Archive for the ‘Pittsburgh’ Category
North Side, up in the hills
Tuesday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The section of Pittsburgh which I landed in after moving out of New York is called the South Hills. There’s eighty something different neighborhood/regions which make up the Pittsburgh Metro Area, and I still haven’t been to most of them, which is something I’m trying to rectify. When you say “North Side” it’s generally referring to a largish section that’s north of the Allegheny River, which is actually the former Allegheny City municipal area that Pittsburgh annexed ‘back in the day.’ There’s a small relatively flat area along the river where you’ll find a couple of the stadiums, and other cultural stuff. As you move away from the river, a steep hill begins to rise out of the river valley. The only time I’ve previously spent in this zone was a brief ‘explore’ in a part of the neighborhood that is called the “Mexican War Streets.”
I had made my way up that steep hill leading away from the flat river bank area in pursuit of a public park which promised an overlook. I like finding points of elevation for the camera to enjoy so there you are. Click, click, whirr, whirr. Afterwards, I hopped into the car and drove around a bit to see what else might be up here.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Turns out that the neighborhood I was in is either called “Fineview” or “Perry” or both, and it’s a residential area which has definitely experienced a series of challenges. About every fourth structure I passed by was abandoned or boarded up. It seemed quite lovely, as far as the surviving and occupied structures that seemed fairly well maintained, but as in the case pictured above, there were several buildings where two homes shared a wall and one of them was open to the elements with the other being occupied and neat as a pin.
Apparently, this area is a fairly “crimey” one according to the TV News reports and the Police blotters. I generally don’t listen to such sources uncritically until they’re confirmed to me by people who live local and by observation, but this was my first time through and I don’t know anyone from this zone yet.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
It is staggering, just how many homes there are in Pittsburgh which stand abandoned. That apartment house pictured above is just a few blocks from the abandoned house in the second shot. So was this one, this one, this one, and this one. Just on the other side of the steep hill this neighborhood sits on, you see wealthy suburbs and semi rural areas in the hills and valleys found along the Ohio River.
Pittsburgh is crazy, yo.
Back tomorrow, and please share this post to your socials if you found it interesting.
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Brentwood and Thomas Jefferson
Monday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
One of the many, many things I’ve been busy doing since arriving in Pittsburgh has involved taking advantage of the fantastic medical systems they’ve got here. Nothing particularly wrong, except for the hundred physical ailments which you’ve read me complaining about over the years. None of these aches and pains are particularly “treatable” unless they’ve discovered the fountain of youth somewhere, but it’s been a while since I had the folks in the white coats poke and prod and it’s best to let them work their arts periodically. I actually have a series of these appointments this coming week, establishing a base line and a relationship with the new medical peeps.
Our Lady of the Pentacle has also been getting checked up by the Doctors who practice her various specialties, and after a drop off at an appointment in the nearby community of Brentwood, I had about 90 minutes to kill. Luckily, I’m easily entertained and since I hadn’t set foot in this section of the Pittsburgh Metropolitan Area… I decided to set the car tires down and a ride around survey occurred. Nice little suburban style spot, this.
I tooled around in the Mobile Oppression Platform – aka the Toyota – and found myself on a series of somewhat serpentine local roads which wound their way around the hills. There was a golf course/country club, and a couple of cemeteries, which all seemed visually interesting.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
This one, and the next shot too, were gathered within the fencelines of a cemetery which I hadn’t had the chance to record the name or location of when I was entering, since I was driving. Grr. A half hour of scouring Google Maps later…
Turns out that this area is called “Pleasant Hills,” and that the cemetery I had blundered into also functioned as a park, and is dubbed “Jefferson Memorial Cemetery.” Here’s a nice and fairly succinct article about the founding and creation of the place in 1929. I literally drove into the cemetery just to get off the road and out of the sort of high speed traffic that’s pretty common here in Pittsburgh.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The titular center of the place is the Thomas Jefferson Mausoleum (the 3rd President is buried in Virginia, as a note), which I kind of blundered across just after getting a call from Our Lady informing me that it was time to pick her up from that Doctoral assignation back in Brentwood.
I’ve got a few Doctor appointments myself, coming up, and I plan on taking a better look at this place on foot – after I’ve been poked and irradiated and sampled – at some point in the very near future. Interesting structure with a cool history.
Back tomorrow, and don’t forget to share this post of you like it.
“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.
Scuttle, scuttle, scuttle
Monday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
A visit to the Heinz History Center in Downtown Pittsburgh had been undertaken by Our Lady of the Pentacle and myself recently. That’s “Heinz” as in the Ketchup people with the 57 varieties, and one of the displays at this Smithsonian affiliated museum is centered around the iconic streetcars of Pittsburgh. The unit above went out of service in 1988, and it’s designated ‘Pittsburgh Streetcar #1724.’ I’ve come to understand that the high water mark for Pittsburgh’s streetcar system was in the middle 1950’s, when there were about 600 of the sort of vehicle pictured above roaming about.
historicpittsburgh.org has a succinct description of this class of streetcar, once so ubiquitous in Pittsburgh, which can be accessed here. There used to be a serious network of public transit in these parts, in addition to the surviving inclines which get most of the modern attention. For a history of how mass transit rose and fell in Pittsburgh, check this out.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
That’s the modern day equivalent of the historic streetcar display at the Heinz Center, which is dubbed the ‘T.’ When Our Lady and I were planning the great escape from New York, transit was definitively a part of the decision matrix, so we moved into an area which the T serves. I end up driving a lot here, but there’s days when I just want to scuttle about and not be tied down to wherever I parked the car. It was on just such a day that the shot above was gathered, after having ridden the Red Line service from HQ in Dormont here to the Station Square stop nearby the Monongahela River. Pictured is a Silver Line light rail T set, which is headed the other way and out of the downtown area.
