Lawrenceville

This is a sound clip from my first interview with Rhett and...

Tue, 27 Apr 2010 16:59:00 -0400

     This is a sound clip from my first interview with Rhett and Katie. In this short clip, they discuss the importance of “residential neighborhoods” with “entrepreneurial components” to the city. They also seem concerned that Pittsburgh focuses too much of its “attention” (read: funds) on things like casinos, when it ought to focus on the “promising trends” within its diverse and cultural neighborhoods.
     Despite the hours I spent reading local newspapers and magazines, the afternoons I spent exploring neighborhoods on foot, and the entire semester I spent rifling through Franklin Toker’s “Pittsburgh: A New Portrait,” I learned the most about my relationship with the city of Pittsburgh during these 54 seconds I spent with Rhett and Katie. (See my “Personal Reflection” for more thoughts on this matter.)

     OH! ….and I’d be lying if I said I did not choose to post this clip because of the KILLER evil witch voice Rhett uses when he personifies Pittsburgh. It’s the stuff dreams are made of.

Seriously.

Here is a picture of my interviewees, Rhett and Katie, and a...

Mon, 26 Apr 2010 10:24:00 -0400

Here is a picture of my interviewees, Rhett and Katie, and a picture of their home on 45th St.

Rhett Jenkins is currently working on his doctorate in Classics here at the University of Pittsburgh. He and Katie, his wife, an English doctoral student at UVA, observed Lawrenceville for five years from Bloomfield. They are both extremely intelligent and well spoken, and each time I met with them they seemed genuinely happy and excited to chat with me. While renting in Bloomsfield, they kept a watchful eye on the neighborhood of Lawrenceville. When the young couple decided they were ready to buy a home, they looked to Lawrenceville with initial apprehension, because it used to be significantly crime ridden (A notion that Franklin Toker’s text conveniently glosses over.) In recent years, they claimed Lawrenceville seemed like a much safer environment with financially feasible homes to offer. Last winter, they happily bought their first home on 45th St, just around the corner from Butler.
For fun, Rhett and Katie hang out in the Carnegie Library, raise two sassy kitty-cats, attend various “Happy Hour” specials on Butler, and in the winter, they SNOW-SHOE throughout Allegheny County cemetery. (So awesome.) Both speak very highly of their new neighborhood; they argue that it is making large strides in a positive direction. In fact, in our first interview, Katie dubbed Butler St. as a potential “new Walnut St,” alluding to the evolution and consequent prosperity of Shadyside. They also voiced concern that Pittsburgh pays too little attention to budding neighborhoods such as Lawrenceville, believing that “residential neighborhoods with entrepreneurial components” could very well be the key to the city’s overall success.

Photo taken on April 16th, 2010 during Lawrenceville’s...

Fri, 23 Apr 2010 09:57:07 -0400

Photo taken on April 16th, 2010 during Lawrenceville’s Blossom Tour!

About Lawrenceville

Fri, 23 Apr 2010 09:55:00 -0400

One of Pittsburgh’s largest neighborhoods, Lawrenceville is located northeast of downtown and sits along the city’s riverfront. Founded by William Foster, the father of composer, Stephen Foster, it is named after Captain James Lawrence, a hero of the War of 1812. Lawrenceville is the home to fine dining, vintage clothing and furniture stores, art galleries, and eclectic coffee shops. Flaneur might eloquently dub Lawrenceville “a neighborhood in transition.” A film we watched in Discussion class, “Mombies,” comically portrays Lawrenceville as a “hip” or trendy area experiencing an influx of young parents pushing strollers. Implicit in this portrayal of Lawrenceville is that the neighborhood is divided — that the differences between its diverse residents hurt neighborhood relationships rather than help them.
While there is no doubt that the neighborhood of Lawrenceville has evolved over the years, my understanding of the neighborhood is now substantially different from the original impressions I got from class readings and films. I have come to learn Lawrenceville as a neighborhood in which a young and aspiring artists may live happily next door to an older, snow-shoeing couple. Coffee shop owners know their customer’s names and favorite drinks. In several of the shops on Butler, owners set up large tables overflowing with their neighbors’ business cards and flyers for neighborhood events, like “Art All Night” and “The Blossom Tour.” My impression of the neighborhood is that it seems to have evolved from a poor, crime ridden neighborhood, into a caring community whose residents support and care for one another – despite glaring differences in age, dress, and interests. As volunteer, artist, and local resident, Debbie Bobeck, once told the University of Pittsburgh’s “Original” magazine, in Lawrenceville, “You can wear red, and purple and blue here and no one will look twice” (Issue 6, 105).

Personal Reflection: Relating the City & The Student When...

