Why I love Pittsburgh...

Why I Love Pittsburgh

So here's the TL;DR version of the past 30 years of my life.  Born in Cleveland, parents move to Buffalo, at age 16 move back to Cleveland, go to a college in Erie, PA, move back to Cleveland after college in 2002, move back to Erie a year later, then move down to Pittsburgh in March 2006.

Around October 2006, I realized that I'd fallen in love with the city.

Now, I'll be the first to admit there might be another reason why I love the city that isn't wholly based on the city itself.  I had moved to Cleveland in the middle of my high school years, so I had have a good reason to dislike the Ohio city, and Pittsburgh is an entire city that doesn't traditionally like Cleveland.  

So yeah, I am a little biased.  But that alone isn't why I think of the 'Burgh as my home.

The thing that really hit upon me was the attitude and sense of identity of the city.  Of the other places I've lived, Cleveland and Buffalo both have an overarching mood of 'woe is me'.  Which to be fair is merited.  All four of the Rust Belt cities I've lived in have already had their Golden Age during the height of American manufacturing, which is long past in this global age.  The two big Lake Erie cities are generally like the former high school jock who now works some soulless, demeaning service job; always talking about how good it was back in the day and lamenting the fact that things have changes and the world has moved on.

Pittsburgh's identity is drastically different.  It has had its own devastating industrial crash as well (I think there is one steel mill still functioning in the Iron City) but the folks here don't seem to lament the past but revere it.  It's a small difference -- one recalls history and longs for a return to it, the other recalls history and honors it for what it was -- but it is a powerful one.  One looks back, the other looks forward having learned and improved.

I live in a section of Pittsburgh called Shadeyside.  It's a nice little slice of the city, with a bunch of older, mixed style houses and a main business drag with a lot of small coffee shops and eateries.  Right next to me is Bloomsfield, sort of the 'Little Italy' of the city, with its own main drag of Italian eateries and what not.  Lauranceville, Squirrel Hill, North Shore, Friendship, all of these are parts of the same city that have such a unique feel, but are 10-15 minute drives.  If you're from a larger city like D.C., L.A. or New York, this may seem a bit pedestrian, but none of the other cities I've lived in have had so many unique feelings and locations all within the same metro area.

I guess the simplest way to explain it is this.  Driving from the airport to the city, you have to go through one of the many tunnels around Pittsburgh.  When you emerge on the other side, especially at night, you get one of the best views of the city.  A lot of 'Burghers talk fondly of the times they've brought their family and friends through the tunnel for the first time.  As you cross the Fort Pitt bridge, you see the heart of downtown Pittsburgh right in front of you, lit up if it's night.  There are a lot of older brick buildings standing among the shinier steel structures and castle-like glass spires of PPG place.  It's not as sexy as New York City's skyline, or as iconic as Paris or St. Louis', but it doesn't claim to be.  If you can see the appeal of it as it is, not as others want it to be, you can instantly see what make Pittsburgh attractive to me as my home.

Comments

[Daniel]

Whoa there, "Bloomsfield"</>, "Lawranceville"? Otherwise, I agree with this post :) Now back to work...