NOT JUST A SPORTS CITY: PITTSBURGH CULTURE IS HIDDEN BUT VIBRANT
Sarah Connor
Senior Staff Writer This article is a reprint from our 2018 New Student Guide. I grew up in a small town about 25 miles outside of the City — near the Pittsburgh International Airport — called Moon Township. It was common for people from my town to attend schools in and around the City, and I come from a long line of Pitt alumni. But I was independent as a kid and wanted to have new experiences, so my family ties to Pitt made me ignore it as an option rather than gravitate toward it. Pittsburgh itself didn’t excite me much either. With many successful athletic teams, I always felt like it was a city for sports fans instead of music and art buffs. I didn’t care for Steelers games — and that still rings true today
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— but I was eventually introduced to the other intriguing parts of Pittsburgh that appealed to students with artistic and literary bents. The summer before my senior year, I toured universities all around Ohio and New York. From Ohio University to Ithaca College, I was sure I could spread my wings and move far from Pittsburgh. But after pressure from my family, I sent in an application to Pitt. They wanted me to have the option to stay close to home in case I changed my mind about going far away, but at the time, I rolled my eyes and considered it a waste. But during those summer months leading up to my final year of high school, something interrupted my determination to get out of Pittsburgh. An old friend of mine invited me out to one of downtown Pittsburgh’s Rooftop
Shindigs — a live music and film event held on the roof of the Theater Square Garage multiple times every summer. This gave me the chance to experience a side of Pittsburgh I had never seen before. That evening I saw the Pittsburghbased, indie rock band Nevada Color play, a group that is now one of my favorite bands. The band members tossed beach balls around into the audience while rock music blared and people danced. That show led me to delve deep into Pittsburgh’s music scene. Soon enough, I was taking the 28X bus from the airport to the City to go to shows in Pittsburgh as often as I could, jamming to other local and national bands I had only just discovered. Pittsburgh’s music culture had me traveling around the city more than before, taking me
August 19, 2019
to places like Wigle Whiskey and the now-closed Altar Bar to see metal groups, emo bands and synth-pop duos perform. My brother was a sophomore at Pitt at the time, which also got me into the City more often. Getting the chance to visit him at his South Oakland apartment was how I toured Pitt’s campus. He introduced me to Market Central, the now-closed Qdoba on Forbes and his classrooms in Benedum Hall. Sushi Fuku, Fuel & Fuddle and Dave & Andy’s Homemade Ice Cream were other places I experienced for the first time during those visits. But the best part of visiting him was realizing how close he was to cultural landmarks like Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens, and the Carn-
See Connor on page 52
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