Garfield neighborhood & should I move there? (Pittsburgh, Millvale: apartment, renting)

[mcadoosmackinyou]

Hello, bumping for any 2016 updates.

I may well be moving to Pittsburgh in the fall. I'm pretty intrigued by the strip roughly between the Aldi and the cemetery. It looks like the city has been making some investments in the streetscape and hipster-esque businesses are moving in (I'm not a hipster but tend to like areas where they live). Seems like there is oodles of potential.

Penn Avenue is the dividing line between Bloomfield and Garfield, right? Is Bloomfield pretty much revitalized at this point (e.g. minimal vacancy and crime)?

[norcider]

I'll bet it's still a bit sketchy even with all the new interest by millennials. I remember going into Toro's for a six pack before going to People's Indian with friends. I'd have them tie a rope around my waist before I entered the bar just in case.

[jay5835]

Originally Posted by mcadoosmackinyou

Hello, bumping for any 2016 updates.

I may well be moving to Pittsburgh in the fall. I'm pretty intrigued by the strip roughly between the Aldi and the cemetery. It looks like the city has been making some investments in the streetscape and hipster-esque businesses are moving in (I'm not a hipster but tend to like areas where they live). Seems like there is oodles of potential.

Penn Avenue is the dividing line between Bloomfield and Garfield, right? Is Bloomfield pretty much revitalized at this point (e.g. minimal vacancy and crime)?

I had tea at Bantha Tea Bar Tuesday night at 8:30. Good tea (black assam, chocolate mint, and some third element), but we felt rushed. Though it's a nicely hipstered-out sort of joint, they were closing at 9. There were no signs of other people on the street when we left except for some delivery guys coming out of Pizza Fiesta. I noticed that some formerly not-very-attractive storefronts and houses have been renovated.

I can't tell you anything about crime. I don't live in the neighborhood, but just in the little two block area I walked, I didn't feel afraid of anything. Garfield is north of, and up the hill from, Penn Avenue. I don't know anything else about it.

[eschaton]

Originally Posted by mcadoosmackinyou

Hello, bumping for any 2016 updates.

I may well be moving to Pittsburgh in the fall. I'm pretty intrigued by the strip roughly between the Aldi and the cemetery. It looks like the city has been making some investments in the streetscape and hipster-esque businesses are moving in (I'm not a hipster but tend to like areas where they live). Seems like there is oodles of potential.

Penn Avenue is the dividing line between Bloomfield and Garfield, right? Is Bloomfield pretty much revitalized at this point (e.g. minimal vacancy and crime)?

Garfield is still gritty, but it's bark has long been worse than its bite IMHO - particularly along Penn Avenue. I remember like ten years ago when I first moved here I looked up the crime rates, and it was no different from Bloomfield. I lived in Bloomfield back then and walked all around on Penn until late at night going to various places without issue. Today things like the crime maps on Trulia don't really show any substantive between the crime levels on Penn versus say Liberty or Butler.

I don't think there's really any substantive difference these days between Garfield South of Broad and Bloomfield north of Friendship Avenue. In both cases you need some street smarts (don't leave bikes in your backyard unlocked and the like) but in neither case do you need to worry about getting jumped.

[mcadoosmackinyou]

thanks - I have seen the Trulia maps as well and it doesn't seem too bad.

[I_Like_Spam]

My impressions, and what folks have told me is that the western reaches of Garfield near Mathilda are somewhat less dicier than the eastern sections.


As far as Toro's bar, I would think the place ought to be orderly. Toro is apparently a tough enough guy to keep order, he got into the ring with Joe Frazier back in the day.

[maxx233]

We're in the eastern parts of garfield, a couple blocks from east liberty. It's a little rough around the edges, but not bad. We've never had any issues with thefts, despite leaving stuff on our porch all the time. The diciest experience we've had was pulling up at 3am returning from a trip, and some drugged out black lady asked us for money and got all pissy and race-cardy when we didn't have any. Been asked for money a couple times on the street actually. But that was the only bad time. We like all our neighbors except the hipsters next door, honestly. Location is good, we'd love to buy something here (wish we had 3 years ago instead of renting this place.) BFG cafe is great for cheap eats, Spork just opened nearby (but we doubt it'll stay open very long unfortunately), and it's easy walking to Praire or whatever the heck Verde is called now - as well as walkable to Target and Whole Foods. For a long time it seemed like all the nearby businesses were going out (Quiet Storm cafe, the salon across the street, the auto place on Negley, even Salt of the Earth), but that's hopefully reversing.

