The 10 best things that happened in Pittsburgh in 2021
Um, there's a giant owl twerking on the table in the break room
Let me tell you about 2019. That was a shit year. Yes, we are going to start this puppy off with a big ole’ swear. Shit. So at the end of 2019, my separation taking root and my future a murk within which fear lurked, I ignored the reports of a new respiratory virus in China and said, “2020 will be my year!” I punctuated the statement with a punch of my fist into the air. Onward. Forward! Best. Year. Ever!
2020 rolls around and immediately turns to hot flaming turds. The virus rages. Life shuts down. Income becomes questionable. Nothing is good. Everything is bad. Everything changed. Then the vaccines started rolling out as the year closed out and I saw a glimmer of hope. Light. Something not dark and scary. I lifted my foot to see if it could escape the muck that held me down for over a year. When it budged, I said, “2021 will be my year!” I punched my fist in the air. Onward. Forward. Best. Year. Ever!
Hoo boy, 2021 wasn’t great at all, was it? We’re mired in this murk. Muck. We’re stuck, Dr. Seuss. But, I’ve learned to find the hope in the murk. The lightness of being in the laden muck. And I want you to feel that hope too, even though things are (look away, dad) A HOT GIANT STEAMING FLAMING BAG OF SHIT. So I spent hours in the news archives and I now present to you the 10 best things that happened in Pittsburgh in 2021.
1. Kenny Pickett puts it all on his shoulders and lets it fly
Of course, football is a team sport and that means a team effort, so some credit has to extend outward to the University of Pittsburgh football team’s now-former offensive coordinator Mark Whipple as well as the entire roster of players, coaches and support staff. But let’s be real — Kenny Pickett is largely responsible for giving the Panthers their best season (11-2) since, hold on to your calendars, 1981. The excitement from week-to-week was palpable and Pitt gear flew off the virtual and real-life shelves as the team won their first-ever ACC championship. Where will the program go from here with Kenny heading to the NFL in 2022 and Whipple off to Nebraska? Who knows, but 2021 marks the year the whole city felt the pride of Pitt football again, thanks largely to Kenny Pickett.
2. Pittsburgh’s lost Chinatown finally gets its historical designation
Not much remains of Pittsburgh’s old Chinatown, and the voices it carried from the past are now much harder to hear. If you want to listen to their stories, it takes work. Research. Time. Pittsburgh’s old Chinatown was small but dynamic and alive with its own culture; it even had its own recognized mayor, but was long-ago razed after internal Tong wars. All that remain are a few facades and one restaurant, owned for four generations by the family of actress Ming-Na Wen.
Now thanks to a state historical designation received in 2021 and a forthcoming historic marker, the work of the Pittsburgh chapter of the Organization of Chinese Americans on behalf of Pittsburgh’s old Chinatown is paying off. With 25,000 Chinese living in Pittsburgh, there should be a more visible recognition of the Chinese culture that was once interwoven in Pittsburgh’s past. There is a smattering of festivals and events around the city, but I want something central. Big. I want a lantern festival downtown, with places like Strawberry Way lit up with them. Or float them in the rivers and the Point Fountain. Have authentic Chinese food booths in Market Square with Wushu demos and music. Put China-themed decorative manhole covers, crosswalks, and bike racks all designed by local Chinese artists on the streets that used to be part of our Chinatown. Mark its old borders and confines with light-post pennants. I want it all. This good news of the historical designation should only be the start.
3. The animals rise up
Nature is healing. That was the theme of 2020, and in 2021, nature said, “I’ll do more than heal. I’m taking nature back. I’m not hiding. I’m going where I want, when the hell I want. Screw you all.” And that’s how we got rat snake and the Aviary escape. (Rat Snake and the Aviary Escape. Band name!)
Rat snakes have always lived in the Pennsylvania woods, but when a particularly giant one decided to live its life out in the open, hanging from a tree in Frick Park without a care in the world, the chopper was called.
Eventually it was determined that the snake was just … a snake. A regular rat snake living in the regular woods doing regular snake things when all of Pittsburgh media decided Jumanji was happening in real life and went berserk.
Not to be outdone by the rat snake’s 15 minutes, Kodiak the Steller’s Sea Eagle saw a chance to escape the National Aviary and went rumspringa, leaving the public delighted and Aviary staff aghast. Sightings of Kodiak (In the trees! In the sky! In my driveway!) poured in from deeper and deeper into the North Side as he relished every moment of his freedom before finally being taken down by … [checks notes] … a bucket tossed at his head. How embarrassing.
And let’s not forget about the 260-pound black bear who wreaked havoc on downtown Pittsburgh’s dumpsters for days before finally being lured into a relocation trap with … [checks notes] … meat and donuts.
Honestly, big fat bear, same. I get it.
There’s lots of things to worry about while walking in Pittsburgh. Pigeons. Cars not watching for pedestrians. Naked PETA people. Bus-swallowing sinkholes. Now added to the list? Actual full-sized black bears. Nature … is healing. And coming for us all.
4. Pittsburgh launches the nation’s first integrated transportation system
We’re number 1! As in the first city in America to roll out one app for all transit needs.
Pittsburgh just got another first, this one in transportation. Now you can ditch your car and download an app to get anywhere in town using multiple modes of transit.
The new Transit app will let you find a bus, “T,” bike, electric scooter, electric moped, car or ride-share. All the options are available in the app or by visiting one of the 50 new “mobility hubs” located on major transportation thoroughfares throughout the city.
I’ve said all along that Bill Peduto’s legacy is going to be his widespread incorporation of data and technology into city initiatives. Here’s further proof.
