For my 20,000th post, I wanted to share this with my DU friends

[FakeNoose]

This is my hometown, my favorite city, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

We have 3 rivers, 3 professional sports teams, at least 10 tunnels, at least 800 bridges, and thousands of wonderful, lovable Pittsburghers. It's a great place to live, work, and raise a family.

[redwitch]

1. Very pretty skyline!

Hi!

[blm]

2. Pittsburgh was one of the first large cities to greenbuild

and renovate its existing older buildings with eco-friendly solutions.

It had a great forward-thinking champion in Teresa Heinz Kerry.

[FakeNoose]

5. Our geography is a big part of that too

What isn't evident in this photo is that the flat downtown area is surrounded by hills in all directions. There are so many hilly areas that cannot be built on, and other areas are limited in the ways they can be developed. Therefore a lot of acreage within the city limits always was green and undeveloped.

If you look at historic photos of Pittsburgh, especially anything before World War II, a lot of ugly buildings, warehouses, factories and such were all over lower downtown. The air was so dirty you couldn't see the sun during the day. Ugh! All that is gone now, as are the old ugly steel mills that polluted the air and water. Only a few are left and they're outside the city limits.

Buildings, roads and bridges have been either torn down or renovated starting about 1960 or later. We're like a mini-Silicon Valley now with a lot of tech centers and a lot of medical research and technology. That's how our economy has morphed when the steel mills were closed and everyone was put of work in the mid-70's.

[blm]

12. I understand. I'm from Cleveland.

We had to adjust a few times, too. Been gone a long time, but, still appreciate its past and see the great potential in its future.

[malaise]

3. Congrats

My only stop in Pennsylvania was to change planes.

[FakeNoose]

6. Did you get to see the Pittsburgh International Airport?

It was built in about 1990 and my dad was one of the project engineers who helped oversee it being built. It was quite a project and I understand it won a lot of awards for its design. The commercial pilots all say they like flying into Pittsburgh because the airport is so well designed.

On the other hand, if you flew into Philadelphia ... well, condolences friend.

[malaise]

8. Philly

It was OK

[MLAA]

7. Congrats on 20k and hurray that you love where you live!

[smirkymonkey]

9. Congrats on 20K posts!

And thank you for showing us Pittsburgh! I have never been there or even really seen pics before. It looks like a lovely city.

Would love to learn more about it if you are interested in starting another post.

My nephew goes to Penn State, which is about 2 hours away, but that is one area of the country I know very little about.

[FakeNoose]

10. Sure but I don't want to bore anybody

Maybe it can be a new thread, where we all share photos and stories about our hometowns.
Do you think that would work?

[Staph]

11. Have you seen the latest archeological news from Pittsburgh?

Seriously, congratulations on 20,000 posts!

[FakeNoose]

13. Good one! Made me laugh

Thanks for the chuckle

[Mr. Evil]

14. Well...

I hate the Pirates (Cincinnati Reds fan), I hate the Steelers (Dallas Cowboys fan) and don't care much for hockey but, I've seen this pic before and Pittsburgh is one beautiful city. Btw, does that park area with the fountain have a name? Just curious because it looks like a very nice place to gather.

Kudos on the 20k!

[Staph]

16. Not surprisingly, the park is Point State Park.

The river on the left of the point is the Allegheny River (in the picture above), and the one on the right is the Monongahela River. At the point, those two join together to form the Ohio River.

[sarchasm]

15. Love that view from the stands at PNC!

[FakeNoose]

19. Oh yes, it's epic

Last edited Sun Sep 19, 2021, 11:44 PM - Edit history (1)

Now this is going to confuse some people, because PNC Park is on the North Shore. We're actually looking southeast in this view, and it's the Allegheny River and the 6th Street Bridge right there in the center. So this is a completely different angle of the downtown buildings.
Edit to add: the 6th Street Bridge is also called the Roberto Clemente Bridge!

Love our PNC Park, wish our Pirates were a better team.

I actually live on the Northside, only a few miles from the stadiums.

[StevieM]

26. I definitely think that PNC Park is the nicest stadium in Major League Baseball. (eom)

[Pas-de-Calais]

17. 20k ?!! Wow congrats

[calimary]

18. NICE shot!

Two of the three rivers?

