Growing up in a small town in Western Pennsylvania, I visited Pittsburgh often when I was younger.
I thought I knew it really well until I actually moved there in 2010 and realized some of the city’s best parts really exist outside of downtown and the touristy areas I saw as a kid.
At the risk of blowing up my own spots, here are a few neighborhoods and areas that feel habitually overlooked by visitors — and some of my best recommendations for experiencing the authentic Steel City.
Millvale is a creative haven on the Allegheny’s northern shore
Located along the Allegheny River, Millvale feels like a small town plopped down in the city, complete with a “main street” of locally owned shops along Grant Avenue.
The standout highlight of the borough is Mr. Smalls, an 18th-century church turned music venue that books national names along with local acts.
However, my personal favorite Millvale venue is Poetry Lounge, a bar with nightly live entertainment that also publishes poetry, where you can order chapbooks or zines off the menu alongside drinks.
Speaking of drinks, there are also three breweries — Grist House, Strange Roots, and Burghers — and several neighborhood bars between the brick row houses of Grant Avenue if you want to kick back like a Yinzer (Pittsburgh native).
Artsy Garfield is packed with galleries and restaurants
Garfield hosts Unblurred, Pittsburgh’s longest-running free art crawl. Every first Friday, the galleries on Penn Avenue open to the public, usually with some live entertainment to accompany the art.
If you’d rather get hands-on, the Pittsburgh Glass Center offers glass-blowing classes along with exhibits.
My go-to spot in Garfield is Bantha Tea, a Star Wars-themed café with delicious tea (I recommend the Bloomfield Fog) and evening events like poetry readings and a recurring music improv lab.
Garfield also has a slew of restaurants, including my favorite pho spot in the city (Pho Minh), Pittsburgh’s best vegan pizza (Spak Brothers), and an excellent Indian lunch buffet (People’s Indian Restaurant).
One of Pittsburgh’s most unique museums is here, too: The Center for PostNatural History, which is focused exclusively on animals and organisms intentionally altered by humans.
See industrial relics while you shop in Homestead
Pittsburgh today is more “eds and meds” than soot and steel, but it’s kept the blue-collar vibe from its industrial past. I’d say Homestead is the best place to see traces of this history.
Until 1986, the Homestead Steel Works was one of the world’s largest steel-producing plant. It was mostly demolished to make way for the sprawling open-air Waterfront shopping center, where you can find everything from independent comic shops to big-box retailers.
The Steel Works smokestacks still loom over the AMC Theater as an incongruous reminder of the past.
East from the stacks is the Pump House, one-time setting of the violent 1892 Homestead Strike that is now a trailhead of the Great Allegheny Passage, a roughly 150-mile trail that connects to Maryland.
Across the Monongahela is Carrie Blast Furnaces, another Steel Works remnant that hosts events like graffiti tours, blacksmithing workshops, and the annual Festival of Combustion.
Find history, books, and beer in the Point Breeze and Regent Square area
Point Breeze also has steel-era history, though here it’s all about the Fricks — specifically Henry Clay Frick, who managed the Homestead Steel Works throughout the 1890s.
Frick Park (Pittsburgh’s largest park) is named for him, and the Frick family is buried in Homewood Cemetery to its north.
Near the cemetery is the former Frick estate, now the Frick Museums and Gardens, which is free to enter.
Just southeast of Frick Park is Regent Square, a commercial stretch that feels like a small-town downtown. My personal highlight here is the community-focused bookstore Stay Gold Books.
I’ve also downed my share of Yuenglings while playing pool at Murphy’s Tap Room, and there are plenty of other bars and restaurants along South Braddock Avenue if a semi-divey Irish pub isn’t your speed.
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