Welcome to the Strip District, a narrow wedge of flat land along the Allegheny River that has been Pittsburgh's wholesale food and ethnic market district since the nineteenth century. The name comes from the strip of flat land between the river and the bluffs. The Strip's character was shaped by Eastern European immigrants who came to work in Pittsburgh's mills beginning in the 1880s.
Polish, Slovak, Italian, Greek, and Lebanese merchants set up shops here to serve their communities, and the Strip became a place where you could buy pierogies, kielbasa, halal meat, fresh pasta, and Mediterranean olives within the same block. Primanti Brothers, the Pittsburgh institution that puts french fries and coleslaw inside the sandwich, was created here in 1933 to feed truckers and market workers who needed a one-handed meal at three in the morning. The Pennsylvania Macaroni Company and Wholey's fish market are longtime local anchors.
The Strip has gentrified rapidly, with tech offices and boutique hotels joining the produce wholesalers, but the Saturday morning market remains one of the most authentic urban market experiences in any American city. Arrive early, bring a bag, and eat something from every stall.