Going to Pittsburgh this weekend, questions (drivers, used)

[ML North]

Originally Posted by TreasuredJewel

Does anyone know how "bad" herron avenue is in the hill district?

Herron Avenue isn't that bad. It kind of depends what you're going to be doing. If you're going to someone's house that is located on Herron Ave, I wouldn't worry about it. If you're going to be standing on the corner waiting for a bus at 130AM, that's a different story. Down towards Centre Ave is a little better than up towards Bedford. Obviously, it's difficult to definitely describe how "bad" an area is, but I would feel comfortable driving to someone's house on that street or walking there during the day.

The areas in the Hill that you should definitely avoid are Bedford Avenue (Especially around Chauncey Drive), Elmore Square, Reed & Roberts, and Kirkpatrick.

[Uptown kid]

I definatley agree with you ML North... I'll add that its not actually as bad as it looks... Sure there's a lot of gang afiliated grafity and there's a pair of shoes hung upon the telephone wire, but since there are virtually no residents its not that bad... And as ML North said there are worse areas

[ElijahAstin]

I drove through the Hill fairly frequently to get downtown, and I never felt uneasy while passing through. It's not a good neighborhood by any means, but if you have a good reason to be there, people generally won't bother you. That being said, beyond having family or friends living in the area, I can't think of a single good reason for an out-of-towner to hang out there. Most of Pittsburgh's "ghettos" aren't acutely dangerous so much as dilapidated and dead. Of course, if you needlessly linger around any bad neighborhood for long enough, trouble will eventually find you.

Pittsburgh has a lot of great restaurants, but the homestyle Central/Eastern European cuisine is especially amazing. If you like Hungarian food, I highly recommend eating at Jozsa Corner in Hazelwood. It's a small place, maybe enough seating for 20 or so, and you can only eat dinner by appointment (you'll need to bring a small group--at least four--to make it worth the owner's while).

The food is cooked to order and absolutely amazing. You'll start out with a crudite plate. Besides the typical raw sliced vegetables and cubed cheese, you get grape leaves, along with chicken cracklings (crispy bits of rendered chicken skin) by request.

You'll get savory langos (fried Hungarian flatbread), cucumber salad, haluski, chicken paprikash with dumplings, and Transylvanian goulash, along with loaf after loaf of oven-fresh, poppy seed-crusted peasant bread. You'll usually finish off with sweet langos for dessert. He's happy to make substitutions and omit offending ingredients (he makes excellent vegetarian food). He treats you more like an extended family member than a customer. Best part of all: the 5-course meal is $15 per person plus tip. And there's always leftovers to take home!

The owner-proprietor, Alex Bodnar, is a sixty-something Hungarian immigrant who came here as a refugee after fighting in the revolution. He can tell you a ton of interesting stories if you ask him about his past. I could go on and on and on, but I think you get the idea.

So suffice to say, I'm in love with this place. I can't recommend it enough.

[jay5835]

Originally Posted by HeavenWood

I drove through the Hill fairly frequently to get downtown, and I never felt uneasy while passing through. It's not a good neighborhood by any means, but if you have a good reason to be there, people generally won't bother you. That being said, beyond having family or friends living in the area, I can't think of a single good reason for an out-of-towner to hang out there. Most of Pittsburgh's "ghettos" aren't acutely dangerous so much as dilapidated and dead. Of course, if you needlessly linger around any bad neighborhood for long enough, trouble will eventually find you.

Pittsburgh has a lot of great restaurants, but the homestyle Central/Eastern European cuisine is especially amazing. If you like Hungarian food, I highly recommend eating at Jozsa Corner in Hazelwood. It's a small place, maybe enough seating for 20 or so, and you can only eat dinner by appointment (you'll need to bring a small group--at least four--to make it worth the owner's while).

The food is cooked to order and absolutely amazing. You'll start out with a crudite plate. Besides the typical raw sliced vegetables and cubed cheese, you get grape leaves, along with chicken cracklings (crispy bits of rendered chicken skin) by request.

You'll get savory langos (fried Hungarian flatbread), cucumber salad, haluski, chicken paprikash with dumplings, and Transylvanian goulash, along with loaf after loaf of oven-fresh, poppy seed-crusted peasant bread. You'll usually finish off with sweet langos for dessert. He's happy to make substitutions and omit offending ingredients (he makes excellent vegetarian food). He treats you more like an extended family member than a customer. Best part of all: the 5-course meal is $15 per person plus tip. And there's always leftovers to take home!

