Random thoughts on my Pittsburgh visit (Manchester: house, neighborhoods, live)

[raubre]

Originally Posted by jay5835

There were never any such places here. Early on, maybe people weren't out enough. Now, the gayborhood concept is dying out around the country. But Pittsburgh never had one to die out.

To me, it sounds like, for once, Pittsburgh is ahead of things, lol

[BrianTH]

I'm glad you enjoyed your trip!

My brother lives in Portland, and there are definitely some notable resemblances.

[Craziaskowboi]

Originally Posted by raubre

To me, it sounds like, for once, Pittsburgh is ahead of things, lol

Pittsburgh is ahead of the country on a lot of things that largely go unnoticed by the general population, and behind the country on a couple of things that are blatantly obvious. Because the general population doesn't do nuances, they see only the blatantly obvious and reach the conclusion that Pittsburgh is behind the rest of the country on everything when it's really not.

[KingKrab]

I like your observation in that Squirrel Hill has a good mix in the business district. You can get almost everything in Squirrel Hill within certain reason. I too liked it more than Shadyside's Walnut St or Ellsworth for livable and functionble means. Although the nightlife was a little better on Ellsworth and Walnut. I miss S. Hill so much. It was easily the most happiest I ever was in a certain place, and I lived in many cities and towns.

The Giant Eagle in Shadyside is a Market district version, as the one in S. Hill is a old regular one. Market districts have higher quality food and brands, and generally are nicer laid out. THe S. Hill G.E. is tight, crowded, but has cheaper food.

Try moving to Reading, PA and finding a Pizza or vibrant neighborhood for that matter. Though, I do admit, out of all that I can't stand about this place, GNA has a mean Margheritta pizza. But God do I miss Pizza Amier in S. Hill, Sun Penang, Razy Fresh, Pamelas, the Smallman St. Deli, Cuzamil, PD's (or Franky and Georgies now), the JCC, Frick park, Schenley Park, The Bangkok balcony, and I could go on and on.

[SteelCityRising]

I'm glad to hear that you enjoyed your visit, expdxer! There's a huge NoVA presence in Pittsburgh, as evidenced by the plethora of VA license plates you see here, so if you ever want to change your screenname to "exarlingtonian" you'd fit in well here.

A few things I'd like to note:

1.) Pizza: I must have a simple palate, but I've been quite pleased with Mineo's in Squirrel Hill, Pizza Perfecta in Shadyside, Pino's in Point Breeze, Capri in East Liberty, and several others since moving here. I just wish more places would deliver to Polish Hill. Just because we have the dreaded 15219 zip code doesn't mean we're also inherently unsafe, and we'd happily part with our hard-earned dollars if more places would deliver here. For as much as I love my neighborhood I never could have imagined the ill side effects sharing a zip code with the city's largest ghetto could have upon us.

2.) Gays: I concur with Raubre that the closest thing Pittsburgh has to a true "gayborhood" would be the area bounded roughly by Ellsworth Avenue to the north, Negley Avenue to the west, Fifth Avenue to the south, and Highland Avenue (maybe Shady Avenue) to the east. Ellsworth Avenue is home to Spin and 5801, two very popular LGBT-oriented hot-spots. There's an apartment with rainbow curtains along Ellsworth Avenue. My partner and his three gay roommates live nearby on Alder Street, and that street in and of itself has a very high concentration of LGBT individuals. I've been to the Mexican War Streets before on numerous occasions, and I never see any rainbow flags, let alone a single LGBT-oriented establishment, so I don't know what those in the North Side are talking about. There are a pair of new LGBT-oriented clubs in the Strip District---Cruze and Headquaters. Pittsburgh IS the nation's 5th-gayest city, after all, while being surrounded by LGBT wastelands like the Mon Valley, Armstrong County, Fayette County, etc.

