When Susan Anderson hears people who aren’t from the South Side talk about South Side, it’s a safe bet they’ll mention college-aged party animals or copious amounts of crime or dilapidated storefronts.
Walk down it, though, and the sight’s a little different: Fine-dining establishments are setting up shop on the same block as hole-in-the-wall international cuisine spots; small retailers are renovating storefronts for burgeoning businesses, and local art lines the windows of unused spaces.
“This is the South Side; we’re not bright-shiny,” Anderson says. “We’re not going to be a Lawrenceville, and I don’t think we need to be.”
Anderson is the East Carson Street business district manager, a job that — like the neighborhood it serves — doesn’t come with a single cohesive description. Sometimes, she’s convening stakeholders for community initiatives; other times she’s drawing on her background as a Carnegie Mellon University graphic design student and marketing professional to create publicity materials for a new business. Most of the time, though, she’s a cheerleader for the 21-block business corridor.
Anderson’s first work-iversary was Jan. 13, 2026. Since she started, 25 businesses have opened — or are soon to open — along East Carson Street.
“This area has struggled over time, that’s no secret, and what’s amazing is [the business owners] are receptive to help, they’re receptive to programming and getting involved,” she says. “They want to participate, and they want to be a part of the turnaround in this community.”
“We’re gritty, and I think we need to be proud to be gritty.”
Peaks and valleys
John DeMauro has had a finger in South Side businesses for, essentially, his entire life. For years, he ran Jimmy D’s — a bar his father opened in the early 1990s — and opened The Urban Tap in 2013.
“I’ve seen South Side when there was a lot of foot traffic; I’ve been through some of the challenges,” DeMauro says.
The neighborhood reached a major turning point a few years ago, he says. After a shooting caused Carson City Saloon’s temporary closure in the spring of 2023, he and other business owners formed the South Side Hospitality Partnership, which established a shared security system to keep track of disorderly patrons, according to reporting by WESA.
Pittsburgh Police’s Violent Crimes Dashboard tracks the number of crimes that occur throughout the city. In 2025, South Side Flats — in which the East Carson Street business district resides — had four reported incidents: One nonfatal shooting and three homicides. 2024 saw only three incidents — the same as 2018 and the lowest number in the data set.
The years with the highest number of reported incidents were 2021 and 2022, which had 11 and 12, respectively. Also notable is that no year aside from 2025 had more than one homicide.
For reference, East Liberty — which has a comparable population to South Side Flats, according to Data Commons — also had four reported incidents in 2025: two nonfatal shootings and two homicides.
“Safety has been focused on for the past couple years, and we’ve had the Entertainment Patrol down here, which has done a phenomenal job each and every Thursday, Friday and Saturday night so now there’s rarely anything that happens on East Carson Street,” DeMauro says. “[The lack of activity] can be a negative, but that can be a positive coming from the position that we were in.”
The years since have been DeMauro’s best years of business, he says, and have coincided with marked revitalization efforts from business owners. And he’s putting his money where his mouth is.
“I’m not just saying it, I believe it — or else I’d be spending my money somewhere else,” DeMauro says. “I’m expanding. I bought another building down the street that I eventually want to put a restaurant in.”
Danielle Mashuda, who bought South Side’s iconic Club Cafe with business partner Maddy Lafferty in April, says the neighborhood’s community — even beyond its business owners — would “blow anyone’s mind.”
South Side’s Community Action Network hosts a monthly Neighbor Night that provides a space for stakeholders to talk about the goods and bads of their community. The two-hour program comes with a sponsored dinner to boot, Mashuda adds.
“It was November, it was the last one of the year, it was 20 degrees out, snowing and raining, disgusting,” Mashuda says. “I had a big show here … and I went over — 114 people showed up. I was blown away. Every seat in that market was full. This community loves what they do.”
The price is right
For entrepreneurs who are establishing new roots, the East Carson Street business corridor offers another valuable proposition: cheap rents.
Since 2019, soapmaker Em Collins’ home has been her office, studio and staging ground between pop-up markets. Last year, the Toledo transplant got sick of tripping over soap supplies in the midnight hours and decided it was time for a storefront.
Provenance came in the form of an abandoned dentist’s office near 14th Street.
“I didn’t know this specific block-and-a-half had a reputation of partying,” Collins says. “I saw this space and was like, ‘This has so much potential, and the price is really good.’”
Although EmTree Bath and Body opened on June 28, 2025, Collins had been cleaning up the space since March. In the time between, her property was subject to … tomfoolery.
“I had people throwing their trash in my entry and putting their cigarettes out on my building — even though there’s literally bins right out there,” Collins says. “I found lipstick marks on my window, tongue marks on my window.”
Collins adds that her covered entryway was frequented by unhoused folks who sought a sleeping spot with protection from the elements.
Shortly after, Collins met Anderson, who came up with strategies to show passersby that the space was no longer vacant. Collins’ window displays were soon adorned with an LED light strip that stays on at all hours, deterring late-night smoochers. Anderson also dropped off a pair of planters, which accentuate the recessed entry during the day but can be pulled in to fill the space at night.
Since then, Collins says it’s been smooth sailing.
“We’re doing it, and we’re trying to do it well — just making the perception of this area at least a little better,” Collins says. “There are some really great small businesses around here that aren’t restaurants, bars, pizza places or chicken places.”
Seven blocks east, La Dolce Vita dodged issues that plagued EmTree in its initial months while reaping similar rewards.
The Italian restaurant opened at 2104 E. Carson St. on Oct. 24, 2025. According to owner Tony DiDonato, the spot is a spiritual successor to Oakland’s Lucca Ristorante, which he operated for the last six years of its 28-year lifespan.
Rent In Oakland was about $12,000 per month. For the South Side storefront, he pays about $4,000.
“I lowered my menu prices 35% when I left there to here, same food, because you don’t have that upkeep of Oakland,” DiDonato says. “Five years ago, there used to be people in every office building, but I can tell you, the last three years in Oakland, parking was easy. It never used to be.”
DiDonato expects that business will be different but comparable; while Oakland might look busier than South Side, its population drops sharply when the universities go on break. DiDonato adds that the Covid-19 pandemic killed lunch business, and increasing student dining options at Carnegie Mellon University and the University of Pittsburgh meant that fewer students were leaving campus for meals.
“We’re finding our way,” DiDonato says. “We’re new — three and a half months in — we haven’t seen a summer of warm weather yet. What I can say is I haven’t seen any issues on the streets. It’s quiet.
“I had more issues in Oakland than I did here.”
‘Y’all are welcome, but you gotta act right’
A common refrain echoed by business owners was that East Carson Street can simultaneously be a foodie paradise, small retailer haven and nightlife hotspot.
But for all businesses to thrive, Anderson adds, the corridor needs to be managed appropriately and respectfully.
“Look at that, up on the wall,” Anderson says, pointing to a banner hanging above Club Cafe’s bar. “It says: ‘Y’all are welcome, but you gotta act right.’”
“We have this incredibly large business district and there is enough for everybody, but you gotta behave, and you’ve got to act appropriately. People will get drunk and they’ll act a fool — they do it in any neighborhood. We have to work hard as a neighborhood to really change that perception and really showcase, truly, who we are.”
