Archive for the ‘Pittsburgh’ Category
Auto Row, yo
Monday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Continuing with a walk down Pittsburgh’s Baum Boulevard – begun last week – with the effort having started in Pittsburgh’s East Liberty section, nearby the spot where that church spire in the distance can be discerned.
One was heading away from East Liberty and towards the Bloomfield section. The weather was on my side, my ankle was ok, and that’s your catch up. Oh yeah, everybody hates me, but that’s old news.
At one point, Baum Boulevard proceeds over a bridge spanning a set of railroad tracks and what looks like a roadway for one of the busways.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Occupied in modernity by UPMC’s Immune Transplant and Therapy Center, that enormous building on the left, in the shot above, is a 1915 vintage ‘Ford Motor Company Assembly Plant.’ Additionally, I was standing on a bridge while taking this shot. Said span carries Baum Blvd. over a ravine which rail tracks tun through.
The auto manufacturer assembled Model T’s here until 1932, whereupon it was repurposed as a warehouse and parts distribution center for the company until 2018, when the UPMC outfit purchased the thing and began converting the interior to their needs. Neat.
I categorically deny the accusation that I’m doing any historical research on Pittsburgh and its environs, at all. Mythology. Fake news.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
It would seem that the Ford people took advantage of those tracks down there, formerly the Pennsylvania RR’s property, by utilizing a six story crane to lift cargo off of the beds of rail cars and then brought it inside. The roadway definitely looks like it’s one of Pittsburgh’s Busways, possibly the MLK one. Don’t know for sure.
The Busways are pretty much next on my list, exploration wise and I’m ignorant still, about them.
Long story short, during its economic crisis years in the late 1970’s and especially the 1980’s, Pittsburgh’s political masters were willing to swing for the fences. The busways use land which either used to belong to a defunct railroad, or was already owned by some governmental entity. Essentially private roads reserved for buses and other municipal vehicles, the quick movement of emergency vehicles and mass transit are unhampered by street conditions and traffic while executing their functions due to the Busways. Also neat.
Absolutely not doing any research at all. None.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Auto Row is what they call this section of Baum Blvd.
I’m told that the car lots began decamping to the suburbs during the 70’s and 80’s, but if you’re a Yinzer of a certain age and you need a vehicle, this might be where you’d think of going to first.
Auto Row is a LOT like the section of Northern Blvd. back in Queens that’s found between Jackson Heights and LIC – which I always referred to as the ‘Carridor’ during my morbid habitations of that area. There’s a former Ford factory found there too, at the corner of Honeywell and Northern, which also took advantage of its proximity to rail tracks at Sunnyside Yards.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
There’s still a few automobile businesses here, selling high end european cars. Porsche is across the street from this BMW dealership, for instance.
A quick street crossing was perpetrated, which set me up for the right turn I’d soon need to make. Baum Blvd. intersects with Bigelow Boulevard, which takes on the characteristics of an expressway shortly after that intersection, and which I had no interest in walking again on this particular day.
Before leaving HQ, I had laid out a mental map of where I wanted to go, which is critical in certain parts of Pittsburgh due to the streets just suddenly dead ending at a cliff, or falling off into patches of woodland. It’s fairly easy to ‘cul de sac’ yourself and end up having to walk back out along a steep incline. Best to have a plan.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
A last shot of Baum Blvd. I’d be making a right turn at a corner found just after that traffic light, onto Mellwood Avenue. As mentioned, I’ve driven Baum Blvd. quite a few times, but this was my first interval on foot.
When turning off of Baum, I was entering into virgin territory as far as my experience goes.
Come with?
Back tomorrow with more.
“follow” me on Twitter- @newtownpentacle
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Transient observer
Friday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
For once, I wasn’t suffering while walking. The gamey ankle was playing ball, it was neither too cold nor too hot, and I didn’t have to pee urgently. The ‘minimum kit’ camera bag wasn’t biting into my back. If anything, I was a bit peckish but you can’t walk for miles and miles with a full belly.
