{"id":93553,"date":"2026-01-22T12:21:08","date_gmt":"2026-01-22T12:21:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/93553\/"},"modified":"2026-01-22T12:21:08","modified_gmt":"2026-01-22T12:21:08","slug":"east-carson-street-business-owners-say-south-side-is-on-the-rise","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/93553\/","title":{"rendered":"East Carson Street business owners say South Side is on the rise"},"content":{"rendered":"

When Susan Anderson hears people who aren\u2019t from the South Side talk about South Side, it\u2019s a safe bet they\u2019ll mention college-aged party animals or copious amounts of crime or dilapidated storefronts.<\/p>\n

Walk down it, though, and the sight\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is the South Side; we\u2019re not bright-shiny,\u201d Anderson says. \u201cWe\u2019re not going to be a Lawrenceville, and I don\u2019t think we need to be.\u201d<\/p>\n

Anderson is the East Carson Street business district manager, a job that \u2014 like the neighborhood it serves \u2014 doesn\u2019t come with a single cohesive description. Sometimes, she\u2019s convening stakeholders for community initiatives; other times she\u2019s 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\u2019s a cheerleader for the 21-block business corridor.<\/p>\n

Anderson\u2019s first work-iversary was Jan. 13, 2026. Since she started, 25 businesses have opened \u2014 or are soon to open \u2014 along East Carson Street.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis area has struggled over time, that\u2019s no secret, and what\u2019s amazing is [the business owners] are receptive to help, they\u2019re receptive to programming and getting involved,\u201d she says. \u201cThey want to participate, and they want to be a part of the turnaround in this community.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re gritty, and I think we need to be proud to be gritty.\u201d<\/p>\n

Peaks and valleys<\/p>\n

John DeMauro has had a finger in South Side businesses for, essentially, his entire life. For years, he ran Jimmy D\u2019s \u2014 a bar his father opened in the early 1990s \u2014 and opened The Urban Tap in 2013.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve seen South Side when there was a lot of foot traffic; I\u2019ve been through some of the challenges,\u201d DeMauro says.<\/p>\n

\"\"\"\"South Side\u2019s historic market house was built in 1893 and rebuilt in 1915 after a fire. Today, it serves as a community gathering space and hosts monthly Neighbor Nights. Photo by Kalliyan Winder.<\/p>\n

The neighborhood reached a major turning point a few years ago, he says. After a shooting caused Carson City Saloon\u2019s 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<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Pittsburgh Police\u2019s Violent Crimes Dashboard<\/a> tracks the number of crimes that occur throughout the city. In 2025, South Side Flats \u2014 in which the East Carson Street business district resides \u2014 had four reported incidents: One nonfatal shooting and three homicides. 2024 saw only three incidents \u2014 the same as 2018 and the lowest number in the data set.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

For reference, East Liberty \u2014 which has a comparable population to South Side Flats, according to Data Commons<\/a> \u2014 also had four reported incidents in 2025: two nonfatal shootings and two homicides.<\/p>\n

\u201cSafety has been focused on for the past couple years, and we\u2019ve had the Entertainment Patrol down here, which has done a phenomenal job each and every Thursday, Friday and Saturday night so now there\u2019s rarely anything that happens on East Carson Street,\u201d DeMauro says. \u201c[The lack of activity] can be a negative, but that can be a positive coming from the position that we were in.\u201d<\/p>\n

The years since have been DeMauro\u2019s best years of business, he says, and have coincided with marked revitalization efforts from business owners. And he\u2019s putting his money where his mouth is.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not just saying it, I believe it \u2014 or else I\u2019d be spending my money somewhere else,\u201d DeMauro says. \u201cI\u2019m expanding. I bought another building down the street that I eventually want to put a restaurant in.\u201d<\/p>\n

Danielle Mashuda, who bought South Side\u2019s iconic Club Cafe with business partner Maddy Lafferty<\/a> in April, says the neighborhood\u2019s community \u2014 even beyond its business owners \u2014 would \u201cblow anyone\u2019s mind.\u201d<\/p>\n

