Michele Margittai - Insiders Guide® to Pittsburgh

Jenn Phillips is a writer, editor, and consultant who works internationally from her office in Pittsburgh. She regularly works in the areas of magazine writing and editing, branding and marketing, grant writing, and editing for books and journals, offering a particular specialty in medical and wellness topics. She has recently begun expanding her business, Writing Well Communications, to include corporate training in writing and editing.

She holds a bachelors degree in professional and creative writing from Carnegie Mellon University. Shes now completing a master of fine arts degree in creative writing at the University of Pittsburgh, where she formerly taught as an adjunct faculty member.

She loves Pittsburgh.

Loriann Hoff Oberlin was born and raised in Pittsburgh. She is the author of several other books, including Surviving Separation & Divorce: A Womens Guide to Making It Through the First Year and The Angry Child, written with Timothy F. Murphy, Ph.D. Loriann has also written Writing for Money and Working at Home While the Kids Are There, Too. Loriann has been a guest on numerous talk shows and news programs, including the CNN Morning News, and she has spoken at writers conferences throughout the country.

Evan M. Pattak, a Pittsburgh native, is a writer, editor, publicist, and teacher, among other pursuits. His magazine writing has won Golden Quill and Women in Communications Matrix Awards and was anthologized in Our Roots Grow Deeper Than We Know, a collection featuring Pennsylvania writers. He began his career as a reporter for the Associated Press after graduating from the University of Pittsburgh.

He is an official scorer for Major League Baseballs National League and serves as part-time host and handicapper for the Ladbroke Racing Network.

Michele Margittai is a writer and marketing and communications consultant who lives in Pittsburgh. Working with private and not-for profit organizations, Michele helps her clients to tell their stories through articles, newsletters, Web sites, and speeches. She particularly enjoys using written words to convince people to take actioncommit to a cause, donate money to a project, support a resolution, or relocate to Pittsburgh. With a writing degree from the University of Pittsburgh, Michele has also published 30 software manuals and edited the workbook, Understanding Self-Injury. Michele lives with her husband Peter and two children, Sophia and Nico, in Pittsburgh's South Side.

Its been a pleasure to have the opportunity to work on the Insiders Guide to Pittsburgh, and I want to thank my editors. I love Pittsburgh, and authoring this guidebook has served to reinforce all the reasons why.

In the early spring in Pittsburgh, especially when we have some unseasonably warm days in February or March, its common to find the doors of shops and homes propped open and a lot of people standing around outside smiling broadly. Authoring this book involves a significant amount of research, and what Ive found in this caseand in my other work as a writer in the Greater Pittsburgh areais that office doors and hearts here are typically just as open as those we fling wide in early spring.

I would especially like to thank Beth Geisler at the Greater Pittsburgh Convention and Visitors Bureau, as well as Ellen Roth, Ph.D., president of Getting to the Point, a relocation services company. Beth made it very easy for me to feel confident that Id included all the best attractions in our area, through her comprehensive knowledge of the region and the copious literature she provided. I encourage all visitors to get to the center of downtown. The GPCVB really knows its stuff!

Ellen, who was honored by the governor as one the 50 top women in business in the state, was simply delightful to talk with, and she generously spent time on the phone with me, which gave me a very good feel for what it means to relocate to Pittsburgh, especially if one is doing so as a trailing spouse, without the ready-made community and commitments a new job provides. This new understanding proved very helpful to me as I added material to the book for newcomers to our area.

From another standpoint, I owe thanks and acknowledgment to coauthors on the first edition of this book, Loriann Hoff Oberlin and Evan Pattak. No matter whose names appear on the cover of this book in coming years, the Insiders Guide will always owe much to them. So much of the original research here is theirsand finely done it is.

On the second edition, my good friend and colleague Tanya Reyes assisted me by making the thousands of phone calls involved in fact checking. And during some difficult life circumstances that occurred while I was completing the book, my colleague David Doorley stepped in with great efficaciousness and helped me add good, new entries to several chapters. Thank you, thank you, David!

I was also fortunate to be able to call on another local writer, Michael Dongilli, to write the sidebar in Spectator Sports on our new stadiums, because only a true, blue (or should that be gold?) sports fan could do these terrific new facilities justice.

And finally, Id like to thank all the peoplefriends, family, business associates, folks Ive just run intowhove expressed enthusiasm about the Insiders Guide to Pittsburgh and my completion of the book you now hold in your hands.

Jenn Phillips

First and foremost, thanks to the authors of the previous editions of this book, Jenn Phillips, Loriann Hoff Oberlin, and Evan M. Pattak. Though we havent met, I could sense the love and pride they feel for Pittsburgh in their writings, and appreciated their attention to detail when compiling the many entries in this guide. I would also like to thank my editors for their guidance and help, and the publisher for the opportunity to work on this edition.

Heartfelt thanks to Lynne Glover, a college friend who referred this project to me. Lynne and I talked about this book soon after seeing each other at one of my favorite Pittsburgh events, the WYEP Summer Music Festival. There, along with hundreds of others, we sat on the North Shore and looked over the bandstand and across the river to the nearby downtown skyline. While enjoying great music, Lynne and I talked about how we love living in Pittsburgh and how much has changed here since our college days. Only a week or so later, she called about the opportunity to revise this guide. I couldnt believe my luckworking on a book that showcases a region that often is overlooked, but is absolutely, in my opinion, one of this countrys best places to live.

Lynne, who works for VisitPittsburgh, was also a valuable source for suggestions about new attractions and regional destinations. Kudos to the entire staff at VisitPittsburgh and Beverly Morrow-Jones, the Executive Director of Marketing and Communications. They provide tremendous resources for residents and visitors who want to learn more about the region. I strongly urge a trip to their office or a visit to their Web site!

I would also like to thank Lisa Starr, an architecture student and friend, who assisted with updating the Architecture and Nightlife chapters. She did a great job, even recruiting her mom to spend a day with her touring the downtown while using the Architecture chapter as her guide. They both discovered new places in their hometown!

To my wonderful husband Peterthank youfor your support and advice during this project. Neither Peter nor I are Pittsburgh natives, but we share a great love for this city, our adopted home. One of our first dates was a three-hour walking tour through downtown Pittsburgh, each pointing out favorite buildings and spaces to the other. Now, almost a dozen years later, we continue to exploreeating at new restaurants with friends, visiting attractions with our two young children, Sophia and Nico, and finding ways to give back to our community. Working on this book offered us opportunities to reminisce about those places and events, and to discover new destinations and experiences yet to be enjoyed.