my dad also worked at J&L (Jones & Laughlin) Steel for a time before they went out. Everyone should remember that Pittsburgh was dirty around the mills, but the outer areas were all farmland and quite beautiful. Even the decrepit parts of town that are falling down used to be really nice at one time. As nice as any other city of the day, remember the time period. These homes are so old in some sections! My mother always talked about her own childhood and her mother's childhood going back to the late 1800's and what made Pittsburgh so cool were all the great ethnic bakeries, mail delivery twice a day, milk and eggs came to the door, ice was delivered, scissors sharpeners came around the neighborhoods, every mother was home watching their own kids and the neighbor kids too, and there was a butcher and baker on every corner, well next to the corner candy store where you could buy a loaf of bread for a nickel. Pittsburgh was a family get out and live town. The men did go to the local bars, but they were always just around the corner, they didn't drink and drive. Churches were the social and ethnic centers where entire families were raised one generation after the next. Pittsburgh had many cultures and ethnic backgrounds squeezed side by side and although they did not agree with each other, they lived in harmony with a measure of respect we don't see so much any more. It was not homogenized, there were Italian bakers, French bakers, Polish bakers, all next door to each other and everyone appreciated what they had to offer that was uniquely their own. I miss all that so much in the western town where I now live and everything is exactly the same as the next place. It's the wonderbread capital of the US, just like so many cities now are.