Visiting Pittsburgh: Coming for the hockey, but finding so much more

[photo credit: JP Diroll]

Like many great adventures, this one required the stars to align just so. Not a long shot necessarily, more of an absolute best-case scenario. On Saturday, November 28, the past, present and future of Canadian hockey was scheduled to meet at the corner of Fifth and Washington in downtown Pittsburgh, where the hometown Penguins would play the Edmonton Oilers.

The Penguins, as you may know, are led by Sidney Crosby; the hero of Canada’s last two Olympic gold medal hockey teams. In turn, the Oilers have Connor McDavid, the rookie superstar from Newmarket, Ont., who was widely heralded as the ‘next one,’ until the season began and it was clear that he’d already arrived.

This would be the first and only time the two would face off this season and the fact that it was happening within a five-hour’s drive of Toronto meant it was too enticing to pass up; especially for a father and son looking for a boys’ weekend away in a fun city.

Alas, the only sure things in hockey are the speed and the hitting, and the fact that they often combine in unfortunate ways. Three weeks before Saturday’s game, McDavid was slammed headlong into the boards, breaking his collarbone and sidelining him for the next three months.

There would be no passing of the torch at centre ice. However we still anticipated Crosby would be there, and since there’s much more to Pittsburgh than just hockey, no matter how special the game, away we went. (Plus, we already had our tickets).

It’s a good thing that this is a city with a lot to offer because as it turned out, Crosby almost didn’t play either, having been hurt in a game the night before we arrive. We’ll soon discover many of Pittsburgh’s attractions, but upon entering the city, there’s no mistaking the local priorities. From a distance, you can spot landmarks all the major landmarks: the Penguins’ sprawling 185,000 square-foot practice facility; as you enter the city, you’re greeted by the 65,000-seat football stadium, home of the Pittsburgh Steelers; then comes the baseball stadium, with its 40,000 seats; and finally, next door to our hotel, Crosby’s home rink—a massive modernist edifice in the centre of town.

[photo credit: Josh Whiteside/VisitPittsburgh]

If the arena’s location didn’t say enough about its place in the city’s heart, the 10-foot high bronze statue of team owner and former star player, Mario Lemieux, certainly does. Among Pittsburgh icons, the Quebec native is rivaled only by legendary baseball great Roberto Clemente, who died in a plane crash, and is now honored nearby with his own museum.

For a sports fan, Pittsburgh is quite simply an embarrassment of riches. Indeed, we pull in on a Friday, a day when none of the city’s pro teams happen to be playing, yet we’re still engulfed downtown by fans pouring out of the football stadium. As it happens, the University of Pittsburgh has just lost to Miami. Oddly, no one seems even the slightest bit disheartened.

[Market Square, photo credit: Martha Rial]

That may be because it’s an unseasonably warm afternoon in November, the cafes and patios of Market Square downtown are overflowing, and no matter what unfolded during the game, a Friday watching football outdoors beats all of the alternatives. Or maybe people are just happy to be here.

Certainly civic pride extends far beyond the playing field. And while Clemente and Lemieux are now part of the local pantheon, they’re not from these streets. They’re not even from the U.S., much less Pennsylvania. They’ll never be local, not like the city’s most storied son. He may have achieved his fame elsewhere, but the artist born as Andrew Warhola belongs unquestionably to Pittsburgh. You need look no further for evidence than the seven-story gallery in his honor downtown, the largest museum in North America dedicated to a single artist.

[photo credit: Noel Hulsman]

The museum’s collection includes some 900 paintings and 4,000 photographs, including of course his famous Mao and Elvis prints. The building, a former warehouse servicing the steel mills, exhibits Warhol’s work chronologically starting with his home life and student days on the top floor, and then winding downwards as his career steadily soared.

The virtue of a gallery this size is the unparalleled insights into his work it provides. Seeing Warhol’s early rise as a graphic designer in Manhattan, specifically his ability to produce hugely successful ads very quickly, helps explain how he began to see Brillo pad boxes and Campbell’s Soup Cans as objects of art. He saw the innate appeal of household products.

The only deflating note amid all of this pop culture is how dated it can seem when the tap is suddenly turned off, in this case, by Warhol’s death in 1987 at the age of 57. Viewed through the eyes of anyone under 30, the gallery is filled with dazzling images of uber-celebrities who reached their peaks decades ago.

