Yesterday, I mentioned a piece on Plan Philly about our sister city from Western Pennsylvania. The piece painted a pretty nice picture of Pittsburgh and even suggested that we in Philly could learn a lot from the Steel City.
I posted this item because it wasn't the first time that I heard nice things about what, on paper, would seem to be a pretty bleak and depressing place. In fact, Attytood wrote a pretty well-received piece about how cities like Pittsburgh may be the key to a sustainable future for this country.
Or maybe I posted it because, like every other city larger than Des Moines, Pittsburgh has won a major sports championship (several, in fact) since Philadelphia's last win in 1983.
Whatever the case, Governing.com's The 13th Floor coincidentally posted a piece which takes a slightly less optimistic view of Pittsburgh:
So you're filming a movie about a post-apocalyptic future, and you need to find a location that can stand in for a bleak, post-disaster wasteland. Where do you go?
Hey, how 'bout Pittsburgh?
Oh, har har. Pittsburgh's a dump. Hilarious.
Except it's not a joke.
Of course, before we here in Philadelphia laugh too much, we should remember that our fair city has served as the backdrop for at least one post-apocalyptic movie that was done slightly before computer-generated effects could make any city into ruined dump.
Can anyone think of any other not-so-flattering portrayals of Philadelphia in film? (No, Mannequin 2 doesn't count.)