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uptown_gargoyle t1_ix81mf4 wrote

Reply to comment by lesser_pumpkin in Moving Mondays - New Resident Questions by AutoModerator

I lived in Pittsburgh for about a year and a half, and Philly for a decade so far.

  • Pittsburgh people are friendlier to outsiders than Philly people are generally

  • Pittsburgh is generally cleaner than Philly

  • Philly has slightly better weather (if you don't like the cold) and better food.

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gnartato t1_ix87g0d wrote

Worth noting how close we are to DC, bmore, and NYC comparatively as well.

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ColdJay64 t1_ix89ubb wrote

And that Philly is one of the biggest cities in the country, while Pittsburgh is a mid-sized city

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lesser_pumpkin t1_ix8b1lt wrote

Absolutely. For what it’s worth, I’m not trying to do a Pgh v Philly thing here and I know it’s not a 1:1 comparison.

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uptown_gargoyle t1_ix9d7pe wrote

I really liked Pittsburgh aside from the weather. It had a great vibe; great town to be a college student in. Philly has a similar vibe, but my experience is that, due to it being a much bigger city, you kind of have to search for your niche. The neighborhoods are all so different and a lot of them have great things to offer.

I was lucky because I landed in West Philly several years ago and immediately fell in love with it. If I had happened to land somewhere in south or north philly I imagine my experience would have been different because I don't think those areas are generally suited to my wants and needs.

It's absolutely worth taking at least a week to explore the different neighborhoods here if you're able.

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lesser_pumpkin t1_ix83t49 wrote

Thanks! I’m not too concerned with niceness, after all, I live in Seattle. People are here are the “seems mean, is mean” type.

It’s interesting to hear you say Pgh is cleaner, I assume you mean just the general condition of streets or…?

Can I ask where you lived in Pgh? Everywhere we lived was in the East End: Lawrenceville, Point Breeze and West Oakland. I’m wondering if these areas are more comparable to the Philadelphia suburbs than any city neighborhood!

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Proper-Code7794 t1_ix8skk5 wrote

Philly has a light coating of ground litter you just get used to.

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TheBSQ t1_ix9cnyp wrote

When I first moved here, a local described it as going “trash blind.”

I don’t know though. Five years in, and it still bugs me.

I clean up my block every week in an attempt to keep it at bay because it gets me down to come home to filth every day, but I swear, some days, I’ll fill up a 30 gallon bag and an hour later and it’s covered in litter again.

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TheBSQ t1_ix9c5dm wrote

Trash, litter, dumping. There’s often lots of trash and garbage on the streets, especially outside the central core (where businesses pay to have trash cleanup).

It’s just a dirty city.

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uptown_gargoyle t1_ix9ch3y wrote

I lived in Oakland, which, with all the students definitely had some trash overflow. But downtown PGH is wayyy cleaner than Center City PHL in terms of trash on the ground, presence of non-overflowing trash cans.

I'm not familiar enough with East End PGH to make an accurate comparison though.

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