Forget Venice

What makes a city the most livable?
Forbes used five criteria: unemployment, crime, income growth, the cost of living, and artistic and cultural opportunities. But the magazine left out the most important reason to call someplace home: It’s how it makes you feel. It’s a city’s vibe.

As travelers, we always give the places we visit a thumbs up or thumbs down, don’t we? We ask ourselves, "Could I live here?" and immediately start imagining what it would be like to live in a certain house, walk down a certain street, sit in a certain café.

It’s not surprising that in Pittsburgh, the city that inspired Mr. Rogers, you find vibrant and interesting neighborhoods each with its own personality.


Lawrenceville suits me. An area once dominated by steel mills that hugs the Allegheny River, its working-class origins make it a little brash and rebellious. Perhaps that’s what has attracted such a wide group of artists and entrepreneurs.


Its art scene is not pretentious, it’s invigorating. Exhibits at Fe challenge you to see everyday objects – paper, water, pieces of iron – in a new way. Clever new work at be galleries compels you to face death – with a grin – while walking home from the bakery.


You won't find chain stores here or their boring merchandise in Lawrenceville's Etsy-like shops. And there's a dearth of national fast-food joints. 


With its proximity to West Virginia, Lawrenceville is also a little bit country. Yup, it’s downright neighborly. When the weather turned sharp and cold, people seemed energized: they smiled not scowled. As snowed piled up and up and up, my front stoop was magically, and regularly, swept clear by the family that lives two doors down.


Lawrenceville is a mix of cultures, and of the past and present. It has deep Polish and Catholic roots, still the rainbow flag flies proudly. Renovated row houses sit cheek to jowl with those in need of paint and repair that, in turn, abut immaculately kept homes last updated in the 1970s. It seems like there’s a old-fashioned bar – and I mean a bar – on every block and you’ll also find more independent coffee houses here than in my West Hollywood neighborhood.


You can’t beat Lawrenceville’s location. It’s far enough away from downtown to feel like a small town but close enough for a quick commute to work, a dash to see the Steelers or Pens and regular grocery shopping in the Strip District.


I'm a recent refugee from Southern California and its depressing economic spiral. The Golden State has been tarnished by foreclosure signs multiplying like cockroaches; houses and condos that refuse to sell; storefronts that stay empty.


It seems like the Great Recession has bypassed Lawrenceville altogether. It's thriving. New shops and eateries are opening all the time. Nightlife hums. Note to the next entrepreneur: We sure could use a green grocer and a book store!


On a typical morning, I grab a perfect cappuccino on Butler Street and walk down to the river with my dog. On the winding path, the odd jack rabbit dashes off, robins chirp, coxswains call to rowers practicing for the regatta on the Allegheny. Coxswains?!, ask my incredulous friends in California. Welcome to the new Pittsburgh, I say, and to Lawrenceville – the most livable neighborhood in America's most livable city.