America and Americans / Europeans

[Drew Danielson]

David Bergdahl wrote:
>
> --On Friday, February 22, 2002 1:44 PM -0500 Drew Danielson
> <andrew.danielson at CMU.EDU> wrote:
>
> > I have heard people in these parts describe Pittsburgh as the first
> > [easternmost] Midwestern city, as well as the last [westernmost] Eastern
> > city.  I cannot attest to the thought process behind either statement,
> > though the both make sense to me, culturally and geographically.
>
> I think the rationale is that it's a town with ethnic neighborhoods
> (Bloomfield = Italian, Polish Hill = Polish, the hill district = African
> American, Squirrel Hill = Jewish &c.) and therefore it's unlike relatively
> "whitebread" cities like Columbus, Indianapolis &c.

Or Detroit??

Anyway, I tend to agree in general with the ethnic composition being
Easternish, while the (mostly former) heavy industry makes it more
Midwesternish.  Though, the relatively large concentration of Eastern
European descendants in the city and the region is sort of uniqueish,
and Polish Hill is mostly African-American these days.