Archive for September 2025
Cool Cars, Van edition
Tuesday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Longtime readers will recall that the ‘cool cars’ designation for a post used to be fairly common here at Newtown Pentacle, but that was in Western Queens. The tag on post signifies that I wandered past an unexpectedly charismatic vehicle, during a walk, and felt compelled to photograph it. Hence…
Check out this crazy van.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The bonnet, as the British born ‘Our Lady of the Pentacle’ might call it, was festooned with skulls. Wouldn’t want to clear snow off of this one.
I’m guessing that the owner must be in a band. The cargo racks on top… gotta be a vehicle which a band tours out of. Metal band, I’ll wager.
It’s also possible that the devil had simply parked in the South Side Flats area and this is its ride.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Front shot of the thing, and then your humble narrator moved on.
It was still too early in the day for a beer, so despite my proximity to the Sly Fox Brewery and it’s non stop parade of CSX trains, your humble narrator instead ‘leaned into it’ and continued on with his scuttle.
I was determined to use mass transit to get back to HQ, but that’s another story for another day. 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.
Entirely pedestrian pursuits
Monday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Continuing today, a medium length scuttle that started in Pittsburgh’s Allentown section, continued down the Knoxville Incline Greenway, and then stepped back out and onto the steeply graded streets of the South Side Slopes neighborhood here in the Paris of Appalachia.
The housing stock in this area used to be considered as ‘worker’s dwellings,’ back when the shorelines of the Monongahela River were lined with steel mills and rail yards. The quote for what Pittsburgh used to be like in the late 19th and early 20th centuries comes from the greatest of all American quotidians: Mark Twain.
Twain’s offering was that ‘it looked like hell with the lid off.’
– photo by Mitch Waxman
My path carried me towards a small masonry bridge at South 12th street which overflies a set of rail tracks and acts as one of the connections between the ‘slopes’ and the ‘flats’ zones. I’ve looked around a bit, and it seems that this one actually belongs to Norfolk Southern rather than the municipality- although I’m pretty sure that the latter entity likely controls the surfacing, signage, and maintenance of the actual roadway.
It’s a real pickle driving over this puppy, by the way.
Blind turns, all that. It’s also ‘pre modern’ in its approach to the pedestrian space. Definitely not ‘ADA’ compliant, and it would be a serious challenge to negotiate a mobility device like a wheelchair through here.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
It was ‘ankle safe’ though, in its defense.
The subject of people who have mobility issues seldom seems to come up in the civil discourse around streets these days, drowned out as they usually are by the bicycle people and their demands for… whatever the hell it is they’ve decided they want this time. The wheelchair, cane, and walker crowd is always shouted down by these anti-car hooligans, who desire the installation of obstacles into the common roadway and the removal of obstacles from theirs.
Bah!
– photo by Mitch Waxman
There’s a few cool views on this path, including ground level visual access to the Norfolk Southern tracks. I was specifically not hunting for trains on this walk, instead the goal was purely one of ‘exercise’ with a layer of photographic opportunity on top.
On, and on, did your humble narrator scuttle.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Just look at that. The parking lane on the left side of the shot is part of a street where there’s a legal left onto the bridge – a blind 120 degree turn.
The pedestrian space leads to a step at the end of the ramp, so screw you young parents with a carriage or anyone using a wheeled mobility device.
You go a couple of hundred feet on the bridge roadway and there’s another blind turn, followed by yet another at the top of the thing. All the while, opposing traffic is executing a series of blind turns as well. The roadways design is essentially a capital letter ‘Z.’
Madness.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Back on flat ground, in the South Side Flats area, and onto somewhat familiar ground. The first half of my walk carried me down the side of Mount Washington, and now I was on the flood plain of the Monongahela River.
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.