The owner-proprietor, Alex Bodnar, is a sixty-something Hungarian immigrant who came here as a refugee after fighting in the revolution. He can tell you a ton of interesting stories if you ask him about his past. I could go on and on and on, but I think you get the idea.

So suffice to say, I'm in love with this place. I can't recommend it enough.

Oh, this sounds wonderful. And I've never heard of it.

[TreasuredJewel]

Hey people just came back from Pittsburgh. Here is what I thought (no offense to anyone)

Before I start I enjoyed your city very much. The mountains there are very beautiful and the fall foilage was just gorgeous. I didn't find Pittsburgh to be a slow paced city at all. It was like a miniature phildelphia with mountains.

The positives
1. Scenery/fail foliage was beautiful
2. Primanti's were delicious
3. Smaller city = less hassle
4. I stayed in a hotel in Monroeville, hotel staff was friendly and it looks like a nice suburb.
5. Appears to be a city with a LOT of potential.
6. Cute downtown area

Things I didn't like

1. Some of the buildings were very run down taking away from the beauty of the city
2. some people were kind of rude (not holding door or saying excuse me)
3. Aggressive/fast drivers
4. Awkward, hilly roads (I know this town is in the mountains but its was very easy to get lost, I hate to imagine what winter time looks like)
5. Tolls

[Aqua Teen Carl]

Originally Posted by TreasuredJewel

3. Aggressive/fast drivers

I agree here. I know for nearly my entire life we've had a reputation for friendly, considerate drivers but in recent years that has been thrown out the window. People drive like maniacs, don't use turn signals, do the Pittsburgh Left, don't say thank you when you let them go, speed through parking lots, don't stop at the proper place on red, have zero patience and beep constantly, pass on the right when you are going well over the speed limit in the left lane, and by far the worst: blatantly go through red lights and make left turns on red.

What happened Pittsburgh? Our drivers used to be pals.

[TreasuredJewel]

Originally Posted by Aqua Teen Carl

I agree here. I know for nearly my entire life we've had a reputation for friendly, considerate drivers but in recent years that has been thrown out the window. People drive like maniacs, don't use turn signals, do the Pittsburgh Left, don't say thank you when you let them go, speed through parking lots, don't stop at the proper place on red, have zero patience and beep constantly, pass on the right when you are going well over the speed limit in the left lane, and by far the worst: blatantly go through red lights and make left turns on red.

What happened Pittsburgh? Our drivers used to be pals.

I don't drive, my brother drove me around everywhere to explore the city. But I will say your description pretty much fits what I have seen in Monroeville and the downtown area. I have also observed a lot of tailgating and horn honking, just wasn't a pleasant place to drive in. VERY fast drivers..

We had a friend of my brother's drive us around town, who was a native, who also drove like a mad man.

[BrianTH]

I'm glad you had a good trip!

Incidentally, I also think the local driving norms are changing and not always for the better (although I think it was true that sometimes Pittsburgh drivers were too polite, a happy median would be nice).

[greg42]

Tolls, really? There are no tolls in the immediate vicinity of the city. The PA Turnpike is a toll road with quite high tolls compared to some, but this would not typically be utilized in a visit to the city or in everyday getting around the city. (A few commuters live so far out that they would need the Turnpike to commute or commute between two distant places on it, but this is by far the exception rather than the norm.) That compares favorably to cities where one or more of its major roads and/or bridges has a toll that hits many everyday commuters. I mean, yeah, if you were in Monroeville and needed to get to Cranberry, the fastest way is the toll road, but this is not a commonplace enough occurrence to worry about the toll.

Other than that, nothing too surprising on negatives, especially as someone visiting from the South. I think anywhere in the Northeast is going to feel more rude and faster paced than the South, which carries over into driving, opening doors, etc. (Although as it goes Pittsburgh is generally lower on the "rude", aggressive, etc. scale compared to somewhere like, say, Boston. Judging by the door holding every day downtown for example, more people seem to be into that than not around here.) The hills (and rivers) are here making roads confusing, and yes some buildings are run down.

Glad you enjoyed your trip overall though. Incidentally, I don't think this is a particularly great year for foliage colors (although maybe I'm only judging by my own back yard ), but still a mediocre year can be stunning compared to none.

[escilade18]

I am glad that you enjoyed your visit. I personally enjoy reading outsiders views on the city to get a fresh perspective.