South Side\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was November, it was the last one of the year, it was 20 degrees out, snowing and raining, disgusting,\u201d Mashuda says. \u201cI had a big show here \u2026 and I went over \u2014 114 people showed up. I was blown away. Every seat in that market was full. This community loves what they do.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"\"\"South Side Community Action Network\u2019s monthly Neighbor Night on Tuesday, Jan. 20. The network formed in 2022 after a spike in crime in the neighborhood. It convenes stakeholders once a month for a free meal and allows a chance for them to share concerns and create solutions. Photo by Kalliyan Winder.<\/p>\n

The price is right<\/p>\n

For entrepreneurs who are establishing new roots, the East Carson Street business corridor offers another valuable proposition: cheap rents.<\/p>\n

Since 2019, soapmaker Em Collins\u2019 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.<\/p>\n

Provenance came in the form of an abandoned dentist\u2019s office near 14th Street.<\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t know this specific block-and-a-half had a reputation of partying,\u201d Collins says. \u201cI saw this space and was like, \u2018This has so much potential, and the price is really good.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

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 \u2026 tomfoolery.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had people throwing their trash in my entry and putting their cigarettes out on my building \u2014 even though there\u2019s literally bins right out there,\u201d Collins says. \u201cI found lipstick marks on my window, tongue marks on my window.\u201d<\/p>\n

Collins adds that her covered entryway was frequented by unhoused folks who sought a sleeping spot with protection from the elements.<\/p>\n

Shortly after, Collins met Anderson, who came up with strategies to show passersby that the space was no longer vacant. Collins\u2019 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.<\/p>\n

Since then, Collins says it\u2019s been smooth sailing.<\/p>\n

\"\"\"\"Em Collins, owner of EmTree Bath and Body, poses with branching shelves of handcrafted soap. Photo by Roman Hladio.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re doing it, and we\u2019re trying to do it well \u2014 just making the perception of this area at least a little better,\u201d Collins says. \u201cThere are some really great small businesses around here that aren\u2019t restaurants, bars, pizza places or chicken places.\u201d<\/p>\n

Seven blocks east, La Dolce Vita dodged issues that plagued EmTree in its initial months while reaping similar rewards.<\/p>\n

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\u2019s Lucca Ristorante, which he operated for the last six years of its 28-year lifespan.<\/p>\n

Rent In Oakland was about $12,000 per month. For the South Side storefront, he pays about $4,000.<\/p>\n

\u201cI lowered my menu prices 35% when I left there to here, same food, because you don\u2019t have that upkeep of Oakland,\u201d DiDonato says. \u201cFive 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re finding our way,\u201d DiDonato says. \u201cWe\u2019re new \u2014 three and a half months in \u2014 we haven\u2019t seen a summer of warm weather yet. What I can say is I haven\u2019t seen any issues on the streets. It\u2019s quiet.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had more issues in Oakland than I did here.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"\"\"Club Cafe reopened on South 12th Street in the spring. Photo by Kalliyan Winder.<\/p>\n

\u2018Y\u2019all are welcome, but you gotta act right\u2019<\/p>\n

A common refrain echoed by business owners was that East Carson Street can simultaneously be a foodie paradise, small retailer haven and nightlife hotspot.<\/p>\n

But for all businesses to thrive, Anderson adds, the corridor needs to be managed appropriately and respectfully.<\/p>\n

\u201cLook at that, up on the wall,\u201d Anderson says, pointing to a banner hanging above Club Cafe\u2019s bar. \u201cIt says: \u2018Y\u2019all are welcome, but you gotta act right.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have this incredibly large business district and there is enough for everybody, but you gotta behave, and you\u2019ve got to act appropriately. People will get drunk and they\u2019ll act a fool \u2014 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.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When Susan Anderson hears people who aren\u2019t from the South Side talk about South Side, it\u2019s a safe…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":93554,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[22482,73,75,74,12516,4602],"class_list":["post-93553","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-pittsburgh","tag-east-carson-street","tag-pittsburgh","tag-pittsburgh-headlines","tag-pittsburgh-news","tag-small-businesses","tag-south-side"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93553","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=93553"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93553\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/93554"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=93553"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=93553"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=93553"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}