where i come from.

I originally dictated this post to Seth whilst hooping to the song "Hey, Phat Chick" by my dear friend Phat Man Dee.

The first thing that makes Pittsburgh special is Heinz ketchup.   We are very serious about our Heinz ketchup, we except no substitutes, especially not Hunts.  Every proper Pittsburgher knows that you have to hit the 57 on the bottle to get the ketchup out.  This is how we sniff-out outsiders.

We are so proud of our Heinz history that we have pickle pins and pins in the shape of Heinz ketchup bottles.  If you are of a certain age you probably have at least one.  We also have an entire history centre bearing the Heinz name, but unfortunately it has nothing to do with ketchup or pickles.

If you ask an outsider what they know about Pittsburgh, they will likely incorrectly state that it is a city near Philly.  If they know any real facts about the city, they will probably mention the Pittsburgh Steeler's and be of the opinion that the city is a dirty, polluted steel town.   That sort of opinion was once true, not so long ago, but things change.  The steel industry went under in the 1970s, but from it's ashes rose a strong educational sector. 

Education has always been a strong part of Pittsburgh's identity.  Andrew Carnegie dedicated much of his life to providing knowledge to all.  Many facets of learning bear his name, Carnegie Mellon University, the Carnegie Libraries of Pittsburgh, the Carnegie Museum of Art & Natural History, and the Carnegie Science Center.  It took leaving Pittsburgh to really appreciate what Carnegie did for our libraries, for not all public libraries in the world are entirely free.

Puppets from Mr. Roger's Neighborhood

Pittsburgh was also home to one of the most loved teachers in the nation, Mr. Rogers.   If you don't know who Mr. Rogers is, I pity your childhood.  He was the most lovely, quiet man, who created a television show for children that was on air for 31 seasons.  He taught us how to deal with being afraid and how to use our imaginations.  He took us to crayon factories and places that made cereal.  But perhaps most importantly, he taught us that we are all special, just by being ourselves. 

As of late, our strong educational presence has encouraged the growth of many tech startups.  Even Google has taken notice, in 2011 they opened an office in the neighbourhood of East Liberty.  Even the layman can learn how to code and make, with non-profits and companies such as Assemble, the Children's Museum, CreateLAB, and TechShop.

Girls from Ellis School show off their
robot at Assemble.

Despite this high paying industry coming to town, Pittsburgh is still very much a city of blue collar workers.  I mentioned this previously in a post about Newtown, New Zealand, but I think it bears repeating, places and people that have gone through extreme adversity have the best character.  Pittsburghers are pretty poor, even those that aren't currently poor were probably poor at some point in their life.  

We love pierogi so much
we make tiny knit versions.

We come from a long-line of immigrants and this gives us neighbourhoods such as Polish Hill, where my ancestors settled when they first came to Pittsburgh.  We have Deutschtown for the Germans, and Bloomfield, our version of Little Italy.  All those neighbourhoods still retain much of their culture and their traditional dishes.  Popular foods are pierogi, holishkes (which I do not recommend), and brats with sauerkraut.

I think all of these things, especially the eating of holishkes, make Pittsburghers a rather resilient group of people.

This is surely part of the reason why we have such an amazing art scene.  You can go anywhere in the city and find great music.  There are gallery crawls every month, two of which that I can think of off the top of my head, but I'd wager there are more.  There are three large art centres; Pittsburgh Center for the Arts, Pittsburgh Filmmakers, and the Pittsburgh Glass Center.  There are smaller ones and personal studios as well.

As seen at the Clay Penn.

Phat Man Dee

The artists themselves, well they are simply mind-blowing.  Phat Man Dee, Terry Griffith, and Western Pennsylvania are just three of my favourites.  In addition to being talented, they are also humble.  I have yet to meet a local Pittsburgh artist who was full of themselves; you can talk to them, hangout with them. It's inspiring to know people like that. 

Pittsburgh also has lots of hippy/fringy artist-types - people doing things with fire, belly dancers, hoop dancers, all three of the aforementioned things at once. I can't even venture a guess at how many fire spinners I know.  People just get together and do art!  Some of them busk, which isn't terribly accepted in Pittsburgh, but they do it anyway.  

(Rant time: Oh my gosh, I cannot find belly dancers in NZ.  I think that's a crime.  Belly dancers should be plastered all over the place.  I want to see some belly dancers in this country!)

Bellydancer Joanna Abel

After Seattle, Pittsburgh is the rainiest city in the United States.  I love rainy days and tray days, especially in the fall when the leaves are changing colour and the air smells so crisp.  It just makes me want to curl up and read a good book.  I know these sort of days make some people depressed, but it makes me ridiculously happy.  They are just so magical, I feel like anything could happen.

My absolute favourite thing to do on a rainy day in Pittsburgh was to go to the main branch of the library in Oakland.  There is an amazing place in the library, at the end of the stacks there are windows with seats so you can curl up and read.  These windows overlook the Hall of Dinosaurs in the Carnegie Museum of Natural History.  The smell of the books, the view of the bones, there is nothing more magical.

Because of all of the rain, the houses are often damp.  Most homes are fairly old so they have settled in awkward ways.  Windows and doors often don't fit properly into their frames anymore and it can create a nasty draft in the cold winter months.  Save my last place, I have never lived somewhere that did not have an issue with mold.  Leaky roof, leaky windows, leaky pipes, it can be rather unpleasant.  There seems to be a misconception that homes in America are large, dry, and come with double glazed windows, but tis simple not true! 

My favourite design feature in Pittsburgh homes is found in the basement.  It is not unusual to have a dug out hole as a basement.  When I say dug out hole, I mean rocks and dirt.  Once I had a plant growing in my basement because there was a hole in the foundation that let light in and a seed had taken root in the dirt.  That's not my favourite feature though!  The best part of any classic Pittsburgh abode is the commode!  A Pittsburgh toilet is teh term given to a toilet in the middle of a basement.  Sometimes there is a laundry sink to wash your hands, occasionally there may even be a shower.  But the one thing a Pittsburgh toilet must never have -- is walls! 

Pittsburgh is absolutely nothing like the America people see on the television, but it does encapsulate a lot of what America is supposed to be.  There are immigrants, there are people who have came from nothing and have risen up.  They may not be famous, they may not have lots of money, but they are strong and deserve to be celebrated.