Sights—A visit to Point State Park to watch the barges and boats at the confluence of the two rivers; the view of the Golden Triangle from a Mount Washington overlook; a ride on the Duquesne Incline; a close-up look at the shimmering Pittsburgh Plate Glass (PPG) Building; a day trip to Frank Lloyd Wright's spectacular Fallingwater; a Pittsburgh Pirates game at PNC Park.
Museums—The Carnegie museums in Oakland, including the famous dinosaurs at the Museum of Natural History; the Carnegie Science Center and Andy Warhol Museum on the North Side; the Senator John Heinz Pittsburgh Regional History Center in the Strip District; the Frick Art and Historical Center in Point Breeze.
Memorable Meals—Sunday brunch at the Grand Concourse at Station Square; a late-night sandwich at Primanti Brothers Restaurant; elegant dining atop Mount Washington; American fare in the architecturally elegant Eleven; German cuisine and music at the Penn Brewery.
Late Night—A show at the Benedum Center for the Performing Arts or Heinz Hall for the Performing Arts; dancing and cocktails at the Altar Bar in the Strip District; jazz at Dowe's on 9th; live music at Club Cafe; an evening cruise on a riverboat from the Gateway Clipper Fleet.
Walks—A hike through Frick Park; a stroll through the gardens at Phipps Conservatory; a walk or jog along the Monongahela River on the South Side Riverfront Park Trail; in-line skating along the Eliza Furnace Trail.
Especially for Kids—Pittsburgh Children's Museum; Kids Kingdom at the Pittsburgh Zoo and PPG Aquarium; hands-on exhibits in the Discovery Room of the Carnegie Museum of Natural History; fun and science at the Carnegie Science Center; UPMC Sports Works; water rides at Sandcastle; a day at Kennywood Park.
As you enter the city via the Fort Pitt Bridge, Pittsburgh greets you with a sparkling skyline, rows of bridges, a grand fountain and three rivers. Pittsburgh's downtown, known locally as the Golden Triangle, stands at the convergence of these waterways. There lies the city's scenic center, as well as the headquarters of several Fortune 500 businesses. The Strip District, which runs along Penn Avenue downtown, was once run-down, but today it's a thriving commercial market with funky shops and fashionable restaurants. At night, it transforms into a clubgoer's paradise.
In conversation, residents frequently allude to the name of a Pittsburgh township or neighborhood. Oakland, Shadyside and Squirrel Hill, for example, are a few miles/kilometers east of downtown and together constitute the East End. The area is a short ride by taxi or bus from downtown. Across the Monongahela to the south are the neighborhoods of the South Side and Mount Washington, which sits atop a mountain of the same name. Across the Allegheny River lies the North Side, which is home to PNC Park (Pirate baseball stadium) and Heinz Field (Steelers football stadium). The Pittsburgh International Airport is about 20 mi/32 km to the west. These locations are all in the metropolitan area.
The site of today's Pittsburgh—the point where the Allegheny and Monongahela rivers meet to form the Ohio River—was once a Native American village. It developed into a fur-trading post in the 1600s, and in the mid-1700s, as the British and French squared off in the French and Indian War, the area became a battleground. The French built Fort Duquesne at the confluence of the rivers. When the English captured it in 1758, they renamed it Fort Pitt: the basis for the later name of Pittsburgh.
Incorporated in 1816, Pittsburgh thrived throughout the 1800s, especially after the Pennsylvania Railroad was completed. Immigrants flocked to the city. By 1870, it was the nation's leading producer of iron and steel, and industrialists such as Andrew Carnegie, George Westinghouse, Andrew Mellon and Henry Clay Frick made their fortunes there. But all this heavy industry laid a blanket of black soot over the city. Not until a strong push for urban redevelopment surfaced in the late 1940s did Pittsburgh confront its air-pollution problem.
The decline of steel manufacturing in the 1960s increased the city's environmental awareness. Since then, skyscrapers have taken the place of blast furnaces, and Pittsburgh has become one of the nation's leaders in turning brownfields (former industrial sites) into centers for high-tech research and commerce.
Pittsburgh has had some challenges in recent years. The city filed for municipal bankruptcy in 2004, and the bankruptcy of US Airways, which controlled 85% of the traffic at Pittsburgh International Airport, was initially seen as an economic blow. The setback, however, allowed low-cost air carriers to set up shop, offering lower fares for travel to and from Pittsburgh and giving a boost to the tourism industry. The city's economy is now rebounding—along with the price of airfares—and the worst seems to be over.
WQED TV 13 in Pittsburgh was the first public-television station in the country. It is also home to the original series
Mister Rogers' Neighborhood.
Pittsburgh researcher Dr. Jonas Salk developed the polio vaccine in 1953.
Pittsburgh is often referred to as "The City of Bridges." It claims more than 720—more than any other city in the U.S., and second in the world only to Venice, Italy.
Since the Heinz company originated in Pittsburgh, company founders worked the keystone into the logo of their ketchup bottles (Pennsylvania's nickname is the Keystone state).
The first Nickelodeon, a theater just for showing motion pictures, was built in Pittsburgh in 1905.
In the early 1920s, Hugh J. Ward created a new game in Pittsburgh, which he called Bingo.
