Archive for June 2025
Hurtling scuttle
Monday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Welcome back to the midpoint of a decently long walk in Pittsburgh.
I had to cross the street to get to the 16th street David L. McCullough bridge, and while negotiating the crosswalk (with the light and a walk signal) some redneck decided it would be funny to try and hit me with his car while he was making a left. Not accidental at all, he intentionally swerved towards me, forcing me to jump forward to avoid being hit and yelling ‘what the fuck?’
The country mouse got caught at a light, where he then got to hear this city mouse loose a string of blue invective at him. I was also hurling esoteric occultist curses. Seven times seven generations worth of bad luck will now accompany this particular hillbilly’s line of descendants.
Don’t annoy a humble narrator by trying to hit me with your car, country mouse, that’s the lesson. I ain’t all that humble in real life, and I also have a hot temper and an extremely adaptable moral compass.
Bah.
At any rate, that’s the 16th street bridge pictured today.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The 16th street bridge itself is easy walking, and deposits you into a part of the central peninsula of Pittsburg where the Strip District transitions into Downtown. There’s a stolidity to this three arch span, with its steel and flagstone construction, that I just like. It’s also a fairly visually attractive bridge with those triple arches, and a set of neat sculptural elements atop the piers. The bridge is named for David McCollough.
David L. McCullough was a Pittsburgh native, and nationally famous historian, who wrote many great books – but his Brooklyn Bridge masterpiece has a special place in my heart, and is one of my touchstones for NYC history in the middle and late 19th century periods. If you can find the audiobook which the author personally narrates, buy it.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Looking towards downtown, and that’s the Veteran’s Bridge, a high volume connector between Downtown Pittsburgh to the south and Route 28 and I-279 on the north. It’s a pretty massive structure.
I debarked the 16th street bridge and then headed in a south westerly direction. I’ve taken to adorning one of my camera bag straps with a small compass, in order to keep track of the cardinal directions. Yeah, the phone has a digital compass, but I’d have to fish it out of my pocket… meh.
Everything doesn’t have to have a chip inside it to be useful
– photo by Mitch Waxman
One last look back at the 16th street bridge and away I go.
The plan for the second half of this outing involved getting out of the downtown area, and then heading over to the more familiar south side of the Monongahela, which is found on the opposite side of the triangular landform that the towers of downtown loathsomely squat upon.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Under the Veterans Bridge, and a bit of trivia for you: Pittsburgh’s Coroner’s office is housed directly across the street from where I was scuttling along, as is their version of the NYC DEP (water and sewer).
Gotta say, it’s fairly shabby around these parts, and along Liberty Avenue. It has that sort of dead street/blight vibe that always happens around governmental offices. The Heinz museum is just a couple of blocks away from here, and the convention center just beyond that. Despite that, section is pretty defined by the Coroners, a few bail bondsman storefront operations, and those parking lots. Gotta park somewhere, I guess.
Me? I kept on keeping on. Striding has become part of locomotion again, although I’m still walking a good deal slower than I formerly did.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
A steel mill ladle pot occupies a couple of parking spots in a lot at 12th street. Wonder what it costs to park a giant steel pot in downtown Pittsburgh for a day. Aww… who am I kidding, it’ll be about $15.
Back tomorrow.
“follow” me on Twitter- @newtownpentacle
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“In the Shadows at Newtown Creek,” an 88 page softcover 8.5×11 magazine format photo book by Mitch Waxman, is now on sale at blurb.com for $30.
Peaceful egress
Friday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The next encounter on my ‘totally stupid fun’ scuttle involved crossing over the highways on the Charles J. Lieberth Pedestrian Walkway.
Named for PBS’s first ‘Mr. Science,’ the bridge spans over Route 28 and its various ramps which lead to other highways and high volume bridges. The pedestrian bridge allows egress over the concrete canyons of the high speed roads.
These highways were cut directly out of Pittsburgh’s central residential districts, dividing and isolating communities. Reading about this city, I have seen Robert Moses’ name pop up here and there as an advisor to both Pittsburgh and PA. planners, and whether or not he or his acolytes had anything to do with this setup is unknown to me, but their influence on the road network here is pretty clear.
‘Urban core is bad, build highways through it to get the population out to the suburbs in cars.’