The postindustrial gentrification forge has definitively been stoked here in Pittsburgh, and a lot of real estate in the urban core is being converted to or entirely replaced by residential buildings. Saying that, it doesn’t burn as brightly or rapaciously as it does back in NYC.
The mental map which I had made for the day involved skirting along railroad tracks and some of the still industrial blocks in the Southside Flats area. After debarking the T streetcar, one began kicking the dirt while depressing the shutter button and trying to notice everything.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
This area is my sort of thing, incidentally, with a web of elevated ramps for the T and vehicle traffic which lead to bridges. Huge post industrial and still industrial buildings, broken and lonely streets with a hint of danger… there’s even a set of quite busy freight rail tracks woven into the tapestry down here. Additionally, there’s many interesting points of view from which to wave the camera about.
It was a perfect day for a photowalk, with temperatures in the middle 60’s – sweatshirt weather. I left most of the gear at home, and brought a handheld camera kit with me.
More 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.
Don’t go chasing waterfalls
Friday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
“Project flowing water” is starting to shape up a bit, as far as the camera settings thing which I’ve been talking about for a while. I won’t bore you, but I think that I’ve just about figured out to get water shots looking the way I want them to.
Obviously, there’s a whole set of approaches to the oceanic and harbor conditions of NYC that were developed over a long period of time. That’s a different kind of flowing water, though. Tidal is a lot different than running, as I’ve found out.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The same set of rock steps are in the shot above and below, which are the first ones that I’ve really been able to produce what I have in mind.
It’s actually quite complicated, getting the motion blur in some areas and seeing streaks of texture in others. If you click through to the larger incarnation of this shot at Flickr, you’ll see what I mean. Especially if you read this on your phone.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
It’s not just exposure triangle either. There’s a bunch of ‘machinations in the field’ during capture that have to be part of the plan. Ultimately, if you’re not willing to experiment a bit, you should stick to the rivers and lakes you’re used to instead of chasing waterfalls.
LOL.
Back next week 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.
Unknown Country
Thursday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
“Nature wants to kill you.” You look tasty to all other creatures, and it’s probably in your best interest to just up and slaughter any animal, insect, or vegetable that you might meet – just in case, and in the name of self preservation. Additionally, there’s a reason our ancestors paved over everything. Further, who in their right mind would want to sleep in a tent – by choice when they don’t have to – in the middle of the woods where there’s bears and Sasquatchs and all kinds of crazy running around in the dark. There’s probably a cache of feral children on the loose out here, howling and scratching about amongst the trees.” That’s what I was thinking when visiting the Hollow Oaks nature trail recently.
As you may gather, a walk in a nature preserve was recently on the menu here in Pittsburgh. There were trees, and a couple of quick running streams of some sort – creeks, runs, something. My shoes became very dirty, and were soon covered in mud. The sun light… the sun light was dappled.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I was on high alert as always in case I had to engage “maximum boogey” runaway mode, and I’ll admit to scanning the tree line for evidences of that monstrous pig/dog hybrid reported to inhabit the deeply forested valleys of Western Pennsylvania which is called the Squonk. The world is a terrifying place full of existential and unknown threats, especially so in areas where nature has not been conquered and reshaped with hammers and scythes. Walls, and doors that lock, keep the Elks out when you sleep.
Seriously though, this was a really nice and low intensity trail through a protected conservation area which winds around a patch of woods and several streams, ultimately joining up with the Montour Run waterway near Coraopolis. Really nice spot, but since I’m a City Boy and anything natural is unnatural and threatening to me… it’s threatening and weird.
What if some predatory bird was to attack and try to take the eyes? Snakes… there’s actual Rattlesnakes around here too. What if I drop my car keys, how would I ever find them? What if a Deer ate my keys? I can’t chase a Deer through the woods…
I once got into a fistfight with one of those dick Canada Geese at First Calvary Cemetery in LIC, have had to fight off a raccoon in the dead of night at the Maspeth Plank Road using the legs of my tripod to fend it off, and I grew up in a neighborhood known for having packs of wild dogs roaming about (1980’s Flatlands/Canarsie.) See? Proves the point. Nature wants to kill you, or at the very least – Me.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
All of the above is a composite of various statements transmitted to me by my parents whenever the subject of leaving Brooklyn for a day and going somewhere nice – “En Da Kuntree” as my Mom would screech – came up. The entire “country” storyline presented to a young but already Humble Narrator would inevitably lead to my hair getting wet causing a condition known as ‘wet head,’ resulting in me getting deathly ill as a result of the moistening, and subsequently being buried “In Dah Grownd.” The final salvo was “Is Dat Whatchu wants… yore a real icehole, don’t know who raised you but youse didn’t learn dis from me, go reads a book instead.” Before leaving the conversation about taking a walk in some sylvan glade, one would be commanded to fetch and prepare a “soda glass” filled with Diet Pepsi and 4, not 3 not 5, ice cubes.
Despite the programmed in script offered above, which is an embedded part of my source code, I actually quite enjoy a nice walk in the country these days. The ‘wet head’ threat is ameliorated through the simple prophylactic of wearing a cap. When I die, my wish is to be sealed up in a large glass ampule filled with preservatives and put on commercial display as a cautionary tale. A traveling freak show, perhaps. That is, if animals don’t get to my corpse first.
At least I’d be continuing to visit new places, in my glassy ampule.
“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 