On Wednesday, I’ll be flying out there for 2 days of interviews with the Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh.
Although they haven’t made a formal offer yet, it is looking very likely that they will, and I will have to move to Pittsburgh.
Can I get some advice on what neighborhoods I might want to look for an apartment? I’m single, so I wouldn’t need a huge place, but I would like to live in a reasonably nice neighborhood. I’m totally unfamiliar with the area, so the names of the different suburbs don’t mean much to me.
Look in Shadyside. It’s pretty close to Childrens Hospital (the hospital is right in Oakland, which is a fun place to live if you are 19, an alcoholic, and want to move in with 6 friends.) There won’t be too many places in Shadyside that would be more than a 15-20 minmute bike ride to work and a car trip would take just over 5 mins. It’s one of the better neighborhoods you can find without heading into the suburbs. It’s the first place I’d start looking were I ever to move back.
As a backup, try Squirrel Hill. It’s adjacent to Shadyside and would still be very close to your job.
Here’s a map of shadyside: http://www.city.pittsburgh.pa.us/cp/html/shadyside.html You can see near the bottom left hand corner of this map is The intersection of 5th Ave and North Neville, which you should also be able to find on this map of Oakland, where the hospital is. http://www.frc.ri.cmu.edu/~ssingh/cmumaps.pdf The Hospital is right around the intersection of 5th Ave and Atwood, I think it is represented by the “29” on this map. On this Oakland map, you can see right near the top middle is Neville and 5th (this is right about where Oakland turns into Shadyside), this is what was on the botom left corner of the shadyside map – To tie both maps together.
Blah. Just woke up and I feel like I am rambling, hope that makes sense. I lived and hung around Oakland for many years, let me know if you have any questions.
I live in Squirrel Hill right now, so forgive me if I seem too SH-centric, but I really like living here. We have a Giant Eagle, two movie theaters, a number of coffeehouses and a Barnes and Noble all within walking distance, and there are lots of buses that run down to Oakland–I’d be a little hesitant about living in South Oakland, as it’s not too safe and kind of scummy. Shadyside is a nice place to live, too–it has Walnut Street, a swanky little area that provides great people watching. I’ve found that the apartments are cheaper in Squirrel Hill, though (although they might not be as nice as the ones in Shadyside are.)
I’ve lived in Squirrel Hill my whole life, so I don’t have too much experience with the suburbs. You might be able to get a cheaper apartment, but it is kind of a pain in the butt to fight traffic everyday, and Squirrel Hill and Shadyside do have all sorts of apartments in various price ranges. Well, in any case, you know where my affinity lies.
For the suburbs, check out Monroeville. It’s about a 20-25 minute drive (without traffic) to the Hospital. Warning, though…it is the epitome of “Suburbia”. If that doesn’t bother you, you can likely find something there cheaper than in Shadyside or Sq. Hill.
Murrysville is smaller, and on the other side of Monroeville. Add 10-15 mintes to your commute. From my POV, it is a little bit more “upscale” than Monroeville.
All of this is on the east side of the city, I’m sure some others can chime in with advice on other suburb areas.
Atreyu, take my advice and do not consider Murrysville. Sometime in the next few years they’ll be tearing up the main drag making an awful rush hour even worse. Also, I’m afraid the town thinks it’s Lake Woebegone, which basically means conformists only.
You will want to stay east of downtown Pittsburgh because getting across town can be a problem. I’ll second Shadyside and Squirrel Hill, and also recommend Edgewood, Swissvale, Braddock Hills, Point Breeze, Highland Park and Friendship. Some of these are towns; some are neighborhoods, but they’re all basically east of Oakland, the neighborhood UPMC is in. I’ll also recommend North Oakland, which is north of Fifth Avenue and east of UPMC. You will be competing with college students from the University of Pittsburgh and Carnegie Mellon in that neighborhood in particular, but it’s worth looking at.
If you want an suburb east of the city, Penn Hills is nice but still reasonably to commute to Oakland to.
Mass transit as a whole isn’t that great in Pittsburgh, but Oakland does have good bus service, as well as having a bunch of good places to eat.
If you’d like a local guide, send me an e-mail. I could use a break from sitting at home waiting for the telephone to ring.
Sorry, I don’t have much more to add, except that if your looking suburb-wise, the Monroeville/Murrysville area is probably your best bet, especially now that a large amount of construction downtown has made going through the city and across the rivers a royal pain in the rump, and it’s looking to stay that way for the next two years or so.
I also have to say that Shadyside/Squirrell Hill is the way to go, city-wise. It’s not all that expensive, since they get a lot (and I mean a lot) of CMU college students looking for places, and while the suburbs are probably cheaper, you really can’t beat being that close to your job.
