Pittsburgh in Retrospect

Red's Bar summed it up for us. Once upon a time in Pittsburgh, neighbourhoods had bars and stores and places where people congregated. Then thoroughfares cut through the neighbourhoods, industries declined, people left, and no one has came back (at least not yet). There's a 3 kilometre stretch along Fifth Avenue, between the University of Pittsburgh campus and the PG Paints Arena, that is almost entirely dead. 

We went to Pittsburgh on a friend's recommendation. We stayed downtown, where most of the hotels are, but there wasn't a lot going on there.  

The liveliest parts of the city that we saw were the blocks around the University of Pittsburgh, with busy sidewalks and prosperous street level retail.

The rest, especially that 3 km stretch along Fifth Avenue, was deserted-feeling, run down or completely derelict. I'm sure the pandemic hasn't helped.

We were delighted by the Carnegie Art Museum, though. I'd somehow gotten the impression that Carnegie's museum was the poor sister to Frick's. But, no, the CAM's got a great collection. We saw just the tiniest bit of it on Thursday.

It's interesting that they picked this Rothko
for a temporary exhibit.

Part two of this blog's two-part series: the Nixon Agnew Collection.

The Puritan. Still an important part of the American political landscape.

While Frick (whom everyone assured us was not a nice man) collected the works of the past masters, Carnegie patronized, and his museum still patronizes, contemporary Pittsburg artists. So the collection is vibrant, and feels highly locally relevant.  

Overall, we had a fun vacation. We enjoyed ourselves, ate better than we usually do (I recommend The Steel Mill Saloon, Meat and Potatoes, Nicky's Thai Kitchen, and Max's Allegheny Tavern) and everyone we met was friendly and helpful. Plus, I got my camera fixed.

Thanks for reading!

Karen

Facts and Figures

Pittsburgh area in square km: 151.1

Pittsburgh population: 301,000 (est. growth about -.5%/year)

Toronto area in square km: 630.2

Toronto population: 2.93M (est. growth about +1%/year)

So, Pittsburgh has one quarter the land area and one tenth the population of Toronto and its population is shrinking. No wonder it seemed deserted.