People & Places
Best Bar Bathroom
1st: Tiki Lounge
2003 East Carson St., South Side.
tikilounge412.com
2nd: Belvedere's Ultra-Dive
3rd: Mary's
Best Bike Trail
1st: Montour Trail
2589 Boyce Plaza Rd., Upper St. Clair.
montourtrail.org
2nd: Three Rivers Heritage Trail
3rd: Great Allegheny Passage
Best Birthday Spot for Adults
1st: Pins Mechanical
407 Cinema Dr., South Side.
pinsbar.com
2nd: PSquare Scents
3rd: House of Colour - Greensburg
Best Birthday Spot for Kids
1st: Kennywood Park
4800 Kennywood Blvd., West Mifflin.
kennywood.com
2nd: Outer Limits Adventure Park
3rd: ASCEND Climbing
Best Blog
1st: Ana Eats Pgh
instagram.com/ana.eats.pgh
2nd: OneBURGH
3rd: Straight Facts Podcast
Best Bluesky Account
1st: Pittsburgh Scanner
bsky.app/profile/pgh-scanner.com
2nd: Pghlesbian
3rd: Obnoxiously Pitt Girl
Best Bus Stop
1st: Smithfield Street & Sixth Ave
2nd: East Busway - Negley Station
3rd: Fifth and Atwood
Best Busker
1st: The sax player on the Clemente Bridge
2nd: Violin Lady in Squirrel Hill
3rd: Pittsburgh Steel Man
Best City Pool
1st: Dormont Pool
1801 Dormont Ave., Dormont.
2nd: Highland Park Pool
3rd: Bloomfield Pool
Best City Steps
1st: Rialto
2nd: Troy Hill Steps
3rd: Winebiddle Street
Best College Athlete
1st: Olivia Babcock - Pitt Volleyball
Pitt Volleyball’s Olivia Babcock has been busy. When she's not shattering program records for aces and kills, the junior right-side hitter has been stacking up national awards — among them, American Volleyball Coaches Association National Player of the Year for two years running (she was the first-ever Pitt player to win the award as a freshman), Atlantic Coast Conference Player of the Year, and an ESPY nomination. Aside from the honors, she’s just fun to watch, taking swings so powerful even the opposing team seems stunned. “Looked like The Matrix on replay,” one fan said on Fox Sports.
But maybe the greater feat is Babcock and the squad winning over Pittsburgh fans, with Pitt Women’s Volleyball games setting attendance records at the Petersen Events Center.
“It is a very supportive community,” Babcock tells Pittsburgh City Paper. “Everywhere you go you are going to find a supporter.”
The Los Angeles native says while it took a while to “adapt” to Pittsburgh weather, she likes “that it is a new experience for me, and the community I am surrounded by made the adjustment so easy.” She’s also come to love Pittsburgh’s small-town feel, seeing all four seasons, her favorite restaurant, Condado Tacos, and — in an Old Pittsburgh pull — Girasole, the Italian staple in Shadyside.
“If I would have gone into this experience a few years ago knowing how much I love it, I would have made the decision 100 times over,” Babcock says. -Rachel Wilkinson
