September 6, 2025

Also known as Pittsburgh’s Little Italy, Bloomfield is a long but doable walk from our house. Along our walk, we passed the Waldorf School of Pittsburgh building, constructed as a family mansion, and then converted into the Ursuline Academy in the 1890s. We also saw West Penn Hospital, Pittsburgh’s first chartered public hospital, founded in 1848. West Penn served soldiers during the Civil War and moved to Bloomfield in 1912. Finally we made it to Scoops in Bloomfield, an ice cream shop on Liberty Avenue, which is part of the small local Scoops Pittsburgh chain. Pippa had Lavender Dream ice cream, which had delicious blackberry swirls; Edmund had Peanut Butter S’mores; Liddy had Mint Elk Prints (a real winner!); and Greg had Banana Cream Pie. After ice cream we enjoyed Bloomfield’s busy Liberty Avenue business district, where even the streetlight poles are striped with the colors of the Italian flag. We made a stop at our favorite bookstore, White Whale, and enjoyed a sushi dinner at Ginza.

Fun Fact:
Dan Cercone Barber Shop, where both Edmund and Greg get their hair cut, has been open since 1931. In fact, Edmund recently had his hair cut by a fourth-generation barber.