Weekend Argus (Saturday Edition)
THE CITY THAT LOVES YOU BACK
Pittsburgh makes you feel like you are lmost too much sauce for your own cup
I’VE stopped counting the number of cities I’ve fallen in love with. But I think Pittsburgh might be the first city to have loved me back.
On a Sunday morning in February, the sun broke through rain clouds, and I walked along Pittsburgh’s waterfront to a 3m bronze sculpture of Mister Rogers tying his shoes. I heard his voice through overhead speakers: “Did you know that wondering about things is one of the first steps to understanding them?”
Birds chirped, a freight train rumbled, and I looked upriver toward the sparkling skyline. I’d intended to make this a quick stop, but I couldn’t step away from that familiar voice. By the time Fred had reminded me that there’s nobody else in the world who is exactly like me, I had cried and called my mom.
Steel City remains gritty. On dreary days in western Pennsylvania, the pitter-patter of rain is the soundtrack for a setting that’s scorned for its gruffness, car-eating potholes, legal smoking in some bars and obsession with the 1970s Steelers. And yet.
The city is full of gems: worldclass art museums, three inviting rivers and cuisine worth writing home about (including a July festival called Picklesburgh). Pittsburgh is a vast Rust Belt city of dozens of colourful neighbourhoods – including August Wilson’s Hill District, Bloomfield (aka Little Italy) and Polish Hill. Some areas are so hilly that you feel as if you’re on a mezzanine level looking down on an urban lobby.
After I left Mister Rogers, feeling confident and loved, I went to a community yoga class at the
Ace Hotel. In a playful style, the instructor told us to wiggle our fingers like we were “tickling the sun” and stretch our arms like we were “making room for wings to break out”. As light streamed into the ballroom, she ended class by telling us to remember “you are not only enough, you are almost too much sauce for your own cup”. Thank you, Pittsburgh.
GO Local faves
Not only does Kayak Pittsburgh offer a free hour’s rental on your birthday, but on your half birthday as well. These are my people. Part of the NPO Venture Outdoors, Kayak Pittsburgh’s most popular launch site is the North Shore one under the Roberto Clemente Bridge, just steps from the Pirates’ PNC Park.
You’ll enjoy a fantastic view of the skyline as you paddle the Allegheny, which has less barge traffic than the other rivers. During home games, join organised paddles and catch game-night fireworks from the water.
“Find out who you are and be that person. Find that truth, live that truth and everything else will come.” – ELLEN DEGENERES
Kayak or SUP upstream to Washington’s Landing (an island where the first president is said to have slept) or down the river to Point State Park, where the Allegheny and Monongahela (the “Mon”) merge to form the Ohio River. Discounts for bringing your dog, going on Tuesday or being a college student or senior.
Prefer your terra firmer? Check out the Three Rivers Heritage Trail, with segments on both banks of the city’s rivers.
Craving some crafting? Stop by Contemporary Craft, the exhibit and education centre in the Strip District, which features a free drop-in studio. When I visited, the do-it-yourself project used found objects. Even if you can’t imagine the fantastic necklaces one can make with bottle caps, sections of twinkly lights and plastic ice cream tops, have a go at it; your bottled-up creativity will thank you. After browsing the exhibits, which can focus on social justice, cultural boundaries and the environment, visit the artistin-residence, who makes quirky, large-headed Kreepy Dolls from strips of fabric. Sustain the art buzz at the Carnegie Museum of Art, the Andy Warhol Museum and the Frick Pittsburgh.
Guidebook musts
The Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh is home to puppets King Friday XIII, Daniel Striped Tiger and Henrietta Pussycat.
The Monongahela Incline is the country’s oldest continuously operating funicular, or cable railway. It was built in 1870 to help transport workers from Mount Washington down to factories and mills, and is still used for public transportation.
At the top, you’ll find casual bars and restaurants on Shiloh Street.
The nearby Duquesne Incline, just west of the Fort Pitt Bridge, is more touristy, with swankier dining atop, including Altius and Monterey Bay Fish Grotto. No matter what you spend for dinner, both inclines deliver money views of the city. Some visitors take one incline up, walk a mile on Grandview Avenue and take the other down.
EAT Local faves
I popped into Brugge on North for brunch, with an appetite for roasted cauliflower frittata and hungry to see the City of Asylum Bookstore, which shares space with the restaurant. (Both are under the Alphabet City umbrella.) At the bar I sat beside a few locals ordering drinks after a drag show. The Belgianinspired restaurant serves lunch and dinner, with favourites like mussels, twice-cooked fries with tarragon mayonnaise, and beet and fennel salad, as well as grilled cheese on sourdough. Its sister restaurants are the neighbourhoody Point Brugge in Point Breeze and Park Bruges in Highland Park.
City of Asylum, a sanctuary for writers whose voices have been silenced in their home countries, is a hub for writers, readers and musicians, and the space has regular jazz concerts, author readings and films. The bookstore is known for translated titles and those by immigrants and refugees.
“Lonely No More” is Apteka’s popular Sunday late-night DJ event with $5 (R70) cocktails, where you may hear Soviet-era jazz or yodelling. Another vegan must, and not only for the cleverly named menu items: Onion Maiden, a cash-only, Iron Maiden-themed restaurant in the Allentown neighbourhood that makes cashew cheese and serves Munster Mash.
Guidebook musts
Perfect for travellers who can’t agree on cuisine, the ubiquitous food hall, court or, in this case, “galley”
(so named because the co-founders were inspired by the communal mealtime vibe on naval vessels) is a welcome option. Smallman Galley in the Strip District takes the concept a step further as a restaurant incubator, giving start-up chefs the space to develop concepts before they venture out solo.
Fare includes Vietnamese street food, Detroit-style pizza (hint: it’s rectangular), high-end comfort food and Southern barbecue-influenced tacos. You’ll find innovative dishes at all four spots, as well as at the bar. Right now, the specialty drinks are themed around the neighbourhood; how could you not thirst for a cocktail called “The Hole on 21st Street: A Pittsburgh Love Story”? Drinks are half off from 5pm to 7pm on weekdays. Go early on weekends to beat the crowds. Sister operation Federal Galley opened more recently on the North Shore.
SHOP Guidebook musts
Over pasta one night, a
Pittsburgh friend offered a refresher on the 1790s Whiskey Rebellion and his city’s love of that spirit. “Men, women and children drank it, because it was cleaner than the water,” he said. Today, the city offers potable water and award-winning whiskey.
Family-owned Wigle Whiskey is milled, fermented, distilled, aged, bottled and labelled in Pittsburgh.
At Wigle’s tasting room in the Strip District, an employee poured me a sample of coffee liquor and explained that Philip Wigle was a key figure in the rebellion. His German name is now pronounced “Wiggle”, he said, “because Pittsburghers tend to mispronounce everything”.
On the cocktail menu: The Monhattan, Turmeric Me Over & Pour Me Out and the Carda-Gin Sweater. I eyed the wall of colourful bottles for sale – whisky, gin, rum, liquor, absinthe, bitters – and bought a book, The Whiskey Rebellion and the Rebirth of Rye.
Grab a grocery basket at the Strip District’s Pennsylvania Macaroni Company. You’ll need it as you peruse more than 5 000 imported Italian and specialty food items.
“Don’t make things too complicated. Try to relax, enjoy every moment, get used to everything.” – ANGELIQUE KERBER