Morning! With most of the city going back to school this week, I hope that all of the readers who are students, teachers, professors, and faculty are all having a good first week!

A quick favor from our readers: I’m looking for some feedback on an idea that we’re considering. I’d like to continue to try and bring the city together through events and good news. An email newsletter is great, and I’m going to continue doing this, but it only reaches a small percentage of the city and relies on people being online a lot to find me.

To help reach more people, I’m looking at launching a physical newsletter that would still be free but would be mailed out every 2 months or so to neighborhoods across the city so people can see the month ahead of events, restaurant openings, read feel-good stories about our city, and maybe have a couple games/puzzles included. Like all the best things about a newspaper and only a few times a year.

The format would be a vintage newspaper because I like vintage and no one gets newspapers anymore. I’m also drawn to this idea because it’s tangible. People who get featured in it can frame it, restaurants can put their article on the walls, and it gets people offline for just a few moments, connecting with the city in a way that can be hard when we’re always digital.

I put this mockup here to get the creative juices flowing in your head. It would legitimately look like a newspaper but only be about 4 pages. Imagine a light tan paper, vintage typeface, full color, and fun to read.

🏙️ State of the Strip. The Strip District got some national love this week from USA Today and their report on how it’s doing. A couple of really promising numbers:

🪧 A sign that brightens people’s days. If you’ve been to any big events recently, you’ve probably seen Chris Guy holding up a sign that says “The world is much better with you in it”. If he can make one person smile from seeing the sign, it was worth it.

🏈 High School football season is here. It’s the time of year when our high school athletes get their local media shoutouts via football season previews. As a former high school athlete, the idea of getting to see your name in the paper or online was about as cool as it could get. You can check out one of many previews here. Games kick off this Friday!

We’re back for another edition of Pittsburgh Introductions! This week’s guest is Grant Bendis, who started Yellow Bridge Vintage, a locally owned vintage clothing brand.

He just launched a Pitt-themed line, which is perfect for football season. It’s how I originally came across his brand. He’s got crewnecks, hoodies, crop tops, and tees. Plus other drops outside of Pitt as well. You can read his full interview here.

What school did Andy Warhol get his commercial art degree from?

Last Week’s Answer: 1911

I love to see pops of color on houses, and that green door looks fantastic against the red. The interior is a blank canvas to paint, design, and furnish however you’d want to. I was a little surprised to see the interior after how much this exterior caught my eye. See for yourself.

Submit your favorite houses

🆓 = free/non-ticketed event
💲 = paid/ticketed event

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💲Kesha: The Freedom Tour - 7 pm at The Pavilion at Star Lake. Buy tickets.

💲Story Time! - Every month, Happenstance Cafe hosts local comedians telling true stories. This month’s theme is “worst jobs”. 7 to 8:30 pm. Get tickets.

💲Homeschool Day - Westmoreland Museum of American Art is hosting homeschoolers for an afternoon of activities and artmaking. 10 am to 1 pm. Register here.

💲Jazz in the Garden - Enjoy smooth jazz with a botanical backdrop. They’ll have snack boxes and drinks as well. 6:30 pm at Phipps Conservatory. Buy tickets.

🆓 Pitt Vintage Palooza - 15+ vendors on site with over 500+ items. They’ll be capping admission so it doesn’t get too crowded. 3 pm to 8 pm at Schenley Plaza. More info.

💲Candlelight: The Best of Hans Zimmer - If you love scores from Interstellar, The Lion King, or Inception, check this one out. The Listeso String Quartet will be playing the hits surrounded by candlelight at 6:30 pm at the Omni William Penn Hotel. Buy tickets.

💲Opening Spike Classic 2026 - Pitt will be hosting 4 elite women’s college volleyball matches at The Pete. Pitt hosts Kansas at 6:30 pm on Friday followed by Wisconsin vs. Stanford at 9 pm. On Saturday Pitt takes on Wisconsin at 12 pm followed by Kansas vs Stanford at 2:30 pm. Buy your tickets here.

💲Handmade Arcade's Emerging Craft Market - Check out 70+ emerging craftspeople, artists, and makers. They’ll also have activities, food trucks, and drinks. 10 am to 6 pm at the Energy Innovation Center. Tickets are pay-what-you-can.

💲Pittsburgh Renaissance Festival Whiskey and Mead Weekend - This weekend is dedicated to the “Nectar of the Gods” with free samplings from local distilleries and wineries. 10:30 am to 6:30 pm at 112 Renaissance Lane West Newton, PA 15089. Tickets here.

