Pittsburgh: Difference between revisions

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{{tropeUseful Notes}}
[[File:Pittsburgh.jpg|frame]]
'''Pittsburgh''' is the second largest city in Pennsylvania, behind [[Philadelphia (useful notes)|Philadelphia]]. It is located at the point where the Allegheny and Monongahela Rivers combine to form the Ohio River, and has more bridges than any other city in the world (even beating [[Venice]], Italy by three). It was originally named after [[William Pitt the Elder]], later Prime Minister of the UK, for his role in the [[Seven Years' War]].
 
Home of KDKA, the oldest commercial radio station and one of the few exceptions to the "W*** east of the Mississippi, K*** west of the Mississippi" rule. Pittsburgh is more of a Midwestern city than Philly; the two have little in common other than being in the same state. It is also known as Steel City, due to its being a booming ([[Never Live It Down|and polluted]]) mill town for much of its history. Most of the steel industry has left, but the city is having a minor renaissance as a health care and high-tech center, helped by the fact that several prestigious universities are in the area. It is also the only city in the United States that was allowed by the Postal Service to end in "burgh" throughout the 20th century; see the entry under [[Please Select New City Name]] for details.
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* ''[[The Silence of the Lambs]]''.
* ''[[Zack and Miri Make a Porno]]''
* ''[[Night of the Living Dead]]'', the original ''[[Dawn of the Dead (film)|Dawn of the Dead]]'', and ''[[Land of the Dead]]''. George A. Romero went to college in Pittsburgh and did a lot of early work there, including a segment of ''Mister Rogers' Neighborhood'' in which Mr. Rogers gets a tonsillectomy. This experience inspired Romero to get into the horror genre.
* ''[[Creepshow]]'', also by Romero, was partly filmed on Carnegie-Mellon University campus, a fact pointed out by most of the tour guides along with that the cricket population stems almost entirely from descendants of a spilled cage during the filming.
* ''[[Smart People]]'', a comedy-drama film starring [[Dennis Quaid]] and [[Sarah Jessica Parker]], was also partly filmed on Carnegie-Mellon University campus.
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* ''[[Film/Sudden Death|Sudden Death]]''
* ''[[Innocent Blood]]''
* ''[[Love and Other Drugs]],'' a 2010 romantic comedy starring [[Anne Hathaway]] and Jake Gyllenhall.
* Home base of [[George of the Jungle|...Super Chicken!]]
* ''[[The Next Three Days]]'', a 2010 thriller with [[Russell Crowe]] about a [[Great Escape]] from the Allegheny County Jail.
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* ''[[Abduction]]''. The film includes a sequence not in the original script where the star slides down a portion of the scaffolding in PNC Park, thus once again proving that [[Butt Monkey|the Pirates play second fiddle to their own stadium]].
* ''[[The Perks of Being a Wallflower]]''. Author Stephen Chbosky grew up in the area and set his novel here in the early [[The Nineties|1990s]]. The upcoming film adaptation was also shot in various locations around Pittsburgh.
* In ''[[The Muppets Take Manhattan]]'' Dr. Teeth and The Electric Mayhem are doing polkas gigs in Pittsburgh.
* ''[[Houseguest]]'' takes place in Pittsburgh and some of the surrounding suburbs(Sewickely, specifically)
 
== Literature ==
* Harry Turtledove's ''Timeline191'' series, depicting a [[World War II]] which took place in a world in which the South won the [[Civil War]], featured the Battle of Pittsburgh as the series' analogue to Stalingrad.
* Pittsburgh gets destroyed by aliens in the Lensman novel ''Triplanetary'' (they have invaded Earth in order to steal ''[[It Makes Sense in Context|iron]]'').
** It is also mentioned to be destroyed in the [[Novelization]] of ''[[Independence Day]]'', but not the movie.
** And it's not in a very good state in the novel ''When Worlds Collide''.
* [[Christine]], the novel about a [[Homicide Machines|killer car]] by Stephen King, was entirely set in Pittsburgh. The narrator, Dennis, has a summer construction job working on [[wikipedia:I-376|Interstate 376]].<ref>known as the Parkway or Parkway West to locals.</ref> Also, King shows that he was familiar with the area when writing the book, as he mentions Monroeville and it's "miles of malls." At the time the book was written, Monroeville, PA was (and is even more so today) a hub of mall- and strip mall-based retail commerce. It had two: Monroeville Mall and Miracle Mile Shopping Center as well as several other retail stores and restaurants.
** Also it could be a reference to King's friend George Romero filmed ''[[Dawn of the Dead (film)|Dawn of the Dead]]'' in that town.
** The [[Film of the Book|film]] was set in [[Los Angeles]], for cheaper production costs. All the snow scenes would have added a fortune to the budget.
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* In the second season of ''Weeds'', Shane went through a phase of being obsessed with Pittsburgh.
* ''Three Rivers'' based on residence at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center hospitals. The pilot was filmed at a hospital in Butler County, but production was moved to Los Angeles to cut down on costs. Shots seen of the city are stock footage.
* The TV Movie version of ''[[The Stand]]'', the local [http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&q=armstrong+tunnel+pittsburgh&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=Armstrong+Tunnel,+Pittsburgh,+Allegheny,+Pennsylvania+15219&gl=us&ei=woGwTNWyI8T7lwey6ajlDw&sqi=2&ved=0CBQQ8gEwAA&ll=40.437532,-79.991809&spn=0.001739,0.005284&t=h&z=18&layer=c&cbll=40.43788,-79.992108&panoid=8Y86SP1mktbfWWWgLv2evQ&cbp=12,153.58,,0,-1.58 Armstrong Tunnel] (which goes under Duquesne University and empties out onto the 10th Street Bridge), stands in for the Lincoln Tunnel in [[New York]].
 
