Moving to Pittsburgh! (Dormont, Liberty, Highland Park: section 8, apartments, to rent)

[vanhannaks]

My wife and I are looking to move to Pittsburgh. We need advice for southside neighborhoods. We like little quaint/odd shops and quiet. We looked into the southside because we liked it during the day. We are afraid it may be too rowdy in the evenings. We liked Lawrenceville, but it seemed too busy. Is East Liberty hipster heaven or crack town? We heard both. Friends of ours recommended Brookline and South Shore as well. We used to live in Chicago and understand crime is subjective in these threads. We are just starting our search and looking to spend $800 a month. We don't need fancy but we like character.

[ferraris]

Where will you both be commuting to? Is the $800 including utilities or not? And do you want a studio, 1 bedroom, 2 bedrom, or a whole house?

The South Side transforms in the evenings, especially on weekends. It is the #1 destination for nightlife in the city. I can understand why you liked it during the day, but if "quiet" is truly a top priortiy, it is basically one of the worst neighborhoods you could put yourself in. If you thought Lawrenceville was too busy, you don't want to be in the southside on a weekend night. The business section of East Liberty is pretty fine, but I would probably stick to neighboring Friendship or Highland Park, as their residential sections are less sketch and will cost you about the same.

Are you hoping for walkability, or do you just want to be within a reasoanble distance of quaint/odd shops? What about restaurants, bars, public transit & parks? Any preferences on the general age of people in the area?

Not knowing anything besides you wanting quaint, odd shops, and quiet, I would suggest Friendship as the place to look. The Penn Avenue Arts District doesn't get very crazy and the rest of the neighborhood is cute, convenient, and quiet. It's walking distance to Bloomfield, Shadyside, and East Liberty, all of which are a little busier than Friendship.

[Uptown kid]

East Liberty is no longer crack town, except in two parts...
1. From East Liberty Blvd to Hays Street west of Highland Avenue.
2. East Liberty Gardens (section 8 apartments) plus you should probably avoid the surrounding area (Omega Place & the Enright Court Townhomes in-between Larimer Avenue and Broad Street).

[TheYO]

Originally Posted by ferrarisnowday

The South Side transforms in the evenings, especially on weekends. It is the #1 destination for nightlife in the city. I can understand why you liked it during the day, but if "quiet" is truly a top priortiy, it is basically one of the worst neighborhoods you could put yourself in. If you thought Lawrenceville was too busy, you don't want to be in the southside on a weekend night. The business section of East Liberty is pretty fine, but I would probably stick to neighboring Friendship or Highland Park, as their residential sections are less sketch and will cost you about the same.

As a South Side resident, I will say that it does definitely transform on Friday and Saturday nights, but weekday nights it's really not that busy. As long as you're not living right on Carson (I made that mistake), it's really not that loud at all. The side streets are all pretty quiet, save for a random bar on some of the streets, especially the streets south of Carson. The area north of Carson, closer to the river, has a lot of really nice looking houses/apartments and it's very quiet compared to the thriving nightlife scene a few blocks away. The biggest downside is parking on weekends. The further you are from Carson, the less of an issue it becomes, but it's sometimes very difficult to find a parking space on Friday/Saturday nights.

It's a great neighborhood. Lots of shops and restaurants and you can definitely find a place for $800 (I pay less than that for a decent-sized one bedroom).

[I_Like_Spam]

Dormont has a lot of character and characters along its main drags of West Liberty and Potomac- and a different mix of stores, bars and tattoo parlors- and is a short busway or LTR ride to town.

There are interesting enough things to walk to out there, but it isn't nearly as rowdy as the South Side flats.

[selltheburgh]

East Liberty even on the rough blocks still isn't that bad. You might not want to live on them, but biking or walking through them doesn't seem to scare too many people. There are blocks in Highland Park that are just as bad and blocks in East Liberty that are better than many in Highland Park.

It isn't really much of a hipster neighborhood. There are some hipsters, some yuppies, some yupsters, as well as regular working class folk and non-working section 8 folks. It is a pretty interesting mix.

The housing stock isn't as affordable as Lawrenceville though. The houses tend to be larger. There are a lot of apartments if you are looking to rent and they range from $450 to $1400 from what I've seen.

[UKyank]

Southside is fine as long as you do not live on Carson Street as it most definitely gets very loud & full of people Fri & Sat night; find a place a couple of blocks back & you're fine.

[Hopes]

I'm not that impressed with South Side for daily living. You'd have to live near the southern end to truly take advantage of living within walking distance to real businesses people want near their homes. Just a few blocks north and nothing is open in the mornings. Hubby and I went there to hang out for a morning, and we couldn't find anywhere to get breakfast, except a few places that were disgusting. There weren't even coffee shops. We walked blocks and blocks. My point in sharing this is that your location would make a huge difference in South Side. You'd have to pick the property wisely to avoid the rowdy weekends, but also be close enough to the area with businesses real residents use.

[eschaton]

Originally Posted by Hopes

I'm not that impressed with South Side for daily living. You'd have to live near the southern end to truly take advantage of living within walking distance to real businesses people want near their homes. Just a few blocks north and nothing is open in the mornings. Hubby and I went there to hang out for a morning, and we couldn't find anywhere to get breakfast, except a few places that were disgusting. There weren't even coffee shops. We walked blocks and blocks. My point in sharing this is that your location would make a huge difference in South Side. You'd have to pick the property wisely to avoid the rowdy weekends, but also be close enough to the area with businesses real residents use.

Do you mean eastern and western ends?

[Hopes]

Originally Posted by eschaton

Do you mean eastern and western ends?

Yeah, I guess it does run east to west.

You'd want to live as far east as possible, but not near Carson Street, which leaves a very small area for a property search.