In Brief -Pittsburgh

TIME ZONE: Eastern
AREA CODE: 412
FOUNDED: 1787
POPULATION: 305,704
GET AROUND: Port Authority Transit bus and light rail
AIRPORT: Pittsburgh International
WEBSITE: www.visitpittsburgh.com

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BY THE NUMBERS

90 number of crystal chandeliers, torchieres and sconces in the Benedum Center for the Performing Arts

5,071 number of bugs (mealworms, waxworms, mighty mealies and crickets) fed to the National Aviary’s birds each day

04 number of haunted ghost tours in Pittsburgh (including one virtual one)

18,087 number of seats the CONSOL Energy Center, the Pittsburgh Penguins' new home, has in honor of star player (#87) Sidney Crosby

NEWS FLASH

Rock On! /// Music venue Stage AE opened last winter on the North Shore, featuring a small-club configuration, a large indoor venue and a huge outdoor stage that will hold concerts well into the fall.

The Long Haul /// The Great Allegheny Passage opened a new segment just south of the city, and they’re not stopping there. Additional bicycle and walking trails could open as soon as next summer, completing 150 miles to Cumberland, MD.

Green, Greener, Greenest /// Pittsburgh’s Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens is going greenest with the construction of its new education-and-research center. It’ll host a “living building” with a self-contained energy and water supply. The 20,000-square-foot Center for Sustainable Landscapes will be a “net zero energy” structure with onsite renewable sources providing all of its energy needs.

Look to the Sky /// The National Aviary’s Sky Deck, which features flight shows with falcons and eagles, is the final phase of an $18.5 million expansion and renovation.

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CULTURE CALENDAR

Through Oct. 30 ELECTRA The venerable Pittsburgh Public Theater presents Sophocles’ classic play at downtown’s O’Reilly Theater. We won’t spoil the ending, but rest assured it’s tragedy in the Greek sense, with plenty of wonderfully theatrical suffering. www.ppt.org

Oct. 1 to Jan. 8 HEROES AND VILLAINS: THE COMIC BOOK ART OF ALEX ROSS The home of Pop Art — the Andy Warhol Museum — presents an exhibit all about one of contemporary comic book art’s most respected figures, Alex Ross. Ross has been an artist for both DC and Marvel Comics, illustrating the Lycra-ed likes of Batman, Wonder Woman and Captain America. www.warhol.org