[photo credit: Noel Hulsman]

Seeming a little ‘70s is much less of a problem at Pittsburgh’s other claim to fame among museums. The city’s Children’s Museum may well be the best of its kind in the country—it’s certainly the most impressive I’ve ever visited. And while that wouldn’t be enough to entice me there if I didn’t have my son with me, needless to say, anyone with young kids in tow should definitely check it out. Plan on spending at least a few hours, or get set for tears on the way out. The space is not only a gleaming architectural marvel both inside and out, the rooms are designed in such a way that kids can run free amongst all of the elements and still be seen by their iPhone-focused parents on the benches.

[photo credit: Noel Hulsman]

My son’s favorite section is the silk screening room, having just spent the morning at the Warhol museum seeing what cool things can be achieved with some paint, a stencil and a squeegee.

My duty as a dad now mostly done, I’m ready to retreat to the hotel and get set for the Penguins game. However, as cheesy as this may sound, there are actually real penguins across the street from the Children’s Museum that we’ve been advised not to miss in the National Aviary. With more than 150 species of birds, it’s one of the largest of its kind in the world.

[photo credit: Noel Hulsman]

Essentially a zoo for winged creatures, the aviary is safeguarded out front by four extremely imposing, if rather grumping-looking caged condors. With their hunched necks and stooped shoulder—and 10-foot wingspan—they’ve got the vulture vibe down pat. According to the sign near their enclosure, they’re partial to large carcasses, such as cattle and deer.

These are big birds and understandably, they don’t mix with the 18 African Penguins inside, all of which together would barely be a satisfying brunch. Being such a beloved bird in Pittsburgh, the Penguins have their own special exhibit with multiple viewing points so people can watch them swimming or sunbathing on the rocks. And of course they alone enjoy the open-air treatment, perhaps the only benefit of being a bird unable to fly.

There are also flamingos, parrots, canaries and a grasslands enclosure where sparrows and finches dart around you. All of which is very cool, and well worth the visit, but now it’s time to see those other penguins, the ones on ice.

[photo credit: Carmine Sarazen/VisitPittsburgh]

As with even the shortest drives here, heading back to the hotel brings with it a view. Pittsburgh is a city of steep slopes and big rivers. Going from one neighbourhood to another invariably means crossing a bridge or seeing the skyline from an eye-catching angle. And despite being, at most, a mid-size city, with a population barely over 300,000, it has a very distinctive sense of place. The triangular downtown that tightens to a sharp peak where the Allegheny and Monongahela rivers converge to form the Ohio River is as unique to Pittsburgh as Times Square is to New York or the Lion’s Gate Bridge to Vancouver. It’s not only an iconic image, it’s a defining feature of how the city functions. The neighbourhoods don’t sprawl into each other seamlessly; you’re always either on one side of a bridge or the other, perched high above or nestled down below.

[photo credit: Pittsburgh Penguins]

In the centre of all of this, so close to the Penguin’s arena that it’s actually attached, is where we’re staying: the Cambria Hotel & Suites. If there’s a party central for Canadian hockey fans here, this is surely it. The parking lot is packed with Ontario and Quebec plates and the lobby awash in Sidney Crosby jerseys. The mood feels more like the late stages of a long playoff run rather than an early season tilt. The place is buzzing with the anticipation of the moment. It’s the location, surely. There’s no more convenient spot in town for a fan to stay. It’s also the Captain Canada factor. As a Cambria employee was quick to point out, even with our dismal dollar, Canadians can have a weekend getaway in Pittsburgh for less then they’d pay to see Crosby in Canada, where he’ll play only twice on a Saturday (and only four times in total).

[photo credit: Kieran Hulsman]

Entering the arena, the first thing that’s noticeable is the number of Oilers fans. Accepting that Edmonton is some 3,400 km from here, it’s safe to say that most of them also got their tickets before McDavid’s season went sideways. That, or the legacy of Wayne Gretzky remains unfathomably alive and well around here. (The Oilers haven’t done much to develop a distant fan base recently.)

The other surprising thing is the number of familiar faces in the stands. Turns out that Pittsburgh is a minor hockey mecca, so much so that there are three Toronto teams sitting in our section, two from our neighbourhood alone. They’re all playing in different tournaments, apparently. Like us, they’d hoped to catch hockey’s next big star, but are more than happy to see the current one up close.

And in that, there’s no disappointment. Even if Crosby didn’t play particularly well, he did play a lot, which is the next best thing. Even better, the game came down to the last second, going into overtime before the Oilers won in a shootout. As with yesterday’s football game, if anyone in the rink is crestfallen, it’s not evident. There’s a whole season of hockey ahead, and there’s much more to life here than just this.

[photo credit: JP Diroll]