BLOOMFIELD

Unlike many Pittsburgh business districts that cratered in the 1970s and 1980s only to rebound into pricey fabulousness today, Bloomfield never ceased being a place where middle- and working-class people lived, worked, and shopped. Still, an Italian-American enclave more than a century after immigrants surged into the neighborhood, modest frame homes and brick rowhouses fit snugly together starting at Penn Avenue to the north, with homes growing larger and grander heading southwest past West Penn Hospital and toward Shadyside. While prices to rent or buy a home have ticked up in recent years, scrappy stability remains a defining characteristic of Bloomfield, which enjoys robust bus service as well as quick access to Route 28.

The neighborhood has dozens of restaurants, bars, independent groceries, and pharmacies operating for 50+ years. However, there is still room for newcomers like Linea Verde Green Market, French-American rooftop bistro Caffee Mona and Baby Loves Tacos. Trace Brewing not only crafts ales and IPAs but offers paid vocational internships to teach brewing, with women, people of color, and LGBTQ people encouraged to apply.