I like to analogize my physical state using certain Norse religious concepts, specifically the ones which revolve around the divine squirrel Ratatoskr running up and down the world tree Yggdrasil, except in my case it’s not a divine messenger that’s accidentally causing earthquakes, eruptions, and storms while moving about and it’s instead a ‘pain squirrel’ that is crawling about on my personal world tree. The bugger is found on a different branch of the tree each and every day, randomly and unpredictably.
It isn’t ’how did I hurt my shoulder while asleep,’ rather it’s ’what did that rascally squirrel Ratatoskr do while I was dreaming’?
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Another interesting religious building caught my eye.
They really love their gods in these parts. There’s a Hindu temple in nearby Monroeville, for instance, that’s incredible to behold but they forbid photography there. The Catholics of Pittsburgh weren’t shy when decorating their churches either, and they usually don’t mind photos if you ask nicely.
Shame about the Hindus, someday I’ll try and talk my way inside their temple with the camera. Maybe I’ll end up shooting an event there sometime.
‘Sacred Spaces’ is a project I’ve long talked about but haven’t truly started.
Basically, I want to take pictures of your church, or synagogue, or temple, or meeting room, or the open field where you gather around a fire with others and worship your gods. I’m not terribly interested in recording your rituals, joining your observances, getting evangelized, or doing any photography revolving about or of the humans your organization services. Just the masonry, architecture, and so on. In return, should you invite me in, you’ll get to use my photos until the pixels wear out and will get invited to any potential ‘openings’ and a free photo book of images associated with the effort.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Yet another magnificent religious building is found along this path, this time the landmark First United Methodist Church.
Now… allow my ignorance to shine here, as I grew up Jewish. I can tell you what the finer points of difference are between the ultra orthodox and the ordinary orthodox, and what the beef between Conservative and Reformed Jewry is. My perspective is somewhat warped, as most of the ‘Christ worshippers’ I’ve known over the years were either Roman Catholic or some stripe of charismatic evangelical. My parents actually worked for the RC church at the NY Foundling Hospital, so in my mind Christianity is pretty much ‘Catholic’ and then ‘everybody else.’
What I know about Methodism or Presbyterianism wouldn’t fill a shot glass, and other than being able to offer odd historical anecdotes about heretics and apostates in the Dutch Reformed Church, dating back to the 17th century in Dutch owned New Amsterdam and Breuklyn…
– photo by Mitch Waxman
This church sits at one of those invisible demarcation points in Pittsburgh where one neighborhood suddenly transforms into another.
So, we’re out of ‘East Liberty’ and will spend the next few blocks moving through (I think) the edge of ‘Shadyside.’ This is where pedestrians can be observed walking about in hospital scrubs, and there’s an enormous complex of hospitals and specialist medical offices found nearby.
‘Eds and Meds’ was Pittsburgh’s formula and plan for recovering from the abandoning of the City by manufacturing industries. The ‘Eds’ part revolves around giving the University of Pittsburgh and the other colleges most anything they want, and the ‘Meds’ part is based around an 800 pound gorilla in Western PA. that is called ‘UPMC.’
The ‘Eds’ provide a low cost work force who labor while training for their occupations, and the ‘Meds’ employ them. When literally everybody asks me ‘why Pittsburgh’ I have to answer that one of the reasons is that the medical system here is top notch, and comparatively well staffed. No lying on a gurney in the hallway of Brookdale Hospital’s ER for 28 hours out here, yo.
Hell, they cured Polio out here.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The church sits on a bit of a prominence, and I walked around it a bit.
This was still just the ‘first mile’ of my day, after all, and didn’t want to bog down. Didn’t even try the door to this church, figuring that I’ll make it a point of visiting the interior when convenient or when I’ve secured an invitation.
