Greetings Spoke,
I’m a native Pittsburgher and I joined up just to give you a few tips. For authentic Polish food, The Bloomfield Bridge Tavernwould be hard to beat. Last time I ate there was back when they were open for lunch and I saw the little old Polish lady come in and start making the pierogies by hand. Get the Polish Platter if you go. It comes with pierogies, halushky and some really good Polish sausage. As for history, downtown at Point State Park there’s the the Fort Pitt Blockhouse which dates back to the French & Indian war. The museum there was recently renovated. If you don’t mind a 90 minute drive, Fort Necessity is worth the trip. I went there as a boy and was stunned how short the doorways were. I guess people were a bit shorter back then.
Enjoy your trip to the 'Burgh and if you can catch a Buccos game at PNC Park, that’d be great as they’re red-hot right now!
Well I am honored. Welcome to the 'Dope, and thanks. The Polish food tip is especially appreciated, as we just don’t get that food here. The menu looks delicious, if not exactly healthy!
I didn’t realize Fort Necessity had been preserved as a park. (I was familiar with Washington’s role there.) That would be a good stop for us, and we could probably swing by there on the way up. (We’re doing this as a road trip up through the mountains.)
Will also check out the blockhouse.
As for your Bucs, I have always liked them, though the team of my heart is of course the Braves. Luckily I won’t have to choose on this trip and can root heartily for the Pirates.
I visited the 'burgh last year and loved it! I can’t add to the Places To Go, but I can reiterate the importance of having a GPS. Not only are the roads convoluted, the city was inundated with road construction. Also, many times the GPS was slightly behind and we would miss a turn or exit ramp. Without the GPS, we would have never found our way back to our route.
It’s only within the last decade that they marked all the streets with street signs. Now even winky littly alleys have them. Before this, it was common even for locals to get horribly lost when going to a less familiar city neighborhood.
I mean, that helped but the roots of the issue are still there: it’s not built on a grid and lacks any semblance of city planning. Fer chrissakes, downtown 5th avenue becomes Diamond street and then goes back to 5th. So there are effectively TWO 5th ave’s.
Fallingwater is about 1.5 hours driving from Pittsburgh. It is 100% worth seeing and is a true masterpiece. If this is the kind of historical/cultural sites you are interested in seeing, then it will be completely worth it. The guided tours are very well done and the whole site is quite impressive. It is up to you if this is worth 3 total hours of driving and ~3 hours touring the site. As far as non-Pittsburgh day trips go, Fallingwater is easily the best IMHO.
Another possible historical site is the Meadowcroft Rockshelter, which is about 16000-19000 years old, and is, if the 19000 figure is the correct one, the oldest known site of human life in North America.
ETA: While you are in the Strip District either Saturday or Sunday morning, the adjacent Heinz History Center is a pretty neat museum encompassing the history of Western Pennsylvania and the local sports history.
I did a quick read through and I didn’t see anyone mention The Heinz History Center which is just on the edge of downtown. I went there for the Vatican Treasures exhibit last winter and I had a blast. Seeing one of those vintage old PAT PCC streetcars again was a real treat!
Looking at the maps, Fallingwater and Fort Necessity look to be reasonably close to one another, so we could possibly knock those out on a single side trip, or on the way up.
Indeed you could. I have never been to Fort Necessity and have no clue how much time you’ll need to budget, but Fallingwater is by guided tour only and those typically last around 2 hours. You will certainly also want to walk around the grounds, so budgeting around 3 hours is probably the safest.
Isaly’s in West View for the cooking although they just do breakfast and lunch. For dinner I recommend the Obey House Tavern but be warned the bar area is smoking.
Book stores are centered around Carson Street on the South Side and from Oakland to Squirrel Hill. Bryn-mar Vassar Book Shop was way cool but its been ages since I was there.
Drive-through? Consider the Mexican War Streets and any of the areas around Manchester/North Side ----- at least in daylight. Some cool funky shops and houses to see and stop at. Peppi’s (sic?) Sandwich Shop on North Ave (I believe) can make a good base of operations.
GPS - some help but still get a good city map. Around here construction pops up fast enough and roads change often enough that GPS can get you in as much trouble as it solves.
If we’re talking the one out towards Harmar by the fancy cigar store, I second that. Terrific place. And a little trivia is that the painting on the wall matches the painting done by someone at a bar in Tipton Indiana. Still need to check signatures to see if the same person did both.
The woman that did the work in Pittsburgh is a jewelry maker whose only foray into painting was the walls in Moondogs. She used to bartend there and did the painting in her spare time. Each dog represents someone (local or national) and some have been signed. I was there when Coco Taylor signed her dog.
I don’t mean to be a poop, but I finally went to visit Fort Necessity a couple of summers ago, and I was extremely underwhelmed. I’d hate to see someone make plans to go too far out of their way to see it. However, if you’re going to be visiting Fallingwater anyway, then it wouldn’t be too bad.
ETA: Make sure to get your Fallingwater tickets in advance.
Perhaps because the fort is a little storehouse surrounded by a stockade fence.
If we had been able to go visit the Washington Tavern at the same time, maybe I would have enjoyed the whole thing more, but the Fort Necessity site itself is really, well, underwhelming.
I love the Ohio Pyle area, though. It’s great for camping, rafting/floating, biking and so on. The Laurel Caverns nearby is a pretty cool cave to tour.
Not only that, but watch out for the buses. We have some bus-only lanes that go the opposite way from other traffic. Fifth Avenue in Oakland has those.
Another thing to be aware of is that there are a lot of one-way streets, especially in Oakland.
I’m the owner of the B&B in Lawrenceville and would love to host your stay in Pittsburgh. Thanks Lindsay for the post - v. much appreciated!
Here’s a few more suggestions - La Gourmandine in Lawrenceville is a french bakery where you can grab a quick breakfast or lunch to eat-in or take out. Everything is out of this world good and very affordable.
Tram’s is a Vietnamese restaurant in Bloomfield and right down the street from the excellent Brillobox. Another great (non-Italian) restaurant in Bloomfield is Tessaro’s, which is known for its burgers.
You should definitely sample some of the beer from East End Brewing. Many local bars and restaurants have their beer on tap. You can also visit their brewery for “growler hours” and get (very generous) samples of whatever they have on tap (usually about a half dozen or so) and also get a “growler” of beer to go.
One museum that does not get a lot of Pittsburgh love is the Frick. It’s a great gem of a place that’s not on a lot of people’s radar. It consists of a small art museum, a small car museum, the former home of Henry Clay Frick, a gift shop, greenhouse, and cafe. The grounds are very pretty and they have special events the first Friday (I believe) in the summer months.
I’d consider not renting a car and save the $$. Depending on where you stay, you can take the bus pretty much everywhere you want to go. FYI, cabs are not that reliable–hit or miss service.
Hope this helps and have a great time in Pittsburgh.
I’ll second Tram’s. Anyone remember the original location? It was a tiny little place that would have people lined up down the block waiting for a table.
Thanks Lindsay for the post - v. much appreciated!