Retire Here. Really.

Jim and Deborah Bogen left sunny California to retire to semi-sunny Pittsburgh.

In 2000, they moved to Pittsburgh “for good” after Jim’s retirement from a professorship at Pitzer College in Claremont and after several trial semesters and visits since 1980.

“I was expecting the town to be pretty dismal, but I was delighted with it,” says Jim. He discovered the “extraordinary” jazz and rock scenes (Rusted Root has become a favorite since they moved), the restaurants and the art. He also discovered Highland Park, the neighborhood where they now live, thanks to a meeting with a colleague at the Tazza d’Oro coffee shop. (“I think between the two of us we’re responsible for keeping the restaurant in business. I don’t know anyone who drinks as much coffee as we do.”)

But the thing that ultimately convinced them to leave family and their home state of California: “There wasn’t anybody I could learn as much from anywhere else,” Jim says.

Turns out that the University of Pittsburgh has a world-class department of History and Philosophy of Science—which offers Jim plenty enough work attending seminars, writing papers, serving on dissertation committees, and occasionally teaching classes. Plenty enough work to drive him (happily) “bats.”

It also turns out that the Pittsburgh writing community has been a welcoming place for poet Deborah. Thanks to a poetry community that is “unique in being supportive rather than competitive,” she was able to finish and publish a book of poetry called Landscape with Silos.

And in the end, family came full-circle. Daughter Wendy followed her parents to pursue a Ph.D. in Public Health at Pitt, and has stayed on as faculty. So now the Bogens have a 4-year-old grandchild to help keep them in Pittsburgh. Not that they were thinking of leaving.

“We see ourselves as the cutting edge,” Jim says with a laugh. “Pretty soon you’ll see all kinds of retirees moving here from California.”

Retire in Style

Hmmm. He might be onto something. A recent book, Retire in Style, ranked Pittsburgh #2 in the Top 10 Value category for big cities and in a four-way tie for #7 among best cities overall for retirees. The draw? Affordability, culture and recreation, healthcare, community service and landscape.

There’s no way of knowing how many of Pittsburgh’s retirees considered other alternatives when deciding where to retire, but there’s certainly anecdotal evidence that Pittsburgh is increasingly attractive. Like Kitty Julian’s mother, Catherine, whose answering machine went something like this: “I’ve sold my house, I’ve quit my job, and I’m moving to Pittsburgh.”

“I don’t know what they thought of that message,” says Catherine with a laugh, five years after the momentous uprooting from her home in New Jersey. “The basic thing, though, was family. My daughter was here.”

And she adds, “I would have paid $100,000 more for the same house in New Jersey.” Now, thanks to a tip from a chatty cabdriver on one of her early visits to Pittsburgh, her “little house” in Stanton Heights is just up the hill from her daughter—and now granddaughter Fiona—in Lawrenceville.

Of course, it’s taken a while for Pittsburgh to feel like home, but the friendly neighbors and the city’s cultural offerings have helped. Catherine rattles off the list of favorite places: the Benedum, the Byham, Heinz Hall, the zoo, the Children’s Museum, Phipps. She even bought a mandolin for classes at Calliope. Pittsburgh Boomers magazine has helped too: $5 for five names, and now she has an Italian friend who “knows everyone in the Strip.”

“You feel like you really belong when you know people in the Strip,” she says.

Get Back to Where You Once Belonged

Barbara Pryor, known as “Maymay” to children in East Liberty, also knows the importance of neighborhood in Pittsburgh. The list of places she’s lived is extensive: born and raised in Washington, PA; college at Northwestern in Evanston, IL; San Francisco for three years, back to Evanston, then McMurray, PA; and finally Boston, MA for 13 years. But when her mother died in 2000, severing her strongest tie to Boston, Barbara jumped at the chance to let her employer move her back to Pittsburgh.

“I’m a Pennsylvania girl,” she says, and a new grandson in Pittsburgh only sweetened the move.

These days she has two grandsons, Josh and Andrew, who live downstairs from her apartment on the third floor of her son and daughter-in-law’s house. In 2004, she lost her job to downsizing at Mellon. “Then I was as free as a bird,” she says. Thanks to some help from the Social Security office, and the low cost of living in Pittsburgh, Barbara is now in her second year of retirement.

And she loves it. “This is just what God has had planned for me all my life,” she says. She loves living in the city and being part of the East Liberty revitalization. She works in the community garden she helped start around the corner. She serves on committees at Eastminster Presbyterian Church, where she’s passionate about their commitment to the neighborhood and to racial diversity. And she’s just recently taken on an almost-full-time volunteer director position with the Community Bible Study organization.

“It’s a good benefit package. Not very good pay, but….” she laughs. Benefits, of course, meaning the personal and spiritual satisfaction she gets from giving back to her community. “I am having the time of my life. I’m freed up. I don’t have to worry about the finances. It’s allowed me to simplify.”

Still, does Barbara ever think of leaving Pittsburgh? Well, maybe. “I could use some warm weather in winter,” she says slyly. And a daughter in Florida does seem a little tempting.

Not so for Janell Julian: “God willing, we’ll never go back to Florida.” Janell and her husband Tom moved to Pittsburgh from Florida three years ago to be nearer their granddaughter Fiona (whom they share with Catherine Julian). “We sold everything to come to Pittsburgh, and have not regretted one moment of it,” Janell says.

As far as she’s concerned, Pittsburgh has everything they want: an apartment in Oakmont with a patio and a swimming pool (Fiona loves to visit); a wide circle of friends (“They’re just not friendly in Florida.”); a long list of favorite cultural attractions (“Culture in Florida? They don’t even know how to spell that word.”); and plenty of opportunities to travel (“All you have to do is mention the word ‘go’ to me.”) So far they’ve been to Ireland, Hong Kong and Guatemala—and it’s not unusual for a short car ride to end up as a week’s visit to Canada.

You Call This Retirement?

When Peter Karlovich sold his company, E-Transport, to Descartes Systems Group in 2000, he and his partner,Steven Herforth, could have built their dream house anywhere they wanted. They chose Pittsburgh. Although Peter has been around the world, he, too, finds Pittsburgh a “great base, a great place to call home.”

He grew up in Mt. Lebanon and has lived in several neighborhoods since. Selling his company at the right time positioned him quite well financially, allowing him to turn his attention to other projects. Or retire young. Still, he laughs to be called a “retiree” since he and his partner, Steve Herndon, are well under usual retirement age, and still put in full days keeping up with real estate projects and family obligations.

"I know the argument is always that it's warmer in other places. Honestly, it's not like it's Buffalo or Cleveland," he says. "There are drawbacks everywhere. Listen, go drive through the Bay Area at five o'clock."

Family is a strong tie to Pittsburgh for Peter and his fabulous home on Mount Washington with its stunning city views is as often prepped for a family gathering as well-publicized non-profit fundraiser. As for leaving Pittsburgh, he’s “never really had any thought to move.” A big fan of the city, he built his house hiring a local architect and local contractors to show what could be done here.

The result is a one-of-a-kind contemporary sited to make the most of Mt. Washington views. As he's the first to say, he couldn't duplicate that anywhere else in the world. If this is retirement in Pittsburgh, get ready for a mad rush.

Lisa Ferrugia is a Pittsburgh-based dancer, writer, and Carnegie Mellon grad who is years away from retirement.