South Oakland has cheap housing and a lot of undergrads. The University rents out Ruskin units to only graduate and professional students. The building is secure, near Scaife, and full of medical students. Shadyside is a charming community east of campus. Much of the housing is in beautiful older homes on tree-lined streets.
Walnut Street is featured in the section on shopping.
Squirrel Hill is east of CMU and south of Shadyside. Forbes and Murray Avenues intersect to form a commercial and geographic focus while Schenley Park creates a pastoral western edge. Squirrel Hill is mostly residential and family-oriented, yet has a sizable student population. Bloomfield is north of Shadyside and Oakland, with parts that are not too far from Scaife. The major ethnicity is Italian, and the atmosphere is very congenial.