Archive for the ‘Pittsburgh’ Category
Back, to the North Side of Pittsburgh
Tuesday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
To start – the Newtown Pentacle time warp is still in effect. These shots were gathered during the last week of May, whereas the words you’re reading were written in middle June, and if my scheduling is correct you’re reading this in the third week of July. Whew.
For this scuttle, which ended up being a pretty long walk, during which I decided that I categorically needed to upgrade a part of my camera kit, a rideshare was utilized to drop me at the intersection of Eckert Street and McClure Avenue on Pittsburgh’s north side.
This is in the Marshall-Shadeland section, underneath the rusted and literally falling apart California Avenue Bridge, which is right about where Don’s Diner is found. What? You don’t cite landmarks?
– photo by Mitch Waxman
This is an heavy industrial area, with an enormous sewer plant found just a few blocks away. Lots of heavy truck based businesses, warehouses, and quite a few people who work with machines that could go ‘bang’ in ferocious ways – electrical, steam, that sort of thing.
This is also one of the spots in Pittsburgh which I find quite photogenic, but about which the locals say ‘you’re crazy, don’t go there, they’ll kill you.’
If I had a dollar for everytime someone has told me that about Newtown Creek, most of North Brooklyn, all of Western Queens, The Bronx, or every majority African American neighborhood in Pittsburgh… well… I’d have a lot of dollars, I tell’s ya.
Who might kill me? Do they have names? Can we call them? Can I pay them some agreed upon toll for the privilege of passage, rather than just having them kill me on sight? Sheesh.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Beaver Avenue, that’s what this Pittsburgh street is called.
The rail trestle connects to the Ohio Connecting Rail Bridge, which I’ve mentioned before. The tracks belong to the Norfolk Southern outfit.
It was an absolutely perfect day for a long walk, weather wise. High 70’s and breezy. Overcast, but with occasional floods of sunlight.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Another view of the rail bridge, as I crossed beneath the trestle.
On this leg of the scuttle, I kept on missing shots of the locomotives at the front of these trains, but this ended up being a very, very productive day as far as the subject of photographing trains goes.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Your humble narrator is so far ahead of the schedule here that at this writing, I can’t remember which post it was that I mentioned turning a corner towards a waterway one day and observing some guy dancing around with a kitchen knife in each hand, behind a building.
I’m pretty sure he was playing the Grateful Dead on his boombox, if you want to picture what the dance vibe was like.
Protocol, since he didn’t notice me, was to just quietly back away and get back to a nice safe patch of pavement where he wasn’t.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
As mentioned above, I kept on missing the head of the RR snake during this section of the walk. No worries, I had a cool set of captures coming my way shortly, on this fairly long walk in the Paris of Appalachia.
Back tomorrow with more.
“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.
End of scuttle, and Hey Now!
Friday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
A fairly long walk through Pittsburgh found a humble narrator in need of a quick meal, and while sitting in front of a pizzeria on Pittsburgh’s East Carson Street while eating a slice and drinking a Gatorade, a Pittsburgh Fire Department’s fire engine hurtled past.
Can’t resist.
My plan for the remainder of the day involved that slice of pizza forming a late lunch/early dinner, and then I’d down a pint or two of beer at that brewery I often visit, alongside the CSX train tracks.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
On the way, I found myself admiring the simplicity of some of the older residential structures nearby. The people who originally inhabited this area were mill workers, and suffice to say that the built environment is quite ‘humble’ around this zone.
That pizza got me moving again. Amazing what a bit of fat and carbohydrate does for a wandering narrator’s flagging energy level.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
You just can’t ignore it when a composition like the one above appears in front of you, you just cannot.
I arrived at the brewery, ‘inspected the porcelain,’ and then bought myself a beer. One had been in constant movement for about six hours, with an hour of sitting down at the library lecture right in the middle of that.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
CSX #990 appeared, which rounded out my scuttle, and offered a logical juncture wherein I could ‘hang my hat’ and say ‘that was a day.’
I was actually on my second beer when they showed up.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I slurped down the last of my glass of suds, and paid the tab within.
Another inspection of the porcelain, and then I was back in motion. One was physically tired in a muscular rather than psychological sense, and it felt like my back and legs definitely had a decent workout. The meal and the drinks had filled me with carbohydrates so I was ready to roll again.
The camera straps were arranged, the heavy backpack slung across my horrific frame, and then things were leaned into for the final movement.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Within a few minutes of walking, I was soon at a T light rail station called ‘Station Square,’ whereupon my chariot arrived.
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.
Slogging south, and a Hey Now!
Thursday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Something horrible must have happened on one of those highway ramps, as a big cloud of white steam, or smoke, or dust, suddenly drifted in front of the camera here in Pittsburgh.
