Shadyside - Best and Worst (Pittsburgh, Bellefonte: renters, condo, crime)

[joeyrahimi]

I'm wondering what everyont thinks the best and worst things are about living in Shadyside.

Some things that I can come up with are.

Best
- great dining selection
- beautiful homes
- walking distance to coffee shops


Worst
- lack of parking
- crime from surrounding neighborhoods
- drunk college kids running around

If anyone can give me their thoughts, I'd greatly appreciate it.

Joey Rahimi
BrandingBrand

[vwscottie]

I just moved out of Shadyside back in August; orignally I thought I would miss it an awful lot but Point Breeze/Regent Square has much more to offer my lifestyle and don't miss it at all.

We still love to go to Pizutti's Itallian Ristorante on Bellefonte Street. Not only are coffee shops walkable, everything is walkable. I was lucky enough to have off street parking, but even then, people thought and used it as a public parking area. We loved Harris Grill, but of course that caught fire and I hear it still is not open back up. Before I left I noticed alot more gay men around, which doesn't bother me untill they are hanging around outside Uni Mart kissing with daizy dukes on. And I do miss Uni Mart

I feel very lucky to have a nice car and not have it broken in to or stolen. It was a great place to start my life in Pittsburgh, but I'm even happier where I'm at now.

[BrianTH]

You could probably add a pro and con about the location. On the pro side, Shadyside is centrally located in the East End--close to the big employers in Oakland, the restaurants in Squirrel Hill and Bloomfield, the booming commercial district in East Liberty, and so on--and not far from downtown by public transit if you use the busway. On the con side, it is relatively isolated from the Parkway, so it is harder to drive from Shadyside to locations outside of Pittsburgh. It also is relatively far from Pittsburgh's great East End parks (Frick, Schenley, and Highland) as compared to some other nice neighborhoods.

[Geeo]

A big pro for Shadyside is its overall vibrancy. Walk around and you see people from all over the world who have come to Pittsburgh for work or school. It's a little bit of everything. Walk just about anywhere for anything. Excellent public transport with two busway stations nearby. Great houses, shops, restaurants, outdoor dining. Yes, lots of gay men and women, which adds to the eclectic feel of the area. Lots of new residential and commercial development nearby in East Liberty and now on the border of Bloomfield, Shadyside and Friendship with plans for a multi-hundred million dollar retail, residential and commercial complex.

Cons: a bit congested during the weekdays, heavy traffic, limited parking. It does take a while to get to an expressway through city streets. Lots of renters in the area east of Negley Avenue. More single family homes west of Negley, where it's a lot quieter.

[vwscottie]

Originally Posted by BrianTH

You could probably add a pro and con about the location. On the pro side, Shadyside is centrally located in the East End--close to the big employers in Oakland, the restaurants in Squirrel Hill and Bloomfield, the booming commercial district in East Liberty, and so on--and not far from downtown by public transit if you use the busway. On the con side, it is relatively isolated from the Parkway, so it is harder to drive from Shadyside to locations outside of Pittsburgh. It also is relatively far from Pittsburgh's great East End parks (Frick, Schenley, and Highland) as compared to some other nice neighborhoods.

It really is not that hard to get to I-376. Just down through Oakland, on to Craft Avenue, down to Blvd of Allies and then on to 579 or 376. People seem to think that I-376 is the only road to use to get around Metro Pittsburgh.

[BrianTH]

Originally Posted by vwscottie

It really is not that hard to get to I-376. Just down through Oakland, on to Craft Avenue, down to Blvd of Allies and then on to 579 or 376. People seem to think that I-376 is the only road to use to get around Metro Pittsburgh.

I agree it is not that hard to get to the Parkway from Shadyside, particularly by the standards of most good neighborhoods in most cities (where traffic can be a lot worse than in Pittsburgh). I was more making a relative point: it is even easier to get to the Parkway from some other good East End neighborhoods, such as Squirrel Hill or Regent Square.

Whether or not that is relevant depends in part on your lifestyle. If you are say, working, eating, shopping, and in general living in the East End, I think Shadyside is extremely conveniently located. But if you (or perhaps a spouse) are working outside the East End (although as noted, if you work downtown you can easily take public transit on the busway), or you travel a lot outside of Pittsburgh, or so on, then the extra bit of time spent getting back and forth from Shadyside to the Parkway may add up.

[joeyrahimi]

thank you all so much for your feedback. if anyone else has an opinion about this, i'd love to hear it ...

[str8outtawexford]

I have lived in Shadyside for about three years, still do, but will probably move out once I get married this summer and buy a house with my new wife.

I own a condo in Shadyside and was lucky enough to rent it out for this upcoming year. Everytime I was showing it to people, I got a little sad because they seemed so excited at prospect of living a great Shadyside location and I was slowly realizing my time was almost done.

