Are there any bohemian neighborhoods (Pittsburgh, Allentown: middle-class, hotels, homes)

[Hopes]

Then it's Lawrenceville, Southside, Penn Ave in Garfield (more like a few blocks than a neighborhood), the Mexican War Streets (but there's not a business area just artsy homeowners who paint their houses super cool). Many artists also live in Millvale, but there aren't art studios or cool shops---just cheap ugly housing rentals attracting starving artists.

People will say Shadyside but it's not bohemian. Shadyside is what happens after artists make a neighborhood trendy---too expensive and fake. Chain stores have moved into the area. Squirrel Hill isn't bohemian either---just an interesting city neighborhood with thriving small businesses, but not artsy.

[thelazyone]

Originally Posted by Hopes

Squirrel Hill isn't bohemian either---just an interesting city neighborhood with thriving small businesses, but not artsy.

thnx for the input. would you consider squirrel hill family friendly?

[Blackbeauty212]

Originally Posted by Hopes

Not Point Breeze. It's urban suburbia.

Shadyside and Squirrel Hill don't qualify---especially Shadyside.

Maybe Bloomfield and Regent Square, but not really.

Southside and Lawrenceville are the most bohemian we have, but they're not even close to being like Greenwich Village. No way. No how.

Iif the OP is looking for street performers, she needs to know she won't find that here.

Actually Hopes Greenwich Village is more like Shadyside now....the Hipsters have long moved on....East Village, Chinatown are now the Hipster Havens in Manhattan...

[Blackbeauty212]

Originally Posted by thelazyone

thnx for the input. would you consider squirrel hill family friendly?

Yes Very if comparing to NYC, the closest I would say is Squirrel Hill is most like Astoria Queens....but with Houses instead of Apartments.

[raubre]

Originally Posted by Love2Golf09

Ugh, please tell me you're talking about gypsies and not hipster losers that are in their 30s, wear skinny jeans, and play in a lame band that sounds like a even more homoerotic version of dashboard confessional.

Why do some people have problems with bohemians or hipsters?

[raubre]

Originally Posted by Hopes

People will say Shadyside but it's not bohemian. Shadyside is what happens after artists make a neighborhood trendy---too expensive and fake.

I may have read somewhere on this board a long time ago that Shadyside used to be an artsy/bohemian neighborghood back in the 60s or 70s. Look where Shadyside is now.

[BrianTH]

Lawrenceville, Polish Hill, and Bloomfield/Friendship. Honorable mention to Millvale.

[BrianTH]

Originally Posted by raubre

Why do some people have problems with bohemians or hipsters?

Bohemians are usually at least mildly counter-cultural. Those who are emotionally invested in conforming with mainstream norms may take their very existence as an implied criticism, and react with hostility.

And, of course, they may also secretly suspect the bohemians are having more fun.

[jay5835]

Originally Posted by raubre

I may have read somewhere on this board a long time ago that Shadyside used to be an artsy/bohemian neighborghood back in the 60s or 70s. Look where Shadyside is now.

Shadyside is where the hippies lived in Pittsburgh, though the "hip" part was more the section east of S. Aiken rather than the cushy residential area to the west. There and Oakland, though Oakland was mainly students, just like today. I never even heard of Bloomfield or Lawrenceville in 1970. The South Side was the place the red sky and the smell came from.

Originally Posted by thelazyone

thnx for the input. would you consider squirrel hill family friendly?

I don't think of Squirrel Hill as being Astoria-esque. More like Forest Hills, Kew Gardens, or Douglaston, if you're comparing it to neighborhoods in Queens. When I lived there, I thought of it as the Upper West Side of Pittsburgh, given the influence of the two universities down the road. To answer the lazy one's question, yes, Squirrel Hill is family-friendly, although I think most of the universe is family-friendly.

[gg]

IMHO, Lawrenceville gets top honors and if you would use the term "Bohemian" I would look no further.