Submitted by [deleted] t3_10g0an5 in pittsburgh
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Comments
DIY_Creative t1_j502zmh wrote
I'd have to respectfully disagree. Of the list above I voted for Cincy having been to all of the cities listed (some many times). Cincinatti and Pittsburgh are really similar. But besides that Pittsburgh, imo, is closer to Cleveland and Milwaukee (and maybe even Columbus) before I'd say Philly or Baltimore.
Gladhands t1_j503lxv wrote
In what ways is Pittsburgh more similar to Cleveland than Baltimore or Philly, aside from population?
James19991 t1_j503w9x wrote
I don't get why half of this subs keeps saying Pittsburgh and Cleveland have so much in common when they look nothing alike. Sure there are similarities with people between the two cities, but how a city looks and feels has a hell of a lot to do with this type of question as well.
isthatwhathappened t1_j507ny6 wrote
I’ll die on this hill, Cincy is nothing like Pitt. I have friends who live there and visit yearly. Other than the topography the cities couldn’t be any more different
captainpocket t1_j50akq9 wrote
Dude. What? How so?
Gladhands t1_j50drxw wrote
Urban form, demographics, migratory patterns of black/white population, local culture.
captainpocket t1_j50fhjr wrote
LOCAL CULTURE?! Just no. Philly and Baltimore are deeply urban cities with significantly fewer...rural-minded people bopping around. (And I'm not equating "rural" with politics here.) Pittsburgh has cowboy wannabes in spades. Those cities do not. They have significantly more diverse culture, from things like restaurants to stuff like concert bookings and music played at bars. There is not even ONE edm bar in this city. Both of those have a countless number of them. Also of note, both of those cities regularly host music festivals. They are both east coast to the core and Pittsburgh just isn't. Its deeply influenced by neighboring WV and Ohio. The population is also a part of why all of this is the case, but it just makes the culture totally different. Pittsburgh has great stuff and there are a ton of hidden gems in most of the categories I mentioned above, but Philly and Baltimore are awash in just way more and it totally changes the culture.
Gladhands t1_j50guc9 wrote
To be clear: when I talk about local culture, I’m talking about those things specific to the city and region, which are not found in comparably sized cities outside of the region. Pittsburgh, lack of EDM bars isn’t a product of local culture; it’s a product of the city’s poor nightlife. Pittsburgh simply gets less in the way of big city nightlife because it’s a much smaller metro area.
Pittsburgh’s working class white population is virtually indistinguishable from Baltimore and Philadelphia’s. Those cowboy wannabes you were discussing are suburban/exurban (Pittsburgh does get rural far closer to the city than PHI/BAL). Pittsburgh is also in no way influenced by West Virginia, simply, because West Virginia has no influence anywhere.
captainpocket t1_j50hq72 wrote
That's just not true about WV. Take me home country roads is a hot song in Pittsburgh and the surrounding areas. There are a lot of WV transplants here, and the populationis small enough that its noticeable. The rural proximity heavily influences the culture. The nightlife heavily influences the culture. Thats part of the culture, you cant say it isnt. And the working class white population is completely different in Philadelphia. They are working class and white and similarly educated, but they aren't cowboys like they are here. I'm from Philadelphia, man.
Gladhands t1_j50j874 wrote
Basic white people love that song everywhere. https://wtop.com/entertainment/2021/12/the-universal-nostalgia-for-take-me-home-country-roads/
I don’t know where you get this impression that Yinzers are somehow different from working class urban whites in Philly. Yinzers are very specifically urban, and are the same type of people who do the Mummers parade. They’re the same as the whites who worked the docks. The working class whites in Pittsburgh are not the same as the working class whites 15 minutes outside of the city though.
James19991 t1_j50l89z wrote
Modern country and certain bluegrass is quite popular everywhere at this point, and not really just a regional thing anymore. Country concerts now get a big draw whether they're in New England, Tennessee, California, or Toronto.
The upcoming Morgan Wallen concert tour this summer includes three concerts at Fenway and two at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, NJ for example.
James19991 t1_j50hdq9 wrote
Pittsburgh is deeply influenced by the significantly less populated nearby areas of West Virginia and Eastern Ohio? You're kidding right? If anything, the influence goes around the other way.
Also as Gladhands said, if you ask where a lot of those cowboy wannabes live, it's more often than not somewhere outside of Allegheny County.
captainpocket t1_j50i1uw wrote
Yes. Pittsburgh is deeply to its core influenced by the fact that it is closely surrounded on all sides by rural wastelands for hours on end. Of course it is.
