Exploring Pittsburgh- Mt. Washington

Sean McLaughlin
Emilee Meltzer
Austin Jones

For our project, we decided to go to Mount Washington on a Wednesday night. We took the 71C bus downtown, where we got off at 6th and Wood Street. When we first got off the bus, we spoke to many people who helped to direct us along, as we initially had difficulty navigating our way around. We then took the blue line to Station Square where we next took the Monongahela Incline up to Mount Washington. We used our Pitt Ids to ride the incline for free, and also the bus and train rides as well. When arriving at the top of the incline, the view was extremely pretty as the entire city was illuminated, considering we went at night. From the top, we were able to see the Cathedral of Learning, Heinz Field, lots of buildings, the waterfront, and many bridges. After looking at the entire city of Pittsburgh, we then explored the area around Mount Washington. This area, entitled “Shiloh Street Shops”, sits on top of Mount Washington and consists of restaurants, ice cream shops, and residential areas. Unfortunately, because we went at night, all of the restaurants and ice cream shops were closed but are highly ranked in the city of Pittsburgh. When walking around this area, we noticed that there were also very steep hills that were difficult to walk up at some points. When leaving this area, we took the Duquesne to get to ground level again. We then took the G2 bus to Liberty Ave and Market Street, where we arrived in downtown. Because the ice cream shops on Mount Washington were closed, we decided to go to Millie’s, which is an ice cream shop in Market Square. To get back to towers, we then took the 71A, which concluded our adventure to Mount Washington.

Exploring Pittsburgh 2018: East Liberty/East End

Jackie

Luca

Ben

We traveled to East Liberty/East End for our Pittsburgh exploration. It’s adjacent to Shadyside; it’s just northeast of Shadyside. We took the 75 from the bus stop at the corner of Bigelow Boulevard and Fifth Avenue in front of the WPU. We rode the bus for about 15-20 minutes (even though it said it would take around 30 minutes) and got off on Penn Avenue right across the street from the Village of East Side which has a Trader Joe’s, McDonald’s, Staples, and some other stores. 

If you look to the right along Penn Avenue, there’s a large office building with “Google” and “Bakery Square” displayed.

Walking down Penn Avenue past the Google building, we walked into Bakery Square. In Bakery Square, there was a bar/restaurant called Social that was pretty busy even on a weekday night and included an outdoor section where people were drinking and playing games. There was also a coffee shop, Anthropologie, LA Fitness, a massage place, Panera, Jimmy John’s, a Thai place, Verizon, West Elm, a children’s toy store, and some other shops. It was easy to walk around casually and it was well-lit from the colorful lighting and fairy lights which was pretty since it was dark outside. There weren’t too many people walking around in Bakery Square but it was late evening and it seemed like somewhere a lot of people might go during the day on the weekends. 

We walked a little further and came across a baseball field which was connected to a very small but nice park with trees and a walking path called Mellon Spray Park. And right behind it was the Ellis School which is a K-12 all-girls’ school. From there, we took the 71D for about 15 minutes back to Lower Campus. During our trip, we stayed mainly on Penn Avenue and around Bakery Square for our trip but in the opposite direction that we walked, you’d find a cluster few small performing arts theaters (Quantum Theater, Kelly Strayhorn Theater), a Color-Me-Mine ceramics studio, another gym, banks, a few chain pizza/fast food restaurants, coffee shops, hotels, churches, and shopping centers. Scattered around, there’s also a Home Depot, Whole Foods, and a Target in East Liberty/East End. Overall, it is quite corporate but it seems like a nice area that has a variety of places that would be good for clothes, groceries, and shopping.

Downtown

Jake McDonald
Amanda Pawuk
Kai Sorbin


We started our trip by riding the 61C bus to Downtown and getting off at the 6th and Liberty stop. This is only a short walk away from Market Square, so we decided to head there first. Being that it was a cold and windy Sunday, there wasn't much going on, aside from a woman hula hooping and a man playing what looked like a fancy clarinet. On a warmer day, one might find events going on with tents and stands selling food. The area is also surrounded by many restaurants and shops.

Right next to Market Square is the PPG Place, which is a huge building complex made of glass. At the base is an open area that holds an ice skating rink in the winter.  The construction of the rink seemed to just be starting during our visit. As we were taking pictures, a bunch of people started approaching the area on their phones - apparently there was a Pokemon Go event going on.

