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Pittsburgh Is Not Like The Bay Area Because....

topic posted Tue, November 9, 2004 - 12:00 AM by  jet 		Share/Save/Bookmark
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1. Everyone smokes everywhere, all the time, except at Eleven. Two of my bestest friends have nasty asthma, and when they come visit me, I'd like to take them some place other than Eleven (an excellent restaurant and bar on top of being non-smoking).

2. People come to a complete stop at an on-ramp when merging onto the freeway. They fucking stop! Right when they should merge, even if nobody is coming, they fucking come to a complete stop!

3. Everything is really cheap. I'm sure that once I'm making Pittsburgh wages, this will no longer be the case. But on Silicon Valley wages.... Damn.

4. The place with the french fries and slaw in the sandwiches actually makes good sandwiches. Ok, this isn't really related to the bay area, I was just surprised that I liked it so much.

5. Didn't see a single H2 the entire week I was in Pittsburgh. Yea!

6. Didn't see a single H1 the entire week I was in Pittsburgh. Boo!

7. Way more twisty roads for riding motorcycles.

8. Can't ride my motorcycle year-round unless I'm insane. Oh wait, I have heated grips and an electric vest, so maybe I *am* insane.

9. Local private school funded by local rich people has nicer architecture, cooler profs and no shopping mall. Oh, and their dead mascot is still cooler than A FUCKING TREE.

10. Monroeville Mall is way, way, way cooler than any mall in the bay area, and you know why.
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jet
offline jet
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  • duke
    duke
    offline 12

    Re: Pittsburgh Is Not Like The Bay Area Because....

    Sun, January 23, 2005 - 6:48 PM

    2. People come to a complete stop at an on-ramp when merging onto the freeway. They fucking stop! Right when they should merge, even if nobody is coming, they fucking come to a complete stop!

    That's just the old people. Give em a break.... they're old.
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    • david
      david
      offline 46

      Re: Pittsburgh Is Not Like The Bay Area Because....

      Fri, February 11, 2005 - 12:30 PM
      Umm, yeah. Try merging onto the "Parkway East" (wtf?) from the Squirrel Hill onramp without coming to a stop. It's impossible. It's not the drivers (although Pittsburgh has some of the worst I've ever encountered), it's the city-planners.

      Don't even get me started on the Bigelow Blvd/579 connector in downtown.
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      • duke
        duke
        offline 12

        Re: Pittsburgh Is Not Like The Bay Area Because....

        Wed, February 16, 2005 - 7:03 PM
        Umm, yeah. Try merging onto the "Parkway East" (wtf?) from the Squirrel Hill onramp without coming to a stop. It's impossible. It's not the drivers (although Pittsburgh has some of the worst I've ever encountered), it's the city-planners.

        Go out of your way to avoid that on ramp. It is a death trap. The Carnegie on ramp is another one. You are right, that is a seriously bad piece of design work on the part of the PennDOT engineers.
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        • klg
          klg
          offline 135

          Re: Pittsburgh Is Not Like The Bay Area Because....

          Sat, September 9, 2006 - 11:50 PM
          >> Go out of your way to avoid that on ramp. It is a death trap. The Carnegie on ramp is another one. You are right, that is a seriously bad piece of design work on the part of the PennDOT engineers. <<

          It's no worse than half the interchanges on the Bay Area freeways, though. I think my only leg-up on dealing with the terrible freeway exit/on-ramp design that prevails out here, other than being a good driver to start with, was having learned to drive back there, Squirrel Hill on-ramp and all.

          Wendy
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  • Unsu...
     

    Re: Pittsburgh Is Not Like The Bay Area Because....

    Sat, March 10, 2007 - 2:10 AM
    I lived in Pittsburgh for a little over 18 years and have lived in the bay for about 2.5 years.
    Here are more differences:

    1. There are malls. There are lots of huge corporations. Good luck finding a nice locally owned business to hang out at. Try South Side.
    2. Yes, there are more trees. But it's also a lot more dirty, from what I remember.
    3. People there are rednecks. There's a lot more racism and ignorance.
    4. I found the anarcho-punk culture to be very unwelcoming and hypocritical. But that may have just been the people I met..
    5. There's far far far faaaar less to do in general! And when there are things to do, they usually cost money. Hope you like TV!
    6. Brrrr in the winter. No ice cream trucks in January.
    7. It's kind of hard to find good vegan food or good international food.
    8. Music doesn't happen as often as most of the small venues are no more. However, people are still finding places to play and most shows are a lot more intimate than they are in SF, with less people. And cheaper!

    Sorry, I like the Bay Area a lot more than I like Pittsburgh.
    Oh, but the thrift stores in Pittsburgh are way cooler because people here are too smart and know that they can get money for their stuff on ebay.
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    • Dean
      Dean
      offline 13

      Re: Pittsburgh Is Not Like The Bay Area Because....

      Tue, January 22, 2008 - 8:18 PM
      Did you live in the city, or the suburbs?

      I'm living in Washington, DC, and debating Pittsburgh (where I have lived) or San Francisco.

      There are no malls in Pittsburgh proper, only waaaay out in the 'burbs, unless you're counting the Waterfront, which is still a ways out. Oakland, South Side, Squirrel Hill, Shadyside, all had tons of places to hang out that certainly weren't corporately owned.

      The rednecks really only become noticeable *outside* of the city, again.

      Vegetarian food seems abundant, but not nearly as much as SF.

      Again, are you comparing city to city, or suburbs to city?
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  • Dr. ...
    Dr. Zayaz
    offline 61

    Re: Pittsburgh Is Not Like The Bay Area Because....

    Thu, July 19, 2007 - 6:27 AM
    Most importantly (to me) you can actually BUY a house without being a software tycoon/drug kingpin for the same price you would be paying rent for your half of a one bedroom brownstone.
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    • klg
      klg
      offline 135

      Re: Pittsburgh Is Not Like The Bay Area Because....

      Wed, August 8, 2007 - 2:10 PM
      And what's more, you can buy a really *nice* house, in a really nice area, for a fraction of what something much more junky and pedestrian would cost you out here in CA.

      You can also still buy something entirely decent in an entirely acceptable neighborhood for much less than you'd be paying in rent out here.
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