Pittsburgh: Midwestern City or Northeastern City? (Philadelphia, Penn: hotel, public transportation, transit)

[norcider]

Appalachian Steppe

[NYtoNJtoPA]

Pittsburgh feels more like NYC than Philly does, esp much of the scenery along the highways. And Ohio is a different world even though the state line is just 40 miles away. Erie feels more like a smaller version of Buffalo. I have actually never been to Cleveland, but based on what I've seen and heard it seems to have more in common with Erie and Buffalo than Pittsburgh. They are all on Lake Erie so the demographics cannot be that different.

My girlfriend, who recently moved out east to Philly to be with me, is an Erie native and hated the place and wasn't too nuts about Cleveland and Buffalo either because of weather issues - lake effect snow - and had been considering the move 110 miles south to Pittsburgh like many of her friends did until I came along. Erie and Pittsburgh are worlds apart from each other just as Philly and Allentown are.

[Katarina Witt]

Originally Posted by Geo-Aggie

I apologize if this had been brought up before here. I posted this in the City vs. City board, but it got moved by a moderator here. Obviously I don't frequent the Pittsburgh board, so I wouldn't know what topic you've discussed ad nausem any more than you'd know how much we discuss the topic of "Is Ann Arbor part of Metro Detroit" over on the Metro Detroit board, haha. (It totally is..)

I should have specific Upper Midwest or even "Great Lakes Region", as there's a chasm of difference between Detroit/Chicago and St. Louis/Kansas City. Interesting perspective to hear that Pittsburgh doesn't really fit in with the Great Lakes Region. I can certainly see how it would be an outlier from the Great Lakes cities, but it also seems it would be an outlier from the Atlantic Seaboard cities, but I suppose what I'm reading here is that culturally it follows more similarities to the Eastern cities than the Upper Midwestern ones? This surprises me to hear, but it's always good to learn something new.

Any specific examples one could point to of how Pittsburgh is more like... Baltimore than let's say... Cleveland? (Or more like Boston than Indy, if you prefer?)

No need to apologize. (And I was one who said silently to myself, "Not this again!" and agreed with the first person who posted this.) Over on city v city, you get lots of people saying "I've never been there, but my neighbor's second cousin's boyfriend visited there and said. . . " so that's probably why it was moved. And we have discussed this over and over and over again. There's never any resolution. Enjoy the thread.

Originally Posted by eschaton

Sorry, but as someone who grew up in suburban Connecticut, this is hilarious! Over half of the people in my high school were Jewish or Italian.



New England does have a concrete culture. The northeast as a whole does not. Parts of the Midwest are more culturally similar to New England than other parts of the Midwest, which are southern-influenced.



I haven't spent time in either, but I did live in Detroit. My experience with Michigan was it was not that culturally different from New England at all. In contrast, when I visited my brother who lived in Southern Indiana, it felt like I was south of the Mason Dixon line.

I've very little experience with New England (have been there a couple of times, my son-in-law is from W. Massachusetts and his parents live there), so I'll defer to your opinion on that. And the author of the article was comparing contrasting NE and Ohio, not the entire midwest. Like all parts of the country, each state has its own laws, policies, etc. Of course, he was doing what so few on CD actually do, writing about what he knows! So yeah. BUT. . .

The only parts of the Midwest that are southern-influenced are the parts that are, well, southern. Southern Ohio (though more Appalachian than true southern at least in the eastern part of the state), southern Indiana (Evansville, maybe Covington), way southern Illinois, some of Missouri. Some people from KC have a southern drawl. St. Louis has its own accent (farty-far for forty four, for ex.).

I lived in central Illinois, there were a lot of people there from Arkansas and Mississippi, which showed. Lots of Baptist churches there, a sort of drawly accent among the natives, who are few. Lots of people from Chicago there as well, mainly U of I students. I've also spent extensive amounts of time in Omaha, NE which is in no way "southern". They don't eat southern, talk southern, worship southern (there is a Lutheran church in almost every block), etc. In addition, I've spent time in Wisconsin, where my mother was from, more as a child than adult, but southern? No way in H*LL! Take what I said about Omaha and multiply it by 100!

