Trip to Cincinnati Last Weekend (Pittsburgh, Harrisburg: living in, shop, metropolitan area)
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I'd disagree a bit. I think NYC and Philly, for example, are siblings (not twins, but siblings). The Texas cities are siblings in my view. Portland and Seattle. And so on.
Cincinnati has it's similarities to Pittsburgh in that it has several hills that over look the city. However, I got a different feel out of it's neighborhoods than Pittsburgh. Lower Price, Walnut Hills, Mt. Airy, Over the Rhine, are all much different than Pittsburgh's hoods. Even how the city is built into the hills is different.
My girlfriend and I took a trip out to Cincinnati for the weekend last week to see some of her family. Besides the hazy parts that included a party bus, a hot tub, and a trip to Kings Island, I made a concerted effort to compare the city to Pittsburgh. This was not our first trip and every time we visit I notice how starkly different Cincy can be from Pittsburgh. First off I wish Pittsburgh had a beltway like they do. I have a hard time getting used to being able to get anywhere in the city in a matter of minutes. I'm sure a Cincinnatian would notice the difference here as well. "You can't get there from here" is definitely pure Pittsburgh! At the same time Cincinnati is full of sprawl. I've never seen so many malls and chains in my life. I'm not sure if it's due to the beltway system but I felt a lot of the city lacked some of the character our neighborhoods have. All in all though a great, fun city with some beautiful downtown areas we really enjoyed stumbling through. Have any of you guys been out that way? And what do you think we could learn from them and vice versa?
I've always thought Pittsburgh could use an expressway beltway, say of a diameter centered on downtown with a radius out to the airport.
Atlanta's beltway (the perimeter) is very important to the metro but I'll admit that it is super-congested with traffic. And there's a lot of development along its route. You haven't seen malls and chains dominate the landscape till you see Atlanta. A lot of newly growing southern cities have the voids being filled by chains as well.
Never been to Cincinnati but I've heard it's relatively conservative. P&G dominates its corporate culture like Coca-Cola used to in Atlanta.
Brian has it right. Pittsburgh has no true twin. It physically resembles Cincy, but it's "blue collar tough guy" self image is more akin to Cleveland and Baltimore. Cincy was never a big center of heavy industry the way the other three were, which may be why the blue collar union mentality never took root there. Heavy industry in SW Ohio tended to be in Dayton, and Middletown. Cincy was built on trade, so it's no coincidence that P&G, and Kroger are the two titans of the Cincy business world.
Yeah, Pittsburgh probably is unique. Cincinnati might be the closest to Pittsburgh. About the same size and they have similar topographies.
Cincy has very strong retail roots. Macy's and Chiquita Brands are also headquartered there. StarKist used to be in Cincinnati till Heinz moved it to Pittsburgh. StarKist is no longer Heinz but it's still headquartered in Pittsburgh.
Yeah, Pittsburgh probably is unique. Cincinnati might be the closest to Pittsburgh. About the same size and they have similar topographies.
Cincy has very strong retail roots. Macy's and Chiquita Brands are also headquartered there. StarKist used to be in Cincinnati till Heinz moved it to Pittsburgh. StarKist is no longer Heinz but it's still headquartered in Pittsburgh.
Nah, Pittsburgh's corporate world was dominated by heavy industry. USS, PPG, Alcoa, Dravo etc. Nothing like Cincy. Pittsburgh was a hardcore union town during it's industrial heyday, just like Chicago, Philly, NYC, Cleveland, Detroit and Baltimore. Cincy has always been a different bird.
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I remember Andy Van Slyke's wife trashing Pittsburgh, because she considered it to be so different and inferior to St. Louis.
The conversation was from an interview with Vogue Magazine. It was from 1989 or 1990 and was entitled Diamond Stud. It went something like this.
Vogue: How do you like playing in Pittsburgh?
Andy: I like Pittsburgh. That goes without saying
Wife: We like the team, we don't necessarily like the city.
Andy: The city does have a few drawbacks.
