() has been doling out huge sandwiches, topped ridiculously but deliciously with French fries and cole slaw, since 1933. There are other branches in Squirrel Hill, Shadyside and Mt. In the Strip District, lesbian-owned Pamela’s Diner, aka P&G’s () is a fine spot for hearty breakfast fare and delicious sandwiches at lunch. In Garfield (near East Liberty), Salt of the Earth () serves fine renditions of farm-to-table cuisine. Along ButlerĪvenue in Lawrenceville, you’ll find all sorts of cool eateries: Coca Café (), which also has a branch in the Mattress Factory Museum, serves modern American fare and is a great pick for brunch Cure () is known for innovative, meaty fare, including pig’s cheek ragout and ox-tail ravioli and Tamari () is a gorgeous space acclaimed for artful Asian-Latin fusion fare, such as tamales with chicken, Chinese sausage and green curry. Pittsburgh’s dining scene has blossomed, especially in some of the hip, outlying neighborhoods like Lawrenceville, East Liberty and Bloomfield. Ellsworth Avenue has several gay-popular eateries and businesses, and more chichi Walnut Street holds mid- to high-end chain stores.
Gay bars pittsburgh south side Patch#
More east still is Shadyside, a gentrified patch of neatly kept yards and attractive old homes, many of them gay-owned. A short drive east is the bohemian South Side, a repository of funky shops, galleries and eateries that once anchored Pittsburgh’s Lithuanian and Polish communities.Įast of downtown, Oakland was built from the gobs of money generated during Pittsburgh’s industrial heyday and today contains hospitals, universities and high-tech firms. Ride up the slope via the Monongahela Incline, which leads to a viewing platform and a small museum. Washington, a workaday neighborhood with spectacular views of downtown. South of downtown, the city rises sharply above the Monongahela River toward Mt. The museum contains more than 8,000 works and is an outstanding, engaging and often very funny space, laid out with abundant commentary on Warhol’s life. Pittsburgh’s North Side lies just across the Allegheny River from downtown and is home to the city’s relatively new sports stadiums as well as the Andy Warhol Museum, which celebrates the life of the late pop art icon, who grew up in nearby Oakland. You’ll also find numerous theaters, including the gay-popular Cabaret at Theater Square. Nearby, Liberty and Penn avenues form the spines of a 14-block Cultural District of theaters and performance halls housing the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, the Pittsburgh Ballet and the Pittsburgh Opera. It’s architecturally notable, too: You can’t miss the city’s most remarked-upon skyscraper, PPG Place, a neo-Gothic monolith designed by the late gay architect Philip Johnson. The city also hosts the Pittsburgh International Lesbian & Gay Film Festival each October, and the fast-growing Pride Theater Festival took place over two weekends just this month. The city has numerous theaters with artsy and gay-themed films and a high appreciation of alternative culture (consider that two of its top attractions are the Mattress Factory contemporary art museum and the Andy Warhol Museum). The gay community is well-integrated within the mainstream population. Having received a bump in gay visibility during the years it served as the setting of TV’s Queer as Folk (which was actually filmed in Toronto), Pittsburgh has also steadily developed into a very popular weekend destination among LGBT travelers.
Although now less than half its size compared to its heyday, this hilly and historic metropolis in the Ohio Valley is enjoying a dramatic renaissance, with a number of formerly downcast neighborhoods now abuzz with hip restaurants, indie shops and rehabbed factory buildings, apartments and row houses.
OVER THE RIVER | Downtown Pittsburgh, viewed from across the Allegheny River, is more than just the setting for ‘Queer as Folk.’ (Photo by Andrew Collins)ĪNDREW COLLINS | Contributing one of the country’s pre-eminent industrial powerhouses, with a population of nearly 700,000, Pittsburgh () has, like many similar American cities, changed considerably over the past few decades.