Archive for May 28th, 2024
Open Streets PGH, too
Tuesday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Pittsburgh’s Armstrong Tunnel, opened for inclusion in the ‘Open Streets PGH’ event, is pictured above. A 1927 vintage inclusion to Pittsburgh’s street grid, it’s named for a director of Public Works who would later serve his community as Pittsburgh’s Mayor, and then as Commissioner of Allegheny County at the start of the 20th century.
Who knew?
Our Lady of the Pentacle and myself retracted our umbrella’s canopies back into the ‘ready’ position and entered the underground. This open streets dealie is something organized by the local chapter of ‘the Bicycle People.’ I’m on record calling out the ‘bicycle people’ as being generally caustic and acting like total dicks, but I’m scarred from interaction with a particularly toxic group of them back in NYC’s Queens.
There was a cool vibe in the air, here in Pittsburgh, although the many Cops observed along the route didn’t look too happy. Saying that, do Cops ever look happy when they’re in uniform?
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Marching through the tunnel was uneventful, except for when I stopped to grab a shot and some kid who wasn’t paying attention to his surroundings walked right into me, but that wasn’t a big deal at all as he was a tiny fellow.
There’s meant to be two more of these Open Streets events in 2024, and I’m hoping that I’ll be able to make it to them. Anytime you can walk in the street and not get squished by a car – I’m down.
The Armstrong Tunnel deposits visitors on a normally busy quite and somewhat high speed roadway, at an intersection leading to the South Tenth Street Bridge that connects to the South Side Flats neighborhood on the other side of the Monongahela River. The Downtown section we had just walked through is part of the peninsular ‘Golden Triangle’ section which sits between ‘The Mon,’ Ohio, and Allegheny Rivers.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
That’s the South Tenth street bridge, pictured above, which we proceeded upon. A quick couple’s scuttle soon found us enjoying a pint of beer at a local brewery, whereupon we indulged in a bit of laziness and summoned a cab to carry us back to HQ rather than using the light rail. It was pouring rain by this point in the day.
As a note – Breweries are a ‘thing’ here in Pittsburgh. There’s also a significant number of establishments which specialize in locally brewed Mead. Not my cup of tea, that – too sweet.
Upon our return, Moe the Dog rejoiced.
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