Eastside vs East Liberty (Pittsburgh, Bloomfield: house, neighborhood, school)

[MissShona]

East Liberty is like Pittsburgh's Harlem. People think it oh so bad, but they haven't been there in 10 years to see for themselves!

[Aqua Teen Carl]

Well the name "East Liberty" still has a negative reputation with many older white people that know nothing about the area. Since older white people have money, it's probably a marketing tactic to cover up the fact that these businesses are in East Liberty.

I was talking to a co-worker about going to places to eat in East Liberty and he said, "whoa boy, you'll never catch me in that area!" People just don't have much of a clue on what the area consists of these days. We are talking about Pittsburghers here keep in mind.

[BrianTH]

Originally Posted by Drover

but Walnut Capital acknowledges in several of its press releases that the Bakery Square development in particular is in East Liberty so I'm a little more forgiving of the branding effort for the development.

Interestingly, it is actually in Larimer. I'm probably reading too much into this, but I wonder if the fact that people usually describe it as being in East Liberty is a sign that East Liberty is starting to become a positive brand of its own.

I realize that the technical borders and "colloquial" borders between neighborhoods aren't always coterminous and sometimes the latter can be subject to some interpretation. But IMO any place that's a block from Penn Circle is clearly in East Liberty. I understand why Sharp Edge might not wanted to have been associated with East Liberty, say, 10 years ago. But the stigma is rapidly fading and I think the Sharp Edge could lend a hand toward further eroding the stigma by admitting it is indeed part of East Liberty. It seems to have a stronger connection with the rest of the nightlife that has sprung up in and around Penn Circle than with any business cluster associated with Friendship.

We've discussed this before, and I don't mind if people want to say it is in East Liberty based on the official neighborhood boundaries. But I want to make clear that the reason that I and other people I know call that area "Friendship" has nothing to do with trying to avoid calling it East Liberty. It is because we define Friendship as the grid of streets on either side of Friendship Avenue from Baum to Gross, which was all part of one residential development back in the day, and has similar houses throughout. It is true there isn't much of a commercial district actually in Friendship, but that is precisely because Friendship was a residential development, and the Sharp Edge is a typical corner bar in such an area.

Again, I don't mind if people want to differ on their definitions. But I really don't think this is a case of people having something against East Liberty, and in fact I would say the exact same things if we were talking about a house in that area. To me, and others I know, that is Friendship.

[SteelCityRising]

Originally Posted by Aqua Teen Carl

Well the name "East Liberty" still has a negative reputation with many older white people that know nothing about the area. Since older white people have money, it's probably a marketing tactic to cover up the fact that these businesses are in East Liberty.

I was talking to a co-worker about going to places to eat in East Liberty and he said, "whoa boy, you'll never catch me in that area!" People just don't have much of a clue on what the area consists of these days. We are talking about Pittsburghers here keep in mind.

I tend to agree with this. My landlord and her former partner advised me against exploring the North Side. When I suggested scoping out the Mexican War Streets they said "that's the worst part". A lot of people in Pittsburgh, for better or much more likely for worse, are just trapped within their own little bubbles and never get out to see how much the city has been revitalized in recent years.

[shadysider412]

i cant speak to why a business would avoid the east liberty name other than to say its a common practice city-wide for not only business owners but maybe more so landlords. all i know is that i live a block off of s. highland behind pizza perfecta im a regular customer of the above mentioned "eastside" establishments and alot of other restaraunts and stores in east liberty. i use the bus stops on penn and highland quite often, i walk through east liberty at all hours of the night. imo its time for people to lose the old way of thinking towards this neighborhood its not the 90s anymore east liberty is not that bad at all

[SteelCityRising]

Originally Posted by shadysider412

i cant speak to why a business would avoid the east liberty name other than to say its a common practice city-wide for not only business owners but maybe more so landlords. all i know is that i live a block off of s. highland behind pizza perfecta im a regular customer of the above mentioned "eastside" establishments and alot of other restaraunts and stores in east liberty. i use the bus stops on penn and highland quite often, i walk through east liberty at all hours of the night. imo its time for people to lose the old way of thinking towards this neighborhood its not the 90s anymore east liberty is not that bad at all

Wow. You live on the same exact block as my impending partner. Small world!

[shadysider412]

lol yes it is!

[Blackbeauty212]

I dont know how well "East Side" is going resonate with the folks.....

- East Liberty is well ingrained into people's psyche that will be hard to change

- Also Eastside is used by a few who do not use the term "East End" to describe the cluster of Neighborhood east of Downtown...Eastside is not as well used as North and Southsides but people do use....I hear " I like the Eastside better than the Northside" phrases all the time.

[BrianTH]

The one good thing about people in Pittsburgh being slow to change their opinions about places is that they are also pretty much immune to marketing spin. So I agree it is a good bet that the dominant impression of East Liberty will change before "Eastside" will catch on. At which point "Eastside" will be unnecessary and probably die out.

I think a more interesting case is "North Shore". Although that is also a madeup term (and a nonsensical term--rivers have banks, not shores), there is some truth to the fact that the area between the river and the highways is very distinct from the rest of the North Side. Personally, I would love to sink those highways or turn them into a boulevard, and reintegrate the North Shore into the North Side, at which point the term "North Shore" might die out as well. But if that doesn't happen, maybe "North Shore" will stick.

[Blackbeauty212]

Even though "North Shore" has established itself in Pittsburgh as being distinct....there are still many many Pittsburgh'ers (Myself included) where anything North of the Allegheny River is the Northside and that will never change...Some outlets even try to brand it as being Downtown and a Pittsburgh'er will correct you in second....