Your humble narrator was nearing the end of a long walk, and my energy levels were flagging.
This scuttle ended up being around eleven miles, all told. Started up on ‘The Bluff,’ included a section of the Uptown Neighborhood, and then I attended a lecture at a library in Squirrel Hill after a quick cab ride. After the lecture, I started walking towards the South Side neighborhood, in pursuance of eventually accessing the T Light Rail, for my ride back to HQ in Dormont.
All caught up?
– photo by Mitch Waxman
God help me, but I do love this point of view.
Getting to this POV is kind of harrowing, but I’ve always talked about my love of photographing the massing shapes of highways, with their elevated ramps. The path involves following that sidewalk on the right side of the shot to the Birmingham Bridge over the Monongahela River. Have to get out here at night sometime.
As far as I’ve been able to work it out, this complex of ramps and highways is more or less where the J & L steel mill used to be found.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
There’s a lot of construction activity going on in the section of Uptown which it touches the Birmingham Bridge, which makes the scuttling a bit difficult as I need to vouchsafe my still gamey left ankle.
See? haven’t mentioned it in a while!
Here’s the catch up – it low grade hurts all the time, and I know when it’s going to rain as my ‘ankleometer’ goes off (due to arthritis). Fun!
Saying that, I’m more or less able to get around and do what I want to again, so… win?
– photo by Mitch Waxman
On the southern side of the bridge, there’s a point of view over the CSX Pittsburgh Subdivision’s Tracks, and I hung around a few minutes in the hope that…
Hey Now! (I literally say that out loud when a train appears)
– photo by Mitch Waxman
CSX #3174, which is some sort of train.
I’ve been trying to call out the make/model of these things, and figure out their stories. I’m not a railfan, I just like taking pictures of trains, and I just didn’t feel like deep diving for this trio of shots as it’s kind of surface level and fairly disingenuous to pretend that I care about this thing being rebuilt in some recent year. I feel like it’s offensive to actual railfans trying to speak intelligently about their area of expertise.
#3174 was heading easterly, and hauling a mixed up series of cargo cars.
Personally, I hate it when some newbie starts telling me about something I ‘nerd out’ about – comic books or sci-fi stuff which they’ve just discovered, which have the status of religious texts for me. I try to keep that resentment of the uninitiated newbie in mind, regarding the world inhabited by the railfans.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
My internal fuel tanks were empty by this part of the day, and a not insignificant mental effort to ‘keep going,’ not punk out by calling a cab, was underway.
It was just a few more miles… keep going… you’ll rest when you’re dead… go… go… go…
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.
Where the other half learns
Wednesday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
This section of a recent scuttle played out in the Oakland neighborhood of Pittsburgh, and walked a path around – and through – parts of the campuses of Carnegie Mellon University, and the University of Pittsburgh – aka PITT. This made three university campus visits for me on this walk.
It’s pretty much what you’d think Ivy League school campuses would look like, around these parts. Lots of hustle and bustle, crowds of impossibly young people rushing about… all that.
I recently learned that a single semester’s worth of matriculation at CMU – for a freshman – costs in excess of $70,000. Wow.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
As mentioned during prior recent walks through this zone, it’s a nice and a quite familiar feeling to me, having tall structures to use as navigational aids.
The bridge overflies a ravine which is colloquially referred to as ‘Panther Hollow,’ but which I’m told is technically ‘Junction Hollow’ instead.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
There’s train tracks, a big steam boiler facility, and all sorts of ‘stuff’ down there. On my list for future scuttles, this path.
I’ve walked around and through a more southeasterly section of Panther Hollow just once, shortly after moving to Pittsburgh back in 2024, but didn’t scuttle through to this particular spot.
One continued along. It was late in the afternoon and the evening ‘rush hour’ was setting up in Oakland.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Oakland is the de facto daytime population center of Pittsburgh.
Multiple large hospitals, university buildings, offices of every kind can be found there. One of the few places where you’ll encounter what a New Yorker would describe as ‘traffic.’ My path followed one of the ‘main drags,’ called Forbes Avenue, where buses line up to accept and cart away the crowds of commuters who work in the area.
As mentioned several times, Newtown Pentacle is so far ahead of schedule right now that we’re existing in a time warp together, lords and ladies. These shots are from early May, the words from early June, and you’re receiving this in mid July. I mention this, as that fellow in the shot above is wearing a jacket, despite how warm and humid the afternoon was when this shot was gathered.
