I walked to work today. And my son walked to school. First time for both.
This might not seem like a big thing, but it’s something I wanted to do since I was 15, when I discovered I could just go hang out at the comics shop or record store any time I wanted, without having to clear it with an adult, if I walked. Sure, it was a very long walk through many, many nondescript Ohio suburbs, but my feet worked fine, and I had all the time in the world. This felt like freedom to me, but others felt differently.
I was reminded of that divide recently. I expend some effort worrying about certain beloved relatives aging in place in even more distant suburbs, where nothing can be done without a car. And really, they shouldn’t be driving dozens of miles several times a day. But they do it because that’s necessary if they want to eat or do literally anything.
So, when they took a vacation this summer in one of those bucolic19th century towns where everything is a pleasant stroll down under a canopy of old-growth trees, and cars are limited intentionally, I assumed they would love it.
They did not! Well, OK, they did … but they still drove everywhere. When I visited, I insisted on walking and they were not having it, following behind me very slowly in the car.
In retrospect, I was the one being ridiculous for expecting people pushing 80 with the usual age-related ailments to walk anywhere, especially with rainclouds gathering. So why bring it up? Well, I think I have a pretty coherent set of priorities when it comes to how I want to live, but I do recognize that my position isn’t universally popular. It’s not even popular in my own family.
So, if this column comes across as a bit judgy at times, sorry about that. I have strong opinions about walkable cities, but I wasn’t able to really put them into practice for real until this week. But if that moves me from “total fraud” to “late bloomer,” then I guess that’s progress!
For rent: Albion at Morrow Park, Bloomfield, $1,525/month.
Though I suspect this era of architecture will be cursed until the end of time once it passes into history, not everything is built to a uniformly awful standard. Even though this has a lot of things I tend to hate — cheap corrugated metal panels, in particular — it’s got a whimsical approach with the rusty polka-dot cutouts and fills a very important niche: dorm rooms for young adults. The amenities are plentiful, that lobby is quite attractive, and we need to build lots and lots of new housing if we want to reduce the upward price pressure on the weird old houses of Pittsburgh. Yes, you can also pay up to $3,050 for a bigger unit here.
For sale: 130 S. 22nd St. Apt. 1A, South Side, $125,000.
What if I told you there’s a place in Pittsburgh with one of the country’s longest intact streets of Victorian commercial architecture, filled almost entirely with locally-owned, non-chain shops and restaurants? It’s also got beautiful brick rowhouses, and a fair number of stunning conversions of schools (like this one) and ecclesiastical buildings into apartments and condos. It’s the South Side! That’s got all those things, but it’s also the place where you can watch a drunken oaf in a Chase Claypool jersey pick a fight with a mailbox (and lose) on any given Saturday night.
For rent: The Revival on Carson, 1700 E Carson St., South Side, $1,600/month.
When walking on the South Side, it’s usually a good idea to watch where you’re stepping. (No, I will not be enumerating the horrors I have avoided). That’s a shame, because if you look up, you’ll find absolutely beautiful buildings — like this cream terra cotta triumph — on almost every corner. There was a time when certain city fathers were actually contemplating replacing East Carson Street with a giant 376-like freeway, which was a pretty big bullet dodged.
For sale: 811 Farragut St., Highland Park, $199,999.
Ah, two classic Pittsburgh flavors that go perfectly together, like Turner’s Iced Tea and a pickup game that got a little too serious for a second there: 1900s exterior, 1970s/’80s interior. You know grandma spent a lot of time and effort scrubbing the hell out of this place in case the Pope stopped by before Bingo (it could happen). It’s possible there’s still a faint scent of grilled onions, cigarettes, and mothballs, lingering on until the end of time. Grandma isn’t fooled by any price ending in “99,” though — that’s the oldest trick in the Shop ‘n Save circular.
For sale: 2021 Mount Troy Rd., Reserve Township, $300,000.
What’s better than a cheap and weird little Pittsburgh house? A cheap and weird big Pittsburgh house? Whatever this is? This duplex seems to have cornered the market on glass block windows and seems to stretch to cover an entire block. This was probably a storefront at some point, before modern zoning laws took all the fun out of neighborhoods by mandating strict separation of commercial and residential uses. I mean, if this was allowed to be a coal-burning pollution factory, that should be excluded. But what if it was a candy shop or a tiny grocery store?
For sale: 1357 Lincoln Ave., Larimer, $75,000.
Wait, was there supposed to be an extra zero in there somewhere? Did someone mistake it for an undefended Oram’s donut and just take a bite? This is located in the ever-popular East End of Pittsburgh, which I hear is basically Beverly Hills now in terms of utter unaffordability. I’m not trying to make light of “the housing crisis” (ooh, scare quotes!), really. But if you are willing to look past the usual suspects, Pittsburgh still has its share of neighborhoods and houses that aren’t appreciating that much, and some of them are quite close to the ones that are. East Liberty is only one neighborhood over from Larimer, after all. Look, I love S’liberty and have spent a lot of time there in the past 15 years, but I don’t think its charms are worth paying $600K more than houses a few blocks away.
This article appears in Aug 27 – Sep 2, 2025.
