Neighborhood of the week: Shadyside (Pittsburgh, Liberty: apartment complexes, renters, low crime)

[eschaton]

Like much of the East End, Shadyside began its Pittsburgh history as a pastoral area dominated by farmland in the early 19th century. This began to change in the in the late 1860s, when a small railroad suburb developed around "Shady Side Station" - a stop on the rail line which went from Downtown to what is now East Liberty (located near the base of Amberson Street today). Initially the neighborhood was relatively sparsely populated, but the large estates in the portions of the neighborhood to the east of S Aiken began to be broken up, with many more modest, mostly wood-framed houses. As the decades passed, Shadyside continued to grow denser and denser, with significant numbers of apartment buildings added to the built form of the neighborhood by 1920s, followed by another apartment building boom in the 1950s. Shadyside never really went through a true "bad period" unlike much of Pittsburgh. However, there was a period in the early to mid 20th century where the neighborhood went significantly more downscale. This can be clearly seen if you compare the housing stock built in the western, more residential portions of the neighborhood, where massive Victorian edifices stand cheek by jowel to positively modest mid-20th century homes. There were some individual pockets, like the Pierce Street rowhouses, which did go through a bad period however.

Shadyside may have continued this period of relative decline if it wasn't for an inflection point which happened in the late 1960s and early 1970s, when the neighborhood was gained a reputation as the trendy neighborhood that the hippies lived in, and also became an increasingly popular place for CMU students to reside. Shadyside thus began a long and slow transition into more of a student/young person neighborhood, and was arguably the first neighborhood in the city to experience gentrification. Over roughly the same time period the three business districts in the neighborhood (Walnut, Ellsworth, and S. Highland) became much more substantial, with numerous houses transformed into commercial storefronts. This transformation was to a significant degree spurred by the decline in East Liberty as the commercial heart of the East End. This also saw the areas to the east of S Negley - which had historically been considered part of East Liberty - redefined as parts of Shadyside. The transformation was not all good, as many residential homes in Shadyside were subdivided and turned into student apartments, resulting in deterioration over time. However, the area to the west of Aiken was protected by zoning, and retained much of its "old money" vibe through to the present.

Currently Shadyside's population can broadly be broken down as two groups - upper-middle class to wealthy people, and students (many of whom are theoretically poor but come from wealthier families). Traditionally the richer parts of Shadyside have been the protected single-family zones (both in West Shadyside and some blocks along Howe Street and Kentucky Avenue), while the students have been dominant in the apartment-dominated areas. In recent years, however, this has begun to change, as new apartment developments like Bakery Living and Eastside Bond are catering to upper-income renters. Shadyside has long since lost whatever "cool" edge it used to have (last time I think it was considered cool was the early 1990s) and is now the quintessential Pittsburgh yuppie neighborhood.

Still, if you can deal with the yuppies, Shadyside is a great place to live. Low crime, has a good school feeder, very walkable due to all of the different business districts, and access to many different bus lines (including rapid transit via the East Busway). Buying into the neighborhood as a homeowner can be quite expensive (unless you buy near the railroad tracks) but renting can be surprisingly affordable now, if only because the large amount of dated units are experiencing depreciation as better options become available elsewhere in the city.

Shadyside is sure to post a major population gain this decade due to the aforementioned Eastside Bond and Bakery Living. But after decades of denser and denser built structure, the number of places where new development can take place is becoming ever-more limited. Certainly the neighborhood will not experience a downturn, but the upside potential in Shadyside now is probably lower than much of the rest of the city unless zoning regulations are loosened. Frankly this could be considered a good thing however, as we're a healthier city today, with the wealth and newer development spread around, than we were 40 years ago when virtually all of it was focused on a few areas like Shadyside.

[Pat Answers]

Is Shadyside Hospital still there?

[sky329]

Originally Posted by Pat Answers

Is Shadyside Hospital still there?

yes

[bluecarebear]

Originally Posted by eschaton

Frankly this could be considered a good thing however, as we're a healthier city today, with the wealth and newer development spread around, than we were 40 years ago when virtually all of it was focused on a few areas like Shadyside.

