Pittsburgh....Liveable vs Loveable (Allentown, Washington: top neighborhoods, apartment, to rent)

[TechieTransplant]

Originally Posted by eccotecc

In recent months I've been enticed to this forum by the prospect of relocating back to Pittsburgh. My thoughts of the city began to formulate after stumbling across a few articles about how liveable Pittsburgh has become. This thought prompted me to search out other centers of influence and here I am at city-data/Pittsburgh. After viewing the many topics directed towards current and future demographic, social, transportation, and cultural issues, I'm just wondering if Pittsburgh is as loveable as it is liveable?

If your thoughts lean in the direction that Pittsburgh is as loveable as it is liveable, then please share what you love about the city and what you couldn't do without.

I your thoughts tend to lean in the other direction, then please elaborate on a few of the issues that you have learned to tolerate and that only make the city liveable.

Anything is loveable and everywhere is liveable. Strange question.

[escilade18]

List of likes: A one bedroom house in a seedy neighborhood does NOT cost $800,000 the way it does in coastal California.
The economy has been improving rather impressively lately
The diversity is also improving thus bringing with it a more impressive ethnic restaurant scene
Low crime rate compared to many other cities (we don't have an equivalent to West Baltimore or East Cleveland.)
People are generally helpful and honest
Dislikes: We lack a good amount of chain restaurants for some reason (i.e., Romano Macaroni Grill, Big Boy, Friendlies, White Castle, Checkers/Rallys, Church's Chicken, Cicis etc...)
I notice more people "smokin their ciggs" around here than in other cities that I have been to
Farther from a large body of water than I would like (although I understand that I could do A LOT worse than Pittsburgh)
Traffic of the parkway east and west
Those are just some of my observations

[TechieTransplant]

Originally Posted by escilade18

Dislikes: We lack a good amount of chain restaurants for some reason (i.e., Romano Macaroni Grill, Big Boy, Friendlies, White Castle, Checkers/Rallys, Church's Chicken, Cicis etc...)

We have CiCi's........

I think there are plenty of chains here. But you can have the chains: I love all the original restaurants in our area and will take them anyday.

[BrianTH]

We specifically like our homegrown chains--Primanti's, Eat n Park, Pamela's, Mad Mex, and so on.

[escilade18]

Originally Posted by scottrpriester

We have CiCi's........

I think there are plenty of chains here. But you can have the chains: I love all the original restaurants in our area and will take them anyday.

Sadly around a month ago all of the CiCi's in the Pittsburgh region closed due to "economic conditions." The only one left within reasonable driving distance is 75 miles away in Morgantown WV
edit: and another one that left recently is Popeyes chicken

[Evergrey]

Pittsburgh needs a Tudor's Biscuit World.

[eccotecc]

scottpriester,

Not so strange of a question. What I love are the city's bridges, the view from the oval in Schenley Park, the walking trails down to Panther Hollow, and meandering through Carnegie Museum of Natural History on a rainy day. These are just a few of the things I love about Pittsburgh. Livability or quality of life issues are the weather, traffic, public transportation, and lack of good fishing within an hour drive of the city. I hope you can now appreciate the reasonability of the question.

[Katarina Witt]

Eat 'n Park started out as a part of the Big Boy chain, remained so until 1975. So not so local as some may think.

Eat'n Park - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[BrianTH]

Originally Posted by Katiana

Eat 'n Park started out as a part of the Big Boy chain, remained so until 1975.

That's not quite accurate as you stated it:

After 46 years, Eat'n Park still revs sales, appetites | Nation's Restaurant News | Find Articles

And the company was dual branding long before such a practice had a name. When founder Larry Hatch opened a carhop in 1949, he signed a deal with the Big Boy chain to sell its signature hamburger in his Eat'n Park. . . . Eat'n Park had continued selling the Big Boy burger, and eventually marketed the product in 41 restaurants. Then in 1976 a contract dispute caused the company to withdraw from the Big Boy system. The sandwich, however, remained on Eat'n Park's menu and was renamed the Superburger.

So Eat'n Park did have a relationship with Big Boy, but it was locally owned, and it wasn't fully homogenized with other Big Boy restaurants.

[Katarina Witt]

Originally Posted by BrianTH

That's not quite accurate as you stated it:

After 46 years, Eat'n Park still revs sales, appetites | Nation's Restaurant News | Find Articles



So Eat'n Park did have a relationship with Big Boy, but it was locally owned, and it wasn't fully homogenized with other Big Boy restaurants.

From my link:

Until 1975, Eat'n Park was the Pittsburgh-area franchisee of Big Boy.

I can remember their advertising when I was a kid:

"Try Eat n Park, home of the Big Boy hamburger".