Exploring Downtown Pittsburgh in the best possible way: Summer Dreamers

Think you know downtown Pittsburgh?
 
As one of 23 CampDEC (Design Explore Create) campers, I participated in five downtown scavenger hunts to better explore our city. We were part of the Pittsburgh Public School’s Summer Dreamers Academy and the Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation planned our afternoon camp from July 11 to August 10. We discovered Pittsburgh, not just as a city, but as a historic place, with so much cool public art and so many interesting places and buildings.
 
Street names like Fort Pitt Boulevard and Fort Duquesne Boulevard clue you into the fight between the British and French in the 1750s for control of the land at the forks of the Ohio River. We even found French Street right near CAPA, where CampDEC was located. Forbes Avenue is named for the British General John Forbes who took control of this region from the French in 1758 and named Pittsburgh for William Pitt, a British statesman.
 
Stanwix Street is named for the British general who oversaw construction of Fort Pitt, completed in 1761. Wood Street is named for one of the surveyors from Philadelphia who laid out the streets in 1784, at the request of the Penn family. The Boulevard of the Allies honors the soldiers who fought in World War 1. We were truly walking on history as we explored downtown.
 
We discovered the meanings of many different statues, murals, and sculptures. One of our favorite sculptures is on the corner of Seventh Street and Fort Duquesne Boulevard. It’s made out of all the different bridges in downtown Pittsburgh. Another favorite sculpture is the jazz musicians and dog on Liberty Avenue, across from the August Wilson Center for African American Culture.
 
The mural of the two Andy’s on Smithfield Street near Strawberry Way is the weirdest—in a good way--thing many of us saw. The most favorite mural (we took a vote!) of  CampDEC campers? The living wall at PNC on Fifth and Wood.
 
The most colorful building exterior in downtown Pittsburgh is Nola restaurant in Market Square. (CAPA, the Harris Theater, and Theater Square also have colorful exteriors.) The longest escalator, although it was being repaired, is in One Oxford Centre.
 
The building with the most arches is the Allegheny County Courthouse.
 
Most spectacular interiors? Union Trust, Point Park University Center, Omni William Penn Hotel, Renaissance Hotel, and PPG’s Wintergarden, where Santa Clauses from around the world are exhibited in the winter.
 
Our favorite water feature is the fountain in PPG Place and our favorite green space/open space is Mellon Green on Grant Street. The corner parklet has beautiful landscaping and a dramatic fountain in the center.
 
Here's scavenger hunt for you to take on: For the best soft serve ice cream in downtown Pittsburgh, go to a sea-creature’s house in a square, or find where a “world” and a “strawberry” survive near “Smith’s field.”
 
What the heck?
We noticed some unusual things, too. There are fake Magnolia trees across from a plaza with “eyeball” benches. There is a “B Street” in Pittsburgh––but we never found an “A” Street.
 
The City-County Building includes a statue of William Pitt, a plaque with all the words of the Gettysburg Address, and a painting of Abraham Lincoln holding the Emancipation Proclamation, plus elevator doors that illustrate a story.
 
We would go out on days that were “hot enough to fry an egg on the sidewalk,” according to Caquan, because we were really determined to understand the history behind the city we lived in. We did it to get connected to the city, to get deep into the history behind the famous Steel City.
 
Knowing more about the city makes us care about it more.
 
When we left CampDEC, we left with a tremendous amount of knowledge. And, we’ll never just walk down a street again without noticing certain things: finding “scars” that show how a building has changed over time, and reading the names of places and streets to figure out their meaning.
 
We learned to really evaluate what’s built because even the simplest details have a history behind them. Downtown Pittsburgh is a great place for scavenger hunts and explorations. Get out there and see for yourself!
 
Jasmine Fletcher, 12, attends Schaefer Intermediate in Sheraden. As part of the Summer Dreamers Academy, she also biked the North Shore, kayaked the Allegheny and took the T to Dormont to watch cartoons at the restored Hollywood Theater.
 
Images of Summer Dreamers courtesy Camp DEC.

Photographs of PPG Place, The Two Andys, PNC's living wall, and the detail from NOLA in Market Square copyright Brian Cohen