5. Ed Gainey makes history as the first Black mayor-elect of Pittsburgh
Speaking of mayors. We’re getting a new one thanks to a historic election in 2021 — that of Ed Gainey who will become Pittsburgh’s first black mayor after his defeat of Bill Peduto. It’s great news for a city with such wide racial gaps in income, pay, health, and education — gaps that have existed for decades without much improvement. Time to throw new solutions at old problems. I’m so hopeful, as I hope you are, for what mayor-elect Gainey will do for a city crying out for progressive social change. It’s past time for Pittsburgh to be the “most livable” for all.
6. Klavon’s single-handedly shuts down the “No one wants to work” lie
When the labor market took a hit in 2021 thanks to a fed-up workforce that began exploring career options and exercising their collective power to fight for better-paying jobs, the oldest ice cream shop in Pittsburgh, Klavon’s, addressed a staff shortage not by posting a “NO ONE WANTS TO WORK SO WE ARE CLOSED” sign on their door. Instead, they doubled their pay to $15 an hour, filled all their open positions nearly overnight, and saw morale skyrocket. And the national news took notice.
Have a seat, NO ONE WANTS TO WORK! crowd. Your time is up.
7. Truly outrageous! Yinzer Jeff Daniels goes viral on Ted Cruz’s climate change-denying ass
When Ted Cruz just can’t manage to keep Pittsburgh’s name out of his mouth, the sparks fly. Every time. When he put our name in his mouth while trashing Joe Biden’s day-one decision to rejoin the Paris Climate Agreement, Cruz sounded like a complete idiot who didn’t understand that treaties are named for the cities they’re signed in. I really feel like a sitting U.S. Senator should have a better handle on this? Anyway, not to worry. In his best Pittsburgh accent, Allegheny County executive Rich Fitzgerald rose up and showed the world in a statement that would go viral, why you don’t mess with Pittsburgh when you’re a thin-lipped cold-fleeing climate-change denying insurrectionist from Texas.
It’s beauty. It’s grace. It’s yinzer poetry. And his resemblance to Jeff Daniels didn’t go unnoticed. From The Guardian:
Another piece of good news? This story has a happy ending:
Man, they really do look alike.
8. Duolingo and Duo the Owl take flight in more ways than one
Pittsburgh-based language-teaching app Duolingo, started by CMU grad and Guatemalan immigrant Luis Von Ahn, had an amazing year. Not only did Von Ahn take the company public in a big way, blowing right past its opening price to exceed expectations, the $4 billion app also has a new viral sensation on its hands via its TikTok account featuring company mascot Duo the Owl. Described as “unhinged,” the owl has obtained a cult following in this the year of our unhinged doom, and has humanized the brand to the world while putting smiles on our faces and letting us forget for a moment this dumpster fire in which we have found ourselves.
They’re actually up to 2 million followers now. You can find Dua Lipa-obsessed Duo destroying lives on TikTok or via this link here. Here’s a Tweet because that’s what my newsletter editor will let me embed:
Duolingo even ended Jake Gyllenhaal. Do your daily lessons or Duo the Owl might end you too.
9. Vera Clemente gets her street
Pitt campus’ Roberto Clemente Drive (off of Bouquet, not too far from Dippy and near Posvar Hall) was so named back in 1976 in tribute to the great Pirate ballplayer and humanitarian who gave his life in his quest to carry relief to earthquake-ravaged Nicaragua. This year, following Vera Clemente’s death, the street was renamed to put her where she lived most of her life either physically or in spirit — right next to Roberto.
On Dec. 2, Mayor Bill Peduto joined the Clemente family, former Pittsburgh Pirates and Roberto Clemente Foundation leaders to unveil new street signs renaming Clemente Drive to Roberto and Vera Clemente Drive.
I know people say it a lot when widows and widowers of the famous are left holding heavy legacies — she/he carried the torch/continued the work/maintained the legacy. Vera Clemente truly did that in honor of Roberto. It’s fitting we now honor her legacy alongside his in this small way that will bring her to our minds (along with him) each time we turn on to their street.
10. Mister McFeely’s son delivers the mail for real
Are. You. Kidding. Me?
Mr. McFeely’s son grew up to be a MAIL CARRIER?! And an actor, which worked out well for the folks over at Fred Rogers Productions, who snagged him for a cameo in a “Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood” episode:
Like you would expect from the son of Mr. McFeely, Alex has made plenty of friends along his delivery route, including one woman who makes him lunch every day whether he’s brought one or not. Part of his route happens to include delivering to his parents’ first house on Dunmoyle Street. David said Alex once ended up delivering a letter he had mailed to a friend…
The “Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood” cameo came about after Fred Rogers Productions reached out to Alex about being part of that live-action interstitial. Supervising producer Chris Loggins said the show was looking for a mail carrier for that segment, and they decided to go with Alex to showcase “a serendipitous case of life imitating art.” To drive home the connection, the house number on the package he delivers is 143, which always represented “I LOVE YOU” to Fred Rogers.
I’M NOT CRYING; YOU’RE CRYING, YOU BIG CRYING CRY BABY WHO CRIES. STOP CRYING! she said while sobbing into her keyboard.
Sometimes the cycles of life really are just perfect circles.
And there you have it. Ten great things that happened in our city in 2021, which I narrowed down from a list of 25. I have no idea what 2022 will bring for me, for you, our city, our country, or even our planet. We can either head into this new year with trepidation, or we can do what Duo would want us to do — cover our eyes, jump in feet first, and scream with a raised fist, “Onward! Forward! Best! Year! Ever!”
Let us pray.