Also, I live in Shadyside. Not that I’m biased or anything.
As far as the suburbs go, look to the North Hills. There are a number of nice apartment complexes (Lincoln Club is one of the ones I can think of off-hand). The commute into the city and Oakland isn’t bad at all. One of the lovely things you will learn when you live in Pittsburgh is unless you live in the city, or like backroad commutes, you are sitting in major traffic to get through one of the city’s highly disfunctional tunnels. The North Hills offers a decent commute if you are close to Interstate 279. It takes you right into the city. I lived in the North Hills and commuted to Oakland, and it wasn’t bad at all.
I’ll second Shadyside and Squirrel Hill for neighborhoods worth looking at if you want to stay close to work. Since you are single, your odds of having a social life will increase greatly if you are located near Pitt/CMU… Shadyside is a close bike ride away.
By the way, I’ve worked in Portland too and found a number of similarities with the towns. Size is one, as well as some nice waterfront areas. On the negative side, Pittsburgh has a terrible public transportation system (short light rail system and a heavy reliance on busses), terrible traffic (especially east and south of the city), and an aging population. Unlike a place like D.C., (where there is a large, young, professional population), Pittsburgh is an older community. Be prepared for a potential slowdown of your social options.
There is no comparison to the scenery or outdoor activities, however. In Portland, as you know, you are an hour away from the ocean, and an hour away from Mt. Hood. Pittsburgh has rivers, but not much else. Nothing even remotely close to the Columbia River Gorge. If you like those things, you will miss them.
One more thing… Be prepared for snow and hills!
I like both towns, and would live in either again.
I don’t live there anymore, but I keep my ear to the ground for news from the Burgh.
Children’s is going to be moving to Lawrenceville soon, to the former site of St. Francis. That makes the North Hills more appealing if you want suburbs, (having lived in the NH suburbs, gah, never ever again would I live in such a soulless area) but also makes Squirrel Hill and Point Breeze even more attractive, as the whole concept of Fifth Avenue traffic goes out the window. But there are actually really nice places right in Lawrenceville and Bloomfield, if you look.
I think the trick is to look with an open mind with regard to neighborhoods and locations.
North Oakland: No. Much nicer than South or Central Oakland, but still trashy and loud. I lived on North Neville for a year and have/had friends living on Center, Baum, Bayard and Craig. It’s just too loud and college kid-y for my tastes now.
Edgewood and Swissvale: Not bad places to live, put I wouldn’t really call them “nice neighborhoods.”
Point Breeze/Highland Park: Some fantastic old houses here, and when I was there rent was still very reasonable. I lived in Highland Park for the last year before I moved here to Atlanta. I don’t know if the trend continued, but it seemed that more and more seedy folk were moving in and I definitely felt a lot less safe there when I moved out than when I moved in. Went to sleep to gunshots several nights a week. Of course, I was only a coupe blocks off of Penn Circle, and this was almost 7 years ago; I don’t know what has happened since then. Also, I think the closer you get to the Higland Park Bridge (read: Further away from East Liberty) the nicer the places got.
Also, Re: Penn Hills – I always thought this was kind of run down. It may have been completely a wrong perception . but thats what it was. Monroeville only 5-10 minutes further and nicer.
I moved here about 6 years ago. I’m a professional who has lived in Manhattan, San Diego, Columbus OH, Wash DC, etc. I am single and like a more hip-urban place to live. I have lived in apartments here and currently own a house.
If you want a more “young professional city experience”, that means pretty much you can choose from Shady Side or Squirrel Hill for apartment living. Most apartments outside of this area are not that great and there isn’t as nice a “community” where those apartments are. Highland Park is now starting to be an up and coming community and there as some nice apartments, but you lose the quaint local shopping that Shadyside and SH have.
Don’t bother with anything outside the city if you want to have a more cosmopolitan experience.
I have also lived in Shadyside, Squirrel Hill and Highland Park, so I feel very comfortable recommending these areas. Pgh is a fun place to live. I’m sure you will like it.
All of these areas are relatively close to Oakland and Lawrenceville (where St. Francis is turning over to Children’s).
Let me know if you would like any specifics. I recommend just driving through those areas when you get here (could be done in 30 minutes) to get an idea where you might want to plant your stake.
If you get the time, you OWE it to yourself to check out Primanti Brothers for a sandwich (many locations, Oakland and the Strip are the best), the Dirty O for fries (Oakland) and Dave & Andy’s for homemade ice cream (Oakland as well).
cjhoworth, I’d love to have a guide (and meet a fellow Doper in the process), but my interview schedules on Thursday and Friday are really packed. Plus, I leave first thing Saturday morning. Thanks for the offer, though.
