Just as Austin, Texas, is known as a big city in a small-town disguise, I like to refer to Pittsburgh as a small town disguised as a big city. It’s as if everyone knows each other here. You could go to a dive bar in the heart of Southside and sit next to a man who went to high school with your aunt, or go to Union Pig and Chicken in East Liberty and find out that your waiter knows a friend of yours. Everyone knows everyone.
I believe that’s what people are drawn to the most about this incredible city: the sense of community. Whether you know someone through six degrees of separation, or you establish a camaraderie with the screaming fan sitting next to you at a Steelers game, you always feel that you’re welcome wherever you are in this city, and that a familial bond is always present. Sure, Pittsburgh has an incredible food scene, and the energy business is thriving here, but the heart and soul of this city is the sense of community. Ever since freshman year at Duquesne, and from summer visits up here when I was younger, I have always thought of Pittsburgh as my second home. And not just the stereotypical “my college town is my second home,” but actually as a home away from home: a place where I can feel completely comfortable every day I spend here.
And it’s not just me and my obsession with the city I live in! I have friends who believe this too, who feel the welcoming nature of this city wherever they go. Pittsburgh appeals to us people who are originally from a town where a strong feeling of connection and community was lacking. Having grown up in a suburb of D.C., I never had that feeling of community, of relationship in my neighborhood or town. The stress and constant hectic nature of where I grew up has turned me off from that kind of area -- an area that burns you out every day and that caters toward fake and cold relationships. Pittsburgh offered me a laid back, communal city vibe that I have fallen in love with. Now don’t get me wrong, Pittsburgh has its share of yinzer a-holes and awful traffic, but the fact that I can go down the street from Duquesne and walk into my cousin Jimmy’s bar, or meet an elderly man who served on the school board with my Pappy in the 1970’s, provides me a sense of muted happiness, a sort of subdued joy in knowing that I am not far away from friends and family. After all, that’s what this city truly is: one big family.
So next time you’re out and about in Pittsburgh, whether it be just a quick pit stop on a road trip or you need a break from classes, walk down the street or into a café or bar, and just embrace this city for what it is: a welcoming community disguised as a big city.
