Pittsburgh Map Guide Part 6: West End (Carnegie, Crafton: apartments, crime, townhomes)

[eschaton]

Initial draft up for comments and revisions, as always. I probably know the least about the West End of any city regions, so I wouldn't be surprised if I got a few things wrong here. But it's a good place to start.

[ferraris]

Looks good, It really illustrates how ignored the West End is even though it's a decent place for the most part.

I think the area of Esplen bounded by W Carson, Telford, Powell, and Edgecliff is pretty well separated from the rest of Esplen. I don't know if there's a name for it, but I'd say it's isolated enough to be a different neighborhood on the map, similar to Duck Hollow, the nook of Polish Hill west of 28th street, and deep South Oakland near 2nd Ave and Bates.

[rockthecasbah121]

I would be interested to know what you think of some of those non-city neighborhoods, such as Crafton, Ingram, and Carnegie.

[Clint.]

Nice. This map will replace my "here be dragons" map of the west end.

[bradjl2009]

Not bad. Not that you've done the entire city I think, are you going to do to suburbs also?

[eschaton]

Originally Posted by ferrarisnowday

Looks good, It really illustrates how ignored the West End is even though it's a decent place for the most part.

I think the West End is basically ignored because with a few exceptions (West End proper, Elliott, parts of Sheraden, Esplen, and East Carnegie) it's basically a wide swathe of "suburb in the city." There's also nothing resembling a traditional business district. Well, there is West End Village of course, but the "commercial areas" of Sheraden and Elliott (which are the next closest) appear to have been half single-family housing even before the neighborhoods went into decline. There's just nothing to draw an outsider to visit, barring perhaps the great views from Elliott.

Originally Posted by ferrarisnowday

I think the area of Esplen bounded by W Carson, Telford, Powell, and Edgecliff is pretty well separated from the rest of Esplen. I don't know if there's a name for it, but I'd say it's isolated enough to be a different neighborhood on the map, similar to Duck Hollow, the nook of Polish Hill west of 28th street, and deep South Oakland near 2nd Ave and Bates.

So noted and changed. I decided not to include those few houses around West Carson and Corliss in either. In general I found there were some scattered houses in non-residential parts of the West End I couldn't easily shoehorn into any one neighborhood, so I considered those "neighborhoodless."

Originally Posted by rockthecasbah121

I would be interested to know what you think of some of those non-city neighborhoods, such as Crafton, Ingram, and Carnegie.

Given all my experience since moving here eight years ago has been with the city, I'm not sure I'm the right person to do that sort of map.

[Uptown kid]

Couple thoughts:
-The blocks of Ashlyn Street, Landis Street, and those garage streets north of Thorton Street are actually safe and well kept, even though they fit best in the category with Elliott & West Sheraden... So IMO you should move them to light orange and call it Nicer East Sheraden or something
-I wouldn't say that the "Crafton-Heights Townhomes", more commonanly known as the Mountian View Apartments or Greenway Apartments, (which had a 10man gang bust) are safer than East Sherdan... IMO it's the worst place of the West since BroadHead/Westgate, and I'm sure if you ask anybody from the West End they'll probably tell you the same.
-Elliott does have gang affiliation, but since it's actually not too bad of a neighborhood yet maybe you shouldn't include it.
-Perhaps "Glenmarw" could be called Lower East Sheredan, because Glenmarw Ave is one the worst streets of East Sheraden, while this section actually isn't too bad.

BTW: truly great map, especially given that the West End Village is so hard to understand these days largely since it's widley almost forgotten about...

[SlurmsMcKenzie]

I would actually consider the area bounded by Bergman and Sherwood to be part of the safer zone of Sheraden. I don't notice the real decline until you get to Zephyr and beyond.

[SlurmsMcKenzie]

Originally Posted by rockthecasbah121

I would be interested to know what you think of some of those non-city neighborhoods, such as Crafton, Ingram, and Carnegie.

I am a long time Sheraden resident and soon to be Crafton resident and can give a little overview of each.

Ingram is the closest to the city, bordering a neighborhood in slow decline (Crafton Heights). The area of Ingram to the east of Berry St/W Prospect/Ingram Ave is a solid blue collar neighborhood. Lots are small and homes are generally plain but it is safe and in decent condition. The area along W Prospect contains both grand old homes (in varying states of repair) and apartment buildings. The area below, bounded by the hillside to the north and Ingram Ave to the south, is very nice with larger lots and homes.

Crafton is an old streetcar suburb with large homes and decent sized lots. There is little crime to speak of and I can't say there are any unsafe portions of town. I'd estimate the most questionable areas would lie along the border with the city, along Clearview and Poplar. Even here, crime is negligible. Crafton's biggest problem is that it, along with Ingram, live in relative obscurity. It is difficult to attract potential home buyers as few rarely have a reason to venture westward.

I cannot speak much to Carnegie. It doesn't seem too unsafe to me, with the exception of the Carnegie Towers area. The business district is sizable yet seems somewhat abandoned in places.

[PreservationPioneer]

Great map. You nailed it.