Before I got here, I was very concerned that there would be no gay people and I was making a huge mistake to leave the gay mecca of Seattle. In any case, Pittsburgh is trying to BE something, we just haven’t figured out what yet.Ĭasey: Although I grew up in Baltimore, I moved to Pittsburgh from Seattle exactly one year ago for graduate school at CMU. Not quite Northern, Southern, East Coast, or Midwestern – it’s a place all its own. It’s one of those in-between cities that is so characteristic of the Mid-Atlantic region. It is an incredibly affordable place to live and has been hailed as the “new Portland” although some are angling for it to be the next Hollywood. Pittsburgh is known as The Steel City – but it also has an emerging arts scene and DIY culture.