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Old 12-02-2014, 08:36 AM
 
Location: Manchester
3,109 posts, read 2,892,587 times
Reputation: 3718

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Quote:
Originally Posted by SteelCityRising View Post
We're a 20-something left-leaning (although touchy people think I'm an anti-Semite now) gay couple living in the East End. We both own vehicles, but my partner COULD walk to work each day if he wanted to on the North Shore. I was formerly walking to work everyday in Oakland because parking was too much of a hassle, and I didn't want to pay to take the 54D bus.

There are LGBT individuals and couples scattered throughout the city and suburbs, and I can't think of any area I'd consider to be hostile towards us. If anything, old-school racists and bigots would probably still welcome us with open arms because they harbor the positive stereotype that if we start moving into the neighborhood and making it prettier and HGTV-like then their property values will shoot up.

What you're looking for is a tall order, and you're going to have to compromise somewhere. $650/month for a 1-BR in the coveted East End isn't really doable anymore. My partner and I live in a dumpy 1-BR in Polish Hill for $700/month (market value probably around $800/month these days), but that's because I've lived in this building for years now and my landlady probably doesn't want to rock the boat by jacking up the rent. Most 1-BR rentals that come on the market here these days are $800/month+, and we're one of the "cheaper" areas of the East End.

I like Beechview. I like Brookline. Those neighborhoods are just oozing with potential to be showplaces again someday soon like they each were in their heyday. You should be able to find a 1-BR for $650/month in Beechview and could take the "T" light rail to work (if you worked Downtown or the North Shore). If you work in Oakland, then the car-free commute from Beechview is going to be a hassle. The South Hills neighborhoods of the city proper of Pittsburgh probably have the densest concentration of Hispanic-Americans right now, albeit their numbers still aren't huge.

If by "gay life" you mean LGBT-friendly bars, then you're not going to find that in the South Hills at all. The East End/Downtown is the nexus of LGBT-friendly nightlife here. Shadyside has two very popular gay bars; Polish Hill has one; the Strip District has a few; Lawrenceville has a few; and Downtown has a few.

I couldn't imagine living car-free in Beechview if you'll be working/playing in the East End or Downtown most of the time. Let's say you'll be working in Oakland. You'll take the "T" Downtown and then transfer to a bus to Oakland. Then you want to go to 5801 or Spin in Shadyside in the evening to flirt and dance? You'd take a bus back to Downtown; take the "T" back to Beechview; change/shower/prep; then take the "T" back Downtown; take the East Busway to Shadyside; and walk about 1/3-mile to the Ellsworth Avenue nightlife scene. Then you'd have to leave Shadyside early enough to make sure you'd be back Downtown in time to grab the last "T" of the evening back to Beechview (or take a very expensive Lyft/Uber ride from Shadyside to Beechview).

Would you be open to having a roommate? Find a 2-BR/2-BA place somewhere in a cheap(ish) part of the East End, like Friendship, Bloomfield, or Polish Hill for ~$1,300/month if you can and split the rent two ways to get to your $650/month figure.

For as much as I like Beechview and Brookline, you will have a very good possibility of working in Oakland, our state's third-largest employment center, and neither has direct transit access to Oakland. I took a transfer once between two buses "for fun" one day. Not fun at all. Very long and cumbersome commute. Our transit agency really needs to re-examine its "spoke-and-hub" bus route system and make Oakland another "hub" so people outside the East End (minus the 54, which runs from the North Side to the South Side via Oakland) don't always have to take one mode of transit Downtown and then transfer to get to Oakland/East End.
Please remember this is the OPs second post in regards to where they would be working...

I'm not sure what the exact neighborhood would be but the address looks on the west part of town - west of downtown. But didn't want to include that because living in a neighborhood I like would trump commute times (I've commuted two hours each way on public transit before to a job), if I can walk to a bar or restaurant and other daily things. I'm thinking a one bedroom for 650 would be amazing and affordable.

So, they will probably need to take the west busway....and up to two hours on a bus doesnt seem to bother the OP...so now we can really remove transportation from this, because almost all points are going to need a transfer (even the East End )...

What's left?

Price: Around $650 a month....Beechview/maybe Brookline
Mexican Grocer: Brookline/Beechview
Walk to a bar or restaurant: Brookline/Beechview
Other Daily Things: Brookline/Beechview

As for the cost of Uber....I have gone from the Bar Marco to Brookline and it was $13...not really expensive...

So if you have to up your rent $200 a month to afford the bare bones of the East End just for the LGBT nightlife over there...you can easily go out every weekend and spend $50 on cabs and still break even. Heck, stay local one weekend or catch that last bus home, and you are up $50 for the month...get a really bad 2 week flu and you are up $100...
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Old 12-02-2014, 08:41 AM
 
Location: Marshall-Shadeland, Pittsburgh, PA
32,606 posts, read 77,268,091 times
Reputation: 19071
Quote:
Originally Posted by PghYinzer View Post
Please remember this is the OPs second post in regards to where they would be working...

I'm not sure what the exact neighborhood would be but the address looks on the west part of town - west of downtown. But didn't want to include that because living in a neighborhood I like would trump commute times (I've commuted two hours each way on public transit before to a job), if I can walk to a bar or restaurant and other daily things. I'm thinking a one bedroom for 650 would be amazing and affordable.

So, they will probably need to take the west busway....and up to two hours on a bus doesnt seem to bother the OP...so now we can really remove transportation from this, because almost all points are going to need a transfer (even the East End )...

What's left?

Price: Around $650 a month....Beechview/maybe Brookline
Mexican Grocer: Brookline/Beechview
Walk to a bar or restaurant: Brookline/Beechview
Other Daily Things: Brookline/Beechview

As for the cost of Uber....I have gone from the Bar Marco to Brookline and it was $13...not really expensive...

So if you have to up your rent $200 a month to afford the bare bones of the East End just for the LGBT nightlife over there...you can easily go out every weekend and spend $50 on cabs and still break even. Heck, stay local one weekend or catch that last bus home, and you are up $50 for the month...get a really bad 2 week flu and you are up $100...
D'oh! Somehow when glancing this thread I totally missed that second reply about where her/his workplace would be. Thanks for the clarification.

If it's true the OP will be working somewhere out west (Robinson, Moon, West End), then it wouldn't be logical for the OP to consider the East End just to be near the densest concentration of LGBT nightlife.
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Old 12-02-2014, 09:00 AM
 
Location: Pittsburgh, PA
618 posts, read 687,683 times
Reputation: 842
Quote:
Originally Posted by PghYinzer View Post
As for the cost of Uber....I have gone from the Bar Marco to Brookline and it was $13...not really expensive...
Agreed, every time I've taken Lyft from Lawrenceville or Bloomfield to Beechview it has been $20 or so. Not really killer and worth it IMO to be home in 10 minutes flat.
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Old 12-02-2014, 01:50 PM
 
111 posts, read 114,105 times
Reputation: 157
Texan moving to either Pittsburgh or Denver screams oil and gas industry to me. If I'm right, you're probably looking at an office in Canonsburg (Southpointe) or maybe Robinson. If the latter, anyplace along the West Busway would be ideal, but if you don't mind a transfer downtown, you can make working in Lawrenceville/Bloomfield/the rest of the East End work.

If it's Southpointe... well, I'm not sure you're taking public transportation to work.
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