Oakland

Arguably the city's most interesting neighborhood – and undoubtedly its most densely populated and complex – Oakland is also the state's third-largest employment center, after downtown Philadelphia and Pittsburgh's Downtown. Home to Carnegie Mellon University and the ever-expanding University of Pittsburgh and UPMC, as well as smaller Carlow University, Oakland is the city's dominant academic and medical center. With the Carnegie Library's main branch -- "Free To the People" -- as well as the Carnegie Museums of Art and Natural History, the neighborhood's cultural center of gravity is almost inescapable. North Oakland has great prewar apartment buildings and new developments, but it's South Oakland's deep nooks and crannies that fascinate. Rich in recent and past immigrants, as well as so many Pittsburghers' coming-of-age-stories, South Oakland has incubated both football great Dan Marino and pop artist Andy Warhol -- plus local band We're Wolves, who have taken the title of their current song from a sign in a neighborhood park: "Welcome to the Childhood Home of Andy Warhol and Dan Marino."

Second only to Downtown as a regional employment destination, Oakland is extensively served by Port Authority buses and is just a ride away from many Allegheny County neighborhoods. The busway system connects Oakland to Pittsburgh International Airport (via the 28X), suburbs like Crafton and Carnegie (via the 100) and East Liberty, Wilkinsburg and beyond (via the EBO). The 54C goes to the North Side, Bloomfield and the South Side, while the 59U connects to the shopping and dining at South Side Works and the Waterfront. Going to the North Hills instead? Try the 13U. Other city neighborhoods are well-connected to Oakland, with the 71A providing service up Centre Avenue to Bloomfield, Shadyside and Friendship, the 61C and 67H to Squirrel Hill and the 74B to Highland Park. Many of the aforementioned routes serve Downtown – and they're only a fraction of the 34 bus routes that run through Oakland.