I would take the Pittsburgh of 40 years ago or even 10 years ago. Pittsburgh has been on a major decline since Shadyside became the Center of the Universe. I miss when the city was mostly working class. We can't even get a rail extension or better bus service because Shadyside needs their BRT to Nowhere.

[ElijahAstin]

I still go to Pittsburgh a couple times a year, but I rarely go to Shadyside anymore. I see it as more college and grad student oriented than yuppie, per se—not that there’s anything wrong with yuppies, which is an increasingly meaningless label anyway, as young urban professionals take all sorts of forms.

[eschaton]

Originally Posted by ElijahAstin

I still go to Pittsburgh a couple times a year, but I rarely go to Shadyside anymore. I see it as more college and grad student oriented than yuppie, per se—not that there’s anything wrong with yuppies, which is an increasingly meaningless label anyway, as young urban professionals take all sorts of forms.

I dunno. I feel like the student population has started to peak, what with the introduction of major new apartment complexes not catering to students like Eastside Bond, along with there being newer apartment buildings like SkyVue in Oakland which provide more options for college students to rent in Oakland. Shadyside is hella young now. If I take the P1 I usually get on at East Liberty Station. Once a few months back, I got on at Negley Station. Looking around, I realized that although I'm "only" in my late 30s, I was by far the oldest of the approximately 50 people waiting for the bus. And keep in mind that the P3 has been out of commission for awhile, so everyone waiting for a bus was heading downtown for work.

One thing I didn't really mention is that Shadyside has a huge Asian population now. Pittsburgh's Asian population is of course almost entirely student related, and basically congregates wherever there are large clumps of apartment buildings (Asian renters do not seem to like subdivided houses for some reason). The most Asian census tract in the county is in Shadyside (38%). If it were measured as a separate neighborhood, I think the Baum-Centre corridor might be plurality (or even majority) Asian today.

[jay5835]

Originally Posted by Pat Answers

Is Shadyside Hospital still there?

Yes, it's where all my doctors' offices are. I don't know when you left Pittsburgh, but it may be a much bigger hospital now than you remember.

[jay5835]

Originally Posted by eschaton

One thing I didn't really mention is that Shadyside has a huge Asian population now. Pittsburgh's Asian population is of course almost entirely student related, and basically congregates wherever there are large clumps of apartment buildings (Asian renters do not seem to like subdivided houses for some reason). The most Asian census tract in the county is in Shadyside (38%). If it were measured as a separate neighborhood, I think the Baum-Centre corridor might be plurality (or even majority) Asian today.

I'm not Asian, but I can speak for the Subdivided House Hater Community. Subdivided houses have the potential to be too noisy, and sometimes too smelly. I had an alcoholic law student living on top of me in one such apartment who would bring girls home to **** at 3 in the morning, a drug dealer who played New Order all night long in another, and a woman, her boyfriend, and their two babies living on top of me in a studio apartment.

In the bedroom of one of these apartments, I could smell every product the person below me used to clean, every byproduct of their bathroom usage, as well as air "freshener" coming in my front door from the apartment next door. Each of these places was so unbearable, the landlords let me break my lease with no penalty. (And lest you think I think I'm some kind of saint, in my Shadyside apartment in college, I was the one who played music so loud, my neighbor came knocking.)

Most of this goes back many years, but in that amount of time, I've only had one apartment in an apartment building that was that noisy or smelly. As G-d is my witness, I'll never live in a cut-up house again.

[ferraris]

Originally Posted by jay5835

Each of these places was so unbearable, the landlords let me break my lease with no penalty.

This is actually my favorite aspect of subdivided house rentals. The landlords are real people who can be reasoned with.

[Geeo]

I lived in a house that was built as four apartments on Highland Ave. in the early 80s and loved it. The busway had just opened so I could get downtown in 10 minutes. S. Highland just had a Rite-Aid, the Tender Trap, Grucci's bar and a few other stores - nothing like the restaurant row that is there today.

I would say that the neighborhood today is even more vibrant with those three distinct business districts and the new apartments coming online. Eastern Shadyside east of Negley was always a little funkier, and west Shadyside was always the tony area, as it still is today.

Today, the people moving in come from all over the world to work at the universities, medical centers and tech firms make it the most international area, in addition to Oakland, Squirrel Hill, and East Liberty.