Best in the ‘Burgh

By Pitt News Staff
November 13, 2002

Web site | Strange thing in Oakland | Web site | Strange thing in Oakland | Pittsburgh sports team | Local band | Fun thing outside Oakland | Movie theater | Theater | Radio station | Free entertainment | Dance club

If you’re deciding whether to apply to Pitt, its Web site will no doubt convince you. After being greeted by a picture of happy students hard at work, you’ll find recent news about the school and you can take a virtual tour of the campus.

If you already go to Pitt, you can use the site for all your Pitt-related needs. Find contact information for University organizations, check out the classes offered in the spring, and take a look at the academic calendar for the next four years, so you can hurry and book a cheap flight to Cancun for spring break 2006.

Pitt.edu is also a good starting point to finding other sites – it includes links to the PITTCat library catalog, the Pitt sports page and even the chancellor’s home page. But if stalking people is more your thing, the handy “Find People” feature will give you the e-mail address of anyone on campus.

If you’re a Pitt student or you just wish you were, you’ll find what you’re looking for at Pitt.edu.

– Erin Brachlow

Strange thing in Oakland

It’s not everywhere, but that’s why it’s so weird. Sometimes you’ll be walking by the loading dock near the Union and then, “Oh my dear Lord, what is that?”

The strangest thing in Oakland is the smell. Sometimes, it’s the musty stank of drying beer on the sidewalk. Often, it’s the whiff of garbage that smells like a dead fish changing diapers. Occasionally, Oakland reeks of thick cigarette smoke that attaches to every article of clothing and won’t let go.

Solutions: Put a large, pine-scented car freshener around the Cathedral, spray fragrant mists in every campus doorway, enforce showering with the tenacity of underage drinking or hand out free nose-plugs. Of course, then everyone would talk all nasally.

“Bud a leest eww couldm’t smell amyfink.”

– Eric Lidji

Pittsburgh sports team

Other than Heinz Ketchup and Mario Lemieux, nothing is held dearer to the hearts of Pittsburghers than the Steelers. A Sunday afternoon staple since 1933, the team has put the city on the map every winter since then-owner Arthur J. Rooney founded the team for $2,500 – and named them the Pirates.

Yes, Pittsburgh had two professional sports teams named the Pirates.

Since then, the Steelers have become one of the most storied and successful franchises in all of sports, winning four Super Bowl titles in a six-year span, claiming the most famous play in NFL history, and sending a total of 19 players and personnel to the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

The Steelers can brag that they have played just about everywhere in Pittsburgh: Forbes Field, Pitt Stadium, Three Rivers Stadium and Heinz Field. Here’s a little known fact: The Steelers’ first-ever Draft choice was named William Shakespeare.

– Erik Arroyo

“There’s a penny on the floor and you’re gone/the television’s on/Have you found another man to take my place?”

Those lyrics have been screamed out by fans and at concerts throughout many cities in the country.

Highland Park natives, the Clarks have been touring since the early 1990s. Their first big hit was in the 1988 with “Help Me Out” and in 1991, their success grew with “Penny on the Floor.”

The “Let it Go” album was a hit with its no-nonsense rock style.

The Clarks released their latest album. “Another Happy Ending,” in June, 2002 with a kick-off concert at the Amphitheatre at Station Square.

But perhaps most important to maintaining “Best local band” status, the Clarks remember their roots: they’ll be returning to Pittsburgh Nov. 30 for a concert at the AJ Palumbo Center.

– Christine Claus

Fun thing outside Oakland

The Homestead Waterfront

Like an magical Never-Never Land, the Homestead Waterfront rises from the riverside on a Friday night with a giant rosy glow: Hundreds of lights from the parking lots surrounding the restaurants, the stores and the colossal pink Loew’s Cineplex light the night sky with the promise of America’s favorite pastime – consumption.

A night out at the Waterfront is easy to plan. Using the age-old schedule of dinner and a movie, the choices are endless. Want American-style Chinese food? Try P.F. Chang’s. In the mood for seafood? How about Mitchell’s Fish Market? How about soup in a bread bowl? Grab something from Panera Bread. Want to make dinner at home before heading out to a movie? Try the vast, market-style Giant Eagle.

Need to find something to wear for the weekend? The Waterfront features stores like the Gap, Abercrombie and Fitch and Victoria’s Secret.

For movies, Loew’s Cineplex offers stadium-style seating and an array of movies. If you wanted to, you could actually spend the entire night out at the theater, buying dinner and drinks at the Cineplex itself. If you decide to leave the theater and you’re still in the mood for some fun, head out to the Improv for a few laughs or to Sing Sing for some music and a few drinks.