Wife" "Goes without saying"
I remember that there was a big stink at the time about those comments. Van Slyke smoothed it over in an interview. He said he would have said the same thing about St. Louis if he were traded from the Pirates, the way the question was asked. Plus, Pittsburgh was not a good baseball town at the time, especially compared to St. Louis and Busch Stadium, which was far superior to Three Rivers Stadium, as far as the cookie cutters stadiums go. Let' face it, Pittsburgh has not always been for everybody. Shortly thereafter, the Pirates got good and Van Slyke ended up playing eight years for the Pirates. He said that his family eventually grew to love Pittsburgh and that it was the best time of his life.
Pittsburgh is not a city for non-arsty or non-intellectiual types to zip around the beltways to strip malls and chains to go shopping in their SUV's. I is not a "Me first " city. So I guess I could respect why a gold digging professional athlete's wife would not like it initially, until the atmosphere between the hills, neighborhoods and rivers gets in the blood.
I remember Andy Van Slyke's wife trashing Pittsburgh, because she considered it to be so different and inferior to St. Louis.
The conversation was from an interview with Vogue Magazine. It was from 1989 or 1990 and was entitled Diamond Stud. It went something like this.
Vogue: How do you like playing in Pittsburgh?
Andy: I like Pittsburgh. That goes without saying
Wife: We like the team, we don't necessarily like the city.
Andy: The city does have a few drawbacks.
Wife" "Goes without saying"
I remember that there was a big stink at the time about those comments. Van Slyke smoothed it over in an interview. He said he would have said the same thing about St. Louis if he were traded from the Pirates, the way the question was asked. Plus, Pittsburgh was not a good baseball town at the time, especially compared to St. Louis and Busch Stadium, which was far superior to Three Rivers Stadium, as far as the cookie cutters stadiums go. Let' face it, Pittsburgh has not always been for everybody. Shortly thereafter, the Pirates got good and Van Slyke ended up playing eight years for the Pirates. He said that his family eventually grew to love Pittsburgh and that it was the best time of his life.
Pittsburgh is not a city for non-arsty or non-intellectiual types to zip around the beltways to strip malls and chains to go shopping in their SUV's. I is not a "Me first " city. So I guess I could respect why a gold digging professional athlete's wife would not like it initially, until the atmosphere between the hills, neighborhoods and rivers gets in the blood.
Yeah, that was it. I remember the **** storm that followed. One thing you say about Pittsburgh without a doubt, is that the city is extremely thin skinned when it comes to outsiders making negative comments. This city doesn't take slights well at all.
I've always thought Pittsburgh could use an expressway beltway, say of a diameter centered on downtown with a radius out to the airport.
Atlanta's beltway (the perimeter) is very important to the metro but I'll admit that it is super-congested with traffic. And there's a lot of development along its route. You haven't seen malls and chains dominate the landscape till you see Atlanta. A lot of newly growing southern cities have the voids being filled by chains as well.
Never been to Cincinnati but I've heard it's relatively conservative. P&G dominates its corporate culture like Coca-Cola used to in Atlanta.
Pittsburgh has one. It's formed by I-76, I-79 and I-70. The diameter of the loop formed by these three highways is smaller than the loops/beltways surrounding many other cities and most of it is just about the radius out to the airport.
Yeah, that was it. I remember the **** storm that followed. One thing you say about Pittsburgh without a doubt, is that the city is extremely thin skinned when it comes to outsiders making negative comments. This city doesn't take slights well at all.
The reason for this is that Pittsburgh has been **** on for so many decades. Much of it was justified, of course. Those who lived here took exception to the non-objectiveness of many of the slights. There was a total lack of respect for a city with so many attributes. I think that the Pittsburgh of today at least has respect from people who still may not necessarily like it.
I quite like Cincinnati and can't wait to return! They have Skyline Chili, Graeter's Ice Cream, a cool laser tag place that I want to patronize again, and a newer gourmet grilled cheese restaurant that makes my mouth water. I still can't believe I've now lived here for nearly a year and have yet to jaunt into Ohio even once.
Take it from someone who lives there, you not missing much.
I;m someone from Ohio who would like to visit PGH, or maybe even live there.
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A lot of newly growing southern cities have the voids being filled by chains as well. 
