Arts & Entertainment

Marquee of Hollywood Theater. (Rebecca Droke/Post-Gazette)

Big screens

By Barbara Vancheri / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

When it comes to movies, go big or go home. Nothing compares with the experience of watching "Jurassic World" or "The Martian" on a screen the size of a stadium scoreboard. Some of our favorite theaters have just one screen; one has 22.

"Batman" and "Bane" rehearse their "fighting" scene with a walkthrough in front of the Mellon Institute during filming in Oakland. Snow was added in the final takes. (Darrell Sapp / Post-Gazette)

Hollywood east

By Barbara Vancheri / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

We could fill this magazine with stories about where movies were shot in Western Pennsylvania. Here are some other local sets.

The Carnegie Science Center is home to a 104 year old Tesla coil consisting of 6,000 feet of copper wire that gives off one million volts of electricity. The coil was made by a teenager named George Kaufman of Ben Avon. The center now mostly uses it during their “High Voltage Show” and in shows about light or electricity. (Katelyn Jones/Post-Gazette)

Hidden gems

By Adrian McCoy / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Everyone has favorite museum objects they like to visit -- and revisit. But to what items would Pittsburgh museum curators steer visitors in their collections? Here they share their best-kept secrets and hidden gems -- the cool stuff they’d take their out-of-town friends to see.

Art works

By Mary Thomas / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

From venerable museums to public spaces, Pittsburgh has an abundance of art surpassing that of most cities its size. Works that I like to take visitors to see run the gamut from traditional to contemporary, indoors to outside.

Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt visit Frank Lloyd Wright's Fallingwater on December 7, 2006

Celebrity sites

By Barbara Vancheri / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

It was good enough for Brad Pitt's 43rd birthday and drew another famous couple who couldn't even tour the inside. Fallingwater, the house Frank Lloyd Wright designed, is usually name-checked in interviews with celebrities spending a little or lots of time in Pittsburgh. Other favorites: Dave & Buster's at the Waterfront for the cast of "She's Out of My League;" The Milk Shake Factory on the South Side for Nina Dobrev during "The Perks of Being a Wallflower" and Tom Cruise's family during "Jack Reacher;" and Dish Osteria on the South Side, where Alec Baldwin broke bread with Dr. Cyril Wecht while filming "Concussion."

"Furries" pose for a group photo at the 2014 Anthrocon Annual Convention at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center in downtown Pittsburgh, PA. (Tony Tye/Post-Gazette)

Geek city

By Sharon Eberson / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

To borrow a definition provided by actor, writer and inveterate geek Simon Pegg, "Being a geek is all about being honest about what you enjoy and not being afraid to demonstrate that affection." In that respect, Pittsburgh should be crowned the world's No. 1 Geek City. We embrace our geekdom and wear it as boldly as a Bat Signal on the skyline.

Food & Drink

Essential beers of Pittsburgh include, from right, Penn Pilsener, Couch Raspberry Duvet, Big Hop IPA, Voodoo Big Black Voodoo Daddy and Sprague H.I.G.H. PA. (Matt Freed/Post-Gazette)

‘Burgh beers

By Bob Batz Jr. / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Make sure you give these essential Pittsburgh brews a try.

Max's Allegheny Tavern open Bavarian Club sandwich with rye bread, Milwaukee braunschweiger, bacon, sweet onion, tomato spinach & topped with an egg and secret sauce. (Pam Panchak / Post-Gazette )

Acquired tastes

By Bob Batz Jr. / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

In a region where a lot of people pride themselves on having their fries and coleslaw ON their sandwiches, you can expect other quirky tastes. Here are a few you might want to try. Or not.

Church Brew Works (Matt Freed/Post-Gazette)

Religious experiences

By Bob Batz Jr. / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Our ascendant dining scene makes it more likely that you can have a religious experience in a great restaurant. But Pittsburgh being Pittsburgh, you still can have some great food experiences in religious settings.

Nice slices

By Dan Gigler / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

It’s the kind of discussion that can launch reasonable adults into belligerent invective. Somewhere below politics but occasionally on par with sports rivalries, there is pizza. Ask 100 people for their favorite pizza place and you might get 100 different answers. It’s a fiercely territorial topic, bordering on tribal. And while Pittsburgh doesn’t have a defined “style” like New York, Chicago or even Detroit, there’s no paucity of premium pizzas. Here are a few of my favorites.

Bar keepers

By Dan Gigler / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

It was the sociologist and author Ray Oldenburg who first posited the notion of the “third place” and its importance as a not-home, not-work gathering spot where all are welcome. Often a bar or a pub is that place, and whether it’s a shot-and-beer joint or a place for martinis and Manhattans, the tone of the experience is set by the bartender who can wear the hats of jester, therapist, father confessor and friend, all at the same time. Here are some of our favorite barkeeps.

Places & Perspectives

A sea of heavy fog surrounds the Downtown Pittsburgh skyline in this view from the West End Overlook. (Darrell Sapp/Post-Gazette)

Photo ops

By Darrell Sapp / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

I work the early shift at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, so I often get to see Pittsburgh just as she's waking up. You can go to the same locations time after time and get different views, thanks to Mother Nature's changing touch. Here are some of my favorite easy-to-get-to vantage points for photographing the Pittsburgh skyline.

