Somehow the algorithmic gods have decreed that the content I most need to see — after baseball bloopers and reviews of obscure movies — is seething contempt and mockery for Gen Z.
I don’t want this, actually. Yes, at some point millennials ceased to be the main punching bag, so it must be Gen Z’s turn. Every generation thinks the one that comes next is the worst, which isn’t true (it’s the Boomers).
Look, as a Gen-Xer who remembers sub-$500 rents, and bought a house in the early 2000s on a journalist’s crappy salary, I have some sympathy for Gen Z. That Pittsburgh was dirty, dangerous, and constantly under the influence of something … but it was cheap and fun (and never coming back).
And yet, Pittsburgh still makes a compelling case. Recently, a survey called “Zoomer Boomtowns: Mid-sized U.S. Cities Drawing Graduating Gen-Zers” tries to determine what Gen Z wants, looking at cities “between 250,000 and 400,000 residents based on several Gen Z-friendly factors, such as employment opportunities for fresh graduates, affordability and green spaces.”
Pittsburgh ranked #2 after the college-town-concentrate of Madison, Wisconsin. It notes: “Pittsburgh is attracting young professionals and students alike, resulting in a 10.9% share of the population occupied by young people aged 20 to 25 and ensuring a rich community for those relocating here. What’s more, universities like Carnegie Mellon and the University of Pittsburgh contribute to the city’s impressive Gen Z educational enrollment rate of 69.6% — the best showing on the list.”
Huh, imagine that – Gen Z just wants a place they can afford to live in, a good education and a steady supply of jobs. That makes a lot of sense. (Thank God I don’t have to learn about K-Pop or manosphere influencers or whatever the kids are into these days. I mean, we had podcasts too; we just called it “radio.”)
For sale: 423 Mansion St., Hazelwood, $150,000
Maybe you were expecting something else a little bigger than 1,500 square feet on Mansion St. Well, expect again — the part of Hazelwood where entire streets just disappear into the verdant hillside wilderness is close, so maybe there are wild, feral mansions living up there, unseen by humans. This small brick 1824 four-square looks like a face, which is always fun; this particular guy doesn’t think he’s drunk, but has really important opinions about the Steelers’ faltering run game, which you’re going to hear about at length.
For rent: Bedford Hill Apartments, 2129 Bedford Ave., Hill District, $1,433/month
Yes, you can build new houses that don’t look like shipping containers, or the scratch ‘n’ dent section at Ikea. OK, so a lot of the craftsmanship featured in 100-year-old townhouses is impossible to replicate today at acceptable prices, but these Hill District houses show that you can still get a reasonable facsimile. The Hill is one of the only places that’s convenient to almost every part of Pittsburgh that doesn’t require a tunnel. And now, after some rough years as a food desert, the gigantic new Salem’s Market — perhaps the region’s best one-stop, full-service grocery store — is in walking distance.
For sale: 1810 Warren St., Fineview, $150,000.
I can’t tell if the dining room is painted in four or five clashing colors (it could be the light), but not everybody can choose to eat in the kitchen or in the psychedelic funhouse, so choose accordingly. It makes up for the beige-bomb that was apparently dropped on the rest of the house, though the polished wood floor and subtle stained-glass windows show that there’s a lot to work with here, even if you eventually opt for a more sensible color scheme.
For rent: Highmont, 6200 Fifth Ave., Shadyside, $985-1,010/month.
Shadyside doesn’t exactly scream “cheap rent,” but it’s got a lot of these unobtrusive mid-century brick towers that would probably cause the lesser robber barons of the neighborhood to riot if they were proposed today. Yes, 425 square feet is very little space, but it’s not a dorm either, so plenty of college students are ready to make the jump off-campus, year after year.
For sale: 337 Flowers Ave., Hazelwood, $205,000.
Hey, Gen-Zers, if you live long enough, you’ll see pretty much everything. Even new construction (2024!) in Pittsburgh for $200K. OK, that’s still in the normal range for Hazelwood, but still — there are some people who really want new construction, and it can be hard to find in Pittsburgh at anything close to this price. The neighboring homes seem to be of a similar vintage. Even though the design is nothing special, we need more of this everywhere.
For rent: Arlington Apartments, 515 S. Aiken Ave., Shadyside, $965-1,815/month.
One of Pittsburgh’s biggest apartment buildings, a Georgian Revival giant at the crossroads of Shadyside and Bloomfield, holds up rather nice, all things considered. It’s got an elegant lobby, a tan brick façade that seems unscarred by decades of steel mill soot, and they don’t even mind if you have pets (though it’s a two-dog maximum, which seems reasonable).
This article appears in Oct 9-15, 2024.
