Oakland (Pittsburgh) - Oakland Facts

Oakland Facts

• The neighborhood is the location of the massive Carnegie culture complex, originally funded by Andrew Carnegie, which includes the Carnegie Museum of Natural History, Carnegie Museum of Art, Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh, and Carnegie Music Hall.

• Oakland is home to St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Cathedral, sponsor of the annual Greek Food Festival, as well as St. Paul Cathedral, mother church of the Diocese of Pittsburgh.

• Oakland was, at various points, the home of many professional Pittsburgh sports team, including the hockey Pittsburgh Pirates, Pittsburgh Steelers and the baseball Pittsburgh Pirates. They played at now-defunct venues such as the Duquesne Gardens, Pitt Stadium, and Forbes Field. The Pittsburgh Symphony and many touring plays and musical acts performed at the also now-defunct Syria Mosque. The Pittsburgh Civic Light Opera also called the neighborhood home performing until 1961 at Pitt Stadium.

• WQED, Pittsburgh's PBS station and the first community-sponsored television station in the United States, has been located in Oakland since 1954, although it moved from its original building to a new, larger one in 1970. WQED's first building, which had originally been the manse of a neighboring church, is now the Music Building of the University of Pittsburgh's main campus. Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood, the nationally syndicated children's show, was taped at WQED's studios in Oakland.

• KDKA-TV, the regions first television station, went on the air at the Syria Mosque in January, 1949. The event was not only memorable locally but was also a world first as the station was the first to "network" East coast and Midwest feeds into a modern "television network."

• Oakland is less than 3 miles (4.8 km) from Downtown Pittsburgh, and as a whole is bordered by Shadyside, Squirrel Hill, the Hill District, Greenfield, Bloomfield, and Bluff.