Your City's "Pittsburgh" Bar

[jmecklenborg]

Every city in the U.S. seems to have a Pittsburgh bar, where the diaspora and their groupies (people who often have never set foot in the state of Pennsylvania) convene for Steelers and possibly Penguins games.

I start with Lucky's in tiny Athens, OH, which is situated directly across from the town's Cleveland bar:
https://www.google.com/maps/@39.3296...7i16384!8i8192

Don't be fooled by the C-Paw, Martino's has been Cincinnati's Pittsburgh Bar for at least 15 years:
https://www.google.com/maps/@39.1299...7i16384!8i8192

[Austinlee]

I've heard of this but I've never really sought them out. I would be curious to see more examples. I know there is usually at least one in every beach town in Florida.

[glowrock]

There's a Pittsburgh bar (specifically Steelers, but pretty much all things Pittsburgh) in Breckenridge, Colorado. Called Downstairs at Eric's, I believe. Used to love going to that place back when I lived in Denver!

Still remember sitting at a booth with some friends there one afternoon, only to see my old roommate's jersey and photos just above me.

Aaron (Glowrock)

[Crawford]

Steelers are possibly the third biggest NFL team in NYC. So there are Steelers bars everywhere. But not Pittsburgh bars, per se.

[James Bond Agent 007]

I don't think I've seen one in Kansas City.

When I lived in Seattle, there were so many transplant Wisconsinites (I personally must have met about 20) that when the Packers came to town to play the Seahawks, something like a third of the fans in the stadium were Packer Backers.

[xzmattzx]

I can tell you where there are Philadelphia Eagles bars around the country.

Here in northern Delaware, and I think through much of the Delaware Valley, many people that are Steelers fans are also Red Sox fans. They're the alter-egos of the Cowboys-and-Yankees (-and-Lakers) fans. So I don't know if there are any Pittsburgh bars around here.

[montréaliste]

There are an estimated 30 Pittsburgh Penguin bars in Montreal. They are all run under cover, and one needs to show up with a pair of sparring gloves to be admitted.

[jmecklenborg]

Here is one in Italy:
https://www.facebook.com/botticellapub

[JManc]

Originally Posted by Crawford

Steelers are possibly the third biggest NFL team in NYC. So there are Steelers bars everywhere. But not Pittsburgh bars, per se.

All of New York state. Giants, Bills, Steelers and then the Jets.

[Rizzo]

Lincoln Tap in Chicago

https://www.google.com/maps/@41.9363...7i16384!8i8192

There seems to be an unusually high number of Eagles bars though.

[mrnyc]

meh.
the browns backers are the largest in the world.
350 chapters across all seven continents.
they do insane mob bar takeovers on game days.

[UrbanImpact]

Originally Posted by jmecklenborg

Every city in the U.S. seems to have a Pittsburgh bar, where the diaspora and their groupies (people who often have never set foot in the state of Pennsylvania) convene for Steelers and possibly Penguins games.

We have 2 Primanti Brothers (A Pittsburgh staple) here in Fort Lauderdale.

One on the beach:
https://goo.gl/maps/ncWadoDB6uKwpYvP9

One very close to my house:
https://goo.gl/maps/WbDitEZUnu8XUWGNA

[iheartthed]

Originally Posted by JManc

All of New York state. Giants, Bills, Steelers and then the Jets.

In NYC I'd rank them Giants, Jets, Bills (when they're showing promise), and then Steelers. I never thought about it before, but the Steelers do seem to be a very visible franchise around NYC.

[pj3000]

Originally Posted by Crawford

Steelers are possibly the third biggest NFL team in NYC. So there are Steelers bars everywhere. But not Pittsburgh bars, per se.

Yeah, it seems to be pretty much a Steelers thing specifically much more so than a Pittsburgh thing generally.

Originally Posted by JManc

All of New York state. Giants, Bills, Steelers and then the Jets.

Originally Posted by iheartthed

In NYC I'd rank them Giants, Jets, Bills (when they're showing promise), and then Steelers. I never thought about it before, but the Steelers do seem to be a very visible franchise around NYC.

I think we all know the general story, but the national phenomenon directly emanates from the Steelers' "Steel Curtain" glory decade of the 1970s... heavy manufacturing was collapsing throughout the region, and Pittsburgh and the steel industry was the epicenter of it.

Blue collar workers throughout the country (but in the north especially) felt a kinship with the team, who embodied gritty toughness... and won 4 super bowls in 6 seasons. It was the perfect fit for the era.

