Pittsburgh Local Customs

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KDKA radio, created by Westinghouse Electric in Pittsburgh, is the world's first commercial radio station. Originally located in East Pittsburgh, but moved to Gateway Center in the 1950s after the area was revitalized. KDKA's studios still reside here in Gateway Center.

A plaque in Gateway Center near Point State Parks commemorates the original site of KDKA radio. It reads:

RADIO STATION KDKA

World's first commercial
station began operating
November 2, 1920, when
KDKA reported Harding-
Cox election returns
from a makeshift studio
at the East Pittsburgh
Works of Westinghouse.
Music, sports, talks, and
special events were soon
being regularly aired.

Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission 1990

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The Post Gazette is Pittsburgh's main daily newspaper. Their main offices are located downtown just a block from Point State Park, where you can watch tomorrow's headlines printing before your eyes as the printing presses are at street level behind large plate-glass windows.

A plaque on this building commemorates John Scull, who in 1786, became the first person to establish a newspaper west of the Allegheny Range of the Appalachians. His paper was called the Gazette, which is a forerunner to today's Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

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Iron City Beer was first brewed in Pittsburgh in 1861 and the Pittsburgh Brewing Company was formed in 1899 through a merger of 21 local breweries. This company was one of just 725 US breweries to survive the prohibition period, and by 1977, it was one of only 40 breweries remaining in America. IC Light was introduced in 1977 and is known as the first light beer brewed from scratch as a light beer. The Pittsburgh Brewing Company has made several innovations in the industry including the first snap top can, the first resealable twist off cap, first beer to use sports scenes on the label, and the nations first light beer. Their latest ploy is the aluminum bottle, long a staple overseas in places like Okinawa, Japan, but new on the scene in America.

After years of tough sales due to increasing competition from major brewers and craft beers, the Pittsburgh Brewing Company declared bankruptcy in 2007. In 2009 the company shuttered the historic brewery in Pittsburgh and moved to the old Rolling Rock Brewery in Latrobe, PA. This is a good fit for the Pittsburgh beer, as Latrobe is also home to Steelers Training camp.

But how does it taste? Well, I may be a bit biased...my first beer EVER was an Iron City, way out in Colorado Springs with some friends from Pittsburgh. Later, I lived on IC Light anytime I was home, partly because the local bar had it on tap for 85 cents a glass. In my personal opinion Iron City isn't all that great of a beer, but IC Light is damn good.

Others may disagree...here's a good quote from Otto on Pubcrawler.com: "Tired of the usual crap and looking for something a little less crappy? Here you go. What the hell, you'll be supporting the little guy. Plus a trip to the brewery is really worth it . A big leftover of some past industrial age. Very cool."

From the residents we ran into and the commentators on Just Ducky Tours, we gathered that people are diehard Steelers fans.

Pittsburgh Steelers were a dominant franchise in 1970s and has won twice since 2004 despite, as my husband says, Patriots and Colts are better on paper. My son is a Patriot fan and resents that Steelers have won twice already. The two of them were mourning Steelers win over Cardinals in Superbowl 2009.

People are also Pirates fans in a light-hearted manner. There are more stories of their failure than successes that are told in a fun loving manner. The two men in the picture cheered for Pirates and cussed Toronto, but then immediately added that as long as Toronto keeps sending tourists to them, it is great.

We did not run into Penguins fans for of course it was not the season.

I believe this is the cloak room at the History Museum, although I am not certain, as there are cloak rooms everywhere - people just hang their things - fur coats, parkas, kids' jackets, whatever - no attendant - and you don't even think that perhaps your coat might be stolen. Nice way to live!

I found a very good web site for Pittsburgh visitors (and residents): http://www.pittsburghneighborhoodtours.com.
This web site gives example itineraries for different interests and lists information about several neighborhoods.
There's also the summary page:
http://www.pittsburghneighborhoodtours.com/pr13/tours/tourDetail.asp?nTour=7.
This lists some of the top touristic draws plus, for those who want the authentic daily experience, what "locals love," (and they get it right).

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In 2009 the city of Pittsburgh hosted two major sports victory parades in just four months. First the Steelers won the Super Bowl, then the Penguins won the Stanley Cup. The Steelers parade drew some 350,000 people in the dead of winter, and the Pens parade is said to have brought about 375,000 people into town on a beautiful summer day to watch the festivities.

Both parades began around Grant and Fifth, proceeded down Fifth to Boulevard of the Allied, then continued on this street to a stage at Stanwix Street near Point State Park.

Pittsburgh is full of die hard Penguins, Steelers and Pirates fans. We were in town during the Pitt/Villanova game and a Penguins/Rangers game. The fans are outrageously into their teams. Just observing the fans watching the Pitt game on TV was interesting. I hadn't heard that much screaming and cursing ...you'd think we were in Red Sox teritory (lol).