2nd: Megan McConnell
3rd: Eli Holstein
Best College Campus
1st: University of Pittsburgh
4200 Fifth Ave., Oakland.
pitt.edu
2nd: Chatham University
3rd: Duquesne university
Best College Sporting Event
1st: Backyard Brawl
2nd: Pitt Volleyball
3rd: Penn State Whiteout
Best College Team
1st: Pitt Women's Volleyball
instagram.com/pitt_vb
2nd:Pitt Panthers
3rd: Penn State Nittany Lions - any of their sports
Best Event Planner
1st: T’s Touch Events
facebook.com/TsToucheventdesigns
2nd: Ambient Alchemists
3rd: Mel Kleeburg (TIE)
3rd: S&S Productions (TIE)
1st: Ana Eats Pittsburgh
instagram.com/ana.eats.pgh
2nd: Dustin Bones
3rd: That Adventure Guy
Best Instagram Account
1st: Pittsburgh Scanner
instagram.com/pghscanner
2nd: Ana Eats Pittsburgh
3rd: @pittsburghpersonified
Best Jagoff
1st: John Fetterman
In 2022, Pennsylvania gambled on an unconventional U.S. Senator and lost. Far from being the progressive curmudgeon many Democrats hoped for, John Fetterman has spent his first — and, many Pittsburghers hope, only — term in the Senate shirking responsibilities, shedding staff, shunning constituents, and shilling for the State of Israel at all hours during its increasingly grim bid to destroy the Gaza Strip. Most recently, Fetterman has whiled away his conspicuously large amount of free time working with an author who allegedly hates him to write a memoir no one asked for. It’s all in keeping with one of the biggest political disappointments of the young Millennium (besides, you know, Donald Trump). Who needs checks and balances when you can blame everyone else for your growing list of problems? -Colin Williams
2nd: Bob Nutting
3rd: UPMC
Best Library Branch
1st: CLP - Main (Oakland)
4400 Forbes Ave., Oakland.
carnegielibrary.org/clp_location/main-oakland
2nd: Avalon Public Library
3rd: South Side Carnegie Library
Best Local Controversy
1st: The $4.2 billion in gas tax revenue that was diverted from transportation projects to fund state police patrols between 2012 and 2019 which has left us with massive bridge and road closures due to lack of any kind of timely maintenance.
We could’ve prevented the Fern Hollow Bridge collapse and consolidated small-town municipal services?! Get with the times, Pennsylvania. -Colin Williams
2nd: BUCCO BRICKS!!
3rd: Slowing down to enter tunnels
Best Place for a Bachelor Party
1st: Topgolf
400 Presto-Sygan Rd., Bridgeville.
topgolf.com/us/pittsburgh
2nd:Cheerleaders
3rd: East Liberty Crawl (Lorelei, Kelly’s, etc.)
Best Place for a Bachelorette Party
1st: House of Colour Greensburg
4764 US-30 Suite 205, Greensburg.
houseofcolour.com/stylists/angela-vaslavsky-sarah-thompson-greensburg-pennsylvania
2nd: Spirit
3rd: Belvedere's Ultra-Dive
Best Place for a First Date
1st: Phipps
One Schenley Dr., Oakland.
phipps.conservatory.org
2nd: Pittsburgh Zoo & Aquarium
3rd: Carnegie Museum of Art
Best Place to Break Up with Someone
1st: Phantom’s Revenge lift hill
Most of the time, if you want to end a relationship, you don’t really want a long, drawn-out talk about it. You just want to say what you have to say, let them down easy, and be done with it. That’s why, dear readers, you are so smart for naming the upward climb at the beginning of Kennywood’s Phantom’s Revenge the best place to dump someone. Think about it: you’re both stuck there, they’re strapped in so they can’t take a swing at you, and as soon as you’ve said your piece, you plummet towards the earth, and their objections are drowned out by the rattling of high-speed metal on metal and other riders’ screams. Then, disembark and disappear. It’s done! -Ali Trachta
