A beautiful city

How it was supposed to be and how it actually was are often completely different things.

Last night a friend called and said we should try and run into one another at the monthly art walk.

From my experience, Pittsburgh does not have a great arts scene. There are only a few galleries and it does not appear any of them are serious. A smaller city like Pittsburgh probably does not have the level of involvement that is required to have a large and functioning arts scene.

That said Pittsburgh does have a "cultural district" which is a few blocks of businesses, shops and bistros that can make you believe you are somewhere else. That is how it was last night for me, with a romantic rain slowly coming down, with commuters smoking cigarettes and waiting for buses and with happy, well dressed people enjoying a glass of wine and watching the rain. I had an umbrella and a mission. I walked the area a couple of times, into and out of galleries that had high school level crap art on the walls and I did not run into my super sexy friend.

What I did have though was one of those moments where you realize that where you are right now is not such a bad place to be. It is hard to be in any older American city, looking at the 200 year old buildings, the decor and design and wondering if this is as good as it will get. This city is reinventing itself, I have seen it before, sometimes it works - that's what I saw in Seattle, which right before my eyes went from Boeing everything, to high tech monsters. I doubt Pittsburgh has the ability to make the dramatic ump, but if it does, the cultural district will be one of the reasons. Beautiful people with beautiful buildings sure can make for a nice place to live.

After not finding my friend, I went back to my office and passed out on the floor.