The Newtown Pentacle

Tuesday

– photo by Mitch Waxman

Still on Pittsburgh’s Rialto Street today, see yesterday’s post for details on this amazing spot.

For the TLDR crowd: 5th steepest street in Pittsburgh, Route 28 at the bottom with the neighborhood of Troy Hill at the top. The bridge spanning over Rialto Street, visible above, is called the Ley St. Bridge. Steps, ankle, stairs phobia – now you’re all caught up.

Really, scroll back to the Monday post, as I put a bit of work into it.

The shots in today’s post were gathered while moving through here, but didn’t fit into yesterday’s missive.

– photo by Mitch Waxman

There’s neighborhood murals all over Pittsburgh, letting you know that you’re entering a community people call home. The Troy Hill Incline mural on the side of that house is a spectacular example of the sign painter’s art, and fantastic graphic design. The brick building it adorns is a nice example of the sort of homes you might observe up here.

I didn’t wander too far afield, but prior trips through and over Troy Hill have revealed closely sited row houses. Many follow the Philadelphia model, with narrow sidewalks and shared walls. Lots of wood frame construction, and real estate sources suggest that most of the housing up here predates the Second World War.

– photo by Mitch Waxman

In the distance, that’s the 31st Street Bridge, which I’ve walked over several times since moving to Pittsburgh. In addition to highways and high volume roads, a network of rail trails snakes throughout Pittsburgh, which I often exploit. A branch of one of the trails offers egress to that bridge, or to Herr’s Island which is out of sight and down on the Allegheny River. Drivers moving towards the POV above can find connections to the high speed toad Route 28, which allows traffic to hurtle about at highway speeds.

On the other side of the river is Lawrenceville, The Strip District, and there’s street access to both Downtown Pittsburgh and up to Polish Hill.

– photo by Mitch Waxman

The shot above shows some ‘very Pittsburghy’ houses. The three story wood frame house seems to need some love and attention, but has strong bones. Just beyond is a home with a bricked porch. The latter is a common adaptation for Pittsburgh’s humid climate which you’ll find in older buildings here, constructed before the age of HVAC and air conditioners. There’s historic apartment buildings all over the place in which each unit has an outdoor space designed to escape the heat.

Yesterday’s post ended at the bottom of Rialto Street, and in that post I promised ‘totally stupid fun’ today.

– photo by Mitch Waxman

OK then, here we are. At the bottom of Rialto Street, at its intersection with Route 28 and the 31st street Bridge. Pretty scary spot for a pedestrian. So, what’s a narrator going to do? Not run across a highway, that’s for sure. Ankle limitations, remember, really can’t ‘run’ right now.

As often stated, when I’m going somewhere for the first time, a bit of time has been spent in Google maps using their ‘street view’ feature to scout. I’ve also driven past this spot a bunch of times, which is how I got so intrigued about the St. Nicholas Trail.

– photo by Mitch Waxman

This is actually a bus stop, believe it or not, and that narrow pathway which leads away at more or less the dead bang center of the shot is the St. Nicholas Trail. Looks horrible, doesn’t it?

How can I resist walking down that?

Back tomorrow.

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