By the time you’re reading this, a humble narrator declares, I will have ridden upon a Pittsburgh bus and explored at least one of the busways. I’ve been threatening to do that for a while now and ‘do what you say, say what you do’ applies.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The walk gets ‘hinky’ at the foot of Forbes, where it transmogrifies out of a highway off ramp. Pedestrian and bike concerns are an afterthought in this area, and there’s an extremely risky street crossing at the end of it.
No Bueno.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
That’s the crossing, which I’ve mentioned before. Vehicles emerge on that off-ramp from I-376 moving at highway speeds, and they don’t have a stop or yield sign either. There is a painted crosswalk, however, so it’s a ‘legit’ crossing. I’ll just say it again – No Bueno.
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.
Squirreling through the hills
Tuesday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
As described previously, your humble narrator was heading for a historical lecture being offered at a library, in Pittsburgh’s Squirrel Hill neighborhood, and one had just crossed the South Tenth Street Bridge over the Monongahela River in order to facilitate a ride share pickup to carry me to said library.
The horizon line in the shot above is where I had been walking around in the posts published last week – an area called ‘The Bluff’ – which hosts both Duquesne University, and the neighborhood called ‘Uptown.’
I used Uber for this ride. Common practice that I’ve picked up here in Pittsburgh is to query both Uber and Lyft and see which one is cheaper for the same ride. Uber beat Lyft by about $7 so ‘win.’
– photo by Mitch Waxman
One arrived at the library, and it was thankfully quite cool within. This was one of the first truly warm days in late Spring for Pittsburgh.
Yes, the Newtown Pentacle time warp persists. Photos from May 11, words from early June, and you’re in mid July if I got my scheduling right.
The lecture itself was academic in nature, with a detailed description of the historian’s methodology. Personally, whenever I was doing one of these kind of talks about Newtown Creek back in Brooklyn or Queens, I liked to drop in a few jokes and use colloquial language, and avoided getting into the slog of how I researched the presented information, but then again I don’t have a PHD in Jewish history as the presenter did – as I’m just some schmuck with a camera who knows far too much about Newtown Creek.
I learned things, though, it was worth attending.
After about an hour, the presentation was over and one was vomited forth back onto the streets, where he belongs.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Squirrel Hill is a really nice neighborhood, and kind of pricey to live in as well due to desirability, at least compared with the rest of Pittsburgh.
This ‘zone’ is literally Mister Rogers’ neighborhood, as a note.
The plan… and this is where the second half of my efforts for the day begin… was to walk all the way back to the T Light Rail on the South Shore of the Monongahela River, and use that to get back to HQ in the Dormont section. More or less about a seven mile walk. Best to just lean into it.
I had more or less decided on a path, but left it kind of fuzzy to accommodate serendipity, should it manifest.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
As mentioned, really lovely neighborhood.
Reminds me a great deal of Brooklyn’s Midwood, in the section where it nears Coney Island Avenue and Ocean Parkway in the east ‘teen’ streets, and along the H-N avenues. Historically speaking, Squirrel Hill is meant to be a Jewish majority neighborhood, just like Midwood is back home. Most of the ‘important’ non Jewish people live out here – politicians, and university brass, the wealthy corporate types.
It was hot on the streets, I tell you, hot. Your narrator was humbly shvitzing while scuttling.
I’ve got a whole routine for this sort of weather, by the way. Number one thing is breathe through your nose and keep your mouth shut or you’ll dehydrate quickly. Number two is walk in the shade if you can. I’ve mentioned that I’ve recently started carrying a water bottle, yes?
– photo by Mitch Waxman
There’s a lot of weird traffic interchanges in Pittsburgh, and the one pictured above is an example. It’s at a border where Squirrel Hill bumps up against Oakland, where a large park and the two big universities are found. Hills and valleys, hollows and peaks…
This leg of my day would end up adding about seven miles of wear to the hiking shoes. After returning to HQ, I noticed that the treads on those shoes had essentially been ground smooth in the last few months, and I had to order another pair. Merrel Moab 3, if you’re curious. Been wearing this model of shoe for years, and they’re a critical part of the ‘kit.’
– photo by Mitch Waxman
That water bottle recently added to the kit came in handy on this walk.
A paroxysm of comparison shopping led me to purchase one of the fairly leak proof offerings from the Nalgene outfit, and I now have a 16 ounce parcel of travel liquid to rely upon during scuttles.
A big difference between NYC and Pittsburgh revolves around the presence of Bodegas. NYC has them, Pittsburgh doesn’t.
In NYC, you’re never more than a mile from someone wanting to sell you a cold drink, in Pittsburgh you have to rely on a coroner retrieving your water starved husk of a corpse, found lying on the side of a road pointing towards a Bodega which doesn’t exist.
Back tomorrow with the next leg of this scuttle.
“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.