Good things:
1) Buses everywhere. I used to (don't anymore because of new job) take the Shadyside Express, 78C, into downtown everymorning. The stop was in front of building and nothing was easier or faster. If that didnt' work, I would hop on the EBA or EBS, which is the east end's answer to a subway; very fast.
2) Bars, Taverns, Lounges, etc. If you like to drink and mingle, it is very good. Yes, they are loud. Yes, some undergrad drunks. BUT, they are mostly grad student and young professional drunks, so a little better.
3) Walnut street jam. Very cool social scene
4) Art Festivals on Walnut & Ellsworth, both good times and a very cool social scene
5)Diverse group of people, lots of foreigners. You will meet lots of interesting people if you are open to it. The higher rents general keep out undergrads, so maybe not so diversified.
6) Free shadyside wireless around Walnut Street
7) If you work close by or downtown, you truely could get by without a car. Market District Giant Eagle is close, Whole foods is close, clothes stores are close, etc.
8) Flat, easy jogging
9) The william penn tavern. $2.25 pints everyday
10) The restaurants are all good, and you are close enough to some fast food on baum if you need it.

The Bad:
1) Parking. If you own a full size size sedan or SUV, its can be rough. I owned a very small car I didn't care too much about, so parking was never an issue for me.
2) Theft. If you have a nice car stereo or things just sitting in visible view in your car, they might get taken. Be smart, you'll be fine.
3) More expensive rents, but you get a more grown up scene than Oakland.

Obviously you can tell I'm biased, but thats my view....

[supersoulty]

Originally Posted by str8outtawexford

I have lived in Shadyside for about three years, still do, but will probably move out once I get married this summer and buy a house with my new wife.

I own a condo in Shadyside and was lucky enough to rent it out for this upcoming year. Everytime I was showing it to people, I got a little sad because they seemed so excited at prospect of living a great Shadyside location and I was slowly realizing my time was almost done.

Good things:
1) Buses everywhere. I used to (don't anymore because of new job) take the Shadyside Express, 78C, into downtown everymorning. The stop was in front of building and nothing was easier or faster. If that didnt' work, I would hop on the EBA or EBS, which is the east end's answer to a subway; very fast.
2) Bars, Taverns, Lounges, etc. If you like to drink and mingle, it is very good. Yes, they are loud. Yes, some undergrad drunks. BUT, they are mostly grad student and young professional drunks, so a little better.
3) Walnut street jam. Very cool social scene
4) Art Festivals on Walnut & Ellsworth, both good times and a very cool social scene
5)Diverse group of people, lots of foreigners. You will meet lots of interesting people if you are open to it. The higher rents general keep out undergrads, so maybe not so diversified.
6) Free shadyside wireless around Walnut Street
7) If you work close by or downtown, you truely could get by without a car. Market District Giant Eagle is close, Whole foods is close, clothes stores are close, etc.
8) Flat, easy jogging
9) The william penn tavern. $2.25 pints everyday
10) The restaurants are all good, and you are close enough to some fast food on baum if you need it.

The Bad:
1) Parking. If you own a full size size sedan or SUV, its can be rough. I owned a very small car I didn't care too much about, so parking was never an issue for me.
2) Theft. If you have a nice car stereo or things just sitting in visible view in your car, they might get taken. Be smart, you'll be fine.
3) More expensive rents, but you get a more grown up scene than Oakland.

Obviously you can tell I'm biased, but thats my view....

There really isn't much I can add to this. This is pretty much everything I was going to say. I would add that the people over all of friendly, though not so friendly that they want to invite you over, or have a real conversation with you... I haven't really found anyone to hang out with here, yet, and its been two months.

As for some other comments made... Shadyside is definatly a "Gay-borhood". I'm personally not bothered by that... least of which because it leaves more chicks for guys like me. ha Besides all my gay friends say that I'm pretty much the gayest straight guy they know... not because I have a gay voice or I act like a flamer, but because I have some feminine mannerisms and because I have a "gay vocabularly" which I guess means I use words like "understated" and such... *shrug*... ha.

[vwscottie]

Originally Posted by supersoulty

There really isn't much I can add to this. This is pretty much everything I was going to say. I would add that the people over all of friendly, though not so friendly that they want to invite you over, or have a real conversation with you... I haven't really found anyone to hang out with here, yet, and its been two months.

As for some other comments made... Shadyside is definatly a "Gay-borhood". I'm personally not bothered by that... least of which because it leaves more chicks for guys like me. ha Besides all my gay friends say that I'm pretty much the gayest straight guy they know... not because I have a gay voice or I act like a flamer, but because I have some feminine mannerisms and because I have a "gay vocabularly" which I guess means I use words like "understated" and such... *shrug*... ha.

I agree with some of that, the people in the building I lived in were very nice and always spoke, but out on the streets, it always seemed like adults over 40 were the friendlier crowd, alot the younger people never speak. People are very strange when they are drunk around there. They will hoot and holler at all hours of the night, but when you approach them or come in contact with them they keep to themselves.

Off topic now.....I have no idea why someone would tag you as "gay" for saying "understated", to me, just sounds like you speak intelligently, which is rare these days. Now, if you start saying that things are "cute", then we'll talk LOL.