Middle class/nice and safe areas that don't have a shot in hell at getting gentrified (Carnegie: fit in, transplants)

[eschaton]

Thinking about it more, Morningside might do it for you.

Since I moved here, I've learned the neighborhood is less blue collar than I had believed. But the newcomers tend to be different than Lawrenceville - more parents with young children (or childless people with dogs) who would have liked to be able to afford Highland Park, but couldn't and settled here instead.

There obviously isn't a lot of commerce, but there are people out and about on the streets all the time. I am shocked at how absolutely packed the playgrounds are on days with nice weather. I was used to having my daughter often play alone at Leslie Park, with only 2-5 other small kids when she wasn't. But at our new playground there's often dozens of children of all ages hanging out, from babies being pushed on the swings by their parents to tweens playing softball to teens just hanging out.

The one down side of course is there is no neighborhood school in the area. You could send you kid to Saint Raphael's, or do the magnet system however. I think it would otherwise fit your needs, and although it's changing to be less blue collar (Greenwood is getting another coffeeshop, and I hear a thai restaurant soon), it's never really going to be hip or yuppie.

[SteelCityRising]

I also want to reiterate that not every Millennial is a "hipster". We're in our late-20s and couldn't care less about upscale microbreweries; vegan-friendly, gluten-free, no added MSG, trans fat-free, farm-to-table dining options; places to babysit your poodle while you do co-ed nude bikram yoga to Enya music; dedicated lanes for unicycles and Segways; etc.

Hipsters abhor anything with the hint of suburbia, and, as such, I think Stanton Heights would be the perfect in-city neighborhood because it is mostly 1960s-era "dated" smaller homes with a mixture of blue-collar and white-collar African-Americans south of Stanton and mostly older blue-collar or white-collar white people (think retired cops, retired teachers, retired DPW workers, etc.) north of Stanton. It's a perfectly safe and friendly neighborhood, but it doesn't have the built environment most hipsters are looking for, and it will never be dense enough to support its own business district.

I'm not so certain I'd call Morningside "safe from hipsters" for the long-term, though. It's on the same topographical level as East Liberty and Highland Park and isn't far removed from Garfield. If the neighborhood does get that coffeeshop and Thai restaurant that eschaton mentioned, then more businesses may follow, and before you know it there will be the momentum to make Morningside "the next big thing" the way Lawrenceville has now become.

Lincoln Place would be another excellent option, and it also feeds into the Taylor Allderdice High School feeder pattern---arguably the best public feeder option in the city right now. It feels like more of an extension of Munhall than of the city proper.

[Mtl-Cns]

All this talk of hipster vs yuppie and transforming from hipster to yuppie is silly. Hipsters are the yuppies of the modern era. They are synonomous.

The real recent change in Lawrenceville from my perspective as a resident is the the fact that it has become a destination neighborhood for people to visit for a night out. The rise of places like Industry, for example, has even appealed to suburbanites who otherwise would have never had a reason to visit. I don't mean that in a derogatory way it's just that recently if you go near places like that on weekends especially they're not exactly filled with typical lawrenceville residents.

I also think that children's hospital has been a real economic growth engine that has helped pull in lots of new professional residents who want to live close to work.

[PghYinzer]

Am I the only one that hopes that their neighborhood gets a little more “hipster”? We already have a great coffee shop and a farm to table BBQ joint in Brookline, but could definitely use a great Thai place, and a brewpub would be awesome. I think there can be a happy medium with these types of options, however in Lawrenceville it was such a dramatic change that it basically changed the neighborhood.

[ElijahAstin]

Originally Posted by Mtl-Cns

All this talk of hipster vs yuppie and transforming from hipster to yuppie is silly. Hipsters are the yuppies of the modern era. They are synonomous.

Not quite. I have no qualms admitting I'm a yuppie, but I'm definitely not a hipster. There is some overlap, however.

[Mtl-Cns]

Originally Posted by ElijahAstin

Not quite. I have no qualms admitting I'm a yuppie, but I'm definitely not a hipster. There is some overlap, however.

You're right, to clairfy I should say that hipster is without a doubt a subset of yuppie but it doesn't work the other way around.

