An Ideal Pittsburgh Morning - Lawrenceville & The Strip District
Updated: Mar 7
Only have a few hours in the Steel City? Here's a guide to spending a morning around the Lawrenceville area & The Strip in Pittsburgh!
To be honest, Pittsburgh was never on my bucket list. But I've been twice now, and each time we visit I become more enamored with this charming, historic, and lively city! Our recent trip was for a wedding that J was a groomsman in, so for the first time in the history of our marriage & wedding attendance, I was the one with a morning to myself while he had wedding party responsibilities.
So, hotel coffee in hand, I struck out on my own to explore this fascinating city that had captured my attention just months prior.
Distance walked: 3 miles
Time: 5-6 hours
In this article:
Things to note:
Although not mentioned in this blog post, I did pass a number of coffee shops if you haven't gotten your morning Joe yet!
1. Where we stayed:
TRYP by Windham: Pittsburgh/ Lawrenceville
I cannot take any credit for this hotel slam dunk because it was picked out by the bride-to-be as their official guest hotel block, but holey-moley, what a score!
The hotel was originally a trade & vocational school, Washington Education Center, built in 1908. Historic elements from the building's previous uses as a school have been included on every floor, including unique room shapes and lockers in the hallways. The exit to the street still boasts a mosaic of trade tools at the bottom of the steps!
The hotel also boasts a roof deck bar and restaurant! Because all of our events for the wedding we were attending were at night, we unfortunately did not get a chance to try it out, but it looked quite nice!
Note: due to the hotel's excellent location near many downtown attractions, the parking lot is quite small and is valet parking only.
2. Butler Street
I walked the block up to Butler Street and decided impulsively to take a right (south). The previous day I had done some exploring of the main shops on the north part of Butler Street, including an excellent crepe lunch/brunch Geppetto Café, so I wanted to see where the other direction led me.
Walking down Butler Street feels like you've been transported into a different era of Pittsburgh. It is one continuous stretch of row houses, some of them with dates over their doors as far back as 1888! I love row buildings because of their charm of course, but I also like to imagine how many businesses have operated out of them over the years. This is why I adore cities; ever growing, ever changing, but the bones stay the same. I always take a moment to pause and just think of what this area of Pittsburgh would have looked like in the late 1800s...
3. Pittsburgh Juice Company
I purposefully overlooked the scant breakfast offered at my hotel this morning in favor of what I knew I'd find out and about on my walk, and I was not disappointed!
The first shop I came across that caught my eye was Pittsburgh Juice Company. The tastefully updated Art Deco building was thoughtfully renovated by PJC in 2014 and now houses their colorful, tasty creations as well as a yoga studio. Their healthful offerings span from smoothies to 16 oz. bottles of fresh pressed juices to handmade parfaits and other snacks, but I opted for a 6 oz. bottle of juice, not knowing what else the day held for me. I'm glad I did because I ended up finding other incredible food along my route.
I chose the grapefruit watermelon basil per the recommendation of the barista who said it was a bit tart but the basil really came through. It was indeed an excellent choice and not too tart at all, just pleasantly so.
4. Lola's Eatery
Juice in hand, I crossed the street toward some gorgeous old buildings that promised lots of history. It was, in fact, the Clemente Museum, honoring baseball veteran Robert Clemente, his Pittsburgh Pirates career, and his humanitarian efforts. The museum itself is inside the historic Engine House 25 of Larwrenceville. I decided against going inside this time, since I was somewhat on a timeline, but would be interested in visiting on a day with more flexibility!
Underneath however, I noticed a quirky looking café called Lola's Eatery. I took a look at the menu and their signature sandwich the 'Hangover Cure' looked divine, but since lunch wasn't all that far away, I opted for breakfast eggrolls and a strawberry balsamic fitter instead. WOW was that the right choice!
I enjoyed the melt-in-your-mouth, pull-apart fritter at a barrel table outside while I waited for my eggrolls, which the kindly staff brought out for me when ready. I truly did try and save some of the deliciousness for J. but the fritter was SO tasty and holey-moley where have breakfast eggrolls been my whole life?! I did save a few bites but overall it was the perfect amount of food to keep me going for now!
Breakfast eggrolls, where have you been my whole life?!