Additionally, the whole Franco's Italian Army thing was HUGE in solidifying an ardent Italian-ancestry fanbase throughout PA, NY, NJ, OH... I mean, Frank Sinatra himself joined

• Ethos of Pittsburgh/blue collar toughness
  
• No bullshit coach Chuck Noll from Cleveland
  
• Italian-American RB Franco Harris from Jersey who was a star for Penn State (NYC's favorite big time college football team due to proximity and Brooklyn boy Paterno)
  
• Vietnam vet/Purple Heart-receiving, Catholic RB Rocky Bleier who nearly had his leg blown off after his rookie season and was captain of a national championship Notre Dame team
  
• Southern gunslinger HofFame QB

These above characteristics were huge in gaining fans, aside from the winning ways on the field. And add to that, aerial acrobatics of HofFamers Swann & Stallworth, an huge, impenetrable O-line, and a defense chock full of HofFamers... Jack Lambert, Mean Joe Greene, Jack Ham, Mel Blount, Donnie Shell, LC Greenwood (who should also be in the Hall).

It was just such a natural fit for the time 40+ years ago, and it has somehow persisted decades later.

[benp]

No Pittsburgh bars in Buffalo that I am aware of, but there is a woman a couple blocks over who wears nothing but Steelers gear or back-and-gold clothing. She was out during the Italian Festival the other day in a black and gold dress.

Similar to the Browns, there are 400 Bills Backers chapters worldwide. Many Buffalo Wing places also used to be de-facto Buffalo bars, though less so in the last years as Buffalo's best know food has kept the name but lost much of the association with the city its named after.

[jmecklenborg]

Originally Posted by benp

Many Buffalo Wing places also used to be de-facto Buffalo bars, though less so in the last years as Buffalo's best know food has kept the name but lost much of the association with the city its named after.

It's hard to explain to young people but there used to be no such thing as chicken wings. We had a place open up in the 80s called "Buffalo Wings & Rings" (I looked it up and it actually still exists: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buffalo_Wings_%26_Rings) and I remember sitting in the car and laughing at the sign (which had a giant mean-looing buffalo head) with my mom since we had no idea what a "Buffalo Wing" was, or that it had any association with the city of Buffalo.

Crazy - Buffalo Wings & Rings has 50+ locations, including some on the west coast: https://www.wingsandrings.com/locations

According to its website, in 2021 the restaurant dropped the "Buffalo" and is now just "Wings & Rings": https://www.wingsandrings.com/our-story

[benp]

Originally Posted by jmecklenborg

It's hard to explain to young people but there used to be no such thing as chicken wings. We had a place open up in the 80s called "Buffalo Wings & Rings" (I looked it up and it actually still exists: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buffalo_Wings_%26_Rings) and I remember sitting in the car and laughing at the sign (which had a giant mean-looing buffalo head) with my mom since we had no idea what a "Buffalo Wing" was, or that it had any association with the city of Buffalo.

Crazy - Buffalo Wings & Rings has 50+ locations, including some on the west coast: https://www.wingsandrings.com/locations

According to its website, in 2021 the restaurant dropped the "Buffalo" and is now just "Wings & Rings": https://www.wingsandrings.com/our-story

Yeah, back in the 80s when I moved to Houston there were zero wing places, so I bought a deep fryer and made them on my own for several years. It wasn't until the late 80s that the first wing place opened in Houston called Buffalo Wings and Curls, and it was owned by an ex Miami Dolphin who discovered wings when playing in Buffalo, and was Buffalo themed. For several years, Buffalo style wings customers were almost exclusively Hispanic or Buffalo ex-pats, and I don't remember wings catching on by non-Hispanics in Houston until the 90s or 00s.

[photoLith]

Every bar around me is a Pittsburgh bar....

[Steely Dan]

my first exposure to the almighty "buffalo wing" was as a kid back in the '80s. a buffalo native named Joe Prudden came to evanston to attend northwestern, after which he opened a restaurant in town named "Buffalo Joe's" in 1984 serving up a pretty authentic rendition of his hometown's signature food item. it instantly took off among university students and locals alike. it's still going strong nearly 4 decades later, and consistently ranks as one of chicago's better wing joints.

being only 8 years old at the time, and growing up in neighboring wilmette, i don't well remember a time when the buffalo wing wasn't a thing, but it was still pretty damn niche back then. it probably wasn't until the late '90s when every single bar and grill in the city (the nation?) was seemingly required by law to serve (often mediocre to bad) buffalo wings.

[jmecklenborg]

Originally Posted by Steely Dan

it probably wasn't until the late '90s when every single bar and grill in the city (the nation?) was seemingly required by law to serve (often mediocre to bad) buffalo wings.

The original BW3's in Cincinnati was on Vine across from Bogart's, and they had a 20-cent Tuesdays (yes, wings used to cost 20 cents apiece) that grew into an absolutely massive weekly low rider & cruising event during the summer. All of the area businesses hated it because it made it impossible for anyone to access anything else.

I was talking about it about three years ago with one of my coworkers and he confided to me that he was cruising down there when he was about 22 and ran out of gas because they were idling in gridlock for hours. They pushed the car into a parking space and managed to meet some girls who wanted to then go for a ride but they had to come up with an excuse on the fly for why they couldn't drive them anywhere.

The original BW3's was in this building, where Mio's is now:
https://www.google.com/maps/@39.1303...7i13312!8i6656