Me? I’m a big proponent of decking over these traffic chasms and creating parkland above them. It’s expensive, but so’s having tens of thousands of cars shoot through your neighborhood every day.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I floated the idea of decking over the Grand Central Parkway back in Astoria with a few of the powers that be. ‘The Tall Guy’ wasn’t terribly interested, although the ‘other guy’ currently running for Mayor was. The tale I was telling them was one where light weight decking, designed to carry a linear park rather than buildings, along Astoria Blvd. between 31st and 46th streets, was involved. I made the case about Real Estate valuation skyrocketing anywhere within six blocks of a park, cleaner air and its relationship to childhood asthma, and both noise containment and the urban heat island effect.
Decking over the trenches which highways ride through cities in is going to be ‘a thing’ eventually in this country. Not making more land, so… this sort of idea is one of the things that Government is actually good at… it would employ the unions… generate a lot of ‘made in the USA’ business for steel and concrete…
Bah.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
From up on the pedestrian bridge, looking northwards towards the ‘Deutschtown’ section of Pittsburgh’s North Shore.
Don’t know this area well at all, but there’s a lot of historic housing stock and commercial buildings to observe. I’m more familiar with the northern part of this neighborhood closer to Allegheny General Hospital. Exteriors of that institution are shown on the HBO/Max series ‘The Pitt’ as being the setting of the show (pictured here).
They don’t have enough people wearing Steelers jerseys and shorts during the winter for that show to be believably set in Pittsburgh.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Before leaving the pedestrian bridge and regaining normal streets, this highway interchange caught my eye. One of the tricks to driving in Pittsburgh is familiarity with which lane you need to be in for where you’re going. Drivers here are merciless, and enforce their rules with a maximum of mendacity. If you miss your turn, it’s incumbent to double back – there are no second chances on roads in the Steel City.
Me? I was heading for the Heinz Factory Lofts. That’s what they call the Heinz Factory now that it’s been converted to residential.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I’ve shown you photos of the Heinz campus before, but nothing systematic or beyond the surface. Hoping to worm my way in there sometime and get busy with the camera.
Just passing through, at any rate.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
My next challenge was going to crossing the Allegheny River, and getting to the 16th street bridge. Luckily, that’s the street I was standing one when this photo was taken.
Back next week with more – at this – your Newtown Pentacle.
“follow” me on Twitter- @newtownpentacle
Buy a book!
“In the Shadows at Newtown Creek,” an 88 page softcover 8.5×11 magazine format photo book by Mitch Waxman, is now on sale at blurb.com for $30.
Liminal spaces, amirite?
Thursday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Looking back at the pathway I’d just scuttled, along Pittsburgh’s St. Nicholas Church trail, which is set into the landscape along Route 28. There’s a small monument with some historic signage recognizing the importance of the former church, no doubt a political nod to the Croatian community who used to populate this area and belonged to the church.
Route 28 is also called ‘East Ohio Street’ and the ‘Pittsburgh-Buffalo Highway,’ by the way. Onward and upwards.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Liminal spaces are spots which people move through but aren’t occupied full time by anyone. Airports, train stations, long corridors. That sort of thing.
There’s a devastating loneliness inherent to these transitory spaces which I just feed on in the manner of a vampire. Pictured above is the monument to the demolished church.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Historically minded morons promulgate stories of ‘elites’ hiding things away from history for ‘reasons,’ as it doesn’t fit their modern political narratives. If you want to indulge yourself in a bit of pure pseudo scientific fiction, that is most likely a Russian disinformation project, google the terms ‘mud floods’ and Tartaria. Graham Hancock’s face is hanging in my mind’s eye right now.
The Incels are really into this sort of thing at the moment, as it pulls the rug out from under a bunch of the things that they hate.
In reality, historic ruins often take the form of that cornerstone from the church in the shot above. In a a hundred years, when the signs and the people who remember the church are all gone, this corner stone will likely be hidden away and buried in the soil, waiting for someone in the future to dig it out and try to put a story together about it.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Nothing is true anymore, is it? The great unraveling is upon us, with institutional decay caused by tumult from the endless sea of politics.
Knowledge isn’t what it used to be, and people will state that they ‘do their own research.’ They don’t parse that not all sources are good, even if they agree with what the source says.
I do my own research, but never pass on juicy information that agrees with my particular world view unless I can confirm it by a secondary source that also bears some provenance but has no relationship with the first. A lot of historic stories end up getting warped by retelling, and it’s like the child’s game of ‘Telephone’ watching facts get mangled. I’ve always liked fire insurance maps and court testimony, for instance, since money and freedom are on the line respectively.
You can’t take anything for granted, except for greed and crime.
Has American civilization become a liminal space?
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The trail ended directly across the street from what is purported to be the oldest beer brewery in Pittsburgh, currently operated under the nomen ‘Penn Brewery.’ They weren’t open, as this was a Monday.
