Anybody been to Wilkinsburg lately?

[Big Dog Dad]

I'm 65 and was born in Wilkinsburg and lived there until 4th grade. When I first started working (1970), I had an apartment on South Ave. Only lived there for a year and then moved to the South Hills. I haven't been back to Wilkinsburg for decades. Today, I wanted to go to the Pittsburgh Farmers Market in East Liberty. At 5:30 A.M., I decided to take a nostalgia trip through Swissvale, Edgewood, and take a look at my old apartment on South Ave. before going straight down Penn Ave. into East Liberty. Culture shock at the MAX. Probably half the homes in Wilkinsburg are either torn down, fell down, abandoned, or should be. Penn Ave. store fronts don't exist anymore, except for the nail parlors and Bravermans gun shop. This is a prime example of a ghetto! I won't comment on the common denominator I saw along the way. I went down Penn Ave into Point Breeze where things like the Frick Mansion still exist along with some of the most spectacular turn of the century mansions that are still being maintained. I can't believe the amount of govt money that has been poured into East Liberty (my tax money) for what purpose I don't know. Again, all I can say is WOW - what a ghetto Wilkinsburg has become. Any comments from former residents of this area will be enjoyed.

-=BDD=-

[nfafan]

Been a few months since I swung by Braverman's. Not worth the trip to that side of town again.

Whatever, several Pittsburgh neighborhoods have gone that way. I see a ton of ex-yinzers now out in the burbs I moved to 20 years ago.

A lot of citys are in the same shape - which explains the voter enclave you find in the rust-belt citys and cosmo-tropolitan areas like Boston, NYC, NJ, SF, LA.

[deputy tom]

I used to go to Bravermans once a week and to Smith's Bakery every few months to stock up on Scottish meat-pies. I haven't been in Braverman's since last year but buy from them at the gunshows. I don't know if Smith's is still in business or not.tom.

[panopticonisi]

wilkinsburg has definitely gone down hill over time, with most storefronts being boarded up and whatnot. i've been spending more and more time there, though. i love fireside caribbean grill and just adopted braverman's as my favourite pittsburgh gunstore, so i make a day of it. there's quite a bit of a rough element, it seems, on penn avenue. it's a shame, if that's why people don't want to invest there. there's a lot of retail space to be had and probably for cheap.

[jimbo082]

I'm there everyday since I work in Wilkinsburg
I work at LifeCare Hospital and it's probably the safest part of Wilkinsburg. There's a constant police presence and we have security but you still need to lock your car up or it'll get trashed. The neighborhood isn't the safest, aside from Braverman's, there's really nothing there for a white boy like me. Of all the neighborhoods to go down hill, I have to admit, I never thought I'd see Lawrenceville become the way it is now. Growing up, it was always a cesspool for trash and drunks but now they have a pretty booming strip going down on Butler St. same with parts of East Liberty, they've gotten a lot of Lib hippie types transforming the neighborhoods...which is good.
Last thing is that when I drive through Wilkinsburg and Homewood (which I pass through to get to work) I can't believe how much I am discriminated against, it's like everybody stops and stares and is ready to throw down but I'm not gonna get stuck in Penn Ave traffic to avoid cutting through there. On that note, I'll shut up. BTW, I live in Stanton Heights/Morningside area (which most people don't even know so I just say near the zoo). Also, the tax money went into remodeling the East Liberty Bus Loop, Bakery Square (which is booming), Target (to my surprise is very nice inside though I'd hate to see how much loss they have due to shoplifting. I worked loss prevention at the Giant Eagle across the street from there and couldn't believe the amount of shoplifting that went on there. It was everybody, from little kids to 80 year old women). Home Depot is there and gets decent business. They also tore the projects and high rises down and build modular looking homes that look pretty decent but where did all the displaced residence go???...New Ken? lol

LAST thing I'll say is that a few years ago, I wouldn't feel comfortable walking around East Liberty however the last couple years there have been a lot more businesses there which has created a multicultural neighborhood and is much safer then it was years ago, at least during the day. They also renamed Peabody High School, Pittsburgh Obama 6-12, blah. How brainwashing is that? Oh well.

[PaleDriver]

Last time I went to Bravermans I was afraid I wouldn't have a car to come back to.