A suite guest room at the Ace Hotel with a craftsmen-inspired platform bed with a Pendleton blanket designed by Atelier Ace at the Ace Hotel in East Liberty on Thursday, December 10, 2015. (Rebecca Droke/Post-Gazette)

Room service

By Mark Belko / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

If there's anything that has been going up faster in Pittsburgh these days than apartments, it's hotel rooms. Developers can't seem to help themselves. By the Pittsburgh Downtown Partnership's count, there are 4,952 rooms in the Golden Triangle, the North Shore, the lower Hill District, the South Side and the Strip District, with more than 1,000 of those opening in the past seven years. Another 1,709 are in the pipeline. With all of those rooms, you would think we were a tourist destination. Here are some new hotels to give you sweet dreams in 2016.

Low layers of clouds get baked in red shades before sunrise in this view near West Carson Street and framed Downtown Pittsburgh by the West End Bridge. (Darrell Sapp/Post-Gazette)

Bridge city

By Maylynne Pitz / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

With more than 1,400 bridges, the region is a permanent showcase of the inspired engineering and public art that make bridges great. My colleague Kevin Kirkland and I have been exploring them for a Pittsburgh Bridges series. Here are some of our functional and beautiful favorites.

Suburb spots

By Rosa Colucci / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Pittsburgh is 89th on the alphabetical list of 130 municipalities in Allegheny County. Unlike other cities that expanded their boundaries as they grew, Pittsburgh pretty much remained in place while surrounding communities developed on their own. Here are some of the many with personality, charm and amenities that anyone might like to call home. Take a drive and check these out for yourself. You might run into me exploring them, too.

In somewhat of a busman's holiday, Patty Landon (right) leads her daughters Christine (left), 16, and Kate, 20, down the long series of steps along Sterling St. on Pittsburgh's South Side Slopes during the 8th annual Step Trek. (Bob Donaldson/Post-Gazette)

Step treks

By Virginia Linn / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

With 739 sets of steps, Pittsburgh has more municipal stairways than any city in the U.S.. That’s according to Bob Regan, author of his updated “Pittsburgh Steps” (2015), which is part historical record and part guidebook for active step trekkers. Of these stairways, 344 are legal streets — composed just of steps.

A view of the library inside of Lisa Earle's Shadyside home. (Nate Guidry/Post-Gazette)

House tours

By Gretchen McKay / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Pittsburgh is a city of neighborhoods, and one of the best ways to get to know them is through their architecture. Homes paint a historical picture of past owners in their pine floors, marble mantels and shotgun rooms. For the less architecturally inclined, house tours are a perfectly acceptable way to be nebby, as we say, and snoop on how other Pittsburghers live. Here are some of the area’s most popular tours.

Shopping & Social

Sports & Recreation

Franco Harris demonstrates the Immaculate Reception as John Frenchy Fuqua looks on at the unveiling of a historical marker designating the spot where the the play occurred on the North Side on Saturday, December 22, 2012. (Rebecca Droke/Post-Gazette)

Sports pilgrimages

By Gene Collier / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Pittsburgh is so rich in sports history that you can find yourself waist deep in it almost by accident; you could right now, for example, be standing on the spot where Bruno Sammartino wrestled an orangutan. But here are five places you should find yourself on purpose.

Snow slopes

By Lawrence Walsh / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

A few of the following ski runs are easy and others are more challenging, but all are memorable. And each feeds directly to a chairlift.

Running routes

By Gretchen McKay / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Despite its hills, or maybe because of them, Pittsburgh is one heck of a great running town. Home to one of the largest marathon- and half-marathon events in the country, it boasts trails and scenic running routes for every type of runner, whether you’re itching for an easy run along water or want to test your mettle on a super-steep incline. Here are some of the city’s finest runs.

Ailani Mitchell of Homewood, goes down the blue slide at Blue Slide Playground in Frick Park. (Chris Kasprak/Post-Gazette)

Play places

By Anya Sostek / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Show a kid kids a playground — any playground — and they’ll be pretty happy. But nestled amongst the hundreds of slides and swings across the Pittsburgh region are a few playgrounds that bring something special. Whether it’s a million-dollar art installation or a cardboard-fueled concrete slide, these (free!) playgrounds are worth a detour, if not their own road trip.

The North Shore Segment of the Three Rivers Heritage Trail --- with the Ft. Duquesne Bridge and the Pittsburgh skyline in the background. (Darrell Sapp/Post-Gazette)

Biking trails

By Lawrence Walsh / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

As an avid cyclist, I have a hard time naming my favorite multipurpose trails. But especially after considering their proximity to Pittsburgh and Allegheny County; their multiple access points for comfortable out-and-back rides; their nearly level surfaces, some of which are paved; sufficient trailhead parking and proximity to apres bike restaurants and related businesses, these stand out.

Russ Stratton , of the North Side, gets a "bite" while fishing in the Allegheny River , on the North Shore. (Darrell Sapp / Post-Gazette)

Go fish

By John Hayes / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

With one of the highest boat-ownership rates in the United States, two world-championship bass tournaments in the last decade and bald eagles nesting within city limits, the Three Rivers region has clearly traded its blue-collar industrial past for a future more closely linked to outdoor recreation.