3.) Public Transportation: Bus service here is adequate. It's not excellent. It's not horrible. I'm thinking quality will decrease with our state currently being a GOP stronghold. Save for ferrying commuters between Mt. Lebanon/Dormont and Downtown, the "T" is worthless. The East Busway is nice. I've long flirted with the notion of selling my car and walking to the Herron Avenue station where I could ride the bus to my first job in East Liberty. Many buses, especially those servicing Oakland, can be very crowded.

[ferraris]

You can look on this NYT map and change it to show same sex couples.

Mapping America ? Census Bureau 2005-9 American Community Survey - NYTimes.com

The War Streets census tract is just 1% unmarried same-sex couples. There's also some surprises, who'd have thought Spring Garden would be at 9%!? Regent Square is another hot spot, also at 9%.

I think the shadyside gay population is more likely singles.

I actually think that 1% for the War Streets may be in accurate, possibly due to the census tract covering too large of an area for this purpose. There are definitely still a few rainbow flags around even today, and living there, I definitely see gay couples as neighbors within a few blocks of me. The thing is that they are usually over 40...I almost wonder if they went through the trouble of going to another state to get married, so they don't count, or if they are just more wary of reporting that they are gay due to discrimination being worse in the past?

[jay5835]

Originally Posted by SteelCityRising

I just wish more places would deliver to Polish Hill. Just because we have the dreaded 15219 zip code...

You know, if you would stop saying "the dreaded 15219 zip code" all the time, maybe people wouldn't think of it as dreadful. I just thought of it as one of the (two?) downtown zipcodes until you moved here and started posting about "the dreaded 15219 zip code" every other week.

Originally Posted by SteelCityRising

I've been to the Mexican War Streets before on numerous occasions, and I never see any rainbow flags, let alone a single LGBT-oriented establishment, so I don't know what those in the North Side are talking about.

There's a guy who went to my HS who I always thought was gay who lives in the Mexican War Streets. I haven't talked to him since HS, and we weren't actually friends, but I'll bet he could be a rainbow flag owner. Also, the tallest man I ever met used to live there when he lived in Pittsburgh.

[greg42]

Originally Posted by jay5835

I just thought of it as one of the (two?) downtown zipcodes until you moved here and started posting about "the dreaded 15219 zip code" every other week.

I never thought of it as dreaded at all. It's kind of weird, really. I haven't figured out the boundary downtown exactly, but one of our spaces downtown has a 15219 zip whereas 15222 goes all the way up the Strip, and I remember from years ago one of our customers in a building across the street from there had 15222 and couldn't figure out why we might have made a mistake on their zip code. So it dips down in one block there somewhere.

[Lobick]

Originally Posted by SteelCityRising

I've been to the Mexican War Streets before on numerous occasions, and I never see any rainbow flags, let alone a single LGBT-oriented establishment, so I don't know what those in the North Side are talking about.

Off the top of my head I can think of six or seven same sex couples residing on my relatively small block in the War Streets, although none younger than early 30s. I think the rainbow flag metric is a pretty dated and imprecise one not to mention that the garish color scheme may screw up the restored rowhouse street aesthetic

[ML North]

Originally Posted by SteelCityRising

Just because we have the dreaded 15219 zip code doesn't mean we're also inherently unsafe, and we'd happily part with our hard-earned dollars if more places would deliver here. For as much as I love my neighborhood I never could have imagined the ill side effects sharing a zip code with the city's largest ghetto could have upon us.

Originally Posted by greg42

I never thought of it as dreaded at all. It's kind of weird, really. I haven't figured out the boundary downtown exactly, but one of our spaces downtown has a 15219 zip whereas 15222 goes all the way up the Strip, and I remember from years ago one of our customers in a building across the street from there had 15222 and couldn't figure out why we might have made a mistake on their zip code. So it dips down in one block there somewhere.

Yeah, I also think there's something else going on here. I had an apartment Downtown for a while and my zip code was 15219. Also, my friend's house, which is legitimately in the Hill District, is 15219 and he has no trouble getting delivery drivers or even taxis for that matter (though we generally prefer jitneys).