SELF-GUIDED WALKING TOUR OF PITTSBURGH'S GOLDEN TRIANGLE (PART 5) - Pittsburgh Purple Travel Guide
This is Part 5 of our self-guided walking tour of Pittsburgh's Golden Triangle, which covers the highlights of Pittsburgh's architecture, history and culture.
The information on this webiste and much more: google maps locations, reviews and attraction websites can be found in the Pittsburgh Travel Guide that you can preview and purchase at the Backpack and Snorkel Travel Store.
Go to the beginning of the tour here.
41. O’REILLY THEATER
Keep going west on Penn Ave and the next building with the rounded metal roof is O’Reilly Theater.
O’Reilly Theater is a 650 seat theater which opened in 1999 and was designed as a home for the Pittsburgh Public Theater theatrical company.
Previously on this site was the Mercantile Library Hall, a multipurpose library, lecture, and music hall which was built in 1866. The Mercantile Library Hall then became the Bijou Theatre and was demolished and converted into a parking lot after the 1936 St. Patrick's Day flood.
42. HEINZ HALL
Keep walking west on Penn Ave for a few feet. The main entrance of Heinz Hall is at the intersection with Sixth St.
Heinz Hall is a theater and concert hall, the home to the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra and it has a grand main lobby that is particularly impressive.
The building is located on the site of the former Exchange Hotel where Charles Dickens and his wife stayed for 3 days in 1842. In 1927, the hotel was replaced with Loew's Penn Theatre which was eventually abandoned in the 1960s. After an extensive renovation where much of the grandeur of the movie theater was restored, the building reopened as Heinz Hall in 1971.
More information about Heinz Hall can be found here.
43. BYHAM THEATER
Now walk north on Sixth St towards the Allegheny River and Sixth Street Bridge for two blocks.
The Byham Theater is on your right just before you reach Fort Duquesne Blvd.
Originally built in 1903 and opened on Halloween night of 1904 as "The Gayety Theater", it was a stage and vaudeville house. Vaudeville in the US was very different from its French origins and became one of the most popular types of entertainment in the US for several decades and was even called "the heart of American show business".
The theater was renamed "The Fulton" in the 1930s and became a full-time movie theater. In 1968, the horror film "Night of the Living Dead", which was filmed in the Pittsburgh area, had its world premiere at the Fulton.
In 1990, the building was renovated and reopened as "The Byham Theater".
In 2010, for the 50th anniversary of the Bill Mazeroski's series winning home run (9th inning of game 7), the Byham hosted the first public showing of the newly discovered "Game 7" tape.
44. BYHAM (FULTON) THEATER MURAL
Walk around the corner to the right on Fort Duquesne Blvd to the next building.
The red brick building has a 36ft x 56ft mural painted on it which integrates the windows and doors of the theater into the mural. The mural appears to be a large opening in the building revealing a steel mill interior where furnaces are pouring hot metal and there is an office with a staircase to the left. The word "Ohio" in the lower right hand side refers to the formation of the Ohio River at the confluence of the Allegheny and Monongahela Rivers.
45. ROBERTO CLEMENTE BRIDGE
Now walk back to the intersection of Fort Duquesne Blvd with Sixth St, cross both streets and go on the pedestrian walkway on the left hand side of the bridge.
Now you need to make a decision to either cross the bridge and continue the tour, or walk down the stairs to the Three Rivers Heritage Trail in the Allegheny Riverfront Park which will cut your walking tour short and bring you back to the Point State Park Fountain from where you started. If you want to take the shortcut, then please jump to 52. Allegheny Riverfront Park.
Don’t worry, if you decide to cross the bridge and continue the tour, you will come back to the Allegheny Riverfront Park later.
I am glad you decided to continue on the tour. Before you cross the bridge, take a look around.
Behind you, you will see busy downtown Pittsburgh. To the left, across the Allegheny River, you will see PNC Park, home of the Pittsburgh Pirates, and if you look even farther left behind the next bridge (Fort Duquesne Bridge) you will see Heinz Field (home of the Pittsburgh Steelers) with its yellow seats.
If you look to the right of the bridge, you will see two more bridges that look similar to the bridge you are going to cross. This is no surprise, because all 3 bridges are identical self-anchored suspension bridges. They are called “Three Sisters” and were originally named Sixth-, Seventh-, and Ninth St bridge. Sixth St Bridge was renamed to honor baseball legend Roberto Clemente (1934-1972), Seventh St Bridge was renamed to honor Pittsburgh-born pop artist Andy Warhol (1928-1987), and Ninth St Bridge was renamed to honor Pittsburgh-area born scientist and author Rachel Carson (1907-1964).
Cross the bridge and look around frequently to see how the views change.
46. ROBERTO CLEMENTE STATUE
After you have crossed the bridge, you will see the 12ft bronze statue of Pittsburgh Pirates right-fielder Roberto Clemente in front of the Center Field entrance. This statue was moved here from the old Three Rivers Stadium.