Had too many drinks to drive? Getting home from the Waterfront is easy, too. The 61C and the 59U run between Oakland and the Waterfront. In fact, the only difficult aspect of the Waterfront is choosing between so many choices.

– Leslie Hoffman

Movie theater

300 Waterfront Drive West

“Let’s go see a movie.”

Hop on the 59U or the easier-to-catch 61C, if you don’t mind a short walk, and you are out in Homestead at the Waterfront.

Loews Cineplex boasts 22 theaters filled with comfortable seats, all equipped with cup holders and movable armrests. It boasts a snack bar that sells chicken strips and quesadillas, in addition to the traditional popcorn, overpriced candy and drinks. There is even a machine that dispenses Dippin’ Dots, the ice cream of the future.

Loews can project up to 19 different showings of an average of 12 different movies at a time. Shows start playing at 11 a.m., and if you catch a show before 5 p.m. then you save almost three bucks off the $8 admission price.

Comfy theaters, good food and a wide array of viewing selections are all ingredients for a satisfying cinematic experience.

– Natalie Preston

Seventh Street and Penn Avenue

As far as live theaters go, the Benedum Center – which cost $3 million to build in 1927 and $43 million to restore 56 years later – is clearly the best. The Benedum offers a fantastic smorgasbord of entertainment, with something for nearly everyone. It is the home of the Pittsburgh Ballet Theater, Pittsburgh Opera and Pittsburgh Broadway Series, among others. This month will feature ballet, modern dance and even a gospel play.

Before the Benedum was the Benedum, it was the Stanley Theater, “Pittsburgh’s Palace of Amusement.” It was a venue for rock concerts for five years (apparently enough time to accrue $43 million in damages). But in 1984, a then-brand-new organization known as the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust decided to return it to its former glory.

Today, the 90 chandeliers, the 18-foot-high mirrors, the 1,500 feet of brass railings, and the really cool bathrooms will impress any date. A trip to the Benedum is a way to leave dorm room life behind in an effort to have a little class.

– Elizabeth Cowan

Radio station

Top 5 Reasons to listen to 105.9 The X

5. 105.9 FM is called the X. That’s cool.

4. 105.9 FM plays loud music by people with long hair who can scream like the true rock stars they are.

3. 105.9 FM has DJ Alan Cox, who can swear at you, kick your ass and then say something remarkably intelligent and insightful in one fell swoop.

2. 105.9 FM is the only station that plays Tenacious D on regular intervals. Ergo: The X will rock your socks off.

1. 105.9 FM was voted No. 1 by you, the readers.

– Eric Lidji

Free entertainment

Movies on the hill in Schenley Park

Nothing says summer like movies on the hill.

You wanna chill out and watch a flick with your friends, but who wants to sit in a dark theater for two hours during the summer? And then there’s that guy in the front row screaming at you for talking too much. Dude, you don’t need that.

That’s what’s so great about movies on the hill. Hanging out on a blanket on Flagstaff on a warm night, and with Oakland and the stars as a backdrop. Sweet.

And whoever programs those films knows what they’re talking about. “Osmosis Jones,” “Jaws,” and “Jurassic Park III” . . . these are perfect flicks to laugh at and laugh with.

There’s no hanky-panky in the back row, you can mix your own killer gin-and-tonic and bring that along, and although I’ve never tried, I bet if you share with the lady or the fella on the blanket next to you, there’s probably no better place to make friends. After all, the movies are always over by 10:30 p.m. and you have to do something with the rest of your night.

– A. Horbal

What is the Matrix?

Matrix is a four-venue dance club for the 21-and-over crowd where you probably won’t be seeing Keanu Reeves or Carrie-Anne Moss. But you will catch a glimpse of all those attractive people who seem to disappear from campus with the coming of cold weather.

At Matrix you’re free to strip off the winter wear and enjoy your choice of dance settings. Choose between trance music with a futuristic decor in Club Liquid, house beats and an industrial setting in Club Exit, the top 40 – complete with bartenders dressed as Greek goddesses – in the appropriately named Club Goddess, or Club Velvet, which features Latin Dance music in a plush velvety room where the bartenders don tuxes and where dancers, dressed in outfits that cross “gypsy” with “Latin ballroom,” show off their latest moves on the bar.

With all this, who would want to leave the Matrix anyway?

– Wendy Toth