What areas are in your Pittsburgh bubble? (Washington, Robinson Township: home, theater)

[theta_sigma]

I grew up in Edgewood and Wilkinsburg and went to middle and high school in Oakland (and my dad is a professor at Pitt) so I was definitely ensconced in the East End bubble from an early age. Espeically Oakland. I've worked at CMU, at Pitt twice, at the Carnegie three times (once at the library and twice at the museums), and at Tela Ropa if anyone remembers that place. Oakland is actually the only place I've ever held a job in Pittsburgh (and I've been working in Pittsburgh cumulatively for 15 years).

Live: Stanton Heights

Work: Oakland

Groceries: Trader Joe's every week, the Strip most Sundays, and occasionally the co-op (we've been members for nearly 20 years now)

Casual dining: Squirrell Hill, Lawrenceville, Highland Park, Oakland

Nice dinners: Nice dinners on temporary hiatus due to toddler

Drinks: See above re: toddler but Lawrenceville on the rare occasion that happens

Coffee: I don't drink coffee

Exercise: Ha! I take my kid to run around playgrounds in Friendship, Squirrell Hill, Lawrencveille and Point Breeze, though.

Other regular excursions: We have memberships to the Children's Museum, Aviary and Zoo, so all of those places and on the rare occasion I need to go to the mall, Ross Park or Waterworks are closest.

I pretty much never leave the East End unless I need to go to a mall. I come by it honestly, though. I know my way around the Eastern suburbs fairly well (in high school I had friends from Turtle Creek, Etna, Penn Hills and Churchill) but I start to get a bit hazy once rivers are crossed.

[selltheburgh]

I'm most definitely in an east end bubble. I decided about 12 years ago that I would leave Pittsburgh if I had to leave the east end for any reason.

Live: East Liberty

Work: East End (Highland Park, Lawrenceville, Shadyside, East Liberty)

Groceries: East Liberty (whole foods, trader joes, farmer's market) and sometimes the Strip

Casual Dining: Garfield, East Liberty, Lawrenceville, Highland Park, Shadyside, Polish Hill, Strip

Nice Dinners: Rare because of kids, but Highland Park, Squirrel Hill, Downtown

Coffee: Highland Park, Garfield, Lawrenceville, East Liberty

Movies: Sq Hill. Sometimes Waterworks or Mills

Exercise: Running in Highland Park. Mountain biking in Frick Park. Yoga in Garfield or Lawrenceville. LA Fitness at Bakery Square. Wheel Mill in Homewood.

Playgrounds: Highland Park

Kid's excursions: Carnegie Museum. Zoo. Children's Museum (across a river!!!)

Major Shopping: Amazon.com East Liberty. Outlet stores outside the city. Costco once per year.

We are a 2 car household and we put 11k miles on them in TOTAL in 2013 and 2014 will be about the same. I drive a lot for work but it is in my East End bubble. We also drove to NYC, southern VA, Cleveland, New England plus a number of day trips or short weekends within 2 hours of Pgh to get out of the city.

[UKyank]

Live: South Side

Work: Downtown

Groceries: The Strip & South Side (giant eagle, but grudgingly so)

Casual dining: South Side, Lawrenceville

Nice dinners: Primarily, but not exclusively Downtown

Drinks: South Side, Lawrenceville

Coffee: Not really my thing

Exercise: South Side, North Side

Heavy shopping: Waterfront or McKnight

[Lobick]

My bubbles in this City have really shifted over time. I had an East end bubble in undergrad, a Southside/Oakland/Downtown bubble in Grad School and now it's evolved again:


Live: Northside (War Streets)

Work: Downtown

Groceries: Deutchtown Giant Eagle, Strip, McKnight

Casual dining: Northside, Downtown

Nice dinners: Downtown (primarily) but really the primary reason I travel throughout the City

Drinks: Northside, Downtown, South Side (far less than previously and phasing itself out)

Coffee: Northside, Downtown

Exercise: Northside, Downtown (My walking commute)

Heavy shopping: Amazon, McKnight

Other: We also spend a lot of time (especially in the Summer) at our Club in Ben Avon which hits many of the above categories

[Moby Hick]

I am reliably informed that I never, ever leave Squirrel Hill because otherwise I'd know things. So very many things.

[gortonator]

Originally Posted by Moby Hick

I am reliably informed that I never, ever leave Squirrel Hill because otherwise I'd know things. So very many things.

Were you drinking last night?

[Moby Hick]

Originally Posted by gortonator

Were you drinking last night?

No. I was drinking Friday night. Last night I was playing Civ.

[sparrowmint]

Originally Posted by armourereric

As a long ago former native: Where does one do "heavy shopping" on Mt Nebo.

Sparrowmint, IIRC, the city boundaries do that because as the mall's name implies, that was/is the location of the city's main water intake/filtration facility.

Makes sense. Of course, it's highly visible to anyone who goes over there, so I probably should have been able to figure that out if I'd thought about it longer! Thanks for clarifying.

[Goodjules]

Live: Crafton

Work: Crafton. I'm self employed and work from home. I do meet regularly with two different clients in Monroeville and one in Lawrenceville. Most other communications are done from my phone or computer.

Groceries: Costco about twice a month. Fill in with local Giant Eagle and Shop and Save. Trader Joe's in Mt Lebanon isn't that far, but because of traffic it takes about 30-45 minutes to get there. I rarely go. If there was one closer I'd go weekly. I go to Asian markets in the Strip District. Cilantro is $.59 a bunch as opposed to $1.99 at my local supermarkets. Italian market there too.

Casual dining: Between the lack of nearby excellent restaurants and a newly renovated kitchen, I don't eat out much. When I do it's Coal Fired Pizza at Settlers Ridge, Dor Stop in Dormont, Vincent's of Green Tree (only a few things I like there, much of the menu is meh), Hanlon's Cafe at the Crafton Ingram shopping center, Thai Cottage in Regent Square, and a Vietnamese restaurant in Squirrel Hill.

Nice dinners: Hip trendy places primarily on the east side or make something special at home. I do like to take out of town guests to the Sunday brunch at the Grand Concourse.

Drinks: Home or wherever I'm dining out. Rarely go out just for drinks.

Coffee: Home or good local places when I'm out and about.

Exercise: Sadly, as little as possible. Trying to get back in the groove. Walking my dogs, lots of stairs in my house. My dogs are quite old, so the walks are short and slow. Hidden gem: Thelma Lovette YMCA on Centre in the Hill District. Brand new, huge pool, never crowded, friendly staff and members. The director recently added art and coordinated bath mats, soap and lotions for a spa like feel in the women's locker room. No reason whatsoever for me to be so out of shape.

Heavy shopping: Robinson for the big box stores. Rollier's Hardware in Mt Lebanon. It's big and has a great selection with super knowledgeable employees.

[ElijahAstin]

Originally Posted by SteelCityRising

Squirrel Hill (office); otherwise I work remotely throughout the East End, Downtown
Haven't accrued enough "white privilege" yet from the other thread to afford these on our working-class budget, but we'd definitely do Downtown.

That's not what white privilege means:
White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack by Peggy McIntosh