[ElijahAstin]

Originally Posted by Mtl-Cns

You're right, to clairfy I should say that hipster is without a doubt a subset of yuppie but it doesn't work the othe way around.

I think that's fair to say.

[Mtl-Cns]

Originally Posted by SteelCityRising

I also want to reiterate that not every Millennial is a "hipster". We're in our late-20s

The oldest of millenials are now in their mid-30s btw

[fleetiebelle]

Originally Posted by PghYinzer

Am I the only one that hopes that their neighborhood gets a little more “hipster”? We already have a great coffee shop and a farm to table BBQ joint in Brookline, but could definitely use a great Thai place, and a brewpub would be awesome. I think there can be a happy iwith these types of options, however in Lawrenceville it was such a dramatic change that it basically changed the neighborhood.

I live in Beechview and definitely agree. The neighborhood's come a long way with Casa Rasta and Crested Duck and Slice and Brew, but there's definitely room for improvement without going full beardo.

[eschaton]

Originally Posted by SteelCityRising

Hipsters abhor anything with the hint of suburbia,

Not really true. Hipsters in sun-belt cities in the South and West do end up taking over suburban neighborhoods, because there really aren't 19th century walkable neighborhoods to gentrify.

I would agree that Stanton Heights, based upon its built structure, is one of the least likely places in the East End to gentrify. But the OP said they didn't want the suburbs, which Stanton Heights is, in every way except being in the city limits.

Originally Posted by SteelCityRising

I'm not so certain I'd call Morningside "safe from hipsters" for the long-term, though. It's on the same topographical level as East Liberty and Highland Park and isn't far removed from Garfield. If the neighborhood does get that coffeeshop and Thai restaurant that eschaton mentioned, then more businesses may follow, and before you know it there will be the momentum to make Morningside "the next big thing" the way Lawrenceville has now become.

There's a few things which make Morningside, IMHO, unlikely to become very hipster or yuppie.

1. The neighborhood has a relatively high level of owner occupancy - 67%. Some other parts of the city are higher (Stanton Heights, Point Breeze, Regent Square, Brookline, etc) but it's still far above average for the city as a whole. Homeowners do not get gentrified out when housing values rise (unless they can't pay their property taxes after a reassessment). Thus neighborhoods with a lot of homeowners have much more stability over the years.

2. Related to the point above, there's hardly any multi-family housing in the neighborhood. In the far southern portions, where I am, there are a fair amount of larger houses towards Highland Park which were subdivided into two or more units years ago. There's also a smattering of two-flats in the neighborhood, and two small apartment buildings. But mostly the neighborhood is comprised of detached single-family housing, with a few areas of rowhouses as well. Bottom line is there just aren't many places that renters could even consider.

That said, I do think the neighborhood is gentrifying, slowly, in large part because it now has bus service to Oakland. It's just the people it's attracting are parents with young kids, or married childless couples who are thinking about kids soon, which is a very different scene than Lawrenceville these days. It may slowly turn into something like Squirrel Hill, but it's not going to go down the Shadyside route.

Originally Posted by Mtl-Cns

All this talk of hipster vs yuppie and transforming from hipster to yuppie is silly. Hipsters are the yuppies of the modern era. They are synonymous.

I know you already admitted that not all yuppies are hipsters, but not all hipsters are yuppies either. A lot of them do not make a lot of money, which is why they've been getting pushed out to Millvale

Lawrenceville is definitely less hipster than when I moved there when I was 28. Your Inner Vagabond is long gone. 720 cafe is gone too. When I first moved there, I used to go to 80's night at Belvedere's pretty regularly. Last time I was there, half of the people seemed very normal, almost jockish looking. You mentioned Industry, which is a bar which as you said caters to the suburban demographic. Dive is another such example.

That's not to say there still aren't "hip" places in Lawrenceville. Brillobox is still around, though I see a lot of med residents there these days. AFAIK Remedy still has pretty good dance nights. Of course there's things like Wild Card and that pinball place. But the people hanging out in the neighborhood are just more generic young people with money these days, and less interesting. Or maybe I just got old.