As Pittsburghers, we\u2019ve all been there.<\/p>\n
You\u2019re in your car at the bottom of a steep hill covered in slick ice and snow. You shift into gear, start moving upward, and you think you just might make it.<\/p>\n
Then you feel the tires spin out. You gun the gas, you try to maneuver, but eventually you face it: you\u2019re just not getting up this hill. You have to find another way.<\/p>\n
Thankfully, in Pittsburgh, with its winding roads and seemingly endless alternate routes, there\u2019s always another way.<\/p>\n
Pittsburgh City Paper has found itself facing that steep climb. Like many newspapers \u2014 especially the free alt-weekies across the nation \u2014 for a while now, we\u2019ve been battling hard times. And it\u2019s not because we lack the drive. We\u2019re facing rising costs and less revenue, but also, misinformation, hostility towards media, a rough economy, and loss of talent to more stable industries.<\/p>\n
But we\u2019ve kept on. For 34 years, to be exact. And I\u2019m here to say, despite the challenges, we\u2019re going to keep on keeping on.<\/p>\n
Let me make this absolutely crystal-polished-with-Windex clear: Pittsburgh City Paper isn\u2019t going anywhere. Every single day, we\u2019re going to keep bringing you the alternative take on news and under-the-radar culture you\u2019ve enjoyed from this \u201cwoke Commie rag\u201d for decades.<\/p>\n
But the package it comes in is going to look a little different, at least for a time. In order to rebuild to a more solid place, we\u2019ve made the difficult decision to drastically reduce the rate at which we print. For now. It breaks my heart a little, but today\u2019s issue is the last weekly version of the print paper you\u2019re going to see for a while.<\/p>\n
But print isn\u2019t dead, and neither are we.<\/p>\n
Instead of a weekly digest, City Paper will now bring you four super-issues per year, starting this December. In those editions, which will function as your \u201cBible\u201d for the season, you\u2019ll find an essential collection of event listings, in-depth news coverage, and off-the-wall arts and entertainment stories you\u2019re used to seeing from us year-round. Plus, contained within will be your favorite greatest hits, including our People of the Year feature, election guide, and of course, the pi\u00e8ce de City Paper resistance: our annual Best of PGH issue. And you\u2019d better believe we still intend to throw our famous Best of PGH party along with it.<\/p>\n
In the meantime, check out pghcitypaper.com<\/a> and follow our Instagram<\/a>, Facebook<\/a>, and Bluesky<\/a> to see new content every day: of-the-moment news, under-the-radar arts and culture, photo essays, your favorite columns, and plenty more.<\/p>\n All we ask, dear readers, is this: please bear with us. We are setting the stage to rebuild, and we have every intention to come back bigger, better, and stronger \u2026 but just as delightfully weird and wacky as we\u2019ve always been.<\/p>\n Hopefully it\u2019s all downhill from here.<\/p>\n With love,<\/p>\n Ali Trachta, Executive Editor, Pittsburgh City Paper<\/p>\n This article appears in Oct. 15-21, 2025<\/a>.<\/p>\n RELATED\t