[FakeNoose]

21. The Allegheny, the Monongahela, and the Ohio Rivers

The foreground river that runs along the bottom is the Monongahela River and it flows north to Pittsburgh from West Virginia.

The river that angles straight back is the Allegheny and it starts up in the north central mountains of the state. It might even go higher into central New York (?) not sure about that.

Both the Allegheny and the Monongahela Rivers flow into Pittsburgh and meet at the Point. Where they meet is the beginning of the Ohio River, which of course continues southwest down to the Mississippi.

In this photo we're looking sort of northeast, so the rivers are flowing off to the southwest (left.) There's not much current here, but we do have some flooding occasionally in early spring or late winter.

[calimary]

23. I'm sorry, but Monongahela-anything just stops me in my tracks!

That’s one of the BEST geographic names absolutely EVVVVVVVERRRRRR!!!

You can hardly even speak the word without grinning! Makes me literally want to go find bongos or a set of maracas!

[FakeNoose]

24. Around here most people call it "The Mon"

We all know what it means.

[Cozmo]

20. Congrats from a Philly native!

[FakeNoose]

22. Thanks friend! If you're a hockey fan

... I wanted to say I'm looking forward to the next meet-up between the Penguins and the Flyers.

[Cozmo]

35. Actually, I'm more of a Phanatic fan but I'm afraid I'm gonna have to cheer for the Flyers anyway

Good luck!

[MustLoveBeagles]

25. Congratulations on your posting milestone

That skyline is pretty.

[lucca18]

27. Congratulations!

Pittsburgh is beautiful!😍

[First Speaker]

28. I *love* Pittsburgh! Been there several times in recent years for ballpark trips...

...watching the skyline light up as the sun goes down, from the park, is one of the loveliest sights I've ever seen. Walking across the Clemente bridge from the hotel to the park, with one lone guy playing a saxophone, was pretty cool. The skyline is incredibly beautiful, and walking up to the Strip District, I was amazed to look up a see a fucking *mountain* above me. Right in the middle of the city. The Carnegie Library is as close to Heaven on Earth as I ever expect to get, and there's an amazing used bookstore nearby, too. That whole area--the University of Pittsburgh--is amazingly lovely. It's a great city to walk in, it has, of course, three different rivers, and the view at night, not just the skyline but the whole area, is dazzling. If I wasn't so content with my home in CT, it's the only place I'd be tempted to move to. Chicago and NYC are the "greatest" cities in the country, they offer so much and are so overwhelming. But pound for pound, it's Pittsburgh...

[FakeNoose]

29. Wow, thanks for this great write-up

I like yours better than mine.

It is awesome to walk around the downtown areas, also bike-riding is our new thing. It's nice that downtown is flat, but outside of downtown it's too hilly for most bikes.

They're doing a lot of new construction in the Strip District these days, it's really going to change things. Some hotels and touristy businesses are going in there, and it'll become more yuppie and less quaint, I'm afraid.

[First Speaker]

30. Thanks. That's evil tidings regarding the Strip District...

...sounds almost like what Saruman did to the Shire...LOL...one more cool thing about Pittsburgh--on the way home from the games, I'd stop at a small stand near my hotel and get pizza every bit as good as what we have in New Haven. There--I said it; I'm a traitor to CT...

[Not Heidi]

31. Nice.

I love it when people display their pride in their hometowns.

Got a favorite team? Penguins, Pirates, Steelers?

Congrats on the milestone!

[FakeNoose]

34. All three teams actually

It's hard to root for the Pirates because their greatest years are behind them. With the current ownership, the Pirates probably won't have another playoff year in my lifetime. I also root for the Penguins and the Steelers of course!

[brush]

32. Wasn't playwrite August Wilson from Pittsburgh and his play "Fences" was set in one of...

the hill districts of your city, right?

[FakeNoose]

33. Yes, I believe all of his plays are set in Pittsburgh

The Hill District (often referred to as The Hill) is the name of the neighborhood where he lived and wrote. He was a wonderful playwright and always an asset to our city.