When I was growing up, Pittsburgh was not the kind of place people talked about going to for a vacation. It had a reputation as being gritty, polluted, uneducated, and boring. It was lumped in with other rust-belt cities in decline, like Cleveland, Buffalo, and Detroit: bad weather, no amenities, decaying downtown.
Yet after hearing many glowing reviews of it from friends recently, I found myself making the seven-hour drive there last weekend from my home in Queens, NY.
Here's the upshot of it all: I loved Pittsburgh. It was a great city, in every respect. It was surprisingly clean, but perhaps anything would seem clean for someone who's lived in the Big Crapple for any period of time (just a joke, fellow New Yorkers!).
It was also affordable and picturesque; there was a lot to do, and the people were great. And I mean really great. One example: I stopped to ask directions and this very nice woman actually offered to pull out her computer and Mapquest my destination using wireless Internet at a local coffee shop.
Maybe I've become jaded by life in New York, but that seems crazy nice to me. And it wasn't an isolated incident. Everyone was so friendly.
So, after a lovely first day in Pittsburgh, I admittedly was in a pretty good mood, and the fact that we were going to a baseball game that evening only made things better. After parking downtown (for free!) my girlfriend and I walked across the lovely Roberto Clemente Bridge to PNC Park, which lies across the Allegheny River from central Pittsburgh.
The bridge was closed off to vehicle traffic, and folks were leisurely wandering across the river, enjoying the nice weather (clear skies, temp in the low-80s). As you cross the bridge, you come to the street that runs along the eastern side of the park. Immediately on your left is a very nice statue of Clemente himself—as well as several attractive restaurants associated with the stadium (outdoor seating, and what smelled like decent enough food).
On the right side of the street are private restaurants and bars, also with plenty of outdoor tables. We chose one of those restaurants and had a nice (and surprisingly cheap) meal and drink before the game.
The next part blew me away.
After our meal, we were able to walk right up to the box office and purchase same-day grandstand seats for $9 a piece. Now, maybe that seems normal to some of you, but as someone who has spent many hours scouring Stub Hub and eBay for Fenway tickets, only to either find: a) nothing; or, b) bleacher seats for $50 a piece, I was astounded that good, cheap seats would be available just minutes before game time (despite having been assured by others beforehand that my last minute plan would work).
Heck, even tickets at Shea Stadium, not considered a tough find, start off at roughly $25 a pop these days.
But that wasn't even the best part.
The best part was that those last-minute, $9 seats yielded us one of the most spectacular views of a city I've ever seen, and certainly the best I've seen while planted in a stadium seat (see the above photo for the approximate view we had).
6 comments Last one added 10 months ago — Leave a Comment
Evan Weiss 10 months ago
I'm glad you enjoyed Pittsburgh! Yeah the Pirates are bad, but PNC Park is always a reliably cheap thing do to with your friends. However, you will not have any inch of luck trying to get cheap tickets to a Steelers or Pens game. Or tickets at all.
Just be careful if you go further away from the river past the stadiums. I don't know how nice people would be in many parts of the Northside. They've had gang violence that has spiked lately. But other than there and a few other parts on the other side of the city, people will be incredibly friendly despite how angry they look lol.
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Andrew Tirrell 10 months ago
Good thing I went during baseball season, then! I would have been sad to not have been able to take in any sports while there. I didn't notice many angry looks arund town. Did Bill Cowher rub off on the fans?
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Mary Jo Buchanan 10 months ago
Andrew, great five star read! You made my very homesick for Pittsburgh - where I grew up and watched many a Pirate game - of course at that time it was Forbes Field (am old!) The new stadium is really great and am glad you got to enjoy it. Thanks for taking me "back home".
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Andrew Tirrell 10 months ago
Mary Jo, I am continually surprised at how sports can draw out strong emotions that may not even have anything to do with the game itself. I, myself, have experienced nostalgia and homesickness thinking about baseball games that I watched many years ago. I often flash back to sitting in my grandfather's lap as a young boy and watching the Red Sox play. Usually I would fall asleep pretty quickly, to be woken up to watch the end if they were winning, or mercifully allowed to sleep through a loss.
Pittsburgh is truly a great place, so I can't blame you for your homesickness. I hope you make it back there for another visit soon.
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Stephen Catanese 10 months ago
i liked this a lot... not just for the pittsburgh ups, but for the fact that you're obviously knowledgeable about baseball and provide a good read on many different levels.
good stuff.
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Andrew Tirrell 10 months ago
Thanks, Stephen!
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