5. Trace Brewing
I sensed that I had come to the end of the good walking area of Butler Street, so after I left Lola's Eatery I started back up the street. At Doughboy Square (where Pittsburgh Juice Company is located), I chose to branch off on Penn Ave. This street was admittedly less scenic than Butler Street, but I had a destination in mind now.
After about a 20 min walk, I made it to Trace Brewing, a fun & funky spot offering craft coffee by day and craft beer by....midday. As it was 11:45 by the time I arrived, I decided we were solidly within beer-o'clock and I could try one of their brews without judgment ;) I mean, what is a city exploring day without a local brewery tasting?
The interior of Trace is completely adorable, lots of space for laptop work or even just tucking up with a good book. Honestly, I wished I had brought my book with me!
Trace's beer list all looked excellent, but I picked our their Selva sour to try and sat outside on the cement seating around their patio. The patio itself is a creative reuse of a decrepit building that was next door to Trace. Trace Brewing purchased the structure and had the roof removed to become a comfortable outdoor beer garden.
6. St. Mary Catholic Cemetery
After leaving Trace, I decided to take a bit of a longer route to head back to the hotel, since on my map I saw a large green section that I thought might be a park. I was meeting a friend for a late lunch so I wanted to get back on time, but didn't need to rush.
Turns out it was a cemetery! A HUGE cemetery. Lucky for me, I actually love walking through cemeteries, observing the memorials to so many people who were loved and important in their time. St. Mary Catholic Cemetery was no exception, and it is MASSIVE- covering 44-acres that were originally purchased in 1849.
I preferred this route to walking along the residential streets on my way back to Butler Street. The cemetery was peaceful, with distinctly old and interesting stones and quite a few larger mausoleum-type crypts. The oldest headstone I recognized was 1880.
The cemetery goes on seemingly forever over rolling hills and is really quite beautiful. J has a thing where he'll often note out loud what war or major event someone had lived through based on the information on their headstone, and I found myself doing that as well as I walked through.
7. Back to Butler Street
After exiting the north entrance of the cemetery, I wound my way back to Butler Street. This is certainly the place to be in Lawrenceville, and since it was a little later in the day now, more stores and restaurants that looked interesting were open including Market House and Walter's BBQ.
A quick walk down these blocks brought me back to the TRYP hotel!
8. Primanti Bros
We'd heard a few times now that no trip to Pittsburgh was complete without a stop at Primanti Bros sandwich shop. We had run out of time on our last trip, so I could not miss it this time!
And oh my goodness, everyone was correct!
Primanti Bros' signature sandwich is their pastrami sandwich. Each "Almost Famous" Primanti Bros sandwich has french fries included - IN the sandwich! When I say this might have been my favorite sandwich of all time, I am not exaggerating. This is an excellent sandwich. I don't even have anything more to say. Just get it.
The restaurant itself pretty much always has a line, but I do feel as if it moved pretty quickly. It also helped that we were at the restaurant at an "odd" time (1:30/2pm). We sat at the bar, which I also highly recommend for the full experience.
Primanti Bros started in 1933 during the Depression "feeding hungry truck drivers and shift workers at all hours of the day" according to their website. They sure created a hit, because the restaurant is always packed!
9. The Strip District / The Terminal / Oddfellows Ice Cream & Posman Books
Although we were STUFFED from our incredible Primanti Bros sandwiches, there's always room for ice cream, right?
We had parked by The Terminal in The Strip District and walked over to lunch (since it is right across the street from Primanti Bros), and had noticed the cutest little ice cream shop + bookstore on our way! Oddfellows ice cream & Posman Books are together a new addition to The Terminal, serving homemade ice cream alongside curated book selections.
While chatting with the server, I learned that Oddfellows & Posman have a Boston location! I had noticed that one of the flavors featured mix-ins from Flour Bakery, which tipped me off. Love finding little bits of home when traveling :)
The Terminal itself is full of interesting little shops, including City Grows (the cutest little plant shop you didn't know you needed) and Pip & Lola's (handmade vegan and vegetarian soaps and lotions). Be sure to save some time to explore the whole Strip!
With just a few hours, I was able to cover a ton of territory, get a "taste" of Lawrenceville, and discover a whole new (to me) part of Pittsburgh. And somehow, I am left with more to-do items on my list for next time! Until then, Pittsburgh <3