Knoxville Incline Greenway
Friday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
This pathway in Pittsburgh’s ‘South Side Slopes’ section has been on ‘my list’ for a while now. The ‘Knoxville Incline Greenway’ is what the sign says. The incline, or funicular railway, which it is named for hasn’t occupied this space since 1960. Read all about it here.
Now, I should mention that I’m currently rating my ankle as being ‘85%’ of what it used to be as far as physicality goes.
Jack ass that I am, that means it’s time to start taking chances again and to stop avoiding problematic situations and places, out of an abundance of caution. I’m still being cautious, just loosening myself up a bit and trying to stamp out the last embers of the PTSD regarding stairs which have been annoying me.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The greenway itself is entirely consumed by the verge that surrounds it, growing out of what’s essentially a cliff face. The elevation plunges down quickly here, from the heights of Allentown and through to the wicked street grades of the South Side Slopes, and to the flood plain of the Monongahela River found in the South Side Flats section.
There’s a set of ‘city steps’ embedded within that vegetative tunnel.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Following the steps, and your humble narrator startled two sleeping raccoons while negotiating his path through the treacherous condition.
One of the critters fell out of a tree in his panicked reaction to me.
The steps section is pretty short, maybe three or four hundred feet. You descend at least a few building stories worth of verticality in that interval, however. The steps were covered with sticks and leaves, and thereby were quite slippery in certain spots. I obliged caution and moved slowly, but with a purpose.
‘This isn’t ankle safe,’ thought your humble narrator.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The greenway materializes back into the real world at a street called ‘Welsh Way.’ This is a quite narrow, and steep, residential street dead end that’s sort of ‘tucked away’ on the side of Mount Washington. Also, as previously mentioned, if a street has the word ‘way’ in its name here in Pittsburgh, it’s actually an alley.
The extreme grading is precisely what I was looking for, regarding the whole ‘stretch and strengthen’ deal for the ankle.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
People live here. I’ve been told by residents of the area that the City of Pittsburgh pays them a lot of early attention during winter weather, as far as salting and plowing goes. I guess you’d have to or you’d never be able to get a heavy vehicle up this hill otherwise to execute those tasks.
One scuttled along.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
A church steeple encountered at Welsh Way’s intersection with Brosville Street captured my attentions. That’s the same church mentioned in past posts about the ‘Church Route’ steps up on Pius Street.
Yes. You’re not imagining it, everything is actually connected. All the walks, the drives, everything. I know that it’s seemed random – here, there, the other place…
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.
Downhill, from here…
Thursday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Recent endeavor found your humble narrator in Pittsburgh’s Allentown Section, where a last minute change in my plan for the day manifested. I had originally intended to take a somewhat longer walk, starting from a spot about a half mile away, but changed my mind at the last minute and took a different path instead. Serendipity!
Pictured above is the T light rail turning out of Allentown for its long descent towards the Panhandle Bridge, over the Monongahela River.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The path I decided to take is a bit of a backwater, and – driving wise – is the one which you use to skirt around rush hour traffic by ‘taking the local streets.’ It’s a winding ‘mountain road’ sort of situation, with lots of switch backs and blind sharp turns to negotiate. Very exciting. This road is called ‘Brosville Street.’
There’s a location along this path which I’ve been wanting to get a look at, and I owed the still recovering ankle a serious exercise day, so…
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Cool, an abandoned house. There are so many of these in Pittsburgh that it’s actually staggering.
Brosville Street, and the places it leads to, are set into a steep section of Mount Washington. This scuttle would involve walking down a severely angled series of streets, with my intention being to absolutely blast the muscles in my ankles, calves, and those ones in the front of the thighs which lead up into the hips. Hard to reach muscle groups, these are.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The grade of the land forces one’s gait to land the foot on the balls of the feet (the bottom forefoot, or metatarsal head) rather than the heel. This alters the gait, and causes one to constantly seek balance. This helps to condition the discrete musculature and the tendon/ligaments which were hyper extended during my injury. Walking up this hill would also use a completely different set of leg and back muscles, but those aren’t the ones I’ve been having problems with since the broken ankle incident.
