places to stay while visiting??

[newcomer843]

We are willing to visit any areas of the city that are worth checking out. It would be especially nice to have a local or insiders guide in terms of where to eat, places to go, etc. in Pittsburgh.
We will be visiting Pittsburgh because I have a job interview and there's a chance we may be relocating to the area over the summer. It would be great to get a feel for some of the different neighborhoods through their restaurants, bars, shops, etc.
If we do settle in Pittsburgh my wife and I would like to be in a good school district with beautiful older homes that is as close to the city as possible. So, any restaurants or attractions in that type of location would be of special interest to us. We will have a rental car and would like to get around town as much as possible with only two days time.

[stevo6]

Originally Posted by newcomer843

Surprisingly, the Renaissance Fulton rates are only $150/night - less than the William Penn. Stevo6 - Are you thinking of the Renaissance Fulton? It is located at 107 6th Street - in the classic Fulton Building (not sure what that is).
.

No- but well done anyway! Let us know how you like it. I haven't eaten at the places you mentioned- they are all considered excellent. There are a lot of less mainstream places that I like but they are not downtown. One fun thing to do is to take one of the inclines (funiculars) up Mt. Washington and eat up there. If you take the incline that is downriver from the one at Station Square (Monongehela Incline?) you will arrive within a few steps of a couple of nice restaurants on the mountain. One is called the Fish Grotto or something like that, and the other is/was called the Tin Angel. There are a couple others up there as well.
If you like modern art you can visit the Andy Warhol Museum and if you like history, there is the History Museum on Smallman St. . Lots of cultural venues downtown. What are your interests?

[newcomer843]

The museums sound like a great place to start. While I am interviewing, I'm sure my wife would love to be in an area where she could walk and visit small local shops/boutiques - maybe grab a cup of coffee at a local cafe.

We also love to see live, local music and will be in town on a Friday night - we are in our 30's though and do officially "feel old" when around really young college kids. It would be great to find a music venue where we don't feel like the oldest people in the room.

As I mentioned previously, two days is hardly enough time to get a good feel for a city but we are going to try to squeeze as much in as we can. By the way, is the Andy Warhol museum the only art museum in Pittsburgh?

[Hopes]

Originally Posted by newcomer843

By the way, is the Andy Warhol museum the only art museum in Pittsburgh?

Goodness, no! LOL

The Carnegie Museums of Art and Natural History is a surprising gem of Pittsburgh.

No other city the size of Pittsburgh has a museum of the caliber of The Carnegie.

Here's a link: http://www.carnegiemuseums.org/

I'll post the names of some great places to listen to live music where you won't feel like the oldest people in the room.

Do you prefer rock, jazz, or something else?

Which Friday will you be in the area?

[newcomer843]

We will be in Pittsburgh on the nights of Feb. 22 and 23rd - Thursday and Friday night. My wife and I love to see all kinds of shows - as long as it's not country Thanks for the help!

[Hopes]

Originally Posted by newcomer843

We will be in Pittsburgh on the nights of Feb. 22 and 23rd - Thursday and Friday night. My wife and I love to see all kinds of shows - as long as it's not country Thanks for the help!

I was going to recommend Blues Cafe or Jergels; however, a search on the internet seems to indicate that Jergels has changed hands. I'll look into that this week for you. It had a great blues/rock house band on Friday and Saturday nights. Since the owners were part of the house band, I doubt they are still there if they sold the restaurant.

The Blues Cafe is a great place to go after dinner because it's a crowded, standing only, bar with great music. I've enjoyed this bar without getting there early to grab a seat. Jergels gets equally crowded but it has a more open floor design so you can see everything more comfortably. There's room for dancing at Jergels. Since Jergels is a restaurant, you can arrive early for dinner to get a seat. The food isn't bad for a moderate priced restaurant. I'll have to check to see who owns it now and if it's still a hopping place on the weekends. Jergel's attracts a 20s thru 40s crowd.

In my search for live bands playing while you are in town, I came across a place called Club Cafe that features jazz, blues, swing and rock. It sounds fantastic. You'll need to call them to see if something is scheduled for Friday the 23rd because nothing shows up on their list. The review says to get there early to grab a booth.

Since both Blue Cafe and Club Cafe are both in Southside, I highly recommend heading there. Southside is filled with lots of bars with live music. People wander from one bar to another on foot (thank god!) so the streets become lively with people on weekend nights. Of course, you're coming in the winter so......who knows....but I'll bet it will still be busy even if it's cold.

All live music in Pittsburgh generally starts at 10pm. I'd head over early to catch a booth at Club Cafe to spend time enjoying a few drinks prior to the show. Later, you can walk down smallman street and stop in at Blue Cafe and any other bars along the way that peak your interest.

If you're going to experience one of Pittsburgh's neighborhoods, you really can't go wrong with Southside for a night of live music at more than one venue. However, if you would prefer a more quiet evening of music, I can recommend a place in Shadyside that features Jazz. Oh, and there's a FANTASTIC restaurant called Blue in the North Hills that features live music too. It's expensive but the food is absolutely out of this world.

To get you started, here's a list of the places rated the best live music venues at citysearch: http://pittsburgh.citysearch.com/bes...ve_music_venue

Let me know if you want me to find out the scoop on Jergel's ownship or if you're interested in more information about Shadyside or Blue in the North Hills.

If nothing I've mentioned sounds interesting, I'll do some more research.

[Hopes]

As an example of the choices you'll have when you come, here's this week's events:

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07039/760145-42.stm (broken link)

Make sure to scroll all the way through it because there's a lot of music towards the bottom too.

You won't be able to get the list for Friday the 23rd until that week.