Pittsburgh is some place special
I grew up in the East Liberty section of Pittsburgh. 鈥淪liberty鈥� as it was known then. It was a bit of a rough and tumble part of town with a lot of bars and a great retail section. East Liberty also had five movie theaters and for 25 cents kids could spend the better part of Saturday at the theater watching multiple shows. I loved the old westerns and still do today.
We lived in an old apartment building on Aurelia Street that was known as the Castle. Teeny lived on the third floor and worked at Nabisco the cookie company. Today the area is known as Bakery Square and the Castle was torn down many years ago to make way for Shadyside Village, which started the gentrification of the area.
On many occasions, when Teeny would see us kids playing in front of the apartment on her way home from work, she would follow up by opening the window on her third floor apartment and sending down a brown bag filled with cookies on a long piece of rope. I can still taste those cookies today 鈥� nice and chewy and covered with a hard white icing.
East liberty was just one of the neighborhoods that gave Pittsburgh its character. It has gone through a lot of changes, but still survives. Nearby were other neighborhoods like Bloomfield, Garfield, Shadyside and Lawrenceville that have also seen changes and are doing well today.
I was so glad to see Pittsburgh in the running for the Amazon expansion, but was so happy when the town did not get it. The fact that, Pittsburgh made the finals, out of 200 locations speaks and says a lot about our city. Pittsburgh has a great future and the Amazon process put it on the map for other companies wishing to take advantage of what we have to offer without the additional beltways of traffic and congestion that come with such large growth. Young people today are choosing to want to work in cities like Pittsburgh and live in an urban environment that has neighborhoods like Mount Washington, Lawrenceville and East Liberty.
Travel to so many other cities and their double beltways makes me appreciate the fact that while a trip to Pittsburgh can be daunting at times, it can still be a fun day trip with so much to offer.
In addition to our delightful neighborhoods, our city has major sports teams, first class theater, museums, great restaurants, coffee shops, schools, universities and health care providers. Bike trails are among the best anywhere and one can ride from Pittsburgh to Washington, D.C. on the Greater Allegheny Passage trail viewing some of the most scenic places in the country. The trail passes through the Laurel Highlands and brings thousands of Pittsburgh visitors to our area to bike, hike, fish and raft.
Another major component of Pittsburgh is it鈥檚 affordability of housing and cost of living. As the old guard ages and dies off, a good supply of modest, well kept homes are becoming available for our younger generation. Something that is not available in so many other cities.
Lastly, there is the question of our weather. Winters are a bit on the dreary side, but the rest of the year the climate is comfortable and who could deny the beauty of our spring and fall seasons.
Pittsburgh has always been my favorite city, it truly is someplace special.