Archive for the ‘Pennsylvania’ Category
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
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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.
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
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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.
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.
Rialto St., Pittsburgh’s 5th steepest
Monday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
When I describe something as ‘totally stupid fun,’ it usually means that whereas you’re not going to be terribly comfortable during the experience it’s nevertheless something worth doing, at least once.
To wit, a recent endeavor involved visiting Pittsburgh’s Troy Hill neighborhood, and walking down its infamous Rialto Street, whereupon an exploratory walk along the St. Nicholas Trail would occur. This particular scuttle begins here!
Troy Hill sits above an elevated river flood plain, which is currently occupied (since 2011) by a high speed road called Route 28. Largely Catholic German immigrants began to populate this area during the 1830’s and 40’s. Later on in the game, there used to be a concentration of Croatians (from Jastrebarsko) living where Route 28 is today, and they called the area surrounding their St. Nicholas Croatian Catholic Church ‘Mala Jaska.’ Route 28 was widened and expanded over a long interval, with the project wrapping up in 2011-12, forcing the removal of the church and surrounding homes. At least, that’s what I’ve been able to discern about the situation.
Again, new to Pittsburgh – if I messed the timeline or tale up, please let me know via the comments and I’ll offer corrections.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The neighborhood of Troy Hill itself is fairly lovely, except for a few problematic spots which are sort of ‘crimey.’ The neighborhood is fairly static in terms of residential turnover and housing stock, with most of the homes in the area dating back to the 1940’s or earlier.
Troy Hill sits nearby and above Herr’s Island down at water level on The Allegheny River, and is next door to Millvale. Herr’s Island was where Pittsburgh’s stock yards were once found, and Rialto Street started out as a dirt path set into a ravine which was used to drive herds of pigs to the slaughterhouse found up top on the hill. The nickname ‘Pig Hill’ is actually still used and in fairly common parlance in Pittsburgh today.
Check out this page at brooklineconnection.com for historic photos of Rialto Street.
Rialto Street itself is only 20 feet wide, and is set against the slope of Troy Hill at a 20-24 degree angle. There’s signs saying ‘no trucks’ but trucks and busses routinely get jammed up trying to negotiate Rialto Street.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
There’s ’City Steps’ set along Rialto, placed so in lieu of a sidewalk. The first thing you encounter when starting down these steps is the Ley St. Bridge. It carries a local street over Rialto Street, and your humble narrator felt obliged to walk up that flight of steps and see what I could see from them.
The fifth steepest street in Pittsburgh, Rialto Street is. It ascends some 36 meters, or 118.11 feet – or 10.9 building stories – from the bottom at Route 28 to the top on Troy Hill. It was an easy decision to walk down these steps rather than up.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Looking back at where the first photo was captured, from up on the Ley Street Bridge. Those Rialto Street steps were difficult walking, even going down, I should mention. The spatial ratio of the rises and runs of these stairs cause you to descend in three step combos, and the same foot (the right sided one) always got stuck with the stepping down motion. My footsteps were thereby bunched up in sets of three, as opposed to four.
Left, right, left – instead of left, right, left, right – Y’know?
I checked with a couple of locals to see if adoption of this three step combo was ‘just me,’ and it wasn’t, as they described the same three step thing and how the staccato rhythm always threw off their stride. It was a good calf workout though, gotta say. I was sore for a couple of days after this scuttle.
I tell’s ya, if you’re spooked by stairs like I am right now (post busted ankle PTSD), Pittsburgh is definitely the place to confront that particular psychic noise and stare it in the eye.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The shot above is still from up on the Ley St. Bridge, looking down towards Rialto Street itself, with Route 28 and the 31st street bridge in the distance. The big bridge leads to Lawrenceville, which I walked through a few weeks ago back. It looks insane, doesn’t it?
Experientially speaking, when driving down Rialto Street, you’re not covering the brake – you’re riding it. My car is a hybrid, so due to the miracle of regenerative braking this pathway really helps me out with free voltage for the battery, but saying all that if you were to pick up enough speed here you will not be able to stop the car in time to avoid bottoming out at the intersection with Route 28.
I’ve seen people wreck their cars (and one semi truck) in this sort of circumstance all over Pittsburgh by not respecting the terrain. Imagine slamming the bottom of the front end of a car against the pavement at 40-50 mph… there’s a reason you see gouges in the asphalt at the bottom of steep hills here.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
A few guys shot past me on the steps like I was moving in slow motion, but as I keep mentioning – I’m a bit phobic about stairs at the moment. Broke my left ankle on a set of stairs. Still see flashes of the injury randomly, often when blinking my eyes. Spent two months in a wheel chair, which blinks in every now and agin too. Six months of quite excruciating recovery time. Stairs… brrr…
I’m subjecting myself to some self guided exposure therapy, basically, as the milquetoast and well mannered younger generations would refer to it. Me? I’m from Brooklyn, so I just remind myself to ‘stop being an asshole and get on with your shit already. Nobody cares.’ Still can’t go down stairs without clutching onto the bannister though. I mean death gripping the thing, not holding it, actually. It’s autonomic.
This post ends at the bottom of Rialto Street, but tomorrow’s post will share a few more shots captured along this extraordinary stretch of the viae publicae.
More ‘totally stupid fun’ tomorrow – 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.
Shabbos trio
Friday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Odds and ends today, collected along my travels in Pittsburgh and the surrounding area while out and accomplishing other stuff. Pictured above is the neighborhood of Garfield, I’m told, and it is looking towards Oakland and the University of Pittsburgh’s Cathedral of Learning.
As you’re reading this, one is busily preparing for a week long trip to NYC.
Part of my plan is to dispose of my soiled clothing along the way. I’m packing three T-Shirts identical to the one I’ll be wearing while traveling, for instance, and plan on returning to Pittsburgh with just one. Same thing for socks and skivvies. Outer shell will remain the same, so I’ll just have to avoid spilling mustard or something similar on myself and I’ll be good. These garments are in need of renewal/replacement soon anyway.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I found myself in neighboring Washington County one day and was struck by the complexity of an electrical substation which I was passing by. Pulled over and grabbed a quick picture of it, me. My first thought when seeing this was ‘Godzilla trap.’ The big lizard is hopelessly drawn to this sort of infrastructure, according to the historic documentaries that are regularly offered by Japan’s Toho Studios for the world’s education.
Most of what I’m carrying to NYC with me is ‘kit.’ Lenses, tripod, etc., and I’m really trying to make this a ‘one bag’ trip. I could check luggage, but then I’m stuck carrying it around for at least a full day or two. I’ve often fantasized about using Amazon to deliver clothing to me while away from home, in order to not have to check a bag anywhere. Wear it once and drop it in a donation bin after the next ensemble arrives.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The Mobile Oppression Platform, a Toyota, continues to perform admirably. Saying that, it’s got to go back to the mothership periodically for scheduled maintenance. The most recent tire rotation and brake check was accompanied by a flush and replacement of various engine fluids. Fun stuff. Apparently it’s running fine and my tires seem to be holding up well despite their interaction with potholes and train tracks.
I’ve still got a few things to fashion together for the trip. For instance, I need to make foam baffles for my lenses so that I can shoot through windows with minimal reflection. My old set disintegrated.
Postings about my wanderings in the Pittsburgh metro area will continue next week – 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 