Archive for October 23rd, 2026
Racing to the bottom, me
Friday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Wandering in Pittsburgh’s Oakland section continues in today’s post, which presents shots from an interesting walk along Neville Street.
As described yesterday, Oakland is a truly urban section of this Appalachian municipality, and is home base for several institutions of higher learning – including the University of Pittsburgh (PITT) and Carnegie Mellon University amongst others. Additionally, clustered around Oakland are a series of massive hospitals and other healthcare oriented buildings.
Pittsburgh’s Fifth Avenue, in this section, seems to ride along a ridge line, and Neville Street ‘drops off’ in altitude as it heads southwards towards the Monongahela River’s shoreline. Neville doesn’t make it all the way there, as it feeds into either a park or a cul de sac area along the way.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Lots of investment going on in Oakland.
It seems like there’s always new construction happening here as the universities and the local healthcare overlords continue to expand their operations. As alluded to above, this very urban section of the city is located centrally on its peninsular ‘golden triangle,’ and serves as a de facto ‘second downtown’ for Pittsburgh.
This is where you’ll see street level shops selling ‘stuff.’ Sandwiches, coffee, all sorts of ‘to go’ food. There’s also capital T ‘Traffic.’
A city, in other words.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
My plan had been to follow Neville Street all the way to its theoretical terminus by walking through that park to the Monongahela River, and then head west to eventually meet up with the T light rail, but a road construction project had obliterated the sparse pedestrian infrastructure along this path and I’ve gotten pretty sick of dealing with the terror of walking alongside de facto high speed roads.
As a note, it’s a local road, but that ain’t gonna stop the locals from speeding. Things are only illegal if there’s a cop around. Guarantee you that there wasn’t a cop laying in wait down there.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
One was hoping to get lucky and see a train coming through, down here.
It seems that there’s a locomotive tunnel set down under Oakland, one which portals back to the surface world hereabouts. I’ve seen the train moving through here, in the past, but didn’t get a shot of it. Another one for ‘my list.’
That list keeps on growing. Good thing.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
This is where my turnaround point was, in a parking lot on Neville Street.
The plan from here was to alter course, partially by walking back up a hill I had just scuttled down, and then pick my way along to get to one of the fairly distant T light stations. Maybe… 4-5 miles away? Maybe a bit less?
Could always take a bus, but that’s not why I left HQ.
Exercise day, yo.
The whole point of all this movement is to not stop or rest for more than five minutes at a pop, while otherwise maintaining a singular pace and posture as the earth spins beneath my feet in a measured fashion. 2.6 to 2.8 mph is the goal speed for these walks. The underlying idea is to get my heart rate up to a certain point and then maintain that pace for hours and hours. I usually have at least fifteen pounds of crap in my camera bag, more often closer to thirty, so elevating the heart rate isn’t all that hard. Walking for three to four hours at a pop… different story.
I often like to fantasize that I remain in a static position during a walk, and that the planet just spins around beneath me.
To pull that one off, unfortunately, I’d need to walk at the speed of a jet plane. My shoes would melt. I’ve worked it out, the math of this fantasy, and it looks like I’d have a lot of trouble breathing, too, as my lungs would be flattened down within the chest by air pressure..
– photo by Mitch Waxman
One last shot from this spot before I started back up the hill.
It has been a struggle, self discipline wise, to adhere to my ‘two short walks and one long one’ schedule of late. Summer weather’s extremes got in my way, all through the hot season of 2026.
Autumn is the right time of year, however, as it’s ‘sweater weather.’
Back next week with more wonders – 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.
