Rental Guide: Carpey: What’s your cup of tea? Oakland breeds numerous options for housing

Pitt is at war. Civil war. Well, not actually, but the silently implicated rivalry between North Oakland and South Oakland has residents as dedicated to their neighborhood as the Romans were to Augustus.

Although the general Pitt culture remains relatively constant throughout campus and surrounding neighborhoods, whether you live north or south of the center of campus can significantly shape the latter end of your Pitt experience.

On Friday nights around dusk, South and Central Oakland hums with plans brewing for the evening. Between 10 p.m. and 2 a.m., the hum begins to build into a beautiful melody of clicking heels, squeals of long lost friends who haven’t seen each other in an aching 10 hours and intoxicated bodies swaying to the sounds of beer being ponged and cups being flipped.

The South Oakland sonata falls into a quiet lull in its composition as Saturday morning hangovers slowly draw students out of their homes and into the blinding gray Pittsburgh light to exchange tales of conquest and woe from the previous night, laced with defeat, over hotcakes and potatoes at Pamela’s. Finally, the symphony hits its grand crescendo Saturday night as one last attempt is made to salvage the weekend or go out with a bang before falling into the Sunday study trance.

Cross over the other side of Forbes and Fifth avenues to North Oakland and, with the exception of the few fraternity houses dotting Dithridge Street, you’ll find a more underrated, arguably classier, weekend unfolding. The homes that fill North Oakland border those of Shadyside, both of which have families, undergrads, graduate students and young professionals writing vastly different stories within their four walls. Because of the wide variety of tenants, therein lies an expectation, one that landlords have no problem reminding undergrads of: To be vastly more mindful of your noise and your neighbors.

Fewer large parties in North Oakland means that there are fewer broken-down homes. The paltry, newly renovated homes in South Oakland are typically on top of neighboring homes that could very well be relying on the holy grail of repair items: duct tape and superglue.

According to U.S. News and World Report’s annual college rankings, approximately 56.5 percent of Pitt students live in off-campus housing. With this high number, it’s no surprise that there is an unspoken rivalry between North Oakland and South Oakland. Personally, I am no stranger to friendly jabs at the distance of my apartment from the heart of Central Oakland. Of course, I always retort with the classiness that is promised in my neck of the woods at the end of the day, rather than feeling like I’m living in a bar or the aftermath of a house party 24/7.

Colin Harrison, a junior engineering student living in North Oakland, said, “I was looking at living in both North Oakland and South Oakland when I was ready to move off campus. The bars are more accessible by living in South Oakland, but I didn’t want to be living on top of my neighbors when I went home at the end of the night. I like my space. The prices are great in both locations, but I feel like you get more bang for your buck in North O. It’s just nicer and not as crowded.”

Some might call South Oakland crowded; others might just say it has prime accessibility to the social aspects many are looking for on a college campus.

Camila Guerra-Garcia, a senior communications major, said, “When deciding to move off campus, I figured that the best location to live would be in South O. Mostly college students inhabit the area, it’s a short distance from campus, and it’s surrounded by restaurants and shops. It’s really the most convenient.”

On the other hand, however, it is no secret that in having immediate accessibility to restaurants and bars, you’re also sacrificing comfort provided in many North Oakland houses and apartments.

Alice Geherin, a junior rehabilitation sciences major, lives with me in Webster Hall apartments on Fifth Avenue and Dithridge Street, the closest Oakland has to a high-rise apartment building. The top 11 floors are apartments, while the first floor is home to a collection of businesses, including a deli, a hair and nail salon, a credit union, a law office, a gym and the management office for the whole building. Living in a building with a management office rather than a landlord, a few of the many things Geherin and I have access to is 24-hour repair services, security after business hours and a Carrie-Bradshaw-style buzz-in system for guests.

Geherin said, “We each have our own bedroom, each have our own bathroom and obviously share the kitchen and living room. Our rent and utilities are not through the roof, and actually is only minimally higher than some South Oakland homes. The convenience, security and amenities that come with the building, however, outweigh any options I was looking at in South Oakland and are well worth the slight price increase compared to those options.”

Although its appearance would tell you otherwise, South Oakland is not lacking in the safety department, either.

According to senior biology and economics double major Steve Turetsky, who is also a Pitt Pathfinder, “South O is 91 percent students, so that makes for a real safe environment. Personally, I also think you can’t get the full Pitt experience without doing a year in South O.”

Yet because South O is predominantly students, you do risk the noise, dirtier streets, louder volume and closer quarters invoking claustrophobia.

Mark Janavel, a junior film major, said, “North Oakland has a more mixed community of college students mixed with local residents, all of whom have varying levels of economic backgrounds. It’s really interesting, actually.Also, I always feel like I’m on edge when I’m in South O, because of all the crazy things you see: drunk college students hitting things and being overly aggressive, the constant presence of people in varying states of stress and intoxication that pose danger. It’s certainly not a place I would ever want to live when I move off campus.”

At the end of the day, there is no book defining the “classic Pitt experience,” nor should there be. It’s up to the student to map, write, invent and dissect his or her own experience. Living in North Oakland just so happens to provide more opportunities to do so. Landlords — or management offices — tend to be more reasonable, amenities in the homes and apartments are typically more up-to-date and well-maintained, there’s plenty of breathing room between you and your neighbors and at the end of the night you can walk off your inebriation from the South Oakland ruckus and rest your head spin-free.

Regardless of what is touted on the brochures to prospective students, you conduct your own Oakland orchestra. Just do so in North Oakland, and you’ll be happier.

Write Julia at jbc30@pitt.edu.