Biggest Italian population (Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Penn Hills: transplants, homes, neighborhood)

[BrianTH]

Originally Posted by AndrewA47

BrianTH, thanks for all your insight. I've looked at the east end neighborhoods and I found a couple nice homes in the Morningside neighborhood. But there was nothing that compares to what I found in the Ross Twp, West View area in the price range I am looking at. I mean, I have found homes that are much smaller similar versions of the house in the movie Rose Red...all brick, and with the ivy, and nice bushes. Houses like these where I live right now (Detroit area) go for between 300K and 700K. So unless somebody can say something bad about that area, then I think that's where I am going to end up.

If you like what you are finding in Ross given your budget, it is a fine choice. I might note Ross is indeed more similar to most of the nicer neighborhoods in the suburbs of Detroit (where I happened to grow up) than the East End (which I might suggest has more of an East Coast feeling than a Midwest feeling).

[alleghenyman]

Most of the industrial towns outside of Pittsburgh have a large Italian population (New Castle, Washington, Latrobe, etc.)

As for city neighborhoods, it is similar - Italians are one of the largest ethnic groups in town. East Liberty used to be very Italian and many of those people moved out to the Penn Hills area. I live in Allison Park which has a surprising number of good Italian-owned restaurants but doesn't seem particularly Italian. Bloomfield, as some said....

I too am Italian and like to live near good Italian food stores (you may want a traditionally Italian church but I know little about this) and it's really hard to go wrong anywhere as the Strip District has great food, I heard about a good place in Aspinwall, Bloomfield has great stores, and local Giant Eagle groceries aren't bad in that department.

Interestingly, people from one village in Italy tended to all move to one town or neighborhood in Pittsburgh. Check out the Italian American studies department at the Heinz History Center some time.

[PeterRabbit]

There's a high percentage of Italians living in Penn Hills which has a population around 45,,000. I wouldn't want that parkway drive to and from town because of the Squirrel Hill tunnels. Traffic in the east might be the worst anywhere.

[AndrewA47]

Again, thank you everyone for your insight. I will be driving out to the area this weekend to look at a bunch of houses, and to get a feel for the different neighborhoods.

[AndrewA47]

Originally Posted by BrianTH

If you like what you are finding in Ross given your budget, it is a fine choice. I might note Ross is indeed more similar to most of the nicer neighborhoods in the suburbs of Detroit (where I happened to grow up) than the East End (which I might suggest has more of an East Coast feeling than a Midwest feeling).

It's interesting that you compare Ross to the nicer suburban Detroit cities. I kind of got the same feeling from looking at pictures of the different Pittsburgh neighborhoods. I am looking to live in a place that has a neighborhood feel, and it looks to me that the east end neighborhoods will give me that more then Ross Twp. will. I have family who lives in what is considered a very nice Detroit suburb in one of these brand new subdivisions with huge lots and huge homes, but their is absolutely no neighborhood feel at all. And if that is how Ross is, then that wouldn't be for me.

I am driving out to Pittsburgh this weekend to look at everything for myself, so I will find out very soon.

Again, thanks for your input.

[BrianTH]

Originally Posted by AndrewA47

It's interesting that you compare Ross to the nicer suburban Detroit cities. I kind of got the same feeling from looking at pictures of the different Pittsburgh neighborhoods. I am looking to live in a place that has a neighborhood feel, and it looks to me that the east end neighborhoods will give me that more then Ross Twp. will. I have family who lives in what is considered a very nice Detroit suburb in one of these brand new subdivisions with huge lots and huge homes, but their is absolutely no neighborhood feel at all. And if that is how Ross is, then that wouldn't be for me.

I am driving out to Pittsburgh this weekend to look at everything for myself, so I will find out very soon.

Again, thanks for your input.

Good luck! I hope you get a chance to check out some neighborhoods like Morningside, Highland Park, or Regent Square, just because they may indeed have a little more of that neighborhood feel to them. There are also suburbs like that (Mt. Lebanon, Dormont, and so on). Again, I have nothing against Ross, but you might as well get a sense of the range of options available in the area.

[appalachiangirl]

I would say anywhere (just about) in Southwest PA there is a large Italian population! read somewhere the city of Pittsburgh has the 5th largest Italian-American population of any city in the country.

[italianbluesboy]

Okay, maybe this is an older post, but I would like to neb in. Defining the Pittsburgh area as from the west bank of the Ohio (Steubenville - Bel Air) to the toe of Chestnut Ridge - I think the densest Italian-American populations may be Follansbee, WV, Monessen, Monongahela (whenever the church is named St. Anthony it is/was probably an Italian neighborhood), Jeanette (Delallo's, of course), Ellwood City (Donnie Iris is Italian), and the Carbon-Greensburg-Crabtree area. I don't know about Aliquippa anymore, though they still have that San Rocco Festival. But how diluted does the Italian blood have to get before you are no longer an Italian-American? Just look at the wedding page of the Trib - the kids with the Italian names never marry another Italian American. Which is okay, but they are an endangered species. I worked with a guy near Finleyville who said he was a pure Lithuanian-American and should be protected as threatened and endangered like a California Condor or something (his words, not mine). And I hate to be stereotypical, but could all the ethnic intermarrying and decline of pure Italians be the reason for the decline of the Larocca crime family? Does that entity even exist anymore? I'll bet their aren't even 10 made members still active. I saw where their boss died, wonder if that's the end of them???

[ainulinale]

Originally Posted by appalachiangirl

I would say anywhere (just about) in Southwest PA there is a large Italian population! read somewhere the city of Pittsburgh has the 5th largest Italian-American population of any city in the country.

That's very interesting; I'm curious as to where you read that.

[Copanut]

The Spaghetti Terrace in Pitcairn.