Next we walked a few blocks to get to Point State Park, also know as "The Point." To get to the fountain you have to walk under the highway and across the remains of Fort Pitt and Fort Duquesne. There is also a small museum that commemorates the French and Indian War. From The Point you can see Heinz Field and the Duquesne Incline.

To finish our trip, we decided to walk to the Cultural District. The Cultural District of Downtown Pittsburgh has many art galleries and historic theaters. Below are pictures of Heinz Hall and the Byham Theater, as well as a closer view of Heinz Field and one of the many bridges of Pittsburgh.

On our way to the Cultural District we passed a small gift shop with original gifts made by locals. There were a bunch of cool posters and t-shirts inside, as well as some smaller items. It was unusually crowded for such a small shop.

Finally, we took the 71C to get back to Oakland. Even though it was cold, we all enjoyed our time strolling through Downtown and seeing some of its famous landmarks. If you want to see all that Downtown has to offer, we don't recommend going on a Sunday afternoon, as many of the small shops were closed for the day. 

Pittsburgh Project - Squirrel Hill

Ashley Kegerreis
Shawn Broadway
Andrew Amaro

We traveled to Squirrel Hill for our Pittsburgh Presentation. To get there, we took the Port Authority 61A and got off at the Forbes and Shady Avenue stop. The bus ride was only about 10 minutes. Once we got to Squirrel Hill, we walked around to look at some of the houses, restaurants, cafes, and shops. The houses that we saw seemed older, however they were large, well maintained, and had fairly large yards. There were also some townhouses in the neighborhood, but they were not as well maintained. Forbes Avenue seems to be the busiest part of Squirrel Hill because most of the businesses are located there. Along Forbes, there were many different restaurants, including many different noodle restaurants, coffee shops, small stores and shops, and there was also a small movie theatre, Manor Theatre. We visited one of the small pizza shops, Pizza Bellino. We talked to the owner, and he told us it was a family owned business. It had a different name before, but they closed, remodeled everything, gave it a new name, and reopened in 2009. He also said "it is one of the top 15 places to visit in Squirrel Hill." We also visited The Commonplace Coffeehouse (5827 Forbes Ave, Pittsburgh, PA 15217). It was a very busy coffee shop, and their vanilla cappuccino tasted very good! When we were heading back to campus, we took the Port Authority 61D and got dropped off right in front of Alumni Hall. This was another quick bus ride.
This neighborhood was fairly quiet, and seemed to have a safe atmosphere. It also appeared to be a pretty clean neighborhood. Squirrel Hill seems like a great place to live or a great place to visit in your free time. We'd highly suggest you visit if you have the chance!

The Strip District

Laura Ruckenstein
Justin Do
Nicholas Deschler

Lined with many shops and restaurants, the Strip District is a place of history and innovation here in Pittsburgh. We visited several shops and restaurants and asked some of the cashiers about the origin of their shops and the history of the Strip District. Here’s what we can tell you about our experience:

First, to get to The Strip, we took the 54 bus to Liberty Ave and 25th and then walked a couple minutes to the main street. The first shop that we visited was Grandpa Joe’s Candy Shop. Grandpa Joe’s was literally filled from the floor to the ceiling with candy and old soda pop. We learned that this store has the largest amount of candy in the Pittsburgh area! After we got some old fashioned soda from Grandpa Joe’s, we walked around more. We stopped by other stores including another candy shop and a steel art store.

The Strip District used to be the economic center of Pittsburgh, filled with factories and produce shops. While walking around the Strip, you could tell that among the new, trendy shops/ restaurants, there are still many places that pay homage to the Strip’s history. One of these stores was an exotic meat store. This store sold meats from cow to alligator, chicken to camel or even pork to iguana.

Among the historic Strip District, we also went into a Medicinal Marijuana Education Center. This place was very interesting to us because it was so modern, while most shops there seemed to be old-fashioned. We talked to the owner and his main goal is to educate people on the benefits of medicinal marijuana and he even helps people apply for it!

All in all, the Strip District is a very interesting part of Pittsburgh and it is a great place to visit on a weekend afternoon with some friends.