[arjohnson]

I'm there everyday since I work in Wilkinsburg
I work at LifeCare Hospital and it's probably the safest part of Wilkinsburg. There's a constant police presence and we have security but you still need to lock your car up or it'll get trashed. The neighborhood isn't the safest, aside from Braverman's, there's really nothing there for a white boy like me. Of all the neighborhoods to go down hill, I have to admit, I never thought I'd see Lawrenceville become the way it is now. Growing up, it was always a cesspool for trash and drunks but now they have a pretty booming strip going down on Butler St. same with parts of East Liberty, they've gotten a lot of Lib hippie types transforming the neighborhoods...which is good.
Last thing is that when I drive through Wilkinsburg and Homewood (which I pass through to get to work) I can't believe how much I am discriminated against, it's like everybody stops and stares and is ready to throw down but I'm not gonna get stuck in Penn Ave traffic to avoid cutting through there. On that note, I'll shut up. BTW, I live in Stanton Heights/Morningside area (which most people don't even know so I just say near the zoo). Also, the tax money went into remodeling the East Liberty Bus Loop, Bakery Square (which is booming), Target (to my surprise is very nice inside though I'd hate to see how much loss they have due to shoplifting. I worked loss prevention at the Giant Eagle across the street from there and couldn't believe the amount of shoplifting that went on there. It was everybody, from little kids to 80 year old women). Home Depot is there and gets decent business. They also tore the projects and high rises down and build modular looking homes that look pretty decent but where did all the displaced residence go???...New Ken? lol

I've been on this jobsite since december and let me tell you they are very nice homes, these are the new look projects. Lots of the displaced residents are right in your area, lawrenceville and morningside to name a couple. Having grown up in lawrenceville and parents still live there I can tell you it's not even close to the neighborhood it use to be, it's a shithole compared to what it was.

LAST thing I'll say is that a few years ago, I wouldn't feel comfortable walking around East Liberty however the last couple years there have been a lot more businesses there which has created a multicultural neighborhood and is much safer then it was years ago, at least during the day. They also renamed Peabody High School, Pittsburgh Obama 6-12, blah. How brainwashing is that? Oh well.

That sucks, I went to highschool there and it was a decent school at the time, graduated in 85. Never had to worry about getting shot back then.

[jimbo082]

I've been on this jobsite since december and let me tell you they are very nice homes, these are the new look projects. Lots of the displaced residents are right in your area, lawrenceville and morningside to name a couple. Having grown up in lawrenceville and parents still live there I can tell you it's not even close to the neighborhood it use to be, it's a shithole compared to what it was.

Yeah, you're right about the section 8 folks, they have come over this way. I actually just went to A Plus down there on Butler St. to get gas cause I was on E and while in there to pay, there were 4 twenty somethings hootin and hollering staring at me trying to intimidate me and smoking in the store! Which is now a common occurrence there, yelling about how high the prices were and saying "We'll burn this mo fo down". I had a stupid grin on my face as I fondled my Kel Tec ready to pull a Zimmerman. Also, somebody was shot and murdered at Morningside field last week, that has never happened in the 30 years I've lived here. It's getting time to move out to the sticks. I'm sick of city life.

[arjohnson]

Yeah, you're right about the section 8 folks, they have come over this way. I actually just went to A Plus down there on Butler St. to get gas cause I was on E and while in there to pay, there were 4 twenty somethings hootin and hollering staring at me trying to intimidate me and smoking in the store! Which is now a common occurrence there, yelling about how high the prices were and saying "We'll burn this mo fo down". I had a stupid grin on my face as I fondled my Kel Tec ready to pull a Zimmerman. Also, somebody was shot and murdered at Morningside field last week, that has never happened in the 30 years I've lived here. It's getting time to move out to the sticks. I'm sick of city life.

Most people get the impression lawrenceville is coming back, that's only if you stay on butler street. Take a trip off of butler street and drive on keystone, carnegie or natrona way and you will see exactly what has become of lawrenceville. I use to walk those streets at 2 am with not a fear in the world, can't say I'd feel the same today.

This is directed at the OP's original question about wilkinsburg, what a real shame that neighborhood has become. I drive through there almost daily on my way to work and it's not a place I'd want to be when the not guilty verdict comes back for Zimmerman.

[QueechoFeecho]

One of the big reasons all those neighbors have slid (I lived in East Liberty and Morningside in the past several years) is that all the people who care about keeping the place nice are exactly the ones that move out when it gets a little sketchy. So it is a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Morningside is still a decent place though. It helps that nobody knows about it.

------edited to add-------

And while Lawrenceville and parts of East Liberty have surged in a postive way over the past decade, I suspect a lot of that will reverse its course over the next decade as tax credits and block grants dry up, and also because of the credit deflation. The only reason a lot of the houses in those neighborhoods got bought up by yuppies and remodeled was because anyone with a pulse could get a mortgage. Now those people will be sitting there in their mortgaged-to-the-hilt house, and as soon as they have a bad event spook them, they'll start to slide away.