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.