Any Native Texans or Californians? (Pittsburgh, Wilkinsburg: transplants, houses, neighborhoods)

[jlloyd87]

Hi all,

I'm interested in getting more info about moving to Pittsburgh. Are there any native Texans or Californians in Pittsburgh that can tell us what it's like transitioning to Pittsburgh? I definitely appreciate any advice or info! Thanks!

[BarqCider]

not from those areas, but i have visited austin quite a bit and lived in san diego. im from the dc area. where are you coming from?

[SteelCityRising]

I see many California license plates here in the East End. I'd imagine Carnegie Mellon University attracted them here. I don't see many Texas license plates here, but I'm sure there's quite a few Texan transplants living southwest of the city in the fracking area. Hopefully one of them will come on here soon to contribute.

[Burghgirl17]

Originally Posted by SteelCityRising

I see many California license plates here in the East End. I'd imagine Carnegie Mellon University attracted them here. I don't see many Texas license plates here, but I'm sure there's quite a few Texan transplants living southwest of the city in the fracking area. Hopefully one of them will come on here soon to contribute.

There are a ton of Texas license plates around the southwest suburbs. Several people have moved to my neighborhood from Texas for the shale industry.

[Pitt Chick]

Originally Posted by Burghgirl17

There are a ton of Texas license plates around the southwest suburbs. Several people have moved to my neighborhood from Texas for the shale industry.

Out to the East also...
I know four Texan families; there are many, many more.

[Devout Urbanist]

Originally Posted by jlloyd87

Hi all,

I'm interested in getting more info about moving to Pittsburgh. Are there any native Texans or Californians in Pittsburgh that can tell us what it's like transitioning to Pittsburgh? I definitely appreciate any advice or info! Thanks!

Can you be more specific? Do you mean Pittsburgh or the metro area in general? The city proper differs from every major city core in Texas (higher population density). It also differs significantly from its own suburbs. If you come from a small Texas town or someplace like, say, Sugarland, I would imagine living in Pittsburgh proper would be a bit of a culture shock, but the suburbs are probably pretty similar, though maybe less diverse. Pittsburgh has a lot of cultural opportunities (it's probably on par with Houston). The cityscape is beautiful and wonderfully compact. The layout is pretty easy to learn if you're from a city. People are friendly enough, I suppose. Definitely not as many young professionals as Dallas, Houston, or Austin (if you care about that sort of thing). The local food is not very good. Nice city overall though.

[jlloyd87]

Well I wouldn't mind living in the general area of Pittsburgh. Just as long as I'm a reasonable distance from things to do. I'm actually ORIGINALLY from a tiny town in Texas (Josephine). It's at a whopping 1,000 residents now, but was only 400 strong when I grew up there. However, I have lived in Riverside, CA for a few years now so I've become more comfortable with a bigger city.

That's actually really exciting to hear that y'all know people in Pittsburgh that are from Texas. You might think this is dumb, but my main concern is actually living with snow... In Texas, when it snows everything stops until the thin layer melts. I'm sure it's not that bad, but I definitely have a mental barrier right now toward the idea of snow.

If you're interested, here are a few reasons we've decided that Pittsburgh is the place for us. First, I love all that I hear about the Pittsburgh area being very neighborhood oriented. I've always wanted to live in an area that had unique neighborhoods. Next, I like how big sports is in Pittsburgh. I love football, baseball, soccer, hockey, and many others. I don't get much satisfaction in California so I love the idea of having so many sports so close to me. Last would be art. My wife is an artist and has been hearing about how Pittsburgh is a great place for artists. She wants to work in the museums so we're going that can be a good option for us.

[Devout Urbanist]

Originally Posted by jlloyd87

First, I love all that I hear about the Pittsburgh area being very neighborhood oriented. I've always wanted to live in an area that had unique neighborhoods.

This is generally true of the city proper and the inner ring suburbs/towns (Wilkinsburg, for example), but you are not going to find distinct neighborhoods outside of these areas. Don't be fooled by the way people conflate "Pittsburgh" with Allegheny county (which is huge) or other neighboring counties. If you want to live in "a very neighborhood oriented" area you should probably only consider the city proper and the sliver of old towns and streetcar suburbs surrounding it.

Originally Posted by jlloyd87

Last would be art. My wife is an artist and has been hearing about how Pittsburgh is a great place for artists. She wants to work in the museums so we're going that can be a good option for us.

Also true. The city has great museums and a strong visual arts community, which is partly why I consider it similar to Houston.

[dbsteel]

I lived in Austin for 13 years before moving back here. Definitely different. I think there are more unique neighborhoods here, more interesting areas, some sprawl, but not as bad as Texas. Less generic. Definitely older crowd and older houses, more characterand characters, and a lot of people who have always lived here so some find it tough fitting in. Austin had people from everywhere. Very sports oriented here. Lots to do within a couple hours although some people will tell you otherwise. Weather can be tough on some with the winters, not so bad for others, depending on what you can handle.

[jlloyd87]

Originally Posted by Devout Urbanist

Also true. The city has great museums and a strong visual arts community, which is partly why I consider it similar to Houston.

I'm actually really excited to hear that there is an art scene in Pittsburgh. She is really talented and I want wherever we live to be an area that breeds creativity.

Originally Posted by dbsteel

I lived in Austin for 13 years before moving back here. Definitely different. I think there are more unique neighborhoods here, more interesting areas, some sprawl, but not as bad as Texas. Less generic. Definitely older crowd and older houses, more characterand characters, and a lot of people who have always lived here so some find it tough fitting in. Austin had people from everywhere. Very sports oriented here. Lots to do within a couple hours although some people will tell you otherwise. Weather can be tough on some with the winters, not so bad for others, depending on what you can handle.

Austin is my original hometown! This really helps a lot. The point that you make about fitting in is definitely why I want to be in an area with a more neighborhood type feel. Moving from Texas to California, I definitely noticed that it was harder making friends when none of my neighbors wanted to hang out. Austin wasn't my hometown, but my neighbors were nice enough that it didn't seem to matter much.

I will say that I have watched anything that I can find online or on tv about Pittsburgh. I watched Bizarre Foods the other night and it only made me more excited. I like the old feel of everything. I have been trying for a while to find a city that has kept all the buildings that were built in the 50's. There were several shots of streets that were straight from the 50's which I thought was amazing. I love historical stuff like that. I think that Texas bred that into me. California is constantly updating. They don't seem to take much pride in preserving their historical buildings. Obviously there are exceptions, but overall this seems to be the way that things are here.