Then there's Minnesota. Perfect, perfect Minnesota. "Socialist", PC at least in "The Cities". Swedes, Norwegians (enough of each that they 'hate' each other), a few Germans and a smattering of everything else. Lutherans and Catholics. Have some family there (both sides, DH has more), one of our daughters went to college there, and one has lived there for the past 4 years.

There's some dispute whether the Great Plains states are Midwest or something else. My husband from Omaha says Omaha is "Mid-Plains" (Midwestern and Great Plains). I'd say that about Lincoln too. Western NE is more plains culture. I don't have enough experience with the Dakotas or Kansas to say much about them. Certainly plains-like to me. S. Dakota is libertarian, like Colorado.

Originally Posted by ferraris

Physically Northeastern & Appalachian, culturally Midwestern. Neither is a perfect fit though.

I disagree with "culturally midwestern". We spent some time in the Cleveland area a few years ago, the first time I'd spent more than a few hours at a time in Ohio, despite growing up about 10 miles from the Penn-Ohio border. The differences were obvious. Having been brought up Lutheran, I knew we were in a minority in W PA. However, go over to eastern Ohio, and there are multiple Lutheran churches around. Just one example.

Speaking of Ohio, Columbus has the second largest Somali community in the US, after (ta-da!) Minneapolis. There were concerns that measles from Minneapolis would spread to Columbus as people visited friends and family. Here's what a Somali spokesperson in Columbus said: "“Everybody is worried about this,” Omar said. “We don’t want there to be a stigma. We’re Americans, we’re Midwestern. We have children that are all up-to-date for vaccinations.”
City, county health officials to hold measles forums for Somali residents - News - The Columbus Dispatch - Columbus, OH

[slamont61]

Originally Posted by gg

You do know you just bumped this thread twice, right?

A short answer to this question is the obvious. This area isn't really northeast or midwest, we are more in between the two. Duh! Pittsburgh isn't nearly as aggressive in style as the northeast, yet we aren't really like a midwestern city either as we aren't as hayseedish. As much as people would love to throw a label on us out of laziness, you can't. Mid Atlantic isn't going to work either, so forget that. How about Pittsburgh is the Paris of Appalachia.

In a nut shell this is the closest answer there is.


Unlike anywhere else.

[gg]

Originally Posted by slamont61

In a nut shell this is the closest answer there is.


Unlike anywhere else.

Thanks and I agree, I think Pittsburgh is pretty unique in style.

[_Buster]

Originally Posted by The_General

Yeah but its like 6 hours from the ocean. Is El Paso Gulf Coast?

Pittsburgh is closer to the Atlantic ocean, than Phoenix is to the Pacific. Do you not consider Phoenix to be a southwestern city?

[Mtl-Cns]

Originally Posted by ResearchTriangleviaPitt

Columbus is probably the transition point between Appalachian and midwest.

These threads are always a hoot and full of insanity but honestly this is the craziest damn thing Ive ever read in one. Have you ever driven from pgh to Columbus? There is NOTHING remotely Appalachian about it. It's the flattest, straightest, most boring drive Ive ever done.

[eschaton]

Originally Posted by Mtl-Cns

These threads are always a hoot and full of insanity but honestly this is the craziest damn thing Ive ever read in one. Have you ever driven from pgh to Columbus? There is NOTHING remotely Appalachian about it. It's the flattest, straightest, most boring drive Ive ever done.

Technically, Appalachia is considered by the government to extend as far west into Ohio as Muskingum County, which is in the Columbus CSA and just outside of the MSA. That said, a lot of counties were included in Appalachia's governmental definition originally because there were certain pork-barrel projects they qualified for if they were within its boundaries, not because they were actually Appalachian in any way.

[Mtl-Cns]

Originally Posted by eschaton

Technically, Appalachia is considered by the government to extend as far west into Ohio as Muskingum County, which is in the Columbus CSA and just outside of the MSA. That said, a lot of counties were included in Appalachia's governmental definition originally because there were certain pork-barrel projects they qualified for if they were within its boundaries, not because they were actually Appalachian in any way.

Interesting. Didnt know that. Thanks

[Craziaskowboi]

"Northeastern" is beating "Midwestern" by more than a 3/1 ratio. Even "Other" has gotten more votes than "Midwestern."