2nd: Burger King on the South Side
3rd: Arby's on McKnight Road
Best Place to Cry in Public
1st: Arby's on McKnight
4810 McKnight Rd., North HIlls.
arbys.com
2nd: The Grandview Overlook on Mt. Washington
3rd: Pittsburgh International Airport
Best Place to Enjoy a Cigar
1st: Fat Boys Cigars
154 Pleasant Dr., Center Township.
fatboyscigars.com
2nd: Leaf and Bean
3rd: BURN by Rocky Patel
Best Place to Have Sex in Public
1st: Cathedral of Learning
2nd: The Fruit Loop
3rd: Carrie Blast Furnaces
Best to Take a Selfie
1st: Randyland
1501 Arch St., North Side.
facebook.com/randylandpgh
2nd: Mt. Washington
3rd: Fallingwater
Best Podcast
1st: Straight Facts Podcast
youtube.com/@StraightFactspodcast_102
2nd: City Cast Pittsburgh
3rd: Etta Arlene Spiritcast
Best Pro Athlete
1st: Jalapeño Hannah
2nd: Sidney Crosby
3rd: Andrew McCutchen
Best Radio Personality (Talk)
1st: Kelly Dzanaj 100.7
audacy.com/starpittsburgh
2nd: Larry Richert
3rd: Lily Sixx
Best Sorority
1st: Whichever one at Carlow, girls are crazy there in the best way
2nd: Delta Phi Epsilon (ETA Chapter - Pitt)
3rd: Alpha Kappa Alpha (Upsilon Chapter) at Point Park University
Best Sports Announcer
1st: Josh Getzoff
2nd: Bob Walk
3rd: Greg Brown
Best Third Space
1st: Moon & Yarn Craft Room
605 Lincoln Ave., Bellevue.
moonandyarn.com
2nd: Carnegie Library
3rd: ASCEND Climbing
Best Threads Account
1st: pittsburghgrafitti
threads.com/@pittsburghgraffiti
2nd: Meg St-Esprit
3rd: Blythe Books
Best TikTok Account
1st: soysauceyybae
tiktok.com/@soysauceyybae
Many TikTokers are known for their hyper specific content, but with @soysauceyybae, aka Bia Dao, you get a little bit of everything. Dao is the ultimate multi-hyphenate, an alt-pop musician, artist, fortune teller (reading palms, tarot, and tea leaves), food-in-the-car reviewer, animal lover, and witchy Halloween acolyte, whose moody, atmospheric music often provides the soundtrack for her videos. With Dao’s @soysauceyybae, you can upcycle a Jason Voorhees mask in four parts (set to her own ethereal song “Killer Summer”), visit the shop cats at Bellevue’s The Menagerie, where her paintings are for sale, go to Paris Baguette, or try some car kumquats with her for the first time (spoiler: she rated them 8/10). Dao recently described her sound as “bathing in the somber alternative,” and while her TikToks aren’t always gloomy, it’s easy to sink in all day long. -Rachel Wilkinson
2nd: Kimberly Rhoades aka Cig Mom
3rd: Joe Long
Best Tiny Free Library
1st: Death Comes Lifting Library
636 E. Warrington Ave., Allentown.
2nd: Mollie's Bad B*tch Book Box @ Ruggers Pub
3rd: Castle Shannon Library Little Free Library
Best Tourist Attraction/Best Place to Take Out-of-Towners1st: Duquesne Incline and Mount Washington Overlook
duquesneincline.org
2nd: Phipps Conservatory
3rd: Randyland
Best TV Personality
1st: David Highfield
instagram.com/davidhighfield
2nd: Heather Abraham
3rd: Mary Ours
Best TV Personality Under 30
1st: Lydia B. Kollins
instagram.com/foreheadbrows
2nd: Royce Jones
3rd: Paige Hyland
Best Twitch Account
1st: TwerkQuest
twitch.tv/twerkquest
2nd: CreamTeam
3rd: Indigo Sparks
Best University/College
1st: University of Pittsburgh
4200 Fifth Ave., Oakland.
pitt.edu
2nd: Carnegie Mellon University
3rd: Duquesne university
Best View of the City
1st: Exiting the Fort Pitt Tunnels inbound
2nd: Grandview Overlook
3rd:PNC Park:
Best Yinzer
1st: Pittsburgh Dad
pghdad.com
2nd: Cig Mom
3rd: Dustin Bones
Best Youtube Channel
1st: Pittsburgh Dad
youtube.com/user/pittsburghdad
2nd: Wendy’s Classic Corner
3rd: That Adventure Guy