rev:text
| - Oh, Schenley Plaza. I have lots of good memories of you from over the years!
If you're ever in Oakland, chances are really high that you've at least passed by, if not walked right through, Schenley Plaza. When one speaks of "The Plaza" they're referring to all of the beautiful, open space between the Carnegie and Hillman libraries. This space includes beautiful benches surrounded by flowers in the summer, a lawn, the PNC Carousel, multiple food kiosks (including one for the Conflict Kitchen, a personal favorite!), a small restaurant (The Porch), and a covered performance space with tables that offers a great setting for listening to speeches or local musicians. I've seen a lot of great shows performed in this space over the years!
Now, covered or not, this is still basically an open i.e. outdoor venue, so the only drawback is that when it's raining or it's cold - so, what, most of the year in Pittsburgh? - it's not that comfortable to sit under the plaza cover, let alone out on the lawn. And when the weather is nice, if it's not the middle of summer yet, I can more or less promise that you'll run into difficulties finding an open seat since this is in a part of the city with a massive student population.
Still, the drawbacks are worth dealing with, because the plaza's a really peaceful place - kind of surprising when you remember that you're right next to a busy street. There's also wifi in the plaza, though it's not great or reliable in my experience. This doesn't bother me now since usually when I'm stopping by I want to see a show or enjoy some food, anyway, but man, I always hated the wifi here as a student trying to read my e-mail between classes...so that's something to keep in mind if you plan on stopping here and want to use your laptop.
In short, despite a few flaws the Plaza's a really nice place to grab a bite to eat and chill during a day out in Oakland - just keep in mind that when the students are in town, this is more or less their place to hangout, so the kiosk lines will be long and chairs and lawn space will be pretty limited. Oh, and if you ever see me here - and it happens a lot - say hello!
|