== Video Games ==
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** The route of the [[Chase Scene]] in ''Striking Distance'' only ''sort of'' makes sense - you can assume people who live in cities with a lot of chase scenes filmed in them deal with this often. The radio says they are "At the 31st Street Bridge, going westbound on Liberty", so Tom and his father take Bigelow Boulevard to downtown to meet up with the chase. They hook up with 7th Street, passing by the post office and crossing Grant to get to Liberty. Then they connect with Liberty from the other side of the street than they should. They pass Oxford Center and inexplicably pop into the Armstrong Tunnels, under Duquesne University. Out of the tunnels they cross the Monongahela River at the Smithfield Street Bridge... odd considering the tunnels they just pulled out of end at the 10th Street bridge ... why did the suspect backtrack 2 miles to cross the river? <ref>Construction, obviously.</ref> There's the standoff at what looks like Carson Street under the Liberty Bridge, and then he manages to escape that and somehow gets to and drives up the PJ McArdle Roadway to Mount Washington. He skids to a turn down [[Scenery Porn|Grandview Avenue]], runs into an Iron City truck, and from there it's hard to tell where they're going - but there's nothing like the area they end up in down Grandview.
* ''[[Sudden Death]]''
** You know when they open the roof of the arena and [[Jean -Claude Van Damme]] [[Literal Cliff Hanger|hangs from it over the ice?]] That's the last time any Pittsburghers saw it open, too. They ''never'' opened it - it got too windy inside. The arena was later redesigned to include more box seats, which made it so the roof would never open again. Now the Pittsburgh Penguins have moved across the street to the Consol Energy Center, and a large group of people were fighting to save this historically unique building... ''which couldn't even do the thing that made it historically unique anymore''.
* Driving [[Video Games]]
** A missed opportunity - Pittsburgh would be great for one of those [[Wide Open Sandbox|"drive anywhere" video games]]. We have some of the most confusing side streets and steep surprise hills you'll find in a major metropolitan area. We have spots that could give [[San Francisco]] a very good run for its money.
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* ''[[Zack and Miri Make a Porno]]''
** The titular characters go to their ten-year reunion at Monroeville High School. Graduates from their class would have attended Gateway High School.
 
{{creatortropes}}
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** Yinzer- A local of the Pittsburgh area
** Fans of Fallout will never stop calling it The Pitt.
* [[Have a Gay Old Time]]: Inverted. "Mill Hunky," or just "Hunky" is a term that blue collar people of Eastern European descent use affectionately regarding themselves and their culture. At worst, it is a good-natured jab. However years ago it was a derogatory term for Eastern European immigrants, particularly Hungarians, who worked in the steel mills. The term was almost completely reclaimed, but in the 1990s it was still a sensitive topic at least for a small group who complained until the sculptor of a statue depicting a steel worker that was on display in Point Park for a summer had to change its name from "Mill Hunky" to something else.
* [[Never Live It Down]]: when the city was heavily polluted due to its Steel Industry.
** When the steel industry moved out of the area, the unemployment rate skyrocketed-nearing 25% in the 80s-and the region went into economic meltdown. Some still refer to the area as "economically depressed" despite the fact that many international corporations are headquartered here in addition to the area being a large hub of education and health care, resulting in a relatively low unemployment rate compared to other areas of the US.
*** Andrew Carnegie for as awesome as that Scotsman was, never lived down the Johnstown Flood and the Homestead Strike
* [[Older Than They Think]] - though many Hockey elitist fans (especially Original Six teams) like to look down at Pittsburgh fans as up and comers and bandwagoners. Pittsburgh's hockey history is nearly as old as the sport. In fact the first artificial ice arena in North America was in Pittsburgh and the first professional players were in Pittsburgh while the sport was still amateur in Canada.
* [[Polluted Wasteland]] in the 1960s, though it has cleaned itself up significantly since then.
* [[Red Oni, Blue Oni]]: In city terms Pittsburgh is usually the Blue Oni to Philadelphia, unless you trigger the Berserk Button above.
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[[Category:Useful Notes/The United States]]
[[Category:Major World Cities]]
[[Category:Pittsburgh{{PAGENAME}}]]