A good moment to police one’s personal area network was at hand. The bag and camera straps were adjusted, as was the relative position of my waist belt to the ground (I pulled my pants up.) A quick bit of camera maintenance saw me blowing some dust off the lens, and then off did I scuttle.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
This house, which seems to have recently been used as a restaurant, was sporting a realtor’s signboard suggesting it as being an excellent development opportunity. Hard to argue against density in this area, to be honest. It’s a proper city here in East Liberty, with walkable streets and lots of sidewalk level shops and restaurants.
Leaving it behind, I have to offer one of my NYC analogies for this area – Bushwick, it’s a lot like 1990’s gentrified Bushwick.
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.
B… B… Baum B… B… Boulevard
Thursday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
As was intoned yesterday, your humble narrator had headed over to Pittsburgh’s East Liberty section to start a scuttle. After a brief distraction caused by a monumental church with a locked door, one set about his plan for the day.
Part of a larger project that involves walking several of the major streets in the central section of Pittsburgh, this scuttle was built around a consequential thoroughfare called Baum Boulevard.
From Google’s AI:
Early History & Naming
- Baum Family Roots: The street is named after the Baum family, wealthy merchants who owned large tracts of land in the area, including the homestead “Friendship”.
- Formalization: First appearing as Baum Street in 1872, it was officially established by ordinance in 1881 and later became Baum Avenue before merging with Atherton Avenue to form the current Baum Boulevard in 1913.
The Automobile Era
- “Automobile Row”: By the 1910s, Baum Boulevard became Pittsburgh’s hub for the auto industry, attracting many dealerships (Buick, Cadillac, Ford, etc.).
- Lincoln Highway Connection: When the Lincoln Highway route was established through Pittsburgh in 1913, it ran along Baum Boulevard, bringing cross-country travelers and further boosting auto-related businesses.
- Key Landmarks:
- First Drive-In Gas Station: Gulf Oil opened America’s first drive-in gas station at Baum & St. Clair in 1913.
- Ford Assembly Plant: A Ford assembly plant, built by Albert Kahn, still stands at Baum & Morewood.
- Motor Square Garden: The massive, domed building (once a market and later a Cadillac dealership) is a key architectural survivor.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
One of my ‘little tricks’ when out and marching about is to take photos of street signs at intersections, so I can easily ‘place’ myself in the midst of what’s often hundreds of photos which will land on the computer back home. In the case of this walk, I had more than 700 shots on the camera card when arriving back at HQ.
Now, I didn’t see 700 individual things, rather I usually shot something three or four different ways, since I never really know how these posts are going to hang together until actually constructing them. There’s a lot of ‘pick and choose’ editing going on once the shots hit the hard drive.
Based on what Google’s AI is reporting (above), this carven ‘Baum Street’ cornice stone is likely to have been erected sometime between 1881 and 1913, when ‘Baum Street’ became a ‘boulevard.’
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The whole walk saw me doing my NYC ‘heel spin’ move, although I wasn’t feeling threatened or overly attracting insalubrious attention. I just wanted to make sure I didn’t miss anything. The church is visible for most of the roughly 1.5 miles of Baum Boulevard.
Apparently, Baum Blvd. is synonymous with shopping for a car to a certain generation of the Yinzers. East Liberty itself is also somewhat synonymous with the auto industry, I’m told. Mechanics, car lots, all that stuff.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
There’s attractive residential real estate visible here and there.
Behind me were public housing projects and a few high density apartment blocks. A significant number of institutions and buildings serving the medical industrial complex can be accessed nearby as well.
Personally, one of the top dogs amongst my team of Doctors can be found about a mile away from here, in Bloomfield.
I’ve driven through this section multiple times, but this is the first time on foot. The land here seems to be on the plateau where several steep hills meet. It’s relatively flat, by Pittsburgh standards.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Two things here. First off, while waiting for a traffic signal to change in order to get a ‘clean shot’ of what was clearly a monumental structure that the supermarket chain was housed in, conversation was struck up with some random guy who was also waiting for the light to change so he could go shop. Jeff, that was his name.
