unimpeachable provenance). Among them was the very sensational story, circa 1930, of the murder of a young Westinghouse engineer, by what the report described as "highwaymen", on the doorstep of his house in the 900 block of Mifflin Ave.

The article very distinctly referred to the address as being in Regent Square - and of course, Mifflin Ave is east of Braddock. Evidently in the age of Al Capone, both sides of Braddock were regarded, at least in the popular press, as constituting Regent Square.

But what is clear is that the neighborhood has been given several names over time, purely for promotional purposes. I propose to continue the tradition. From now on, let's call it Subaruvia.

[FreightTrainRunning]

Originally Posted by ferrarisnowday

It seemed odd to me how they wrote on a bunch of individual neighborhoods in the east and south, and then wrote about the "North side." And they really did mean the north side as a whole, not just the north shore and trendy neighborhoods. I thought that part was kind of useless, but the other guides were good. I didn't mind that they combined Friendship - East Liberty - Garfield into one section, that combination makes sense.

That kind of thing is a running joke here on the Northside. News people have never been able to distinguish between neighborhoods here and almost always just refer to "The Northside" as a whole.

[PeterRabbit]

The article is very inaccurate so how did this become a discussion? The OP never posts anything useful yet you go for it.