🆓 Carnegie Arts Walk - Hang out in downtown Carnegie and celebrate local arts, music, and culture. They’ll have food and live art demonstrations as well. 11 am to 5 pm. More info.

💲Touch-A-Truck - Before the Riverhounds take on the Tampa Bay Rowdies, they’ll be hosting Touch-A-Truck. Kiddos can see emergency vehicles, utility vehicles, and even the Oscar Meyer Weinermobile. Tickets include both the Touch-A-Truck event and admission to the match. 2 to 4 pm for Touch-A-Truck; 5 pm for the match. Get tickets.

🆓 Free End-Of-Summer Concert - Pittsburgh Brewing Co. is hosting a free concert to celebrate everyone who has come out to support them so far this year. They’ll have food trucks and drinks (of course) on site. 5 pm at Pittsburgh Brewing Co. Learn more.

💲Slippery Rock Football - They kick off their season against the University of Minnesota Duluth at 6 pm at Mihalik-Thompson Stadium. Buy tickets.

💲Bruno Mars with Anderson .Paak - 7 pm at Acrisure Stadium. Get tickets.

💲PedalPGH - Take part in Western PA’s largest bike ride in support of BikePGH. They have 4 routes so every experience level can participate - 10 miles, 25 miles, 40 miles (the 53 miler without the steep climbs), and 53 miles. Register here.

🆓 BaconBurgh - It’s back for year 2 down at SouthSide Works! Get your bacon-inspired eats, drinks, cocktails, beer, and of course, live music. 12 pm to 6 pm. Learn more.

🆓 Spooky Art & Vintage Market - I Made It! Market is hosting a spooky market along with a screening of Twilight. The market starts at 5 pm and runs through the movie that starts at 7:30 pm. Bakery Square. See more.

🆓 The Deadline: Due Yesterday - This is an opera about deadlines, so maybe don’t go if you’re stressed about a deadline at work. It’s a new opera composed by Matt Gillespie and librettist Kip Soteres. 7 pm at Hop Farm Brewing Company. Learn more.

Remember to tag us @steelcityledger on Instagram if you check out any of these events!

Commonplace Coffee Fall Drinks - each location has a separate special, with pumpkin spice being served at all locations. A few of the standouts - miso banana bread latte, cranberry sauce latte, and a spiced peach latte.

Cuties Coffee Company Gilmore Girls Flight - They’re a little out of the way but their flight is too unique not to feature.

Industry Coffee Fall Menu - The one that stands out most to me is their apple crisp upside down latte. Or the Dutch apple pie latte. It’s hard to pick a favorite!

This week’s photo is courtesy of Pittsburgh Urbanism on Instagram. I often catch myself stopping and admiring views similar to this where I live in Dormont. You’ll get layers of 6+ streets because of the hills, and with it you see varying architecture and landscaping.

There were plenty of rumblings online about this a year or so ago when they were filming the episode. If you’re not familiar with Gordon Ramsay and the Kitchen Nightmares show, he’s a world-renowned chef who has a temper but is wildly talented. He helps bring restaurants back from the brink of collapse. Some listen, and they survive; others don’t. It’s bittersweet to be on the show, but Cafe Notte still being in business and people noting that it seems that the food has gotten better is a great sign! The episode airs tonight at 8 pm on Fox.

Ross Park Mall is set to get a little bit of a redevelopment done on the east side of the mall. Zara is going to be a large part of that redevelopment as a global clothing retailer. They’ll be taking over the spots that were formerly JCPenney, Banana Republic, Levi’s, and Vera Bradley. The planned opening is 2028, so there is still a little bit of a wait.

The NFL has been cooking up a Disney collab for every team to roll out new merch items. Some make a ton of sense, like the Detroit Lions being Simba. Others seem to be a stretch. The Steelers got Pete (aka Peg Leg Pete), who, fun fact, actually predates Mickey Mouse as a Disney character. The explanation for the Steelers and Pete collab is: “Blue-collar, tough and unapologetically physical. Pete embodies the smash-mouth mentality Steelers fans embrace”. What do we think? Does it fit?

We have a local ESL teacher, Val, who is looking for a little help in getting the Amazon Wishlist for her classroom completed so her students can be set up for success for the year. Being an ESL student isn’t easy since they’re often coming from war-torn areas and don’t speak much English. Anything helps, so if you’d like to assist, you can find her list here.

Meet Bernadette here.

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