PITTSBURGH - Driving downtown on the Parkway East, you had to go past the Jones & Laughlin steel mill with its plumes of hydrogen sulfide gas, which stunk like rotten eggs. Pittsburghers were embarrassed when they had out-of-town guests. But locals always said it was the smell of jobs.

In the 1970s and '80s, with the collapse of the steel industry, that smell faded away. So did tens of thousands of jobs in the Pittsburgh region. A whole generation of young people had to move away to find work. The city's population plummeted. It was a bleak, well-documented story.

Less well known is how much Pittsburgh has recovered, to the point that President Obama has selected the home of Heinz ketchup and "dem Stillers" as host of the G-20 summit. Scheduled for Sept. 24 and 25, the summit will bring together the leaders of nearly two dozen of the world's most economically powerful nations plus the European Union. The last city to host a G-20 summit, in April, was London.

Obama said he picked Pittsburgh because, with its development of green manufacturing, to go along with medicine and education, it is showing the way back for American cities that have lost the industries that made them great, whether tires or tools or machinery.

Once people here got over the shock of being chosen - Pittsburgh? Really? - they began reveling in it.

"I'm personally not an Obama fan, but I think it's a wonderful opportunity for the city of Pittsburgh to be picked to do this," said Chuck Bates, a truck driver.

Bates, 32, was at the Pittsburgh Pirates ballpark with his wife, an engineer. Each was eating a Primanti Bros. sandwich, with french fries on top of the meat.

Beyond the outfield wall, across one of Pittsburgh's three rivers, rose the downtown. The tallest tower, built for U.S. Steel, now bears the acronym UPMC, for the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, a collection of 20 hospitals in the region that ranks as the No. 1 employer, with 50,000 staffers.

The newspapers are full of talk about hassles the summit will bring. With so many heads of state in town, the city plans to bring in 3,000 extra police officers. There is fear that protesters will disrupt the positive TV images. Schools will be closed because of congestion.

But Bates said folks who fret about all that are "missing the bigger picture: This is world recognition for the city of Pittsburgh."

Like its cross-state big brother, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh has a bit of an inferiority complex. Philadelphia seems to have a chip on its shoulder. Pittsburgh just wants to be liked.

Philadelphia, in the '70s, had a billboard that read, "Philadelphia isn't as bad as Philadelphians say it is." Pittsburghers might have felt that way about their town in those days, but they'd never have put that on a billboard.

"The summit means a lot to the city," said William E. Deibler, retired managing editor of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. "Even though a lot of people have no idea what the G-20 is, they know it's going to focus attention on Pittsburgh."

"People are getting very proud and pleased," said William J. Green, a public affairs consultant. "This gives us bragging rights. This is chance for us to be known for something other than our sports teams."

With the Steelers having won the Super Bowl in February and the Penguins having claimed the Stanley Cup in June, Pittsburgh already was riding high.

"I have a bias here, but Pittsburgh is a wonderful city," said Ron Mangold, a retired hospital president sitting in the stands at the Pirates' PNC Park.

At 73, Mangold has never lived anywhere else, except in winter in Florida. His five children, who came of age in the bitter '80s, had to move away to find opportunity. He hopes today's high school and college graduates will have chances here.

"I think we're starting to get the jobs back," he said.

Indeed, there are more jobs in the Pittsburgh region today (1.1 million) than at the height of steel (1 million), according to the Allegheny Conference on Community Development.

Bill Flanagan, the group's executive vice president, says "everyone talks about eds and meds" - universities and hospitals - as the driving force behind the new economy.