Thu, 22 Apr 2010 21:53:00 -0400

Personal Reflection: Relating the City & The Student

    When I first came to Pittsburgh from Virginia as a wide-eyed freshman, I reasoned that most of Pittsburgh’s appeal stemmed from its championing sport franchises, its prosperous universities and colleges, and the UPMC system. After this course’s readings and discussions, however, it has become clear to me that a city’s charm can stem from much smaller factors, like its neighborhoods. And just as the city of Pittsburgh has evolved over time, so have my attitudes toward it.
   Over the course of my senior year, I have been disappointed by this city. More specifically, the G20 mayhem left a bitter taste in my mouth. Pittsburgh was supposed to be hailed as a “model city” during the summit, but the truth of that matter is this: Pittsburgh businesses and universities, institutions that claim to create the world’s future leaders, shut down during the G20. Undeserving, small business owners got bricks thrown through their windows. Friends of mine were locked out of their dormitories, wrongfully arrested, and tear gassed on the streets that they call home. Not much of a “model city” if you ask me. On a more personal note, I was raised an avid Steelers’ fan. Growing up, I spent countless Sundays sitting around the television with my family, high-fiving one another, cheering wildly, and eating buffalo wings. Because I associate the Steelers’ franchise with my childhood and my family, recent news on the Steelers’ debauchery greatly unsettles me. I am extremely disappointed that the team I grew up loving and looking up to is behaving with such little class.   The reckless behavior surrounding the G20 and the Steelers is a distraction from what is really special about this city.
   Fortunately for me, my affection for Pittsburgh was reconfirmed during my visits to Lawrenceville. I ended up making six visits to the neighborhood in total, and I plan on attending “Art All Night” this Saturday, on April 24th. Highlights in Lawrenceville include the time I spent chatting with Rhett and Katie and the Friday afternoon I walked up and down Butler St. during the “Blossom Tour.” I think that if the city of Pittsburgh looks to Lawrenceville (and I hope it does), it has much to gain. Though formerly impoverished and full of crime, Lawrenceville now boasts quaint homes with stunning architecture, charming shopping, and a culturally diverse population. As mentioned in previous posts, business owners in Lawrenceville know their customers’ names and support their neighbors’ businesses. Residents stand united, in spite of cultural differences, in a fight to preserve the Carnegie Library in their neighborhood. Busy academics, like Rhett and Katie, take time out of their day to chat and grab a beer with curious undergraduates (like me!). It seems to me that neighborhoods like this are what comprise the cultural backbone of a successful, flourishing city. Fortunately for Pittsburgh, it has several of them.
   In conclusion, I think that I have learned a valuable lesson from my project: to look beyond the obvious, grandiose attractions of a big city. I have learned that a city is not defined by its most impressive skyscraper downtown, or the political conventions that are held within it. And even though it pains me to admit it, a city is not defined by a six-time Super Bowl Champion football team.   These qualities, although impressive, are transient and may lead to disappointment. In reality, the qualities most essential to a “model city” are those found in neighborhoods like Lawrenceville.   Lastly, if I could give some words of advice to next year’s incoming Pitt students, I would say this: Learn from my mistakes. Stop looking up to people like Ben Roethlisberger, and start looking up to the coffee shop owner around the corner who supports local businesses, artists, and treats every customer like a friend. Do not merely explore Pittsburgh’s urbanity or judge it by its “dahn-tahn.”   Venture into the quirky, eclectic neighborhoods that are essential to the character of this city. You might even make a couple of new friends in the process.

The Bead Bazaar This was the first shop I ever set foot...

Thu, 22 Apr 2010 19:24:00 -0400

The Bead Bazaar

This was the first shop I ever set foot into in Lawrenceville. On my first visit, I spent a few minutes poking around the shop and the bead ladies, though hard at work, greeted me very kindly. When I returned to the bead shop a second time, during the “Blossom Tour,” the ladies were working just as hard and greeted me just as kindly….but this time, they were in their pajamas and slippers! Too cute.

I snapped these photographs because I felt they portrayed...

Thu, 22 Apr 2010 15:28:00 -0400

I snapped these photographs because I felt they portrayed Lawrenceville’s sense of community. In both pictures, it is clear that the residents of Lawrenceville are united in their efforts to preserve the Carnegie Library branch in their neighborhood. The branch is currently in danger of being shut down. My interviewees, Rhett and Katie also voiced serious concern that the Library remain in their neighborhood. Nearly every resident I met lamented on how the library should not be be shut down and encouraged me to mobilize others in the fight. Additionally, the “Art All Night” t-shirt hanging on the wall of “Perk Me Up Coffee,” showed me that business owners on Butler St. support their local artists.