During quieter hours at the coffee shop where I used to work, I’d often shoot the breeze with the other person on the bar. Once, when chatting with my manager about how to get to the South Side from Squirrel Hill, she imparted an important piece of Pittsburgh wisdom to me: it’s only three miles away, but you can’t (easily) get there from here.
Pittsburgh is a notoriously difficult city to navigate for newcomers. Unlike many other urban centers, it’s not built on a street grid. Streets end without warning, only to pick back up a block away. Sometimes, staircases technically function as continuations of streets. But it’s not an impossible city to traverse, and we’ve compiled some mnemonic devices — learning techniques to help with memorizing details — to orient you and get you where you need to go.