South Side

Understand

The South Side neighborhood contains more restaurants and bars than perhaps anywhere else in the city. It is along the Monongahela River, extending from Station Square about 30 blocks to the east, and extending inland several blocks from the river. The central artery is East Carson street on which most of the restaurants and bars are located. Historically the neighborhood was home to the millworkers for the steel mills that once lined the Monongahela River. Since most of these workers came from eastern Europe there is a European feel to the neighborhood, with small rowhomes, dozens of churches of various ethnic persuasions and even more neighborhood bars and small shops all mixed together.

Today the mills are gone and shops and restaurants are springing up in their place. The area is an interesting place to wander and people-watch. It is one of the few places in Pittsburgh where, in the summer, people eat and drink at tables outside restaurants. The South Side is divided into two main sections, aptly named the "Flats" and the "Slopes". The flats, closer to the river, contain shops, bars, restaurants as well as many interesting homes and apartments. Further south from the river, the Slopes climb uphill; hundreds and hundreds of narrow, tall homes, cheek-to-jowl with one another, perch precariously on the hillside. There are dozens of streets and pseudo-streets (steep concrete and wooden stairs maintained by the city) which residents use to get up and down.

West of South Side is Mount Washington, both a sight and a place to see from. The bluff rises, in some places almost vertically, 500 feet (150 m) above the river valley. It offers a spectacular view of the rivers and of the downtown area. Atop this geologic structure is a large district of residential homes, commercial businesses, apartment buildings, and a number of popular restaurants that share the beautiful view of the valley and the city. Mount Washington was once called Coal Hill because of the generous coal seams it contained (since mined). It was, and to some extent still is, one of the major residential areas for the people that worked in Pittsburgh's industrial plants and offices. Today it is most famous for the two incline railways that climb the steep slopes facing downtown and the rivers.

West and south of South Side and Mount Washington are numerous small residential neighborhoods, many of them quite hilly, which don't contain many attractions for the average tourist.

Get in

By car

From Downtown or northern and eastern neighborhoods of Pittsburgh, go south across the Monongahela or Ohio Rivers. There are six bridges you can use to cross the Monongahela River, and one bridge crossing the Ohio River. Most intersect with Carson Street after you cross the river. From west to east the bridges are:

• The West End Bridge, which connects directly to the North Side over the Ohio River.
• The Fort Pitt Bridge (I-376) from downtown, which has an exit onto westbound Carson Street.
• The Smithfield Street Bridge, which will take you from downtown directly to Station Square.
• The Liberty Bridge, which takes you from the east side of downtown. This is the only bridge into this area that doesn't intersect with Carson Street; rather it intersects PJ McArdle Road. From downtown, turning right onto PJ McArdle Roadway will take you up to Mount Washington. No left turn is permitted from the Liberty Bridge onto PJ McArdle Roadway.
• The 10th Street Bridge, which takes you from the Duquesne University area into South Side.
• The 22nd Street Bridge (also known as the Birmingham Bridge), which takes you from I-376 at the foot of Oakland into South Side.
• The Hot Metal Bridge (so-named because it was used to transport ladles of molten steel from the blast furnace on one side of the river to the rolling mill on the other), which takes you from I-376 south of Oakland into South Side.

In the South Side flats you can sometimes find on-street parking on the side streets and there are also some metered parking lots.

By public transit

Pittsburgh's light rail system, "The T", runs from downtown into the South Side. Immediately after crossing the Monongahela River, both lines stop at Station Square, then proceed into a transit-only tunnel under Mount Washington and come out at the South Hills Junction station on the other side before they split apart into the suburbs south of Pittsburgh.

Or, you can take the 48 or 51 bus routes to get from downtown past Station Square and down Carson Street right into the heart of the South Side neighborhood. The 54 will get you from South Side to other popular destinations such as Oakland.

On foot

From Downtown, one can easily walk to Station Square via the Smithfield Street Bridge, and from Station Square take the Monogahela Incline railway up to Mount Washington. South Side, however, can be a little out of walking distance depending on how much you're willing to walk (the 48 or 51 bus routes can help in this regard).

Get around

In the case of Mount Washington, getting there is half the fun. Many people take one of two incline railways, each a mile apart, to the neighborhoods atop Mount Washington:

• The Monongahela Incline is probably the most direct from downtown and the more tourist oriented, rising from near Station Square to Grandview Avenue in the neighborhood of Mount Washington. This incline is operated by the Port Authority, so transfers and passes good for the bus and light rail system will apply to rides on the incline as well. Fares are $3.50 for an adult, and $2.50 for a child or person with a disability (Jun 2022).
• The Duquesne Incline goes to Grandview Avenue in the Duquesne Heights neighborhood has the better view from the top, able to see down all three river valleys. This incline is operated by a non-profit group and not the Port Authority, but Port Authority transfers and passes are accepted. Fares are $2.50 for an adult ($5 round-trip), $1.25 for a child ($2.50 round-trip), free for seniors (Jun 2022).

Both inclines are funicular railways that scale the side of the mount. At the peak of the industrial era, a number of similar inclines transported workers from the top of the mount to the South Side "flats", where they either walked across one of the bridges, or took a streetcar to their work. Today the Duquesne Incline and Monongahela Incline are the only two inclines remaining.

For the less adventurous, one may "mount the mount" in an automobile. Also if you are willing to go out of the way for a picturesque view one would probably take the car farther up the side of the river to Fineview. Take the Liberty Bridge from Downtown south, across the Monongahela river; just before you would enter the Liberty Tunnel don't, instead turn right and go up the McArdle roadway. Don't let the driver watch the expanding view as you travel up the face of the mount.

Once in South Side or atop Mount Washington, the best way to get around is usually just to walk. Most of the streets are perfectly suitable for walking and everything is close together. The South Side Riverfront Trail runs along the south shore of the Monongahela River from the Duquesne Incline east through Station Square and South Side, and can be accessed from Station Square, 4th Street, 9th Street, 18th Street, 26th Street, and Hot Metal Street. The distance from Station Square and Mount Washington to the heart of the South Side neighborhood can be a little much to walk though; the 51A and 51C Port Authority bus routes will cover that distance along Carson Street.