Monday, August 8, 2011

Pittsburgh and its Pop Personality

                     Pittsburgh
Every city has its unique quirks that set it apart but for its size, Pittsburgh may set the gold standard of quirkiness.

Where else would you find natives as diverse as Andy Warhol, Fred Rogers (born in the same year!), environmentalist Rachel Carson and pop spaceman Buck Rogers? Don't forget jazz great Billy Strayhorn, dancer Gene Kelly and America's first "pop" composer Stephen Foster.

Sports? You want sports?

Black and gold are the city's colors thanks to the Pittsburgh Steelers, Penguins, Pirates and Pitt Panthers. 
                                          Pirates' Park

Baseball: First World Series game was played here in 1903 between the Pirates and the Boston Red Sox.

Pro Hockey: First pro hockey game played at The Casino, the world's first indoor skating rink (1894).

Auto Racing: Pittsburgh Vintage Grand Prix is the largest vintage race event in the country and the only one staged on city streets.

Inventions: The Ferris Wheel was invented here. So was Heinz Ketchup, the Clark Bar, Klondikes, computer emoticons, Mr. Yuk, Lawrence Welk's bubble machine.  The Big Mac was born nearby.
First Pittsburgh nickelodeon theater
The first radio and public TV (WQED) stations aired here, first Nickelodeon movie house built (1905), NFL 's first team textile, the Terrible Towel; first and largest green convention center.
 
Benedum Center
The Arts: Pittsburgh has more cultural institutions per capita than any other city in America. Benedum Center is one of the busiest theater spaces in the world with 300-plus performances a year versus the typical 210.

Quirky Paving? Roslyn Place maybe be the only street in the U. S. to use wood as a paving material.

Household Names. In addition to those already mentioned, American Eagle Outfitters, Alcoa, PPG, U.S. Steel, Del Monte Foods, StarKist.

Non-household names. The city has its own dictionary:
grinnies = chipmunks
jimmies - ice cream sprinkles
gum bands = rubber bands
buggies= shopping carts
sweeper = vacuum cleaner
run up your room = clean your room
yinz = you guys
dippy eggs = eggs sunnyside up
slipping = slippery
Kennywood's open = Your fly is down

That's just a sample of what you can see, hear and do in this popping hot city.



2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Redd up is how you say clean, run up is the same as everywhere . The city even has a program called "Redd-Up Zones" where volunteers adopt areas of the city to keep clean, not unlike adopt a street programs in other areas.

July 12, 2013 at 1:49 PM

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