Pittsburgh, PA

Unlike Mosley, I actually enjoy going to clubs and overly crowded bars, so Calico Jack’s is mine to talk about!

This “cantina” is the newest installment to the expanding nightlife that is the North Shore. No longer just a place to go watch a game or head to your local sports bar; it’s going to be the new place to be and I for one, am excited about it.

Calico Jack’s is a franchise and is owned by the same people who own McFadden’s, which collectively, have locations all over the country. Despite being niche-like places: Calico Jack’s is Mexican and tropical themed and McFadden’s is a an Irish, blown out of proportions pub, they still are a welcome change to the same old bars you’d find in other neighborhoods.

This weekend Calico Jack’s will be featuring a Shake it Like Shakira contest on Friday, where the winner can win $1,000. If I was still in shape, I’d so be there.
Saturday they’re having another contest that involves Brutus the Mechanical Bull and sounds way less fun to an accident prone girl like me.

Regardless of whether you want to join in on the fun contests or not, there will at least be the drink specials. Over 30 variations of margaritas for $3 before 10 and if you happened to pick up the City Paper, there was a postcard for you to redeem your first margarita free AND a $25 gift certificate. And according to Calico Jack’s there will be “a waterfront patio, indoor waterfalls, a huge island bar and fish taco stands.”

I dunno about the fish taco stands, but the rest sounds like fun. Go to calicojackspitt.com for more info.

Calico Jacks, drink specials, bar, North Shore, Pittsburgh, City Paper

This weekend (June 9th -10th) at Station Square next to the Hard Rock Café, you will find a 32-foot Winnebago called the “Wheelmobile”. At the Wheelmobile there will be three auditions a day for a chance to be on Americas #1 game show. The contestants will be drawn at random from the pool of people that fill out an application, so you don’t have show up hours before hand. All you need to do it fill out an application, and they say everyone that shows up will get one.

Here is the information about the event:

When: Saturday & Sunday, June 9th & 10th from 1 PM – 5 PM
Where: Station Square*
100 West Station Square Drive
Pittsburgh, PA 15219
WPXI – website
Station Square – website

Even if you don’t make it on the show, this should be a good time. You never know, you might even end up with a good story. The auditions are over at five so that would be a good time to stick around Station Square and get a bite to eat. Just check out there website, you can find a list all the choices.

Wheelmobile, Station Square, Pittsburgh, Wheel of Fortune, Hard Rock Cafe, Winnebago

Hello!
I’m the newest writer for the Pittsburgh city blog and relatively new to blogging in general, so please bear with me! I’m used to writing in my own blog, where my audience is me, myself and I so this will be a little different.
Not to worry though; I know plenty about Pittsburgh. I’ve lived here almost my entire life, with the exception of one year spent in NYC going to school. Besides being a year of extreme fun, I came to realize, after putting some distance between myself and Pittsburgh, just how fun and unique this place can be.
I hope I can relay that to everyone who reads this blog and I’m sure between Mosley and myself, it can be done.

I know everyone already knows that Pittsburgh was voted most liveable city. But not everyone knows the reasons why. So I decided to write a list of the top five things that make Pittsburgh so great.

1.) Steelers – Most cities just have a bar or two that is Steelers themed, so fans can watch the games and feel at home. But we have the actual stadium the team plays in, so try and top that.

2.) Bars – Speaking of bars, Pittsburgh as plenty of them. If you want to bar hop all night just go to the Southside. If you want good Belgium beer, just to go to The Sharp Edge in Crafton. If you’re hungry for some bar food, just go to Rocky’s in McKees Rocks and you want leave hungry. What ever it is you want from a bar, Pittsburgh has it.

3.) Art & Shows – If you pick up a City Paper you will find a large list of Gallery Openings, Local Bands, and National Acts. So finding something to do on a Friday and Saturday night that doesn’t include a bar is not that difficult.

4.) Housing – If you’re looking for a place to live even if you don’t have a lot of money you can find it here. Pittsburgh has both suburban living (South Hills) and urban living (North Side).

5.) People – We all know how nice we are to tourists. I even help a few out from time to time. I been to other cities and the locals just ignore me, but when I first moved to Pittsburgh the locals here welcomed me.

That’s my list of why I think Pittsburgh is a great city. If you would like to add to the list feel free to comment.

Pittsburgh, top five, Steelers, Belgium beer, City Paper, suburban living, urban living, tourists, locals

Allegheny County finally throws in the towel on the smoking ban issue. This is great news for freedom. And when I say freedom I don’t mean for smokers, I mean for the business owners. If they want to allow smoking they should have the freedom to do so. Here is the important part of the Post Gazette story.

In a closed meeting before the regular meeting of council last night, members, after consulting with their attorney, decided not to appeal the Commonwealth Court ruling to the state Supreme Court. — Read the full story here.

I have been expressing my view on this issue for a long time, but this is not the blog for them. So, I will just give you a links to the stories I have written in the past on my other blogs. No Need for a Smoking Ban (MrBaconpants.com) and On Again Off Again Smoking Ban (talkObjectivism.com)

If you don’t agree with me, that’s fine. I feel that this was an important issue we all should be talking about.

Allegheny County, smoking, Post Gazette, Commonwealth Court, Supreme Court, important issue

Raise your hand if you hate road construction. Ok, you can put them down now; I can’t really see them anyway. Has anyone noticed how many road projects are going on this year? It seems like on every major roadway you see orange cones popping up.

What would make things a lot better is if they would have spaced it out a little. Since more major roads have the orange cone plague it’s hard to find fast alternate routes. What’s even worse is when you do find one, the next week, you guessed it, orange cones.

I checked out the PENNdot website looking for a map that showed the roadwork. To my surprise they really do have a map. You can check it out here. Since it is run by the state I can’t imagine it being updated regularly, but at least it’s something.

I am done ranting about roadwork for now. Maybe with this new found information (the map), the alternate routes I do find will stay cone free. Also, this winter you can look forward to a rant on potholes. They claimed the life of my tires twice last year.

construction, orange cones, plague, alternate routes, ranting, cone free

On June 1st at the 2007 Cool Space Awards, Bellevue, the town I live in, won the “You” award. It’s awarded to people that help make cool spaces happen. A lot of the businesses in Bellevue are locally owned and I think that’s what helps make it a “Cool Space”. Some of the businesses I am talking about are 517521, the Creative Treehouse, and Affogato. There are a few other great places in town, but you’re going to have to stop down and see for yourself. I can’t give away all of Bellevue’s secrets.

Sadly, on the Cool Space Locator website there have not been any updates about the event. Luckily, a friend of mine was a volunteer at the event and wrote short post about it. Also, Jesse from the Creative Treehouse was there, so I am sure he will be posting up something soon. Lastly, after doing a quick search on google and found that POP city did a very nice write up; you can check it out here. Come to Bellevue to Shop, Live, and Create.

Bellevue, cool spaces, locally owned, Cool Space Locator, Creative Treehouse, Shop

Flux is an art show that goes on a few times a year in different areas of the city. I went to one a few months ago in Braddock, and was wowed by the art and music. They transformed a few blocks of the town into a living art exhibit. It seems like just being there made you part of the art and music that was around you.

I hope the one Downtown will have the same feeling as the one in Braddock did. It’s going on at the same time as the Arts Festival so I hope that it doesn’t lose the edginess that I like about it. Go to their website and check it out, but keep in mind that you’re going to have to see this thing for yourself.

art show, Braddock, living art exhibit, music, Downtown, Arts Festival