Downtown Pittsburgh from Troy Hill.

I thought San Francisco had left me too bitter to ever truly love another urban area again. But maybe not.

Pittsburgh really is sort of an amazing place, as I’ve mentioned before: urban without being pretentious, distinctly affordable, and possessed of a surprisingly stable population of working families. As I become more familiar with  the city, I find that there are very few neighborhoods that make me nervous as I drive through them (yes, there are still a few). And there really is some new little bit of wonderfulness around every corner. Of course, your definition of wonderfulness may vary.

And after a (very) few initial moments of skepticism, I’ve come to love my neighborhood, Lawrenceville, as well. It’s nice to be able to walk to the supermarket and pick up something I’m out of while cooking dinner, or to a really good diner for breakfast. And Lawrenceville has urban texture like almost no other place I’ve ever seen. It ranges from the beautiful to the butt-ugly, just like a real urban neighborhood should. And I think I would actually be a little surprised to find my car window broken here, unlike South of Market, where I sort of expected it.

In fact, it has been suggested that part of my problem with San Francisco stemmed from the neighborhood I lived in, and there may be some slight validity to that. That said, in San Francisco, mere mortals can’t just pick and choose their neighborhoods, either. Nor can they afford whole houses in them.

Anyway, I don’t live here full-time now, and it’s not really likely that I’ll be doing so anytime soon. I hope my fascination doesn’t wear off. I don’t think it will.

I have lots of thoughts and little attention span. Thus, here are some more pictures. Pictures are easy.

South Side.

Carson Street, South Side.

Strip District from Troy Hill.

Downtown Pittsburgh from South Side Slopes.