Archive for December 20th, 2023
Heading to Uptown
Wednesday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
It was a ‘long walk’ kind of day for a humble narrator, and one trudged up the hill to the “T” streetcar line station from HQ, where a ride into the ‘Downtown’ section of Pittsburgh was actuated. My path for the afternoon walk wasn’t in Downtown, rather I was heading ‘Uptown.’
I’ve walked through a tiny slice of ‘Uptown’ before, when I was drawn to visit and walk down a ridiculous set of Municipal Steps along the Monongahela River, nearby the bluff that Duquesne University occupies, back in May.
I’ve been using my headphones again while scuttling about, and listening to audiobooks and ‘old time’ radio. This time around, it was a BBC radio production from 1949 – a dramatization of ‘George Orwell’s 1984’ starring David Niven. Good stuff, and something that I downloaded years ago. You can listen to it at this link,
– photo by Mitch Waxman
One rode the T streetcar to the Steel Tower stop, which – as you’d imagine – is nearby the U.S. Steel tower here in the Downtown section (native Pittsburghers would pronounce that as ‘Dahntahn’). This section is where Pittsburgh keeps its office buildings, Governmental Agencies, and corporate assets. It’s an interesting area, Pittsburgh’s business district, one which I haven’t fully built a mental map of yet.
After assessing my positioning, I set out for the scuttle along a route that I had crafted before leaving HQ.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
It’s fascinating how utterly embraced the automobile is in Pittsburgh, with literal eight lane highways just rammed right into the densest section of the metro area. There’s a fairly terrific amount of parking available downtown, with metered spots on the street and massive multi story parking garages that are fairly affordable. I guess it’s the way things are, but it’s odd for this ex-New Yorker to see a city center built around automobiles rather than mass transit.
What was especially odd was how deserted this section of the City was.
Admittedly, this walk occurred on a Sunday afternoon, but it was notable to me how few people there were on the sidewalks. No doubt due to the low foot traffic and all that, nearly every retail establishment was closed with a ‘for rent’ sign in the window. Ghost town.
More tomorrow.
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