The 234 Apartment

Eventually the Civic Arena, which many came to see as a harbinger of the community’s destruction, was torn down and replaced with the modern PPG Paints Arena . Half a block away, the Freedom Corner was dedicated in 2001, commemorating the civil rights leaders of the 1950s and 1960s who sought to maintain the Hill District. It is also a symbolic gateway to the neighborhood. In 2006, a proposal to build a casino in the lower Hill District was overwhelmingly rejected by residents. To this day, the sphere of influence from downtown generally stops at Crawford Street, which for me was a jarring reminder of how ghosts from the past don’t easily dissipate. Though much of Wilson’s Pittsburgh is gone, you could use his words to tour the district. I did so, led by Kimberly C. Ellis, a digital consultant and founder of the preservation- minded Historic Hill Institute , who is also the playwright’s niece. “The neighborhood has changed a lot,” she said, adding that “there is a renewed level of p...

By the dawn’s early light, I searched the kitchen of Donald Trump’s childhood home in Queens for a coffee mug. There were none to be found, so I drank my coffee from a President Donald J. Trump Childhood Home insignia water glass and fixed myself a bowl of Wheaties from one of the five boxes on the counter. It had been a restless night. I had fallen asleep in the bedroom where, according to a plaque on the wall, “ President Donald J. Trump was likely conceived.” I awoke Sunday in the darkness feeling as if I’d been chasing a ghost. President Donald Trump in his childhood home in Queens." /> A cardboard cutout of President Donald Trump in his childhood home in Queens. Photo: New York Times. New York City practically abounds in presidential dwellings. There’s the Theodore Roosevelt Birthplace in Manhattan, where young Teddie’s red velvet reading chair is on display. There are several unremarkable apartments where Barack Obama lived as a Columbia University undergraduat...