Shame, could have used a beer at this point, strictly in the name of replenishment of course. I got to quaff a pint or two at the end of this walk, but that’s several posts away from this one.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
My path still had a few wonders in store, and the plan was to scuttle at the Heinz Factory and then cross the Allegheny River, nearby the 16th street Bridge. The ankle was holding up just fine, in case you’re curious.
Back tomorrow.
“follow” me on Twitter- @newtownpentacle
Buy a book!
“In the Shadows at Newtown Creek,” an 88 page softcover 8.5×11 magazine format photo book by Mitch Waxman, is now on sale at blurb.com for $30.
St. Nicholas Trail, along Route 28?
Wednesday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Firstly, the official speed limit on Route 28 is 45mph. Given a nearly total abandonment of the enforcement of traffic laws regarding vehicle speed on the part of the Pittsburgh Police Department, the actual speed limit here is delimited by how fast you feel comfortable driving. It’s common for a pickup to hurtle past you at 80mph on this stretch. That’s fast enough for the slipstream of a passing F-250 to jostle your car, and enough to pop the baseball cap off a humble narrator’s cabeza.
The St. Nicholas Trail is an artifact of a road widening project which is said to have wrapped up around 2011. Route 28 offers some spectacular views of the city from a less common POV, so I decided to roll the dice and see where this trail went to. I tightened the band on my ball cap.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
This was actually quite a horrible experience. It reminded me of the foot path to St. Michael’s Cemetery in Astoria, which runs along the Grand Central Parkway. Cars whipping by on your left, a wooded highway side on the right. Lots of car exhaust, noise, and heavy trucking shooting past at high speeds. Horrible, really.
I was so happy.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Looking back at the oncoming horde of engines, metal, and glass. I’m not kidding about this road being a difficult drive. Pittsburgh drivers love to tailgate, and compound accidents are pretty common here. A four car compound crash incident happened just a few days after shooting these photos.
As a former New Yorker – yes, we are aggressive drivers too. Saying that, we New Yorkers all learned how to drive in a constrained space with hard speed limits in a dense urban core, limits which are enforced by a de facto paramilitary army of 38,000 highly motivated cops that are expected to hand out a certain quota of traffic tickets every day.
There’s less than 900 Pittsburgh PD officers on staff currently, and no Chief.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Norfolk Southern has a set of tracks which parallel Route 28, and they had a series of train cars sitting alongside the road which made for a nice framing device – compositionally speaking. The rail cars had black stone within them, a mineral which was probably coal.
Luckily, the St. Nicholas trail is fairly short, and it leaves the immediate vicinity of Route 28 after a short interval of what seemed like a mile and change. This ‘totally stupid fun’ scuttle was just what I needed, but I can’t recommend the path for its insalubriousness, due to the arms length nearness of hurtling highway traffic.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The trail’s path begins to veer away from Route 28 at one point, and you get to leave the highway noise, exhaust fumes, and constant wake driven blasts of air pressure you experience.
As described, St. Nicholas Church was an RC outpost here that was colloquially referred to as the ‘Croatian Cathedral,’ and that was the ethnic population here which called the surrounding neighborhood ’Mala Jaska.’
I lived in a Croatian section back in Astoria, and learned that it’s just best to go along with whatever they want to call something, bro.
My upstairs neighbors in Astoria for a bunch of years were a Croatian family. Mom and Dad, and an adult son. Dad’s name was Dario, the son Mario. My landlord used to employ them to do repairs on our building.
Our Lady and myself would just refer to them as the ‘Arios.’ Mario used to insert ‘Bro’ into every statement he uttered, but to fair he was a Union laborer and that’s the culture he lived in. He would call his Mom ‘Bro.’
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Thankfully, the totally stupid fun section of my day was coming to an end. I still had miles and miles in front of me. It was beautiful day in Pittsburgh, with temperatures in the high 60’s and a steady breeze.
Back tomorrow.
“follow” me on Twitter- @newtownpentacle
Buy a book!
“In the Shadows at Newtown Creek,” an 88 page softcover 8.5×11 magazine format photo book by Mitch Waxman, is now on sale at blurb.com for $30.
Troy Hill to St. Nicholas Trail
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.
“follow” me on Twitter- @newtownpentacle
Buy a book!
“In the Shadows at Newtown Creek,” an 88 page softcover 8.5×11 magazine format photo book by Mitch Waxman, is now on sale at blurb.com for $30.
The Newtown Pentacle 