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A vintage wooden cable car on the Duquesne Incline climbing the steep face of Mount Washington in Pittsburgh, with the city's downtown skyline and river visible in the background at dusk.

Pittsburgh Inclines History: Duquesne & Monongahela

On a clear evening, if you stand at the base of the Duquesne Incline on West Carson Street and watch one of its vintage wooden cars creak slowly up the face of Mount Washington, it is easy to forget that you are looking at a piece of living Pittsburgh inclines history. The car climbs at…

Black and white winter street scene in downtown Pittsburgh in the late 1940s with the Fort Pitt Hotel towering above Penn Avenue, vintage cars and pedestrians in coats and fedoras, and light snow in the air.

Pittsburgh Hosted the 1948 NFL Draft Before. Here’s What That Looked Like.

When the NFL rolls into Pittsburgh for the 2026 Draft on April 23rd, the city is going to look like a football carnival. The North Shore packed. Point State Park lit up. Acrisure Stadium as the backdrop for a broadcast seen by millions. It will feel enormous. It will feel new. It won’t be new.…

Gritty 1920s illustration of an underground brick arched tunnel beneath the Strip District, lit by lanterns as shadowy figures roll whiskey barrels past damp stone walls and a ceiling trapdoor.

Bootleg Tunnels and Speakeasies Under Pittsburgh’s Strip District

On a Tuesday afternoon in 1925, a federal Prohibition agent walking down Smallman Street would have seen nothing unusual. Produce vendors hawking vegetables. Freight trucks rumbling over cobblestones. Warehouse workers loading and unloading cargo along the Allegheny River. Then the agent would have noticed the door. Unmarked. Reinforced. A small sliding panel at eye level.…

Painterly illustration of 1790s frontier Pennsylvania farmers in a candlelit tavern, studying documents and ledgers at a rough wooden table in a tense, conspiratorial mood.

Pittsburgh’s Oldest Commercial Building Is a Sandstone Tavern on Greentree Road. Here’s Its Story.

Sometime around 1782 — possibly earlier — a trader named Daniel Elliott built a sandstone tavern along the road connecting Washington and Pittsburgh, and travelers heading into the frontier started stopping there for a drink, a meal, and a place to sleep. That building is still standing. It sits at 434 Greentree Road, two stories…

Warm, dimly lit Scottish pub interior in an 18th century stone building with hand hewn beams, wide plank floors, a glowing stone fireplace, tartan seats, dark wood bar, and pints of ale.

The Oldest House in Pittsburgh Is a Scottish Pub in Hazelwood. Here’s Its Story.

In 1792, when Pittsburgh was barely a city and the surrounding region was still very much a frontier, a man named John Woods built a stone house overlooking the Monongahela River in what is now Hazelwood. That house is still standing. It has two-foot-thick rubble-stone walls, hand-hewn beams, wide-plank floors, and fireplaces at each end.…

Moody dusk illustration of a two story Victorian brick tavern in early 1900s Pittsburgh with Park House signage, warm amber window light, and wet cobblestone street reflections.

Park House Tavern Has Been on the North Side Since Before Prohibition. It’s Still Worth Finding.

At 403 East Ohio Street on Pittsburgh’s North Side, there is a two-story brick building that has been part of the neighborhood since the 1890s. It started as a soda fountain. It became one of the first licensed bars in Pittsburgh after Prohibition ended. It survived a pandemic closure and came back under new ownership.…