It was like meeting myself back in Long Island City, and the guy was actually the neighborhood historian who displays an amazing range of detail and recall. After about twenty minutes, I had to excuse myself from his fascinating conversation about the history of East Liberty and ‘Auto Row.’ Now I know what that’s like.
Unrelated to this fellow, a post from interestingpennsylvania.com discusses the history of this building, which was built as a Dodge automobiles dealership back in 1934. Truth be told, I wish that I had found that great site before the walk, but there you are.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
More of that fine residential housing stock along Baum Blvd. is above, but the green and white one seems to host a real estate agent’s offices. Baum Blvd. intersects with nearby Bigelow Boulevard.
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.
Gesundheit, Mon Frer
Wednesday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
This is the start of a spate of posts, detailing what ended up being the longest scuttle I’ve been able to undertake since the ‘orthopedic incident.’
One used a rideshare to carry the bloated pre-corpse he dwells within, traveling from Dormont in the South Hills section to a community known as ‘East Liberty,’ which is found on the peninsular ‘Golden Triangle’ central section of Pittsburgh where it begins to widen out.
East Liberty is historically an African American community, I’m told, but the gentrification furnaces burn brightly hereabouts. The usual urban story plays out in its past – oblique and heavy handed City Planning, race based redlining by insurers and banks, massive poor populations trapped into vertical spires of poverty built as public housing, all that.
Same story as North Brooklyn, LIC, and the Bronx, actually.
Crypto fascist Le Corbusier strikes again, huh?
As an aside, East Liberty was Gene Kelly’s hometown.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Motor Square Garden. That’s what this structure was called when built. These days, it’s the Pittsburgh HQ of the AAA outfit. This is another one of the structures which I hope to actually have a reason to enter soon.
It’s ‘bizness.’ The last holdover from New York State that I’m still carrying around is a NYS focused EZ Pass on my windshield, to pay for tolls. Have to convert that gizmo over to a PA issued one sometime soon. It’s so low priority for me that I just keep on not doing it.
Before the start of this walk, I had mentioned to Our Lady of the Pentacle that I’d be trying to get into a few of the churches along the route. As it turned out, the main entrance to that church featured photographically in this post was locked. Denied the lord’s succor, me.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
‘East Liberty Presbyterian Church’ is what this building is called, and it was built with private funds offered by a branch of the Mellon family. This is the fourth church to exist on this plot, but you can just read all about that right here.
One was disappointed that the entryway to God’s Kingdom was locked, and after tugging on the door I said – out loud – ‘well, let’s just see if the Methodists are any friendlier.’ Some lady, sitting on bench while waiting for a bus, busted out laughing at my remark.
I still got it.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
According to Google’s AI:
The most prominent public sculpture near East Liberty Presbyterian Church is Virgil Cantini’s 1969 “Joy of Life” fountain, featuring cubist-style figures holding hands in a joyful dance, symbolizing unity and cooperation, located right next to the church and Carnegie Library branch.
The plan for the day started with a quick circumnavigation of the church. I’d be walking along Baum Boulevard, then heading off into the hills and then downtown, and since this was a warm day – eventually end up at that brewery with the CSX trains on the South Side that I haunt.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
This was literally the only day, in a two week long interval, where the forecast wasn’t calling for ice or snow or sleet and during which the air temperatures were predicted to never get lower than about 50 degrees.
The day after this walk, temperatures plunged and snow began to fall. A week later and snow would still be arriving, in discrete daily bands, and was accompanied by bone chilling temperatures and high winds. Fun.
Your humble narrator was ‘traveling light,’ with a sling bag full of essentials and a 24-105 zoom lens installed on the camera.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I’ve got to get inside of this building, with my full photo kit, sometime. As is often mentioned, however, I’m like a Vampire inasmuch as I need to be invited inside to do my work. Social networking, that’s the ticket…
Back tomorrow, for the actual start of a very long 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.
Operation Hin und Zurück
Tuesday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Cannot win, me.
