Why Are Pittsburghers So Friendly?
“I was lost in Pittsburgh, and when I asked for
directions, the person I stopped on the street insisted
on walking me to my destination.”
“My car had a flat on the Parkway, and three people
stopped to help me.”
“When I moved into my new home, the next door
neighbors welcomed me with a cake.”
Experiences like these are not infrequent when you
are in Pittsburgh. In 2009, The Economist named
Pittsburgh the most livable city in the country and
Forbes named it the seventh-safest city in terms of
violent crime. While the city may not be paradise,
Pittsburgh maintains an urban culture that is neighborly
in the good old-fashioned, down to earth sense.
When people come to Pittsburgh, they often feel like
they’ve died and gone to heaven, especially if they’ve
come from other places where the inhabitants aren’t so
kind.
At one time, Pittsburgh’s slogan was The City with a
Smile on Its Face. That may have sounded a bit
folksy or corny; nonetheless it was very appropriate.
Pittsburgh is very welcoming to strangers and natives
alike. Pittsburghers will go out of their way help
someone in need, and they love to take people under
their wing.
Pittsburgh’s Ethnic Communities
Why are Pittsburghers so friendly? There is no
definitive answer, but there are several theories.
The first is rooted in the city’s history.
Pittsburgh is a true melting pot. Since the city’s
founding more than 250 years ago, waves of immigrants
have arrived here and made the steep hills and sprawling
valleys home. Germans, Irish, Polish, Italians,
Slovaks, Ukrainians, Lithuanians are just some of the
different nationalities that have settled here.
When these settlers arrived in the area, they were
“strangers in a strange land.” Many didn’t speak
English and the culture here was vastly different from
the ones they left behind. To survive and thrive,
these various groups tended to settle together in ethnic
communities. The terrain of the area also isolated
these groups from one another. These small
ethnically homogenous social units fostered a
friendliness and “looking out for your neighbor” type of
attitude.
The various ethnic groups formed social clubs, built
churches, observed their cultural holidays and ate their
native cuisine. There was strength in solidarity
in these enclaves. Hence, you find neighborhoods
throughout the area where certain groups lived.
Troy Hill and Deutschtown were inhabited by Germans,
Squirrel Hill by Jews, Lawrenceville the Irish,
Bloomfield the Italians and as its eponymous name
indicates the Polish on Polish Hill.
For decades these neighborhoods remained small towns
unto themselves, and stories were told of Irish children
who lived next door to the German parochial school but
who had to walk many blocks away to attend the Irish
school and vice versa. The members of these ethnic
communities grew up together, married each other, worked
together, and contributed to each others’ and the
overall success of their respective communities.
With the advance of technology, especially the
automobile, venturing from one ethnic neighborhood to
the next became much easier. And while the people
who settled Pittsburgh began to mingle and work with
other differing ethnic groups, they did not lose their
neighborly attitude. The neighborhood just became
a bit larger—encompassing the whole area. Being
kind and helpful is just the Pittsburgh way of doing
things.
The Six Degrees of Pittsburgh
Perhaps another reason why Pittsburghers are so
friendly is because we are so inter-connected.
Pittsburghers put down deep roots. In fact,
Pittsburgh ranks second among areas in the nation of
residents who have been born in the area and have
remained there. And it is not uncommon for
inhabitants to remain in the same home for decades.
Because Pittsburghers tend to “bloom where they are
planted,” it very likely that if you meet someone from
Pittsburgh and you are from the area, there’s a great
chance that you and your new acquaintance have a friend
in common.
You could call it Six Degree of Pittsburgh, the kind
of real-life social networking that even Facebook and
Twitter can’t match. When you first meet a
Pittsburgher, you will notice that they often ask many
questions about you. They’re not being “nebby;” as
we say; they’re just trying to see if they can make a
connection to a mutual acquaintance.
One person remarked that because she’s lived in
Pittsburgh her entire life, she has felt very safe.
She estimated that along her five-mile commute to work,
she could count a friend, an acquaintance, or the
relative of a friend on each block, someone on whose
door she felt comfortable enough to knock in case of an
emergency.
Pittsburgh’s Traditional Values
Pittsburghers tend to be traditional; therefore, our
values have remained strong. Most of us have been
raised to be kind and attentive to others. And
besides if you are rude, chances are someone you know
will see you behaving badly and tell your mother!
While residents after World War II began to socialize
and marry outside their own ethnic group, it was often
on a small scale. Some believe that one major factor in
galvanizing Pittsburgh’s united urban identity was the
Steelers Super Bowl Dynasty of the 1970s.
Football was the catalyst around which the residents
rallied around and united together as one.
Rallying Around the Pittsburgh Steelers
Pittsburghers stood shoulder-to-shoulder in Three
Rivers Stadium cheering their beloved Steelers to four
championships in six seasons in the ‘70s. The
area’s ethnic heritage, of which Pittsburghers are so
proud, was evident in the fan clubs that enthusiasts
formed and extended to their favorite players. We
had Franco’s Italian Army, those fans who were devoted
to Franco Harris, who was half Italian. We had
Dobre Shunka, Polish for “good ham” and focused on
Steelers great Jack Ham. The Steelers allowed
Pittsburghers to integrate their ethnicity with their
love for football and civic pride.
Pittsburgh Tries Harder
Another reason that Pittsburghers are so friendly is
because of our “underdog” status. Like those old
Avis rental commercials, we try harder. Pittsburgh
is not New York, Washington, Chicago, or Los Angeles,
and because we are not one of the big guys, we make up
for a lack of flash with uncommon friendliness.
Pittsburghers have the best of both worlds—outstanding
city living with hometown friendliness.
Whether you are a native or not, the friendliness of
Pittsburghers will make you feel right at home.
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