It’s all life’s rich pageant, ain’t it?
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Habit sees me avoid taking pictures of people’s homes, as it can get a little weird. Saying, couldn’t resist recording that set of steps leading from the sidewalk down to that house. I’ve often wondered about the logistical circumstance of bringing in the week’s groceries, a piece of furniture, or just getting a pizza delivery at locations like this one in Pittsburgh. Wow.
I should mention that in addition to my neuroses about being on time or early to assignations, I’m constantly worrying about personal logistics. To be fair, I’m always managing a constellation of camera gear that’s strapped to my person, so planning ahead makes sense to me. It annoys people, however, this incessant need of mine to ‘walk through’ and minutely plan an event prior to committing to it.
In my defense, it’s reasonable to ask – for instance – ‘where do you intend to urinate,’ amongst several other existential factors, when ‘out and about.’ Plan on thirst, discomfort, and fatigue when on a walk and you’ll never be surprised by them.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I was wearing my silly $7 Costco fishing hat, along with the usual duty uniform of black army/cargo shorts with a white guayabera over shirt worn over a white t-shirt, and my trusty Merrell hiking shoes of course.
It was warm, and I was trying to travel light on this particular day. My massive camera backpack was left back at HQ, and I was using a sling bag instead. Three lenses were with me – a zoom on the camera, and a couple of prime lenses in the bag. No tripods or extraneous gear on this scuttle.
Tomorrow – the Knoxville Incline Greenway – as it were.
“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.
Of opportunity
Wednesday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The shots in today’s post are fairly random, and can best be described as being ‘snapshots’ more than they are ‘photographs.’
The difference between the two descriptors is ‘intentionality,’ which is a high fallooting way of saying ‘I meant to do that.’ Wanker talk.
These images are ones where something caught my eye, and specifically – while I was driving around Pittsburgh while doing other things.
The ‘move’ I make in this sort of circumstance has been described before, wherein I clumsily thrust the camera up through the moon roof of the car, and work the image off of the screen on the back of the device rather than looking through the camera’s diopter. These lovely and colorful houses can be found on Pittsburgh’s North Side, incidentally.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Also on the North Side, and I’m fascinated by that YMCA neon sign for some reason. Have to get back here at night sometime when it’s lit up.
I almost always have the camera sitting on the passenger seat while I’m motoring around. The device doesn’t get used all that much since I’m… Y’know… driving a car, but it’s ready to rock.
Often, something interesting will pop out which I’ll grab a quick one of, and then I’ll find my way back to that spot on one of the days when I’m taking a walk instead of driving.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
This one was captured in the Borough of Dormont, where Newtown Pentacle HQ nests. This is the more or less ‘shallow’ side of that hill which HQ can be found at the bottom of.
As mentioned in prior postings, my ‘lead time’ with these postings has finally increased – something I’ve spent the last few months trying to achieve. This post in particular is being written during the last week of August. The summer weather has just broken here in the Pittsburgh region, and it’s been positively cold at night.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
This one was captured while waiting at a traffic light to turn onto the Birmingham Bridge, an interval of time artificially extended by the flaggers attached to that construction crew pictured above. All summer long, it seemed that every road in Pittsburgh had some form of construction activity underway.
It’s also been roughly one year since the ankle drama began, incidentally.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
This has, accordingly, been one heck of a year for me. Lots of pain and discomfort, the spell during which I was living in a wheelchair, and then the long road back to being ambulatory again, and the reconditioning of my atrophied roadway interface. It’s been a deal, yo.
I’ll survive this year, if it kills me.
This shot depicts a former brewery on Pittsburgh’s south side.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
This one is looking downtown, from the ‘Uptown’ or ‘Bluff’ section. More construction. It’s everywhere.
Back tomorrow with something different – 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.
The Newtown Pentacle 