I had altered my schedule to free up the day’s worth of time required to accomodate the needs of the car. An annual inspection was expected of the thing, according to Pennsylvanian law, and there was also a recall from Toyota that’s supposed to replace an electrical engine component which has proven to be problematic for the model year of my very own Mobile Oppression Platform. As is the case with any scandal, the suffix ‘gate’ has been applied to this situation by the internet, and it’s called ‘cablegate.’ Said issue hasn’t manifested for me yet, but there we are.
I was supposed to receive a courtesy ride back to the ‘stealership’ and expected all of this to be wrapped up by the late afternoon.
Imagine my surprise, while purchasing a cup of extremely rare ‘out of the house’ coffee at a shop shortly after debarking from the T Light Rail here in Dormont, when a text came in stating that they had forgotten to order the recall part but that my inspection was done and I could pick up the car ‘whenever.’
My ‘courtesy ride’ never materialized, so one decided to just walk there. Maybe a mile and a half from this starting position.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
One found himself back on West Liberty Avenue (U.S. Route 19 Truck) and shlepping towards the Toyota facility. This is the section of West Liberty which your humble narrator dreads walking the most, due to a nearly complete lack of sidewalks or even pavement in several spots.
Walking in the street, on a primary arterial ‘stroad,’ in a City whose motorists are nationally famous for their utter embrace of ‘we suck at driving,’ texting while driving, and frequent displays of road rage? Fun.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Again, one is constantly struck dumb when observing residential homes set along this sort of arterial street. I’d imagine that the people who live there come and go via the back of the house, as suggested by the lack of snow clearance on the frontage. This home is likely a part of the Brookline neighborhood, incidentally.
The reason why I was walking, rather than getting picked up by the ‘stealership’s’ courtesy vehicle remains unknown to this date. The mechanics said ‘I’d hear from Rodney,’ but it’s been over two weeks now and still no Rodney.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Bah!
One pushed himself against the rotation of the planet. I’d like to believe that if one could walk fast enough, your position would essentially become static, and the world just turns away beneath your feet. Sounds like fun, but you’d need to be walking at jet engine speeds and your body would need to be aerodynamically armored to pull that one off.
According to Google’s AI:
To stay in a fixed spot relative to the stars while Earth rotates, you need to move westward at the exact speed Earth rotates beneath you, which is about 1,000 mph (1,670 km/h) at the equator, or roughly 700 mph at mid-latitudes, requiring zero vertical movement, though practically, you’d need to hover or use propulsion against air resistance to maintain position against the atmosphere. For an object to hover above the Earth, it needs to match the Earth’s rotational speed and direction, effectively being stationary relative to the ground beneath it, requiring a constant counter-force to stay put in the atmosphere.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Looking away from Brookline towards Beechview for the shot above, and another house set onto a forbidding slope. This part of my day was maybe a half hour in length. Soon, I was reunited with the Mobile Oppression Platform and then we were motoring along.
Since my day was already kind of half wasted, a return to HQ ensued. I did have photos to process and Pentacle posts to set up. The MOP was secured into my driveway.
Since someone will ask, I start off with a template document of my own creation at WordPress. There’s a set of mostly blank documents I set up during COVID, for use as templates. I switch out the placeholder photos from the template and then do a ‘save as’ action. When I screw up the code, you see a shot of a 2020 residential fire in Astoria when clicking through to Flickr. I try to write posts in batches, usually of five to ten and then schedule them using tools at WordPress’s site, for publication at a later date. I’ve got templates set up for a three image post, and a six image one, and also a single. It’s a system, and as I’ve been consistently posting long form content here since 2009, it works for me.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Along the walk to the mechanic, I passed by a closed off set of City Steps at Ray Street and West Liberty Avenue. Looking forward to exploring the City Steps of Pittsburgh again, in the spring when the ice and snow are gone. I’ve actually investigated this set of steps, given their proximity to home base, but they are literally in the midst of collapsing.
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 