Friday, June 7, 2013

A Fifth Generation Texan Has Exposed Me To The Reality Of Pittsburgh's Cultural District

No, that is not the Bass Performance Hall in downtown Fort Worth you are looking at in the picture. What you are looking at is Heinz Hall in downtown Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

The reason you are looking at Heinz Hall in Pittsburgh I will get to in a minute or two.

The past few days a person identifying him or herself as Fifth-gen Texan has been alleviating me of some of my ignorance.

I greatly appreciate it when anyone alleviates me of some of my ignorance.

On Wednesday, in a blogging titled The Trinity River Vision Boondoggle Cordially Invites You To A Historic Ground Blessing I indicated I did not think the Apache ever had a presence in Texas.

The Fifth-gen Texan informed me that the Apache have had a presence in Texas, other than blessing new Fort Worth erections.

Then yesterday, in a blogging titled Exploring Fort Worth's Cultural District Is A Sophisticated Cultured Undertaking I was bombasticating about me thinking there could not possibly be any other city in the world that would designate an area of town as its Cultural District, other than prone to hyperbolizing, Fort Worth.

Fifth-gen Texan then politely informed me that there are other towns in America with areas designated as Cultural Districts, such as Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, hence the picture of Heinz Hall, which is in Pittsburgh's Cultural District.

Pittsburgh's Cultural District, near as I can tell, has a lot more going on than Fort Worth's. Pittsburgh's Cultural District came about, also near as I can tell, due to a long ago Pittsburgh version of the Trinity River Vision of economic revitalization, but not in Boondoggle form, instigated by a guy with the last name of Heinz, hence the hall named after him.

The Wikipedia article, titled Cultural District, Pittsburgh, paints a pretty picture of this particular Cultural District. There is no Wikipedia article about Fort Worth's Cultural District.

Three paragraphs from the Wikipedia article about Cultural District, Pittsburgh...

The Cultural District is a fourteen-square block area in Downtown Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA bordered by the Allegheny River on the north, Tenth Street on the east, Stanwix Street on the west, and Liberty Avenue on the south.

The Cultural District features six theaters offering some 1,500 shows annually, as well as art galleries, restaurants, and retail shops. Its landmarks include: Allegheny Riverfront Park, Benedum Center, Byham Theater, Harris Theater, Heinz Hall, O'Reilly Theater, Pittsburgh Creative and Performing Arts School, Three Rivers Arts Festival Gallery, Wood Street Galleries, and the August Wilson Center for African American Culture.

Major arts organizations based here include: Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre, Pittsburgh Civic Light Opera, Pittsburgh Dance Council, Pittsburgh Opera, Pittsburgh Public Theater, Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, Bricolage Production Company, and Pittsburgh Playwrights Theatre Company.

So, Pittsburgh's Cultural District has an Allegheny Riverfront Park? Fort Worth's has a Trinity Park on the Trinity River. Are there Happy Hour Inner Tube Floats on the Allegheny River?

You can learn all you can possibly want to know about Pittsburgh's Cultural District by visiting its well done website. You can also learn all you can possibly want to know about Fort Worth's Cultural District by visiting its less well done website.

1 comment:

Fifth-of-gin Texan said...

We need a Durango Texas party.