[gladhands]

Originally Posted by maxx233

We're in the eastern parts of garfield, a couple blocks from east liberty. It's a little rough around the edges, but not bad. We've never had any issues with thefts, despite leaving stuff on our porch all the time. The diciest experience we've had was pulling up at 3am returning from a trip, and some drugged out black lady asked us for money and got all pissy and race-cardy when we didn't have any. Been asked for money a couple times on the street actually. But that was the only bad time. We like all our neighbors except the hipsters next door, honestly. Location is good, we'd love to buy something here (wish we had 3 years ago instead of renting this place.) BFG cafe is great for cheap eats, Spork just opened nearby (but we doubt it'll stay open very long unfortunately), and it's easy walking to Praire or whatever the heck Verde is called now - as well as walkable to Target and Whole Foods. For a long time it seemed like all the nearby businesses were going out (Quiet Storm cafe, the salon across the street, the auto place on Negley, even Salt of the Earth), but that's hopefully reversing.

People who feel the need to tell you a drug adfict's race, and use terms like "race card" should probably not moving to predominantly black neighborhoods. You probably have very little regard for the neighborhood's extant population, and are probably the worst kind of gentrifier.

[Uptown kid]

Originally Posted by eschaton

Garfield is still gritty, but it's bark has long been worse than its bite IMHO - particularly along Penn Avenue. I remember like ten years ago when I first moved here I looked up the crime rates, and it was no different from Bloomfield. I lived in Bloomfield back then and walked all around on Penn until late at night going to various places without issue. Today things like the crime maps on Trulia don't really show any substantive between the crime levels on Penn versus say Liberty or Butler.

I don't think there's really any substantive difference these days between Garfield South of Broad and Bloomfield north of Friendship Avenue. In both cases you need some street smarts (don't leave bikes in your backyard unlocked and the like) but in neither case do you need to worry about getting jumped.

Great post... Ditto.

Garfield is getting better see here neighborhood crime map change classification map ... but for every one step the Bloomfield-Garfield Corporation & the Garfield community as a whole takes forward, ills that have plagued the neighborhood for the last three decades like homicide and home invasion make the neighborhood take a step backwards. Although someone new to the community might not find trouble, Garfield still has enough of the 'gang-street-hood' element associated with it that there could always be shootings similar to the ones in Wilkinsburg or Homewood or East Hills or Lincoln-Lemington...
2016 Reported Shooting Incidents
GARFIELD HOME INVASION PROMPTS SWAT CALLOUT- Garfield 'up the hill' north of Broad Street
ARREST MADE IN GARFIELD SHOTS FIRED CALL- (Garfield south of Broad on Dearborn Street by the Nelson Mandela Peace Park still has some crime)
This was a 2015 triple homicide in Bloomfield north of Coral that was spill over from Garfield up the hill

Recent unsolved homicides (since March 2014 five have been killed in Garfield. Since 2012 the total is 9-10 with 16 year old caught in civil dispute fatal crossfire shooting as the youngest victim Future 'was so bright' for shooting victim Ne'Ondre Harbour )
2015 Christmas Eve Broad Day Fatal Shooting
2014 Teen killed in Garfield was witness in shooting case
2014 Police Investigating After Pregnant Woman Killed In Garfield Shooting -Boyfriend murderer committed suicide
2014 2 Killed In Garfield Shooting -recently solved

[Uptown kid]

Garfield Crime Map (soon I might add East Liberty, Highland Park, Larimer, Bloomfield, Friendship, Stanton Heights, Morningside which is the Zone 5 Upper East End besides Lincoln-Lemington, East Hills, Homewood) although there are nice middle class parts of both Lincoln-Lemington-Belmar & the East Hills