Clemente is beloved in Pittsburgh for his baseball talent and for giving back to the community. He was very involved in delivering relief packages to Managua, Nicaragua after a massive earthquake. After learning that corrupt officials diverted packages, he decided to accompany a relief flight on New Year’s Eve 1972. The plane crashed in the Atlantic Ocean due to being overloaded and mechanical problems. Roberto Clemente’s body was never recovered.
He was an All-Star for 13 seasons and the "NL MVP" in 1966, the "NL Batting Leader" in 1961, 1964, 1965, and 1967, he won the "Gold Glove Award" for 12 consecutive seasons from 1961 to 1972 and he was a two-time World Series champion. Roberto Clemente was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1973 as the first Latin American and the first Caribbean player.
47. WILLIE STARGELL STATUE
Keep walking away from the bridge for about 300ft and you will see the Willie Stargell Statue in front of the Left Field entrance.
The Willie Stargell statue was unveiled two days before PNC Park opened and unfortunately on the same day that Stargell passed away without ever seeing the statue.
Willie Stargell, nicknamed "Pops", was a left fielder and first baseman and known for his massive hits. He hit 7 of the 18 balls ever over the Forbes Field's 86ft tall right-field stands, with 296 home runs in the 1970s he hit the most of any major league player. Stargell was a seven time All-Star and two time NL home run leader. In 1979, he became the only player to win the "NL MVP Award", the "NL Championship Series MVP Award" and the "World Series MVP Award" in one season. He was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1988.
There is another statue of Honus Wagner on the other side of the stadium at the intersection of W General Robinson St and Mazeroski Way. This is not part of the walking tour, but you can go there if you like (map).
48. PNC PARK
Opened in 2001, PNC Park with its seat capacity of 38,747 was built in a "retro-classic" and "timeless" style modeled after Forbes Field, the first home of the Pittsburgh Pirates. You are now standing outside the stadium and you had a chance to look into the stadium when you crossed the Roberto Clemente Bridge. If inside the stadium, you would enjoy a fantastic view on the beautiful skyline of Pittsburgh’s Golden Triangle. Rightfully, PNC Park was named as "the best" or "one of the best" ballparks in the US.
More information about PNC Park can be found here.
49. ALLEGHENY LANDING
Now walk back to the Roberto Clemente Statue, take the stairs down to the Allegheny River and turn left. Under the bridge you will see "Kayak Pittsburgh". If you are in the mood, you can rent single or double kayaks here and enjoy Pittsburgh’s beautiful three rivers. But that is not part of this walking tour.
If you continue past Kayak Pittsburgh under the bridge, you will see the Allegheny Landing park to your left.
Opened in 1984, this park is one of Pittsburgh’s first modern riverfront parks and one the first urban riverfront sculpture parks in the US.
The park is located on the site of a former ferry which connected Allegheny City with the City of Pittsburgh more than 200 years ago.
50. ANDY WARHOL MUSEUM
Go to Piazza Lavoro, which is where the headstones are located are on top of the hill in the middle of the Allegheny Landing park. Follow the path through the trees and by the fountain until you come to Isabella St where the glass palace from Pittsburgh Glass Works LLC is. Then make a right and proceed for two blocks until you come to Sandusky St. Here you make a left and walk for two blocks. The entrance to the Andy Warhol Museum is to your left before you reach E General Robinson St.
Andy Warhol was a Pittsburgh-born pop art icon. The Andy Warhol Museum opened in 1994 and is located in a converted industrial warehouse. It is the largest museum in North America dedicated to a single artist and it exhibits are located on 7 floors and consist of 77 sculptures, 900 paintings, and more than 4,300 films and videotaped works.
More information about the Andy Warhol Museum can be found here.
51. ANDY WARHOL BRIDGE
Now get back to Sandusky St and follow it all the way south to the yellow Andy Warhol Bridge.
The Andy Warhol Bridge, formerly known as the Seventh Street Bridge was opened in 1926 and renamed to Andy Warhol Bridge in 2005. It was (and possibly still is) the only bridge in the US that is named for a visual artist.
The Andy Warhol Bridge is the 3rd bridge at this site.
When you cross the bridge, you can see its sister bridges to the right (Roberto Clemente Bridge) and left (Rachel Carson Bridge).
52. ALLEGHENY RIVERFRONT PARK
When you get to the end of the bridge and you see the metal zig zagging expansion joint in the street surface, you will see commemorative plaques in stone pillars on either side of the bridge. Right next to the pillars are stairs that lead you down to the Three Rivers Heritage Trail in Allegheny Riverfront Park.
Walk along the trail to the west (left = the same direction the water flows) for 2/3 of a mile until you get back to the Point State Park Fountain.
1. POINT STATE PARK FOUNTAIN
This concludes the approx. 6 mile Self-Guided-Walking Tour of Pittsburgh’s Golden Triangle. I hope you enjoyed it!
Go back to the beginning of the tour.
Author: Rudy at Backpack and Snorkel
Bio: Owner of Backpack and Snorkel Travel Guides. We create in-depth guides to help you plan unforgettable vacations around the world.
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