Hello Pittsburgh, nice to meet you.

Despite my southern sensibility to overlook certain historic industrial cities as travel destinations, I’ve recently been pleasantly surprised by Pittsburgh. The main reason for my domestic adventure was a visit to a dear friend, Hannah, from my Asia days. (A local who is also a friend makes the best tour guide.) I didn’t know what to expect from this new city. Really, I had hardly any background knowledge beyond the fact that Pittsburgh’s professional football team, the Steelers, had just lost the super bowl. So I touched down on a frigid afternoon for a weekend ready to learn as much as I could about the self-proclaimed birthplace of pop culture. These are a few things I found out…

1. Fanatics! Pittsburghers are obsessed with their sports teams. I’ve lived in cities preoccupied with sports before. Example: it doesn’t take long to realize that Denver loves the Broncos and New York is schizophrenic over the Yankees and Mets. But Pittsburgh doesn’t narrow it to one sport. Of course there is the aforementioned NFL Steelers, but they also love the NHL Penguins and MLB Pirates. As Hannah and I ate steak and cheese sandwiches covered with coleslaw and French fries, specialty at the “almost famous Primanti Brothers” restaurant, she explained that the Pittsburgh sports teams feel more like the divisions of a college athletic program than separate franchises. Their shared color schemes and close stadiums give the city a college-town atmosphere. And anyone familiar with the Terrible Towel tradition’s history realizes that it doesn’t take much to rally the fans.

2. There is a rich art culture in Pittsburgh. Home to Carnegie Mellon University, renown for its music and drama department, this shouldn’t really be a surprise. Yet I had no idea of the growing popularity of the city with up and coming artists. The city itself boasts many music halls, theaters, and museums, some also bearing the name Carnegie. I got to see the play Camelot at the Pittsburgh Public Theater. A wonderfully small, intimate venue that gives you the feeling of being front and center of the action. Not a bad seat in the house. Sadly, the weekend was too full of other fun activities to allow for a leisurely stroll through any museums. There are several worth visiting. However, Hannah and I did take a self-guided tour of CMU’s campus and very much enjoyed wandering the halls of the Parnell Center (home to the college of fine art), casually peeking into art studios and observing various projects in process.

3. Pittsburgh is reinventing itself. My preconceived image of a blue collar, factory city was accurate…fifty years ago. The city today is rapidly changing. The old factories are being reinvented and turned into shopping/dining areas. For one plaza the only lingering reminders of the past are several old brick smoke stacks left intact as a testimony to what had been. Also with the decline of the steel industry, Pittsburgh has reinvented the core of its economy. It used to revolve around steel and iron however, now its biomedical and computer sciences. Technology rules Pittsburgh now. This is perhaps the most interesting part of the city, the ability to reinvent old buildings, embrace the growth of a whole new industry, and welcome a large population of the world’s college students.

Pittsburgh is a city that has had its identity challenged but not lost. Taking what was in the past and transforming it into a vibrant future is what makes this city an interesting place to visit.