James19991 t1_j50lwib wrote
I have never in my life heard someone claim significantly less populated rural areas outside of a city influence the city more than the city would influence the areas surrounding it.
captainpocket t1_j50ulba wrote
Okay let me rephrase it to help you understand. A small city surrounded on all sides by rural nothingness is going to have a significantly different culture than a much larger city where people can take a day trip to multiple equally large or larger cities.
ConnectBlacksmith112 t1_j66kyli wrote
What part of Pittsburgh were you at ? Cause you clearly never to been to my side of town. So tell how different the culture is since you know so much. lol
AostaV t1_j4zue9k wrote
I’m going to say Cleveland .
I’ve never been to Milwaukee .
Cincinnati is very similar to Pittsburgh topography wise, the people are different though. At least as an NFL fan, Cincinnati and Indianapolis is where I felt the safest attending a game with my Steelers gear on. Really docile and nice. No one really said a thing and was extremely hospitable and open to us which in a weird kind of twisted way hurt the experience 😂
I’m really surprised someone voted Columbus, I lived there for awhile and I think they are completely different. It’s really hard to think of a way they are similar.
City that kind of reminded me of Pittsburgh that is outside the US : Hamilton, Ontario and the Mississauga area .
James19991 t1_j504r7n wrote
I'm not sure if anyone else here has been to Halifax and St John, New Brunswick, but I thought both also felt like Pittsburgh when walking around them.
I agree with Columbus too. It's a Sunbelt-like city in the Midwest.
James19991 t1_j503rns wrote
Why are Columbus and Louisville on here? Both of them have little in common with Pittsburgh. Philly, Baltimore, and even Boston have more in common with us than those two.
More-Adhesiveness-54 t1_j50c7iw wrote
Been to Louisville a few times. It's not that similar to Pgh, but I could see someone connecting them because they're river valley towns with historically blue collar origins. Put it like this -- Pgh has some similarities with Cincinnati, and Cincinnati definitely has similarities with Louisville (they're < 100 mi apart), but outside of a couple things (e.g., river valley towns), what makes Pgh and Cincy similar doesn't really seem like what makes Cincy and Louisville similar. Not sure if that makes sense.
I sometimes wonder if these polls look like this because a lot of cities that are pretty similar to Pgh are way smaller in size (e.g., Cumberland, Scranton or Wilkes-Barre, Johnstown, Binghamton -- even places like Roanoke), so they don't get brought up because of the size differential. What do I know, though.
James19991 t1_j50fhke wrote
I get exactly what you mean. I said to someone yesterday that Pittsburgh and Cleveland may have similarities in terms of the people of both places, but Pittsburgh and Cincinnati have way more in common in terms of architecture and layout. There is a small Southern influence on the culture of Cincinnati that Pittsburgh simply doesn't have.
I totally agree with your second paragraph as well. Cumberland, Johnstown, or Altoona would probably be considered the most alike city to us if populations were more similar. The same could possibly apply to Wilkes-Barre Scranton, as they have a fairly large Eastern European population comparable to here and Cleveland.
kds5065 t1_j5084ng wrote
Totally Charleston WV. Totally.
/s
malepitt t1_j509z9n wrote
I once had some business visitors from Liege, Belgium who swore that Pittsburgh was a dead ringer for their city. Eventually I would visit them, and agree https://i.ytimg.com/vi/s8ZGq9ylfyk/maxresdefault.jpg
handleytwynham t1_j4zzvw2 wrote
That was also me but I wanted to have a poll
isthatwhathappened t1_j507h19 wrote
Morgantown was too obvious of an answer?
malepitt t1_j50a8rl wrote
Also Liege, Belgium: abandoned steel mills https://www.urbex.nl/hfb-ougree/
highlandparkpitt t1_j50cfpb wrote
I think Buffalo is the sister city for culture/ people. Even has the bigger city to the east that overshadows it, with deep red rural in between.
As far as topography, it's Cincy. But Cincy has a definite different vibe in it's people
Gladhands t1_j50ebkw wrote
Buffalo is like a miniature Cleveland, which itself, is like a miniature Detroit. None of those cities are particularly similar to Pittsburgh.
iamnotyrmotheriswear t1_j509oxs wrote
How many people voting have actually been to all these cities to actually have perspective?
I have.
Gladhands t1_j4zxaw7 wrote
With the exception of Cincinnati, Pittsburgh is more like Philly or Baltimore than any of the cities in that list.