Historic districting
Tuesday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
As intoned yesterday, your humble narrator was scuttling about on Pittsburgh’s North Side, aka the former Allegheny City.
My crossing was through a historic district, dubbed ‘Allegheny West,’ on the way to see if a vantage point over a set of Northern Southern rail tracks might reveal something worth taking a photo of (sadly not).
Along the way, the Victorian era building above caught my eye, as so did a bit of signage adorning it. Signage photo can be accessed here, but suffice to say that this was the former home of the famous, and then quite infamous, Thaw family.
You’ve seen the movie Ragtime – I’ll presume – so, this was the childhood home of Harry K. Thaw – murderer of architect Stanford White and husband of ‘it girl’ Evelyn Nesbit. Thaw’s defense lawyers introduced the extenuating circumstance of ‘Temporary Insanity’ into American jurisprudence during his trial. For those not in the know, the Thaw trial was analogous to the OJ Simpson trial, except that it played out in headlines during the first decade of the 20th century. Celebrity involved in a murder trial, popular and press interest in the affair, scandalous behavior amongst the millionaire class – all that. Made for a great story.
Neat. This is also what is meant when I say ‘serendipity.’ Just stumbled past it, randomly. Pittsburgh was actually showing me something.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
A former public school seems to have been repurposed as a training facility for the gendarmerie here, but truth be told the thing that drew my eye to it was the (probably former) greenhouse on the property.
Everybody I talk to in Pittsburgh tells me to ‘watch my back’ around this section of the city, to which I usually respond ‘I’m from Brooklyn.’ They then say ‘oh, ok then.’
My biggest fear here, during daylight hours, is that one of these property openers might accidentally drop a wallet out of a second floor window, thereby crushing me to death under a voluminous billfold.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The hospital featured on the HBO series ‘The Pitt’ is nearby, as is the National Aviary and multiple target/private schools. The building stock is heterogenous, and a lot of it was built for ‘show.’ Like a lot of ‘inner city’ neighborhoods, I’m told this one experienced a bunch of trouble during the late 20th century. That must be where it acquired the reputation.
To the north are a series of steep hills lined by narrow streets.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I’ve got a few things that I look for when I’m walking around, as far as gauging whether or not a neighborhood ‘sucks.’ Is there furniture discarded on the frontage, along with untamed garbage? Are there multiple cars and bicycles just sitting there rotting away and rusting? Do the windows have curtains in them or is it cardboard, and are those window glass panes cracked and repaired with packing tape? Are there a lot of abandoned buildings?
All are ‘tells.’
Are there large groups of teenagers milling about? Brrr. That’s where the hazards emerge. No impulse control, teenagers. How about packs of stray dogs? Gotta watch out for that too.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Clearly, my rubric for ‘threat level midnight’ is not even close to being met by this particular set of streets. If anything, I felt like an intruder. To be fair, I always feel like that, even amongst members of my own family,
Imagine: Nice sunny day, and you observe some monstrous wind driven conflagration approaching in a filthy black raincoat (aka the street cassock) that comes marching past, casting a pall while it is taking photos of garbage cans and sewer grates.
Yeah, the coat and gloves have been deployed. It’s getting cold here.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
With a bit of fortressing, sealing off those ground floor windows with plywood for instance, that building above could probably humble a horde of zombies. The fourth floor terrace would make for an excellent spot to snipe at the mass of rotters or just hurl brickbats at them.
Ever notice that in zombie cinema you don’t see the humans using anything but guns and bladed weapons against the oncoming mass? Construction equipment, especially those little bobcats with the snow scoop on them, would turn the tide, I think. The way to handle ‘red collar’ mobs of flesh eaters might be with blue collar equipment.
Back tomorrow.
“follow” me on Twitter- @newtownpentacle
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Low energy adventuring
Monday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
As is my habit, after leaving HQ, a quick shot from the front yard to figure out a median exposure setting for the camera, and gauge average lighting conditions as a staring point for the day’s subsequence. This shot is looking up the fairly steep hill that I often mention. Shlep, shlep, scuttle, scuttle.
The plan for this walk was fairly wide open, and involved using the T light rail to deposit your humble narrator in an interesting area. I was hoping for serendipity, Y’see.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
HQ is located in Pittsburgh’s Borough of Dormont, and the neighbors really embrace Halloween around these parts. One of them set up a ‘Yinzer Cemetery’ in their front yard. It actually made the TV news.
The T Light Rail station is about a half mile, at most, from my front door. It’s just a bit of effort to drag my butt up the hills and get over there.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Another Dormont porch display of Halloween paraphernalia was encountered along the path. We get actual trick or treaters in Dormont, which is cool as heck, and the way things are supposed to be.
One leaned into it, and boarded a T light rail unit heading into the city.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
This time around, the service was used all the way to its terminal stop on Pittsburgh’s north side, nearby the stadium wherein the Steelers dwell. Your humble narrator vomited forth from the light rail car and onto the platform, a swirling contradiction of black sackcloth and camera gear. The filthy black raincoat, or as I call it – the street cassock – was covering my accursed back. I started moving, which began as a shamble but then sped up into a scuttle.
I was relistening to an old favorite amongst my HP Lovecraft audiobook collection on this walk – ‘The Shadow Out of Time.’ There were a few places on this scuttle where I popped the headphones out of my ear holes, wanting to remain ‘situationally aware.’
In other words, while moving through places where it makes a lot of sense to pay close attention to your surroundings, you should.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
A web of high speed roadways, on-ramps and off-ramps and such, are found in this area. There’s also the elevated trackway of the T up there in the vault. There’s a rail shot which I was ‘hep’ on trying to capture this day, but that ended up being a fruitless pursuit.
North, ever northwards.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
On game days, tens of thousands of people – all adorned in black and gold – can be observed using these sidewalk paths to get to the football stadium. The cops deploy dozens of officers to handle traffic, both vehicular and pedestrian. It’s really something to see.
Of course, wherever your humble narrator goes, it’s all just loneliness, rejection, and isolation. Crowds of children throw rotten fruit and vegetables, their parents light torches and form mobs. The cats hiss.
Back tomorrow with more.
“follow” me on Twitter- @newtownpentacle
Buy a book!
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Always heading nowhere
Friday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Aimlessly wandering down Pittsburgh’s East Carson street with Our Lady of the Pentacle, in the south side flats area of Pittsburgh, where the ghostly outline of a former structure was spotted on the wall of an 1888 vintage merchant’s building. It made me want to deep dive a bit into the history thereof, but I stopped myself.
Sometime in the future, I’ll use my magnifying glass to study the historic building stock found along this corridor, its story, and learn about all the ‘once, long ago, used to be…’ but that’s not today.
The rest of the walk was uneventful, and then we headed back to HQ, where Moe the Dog awaited.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Separately, we were wandering around Pittsburgh’s Dormont during the evening of a different day, Dormont being where Newtown Pentacle HQ is currently found, and the T light rail suddenly exploded into view.
I cannot stop myself, so… HEY NOW!
Our Lady and myself were going out for dinner at a local burger joint, one which offers a fantastic happy hour menu if you sit at their bar. I had a bourbon/apple cider cocktail that ‘rocked the bells,’ alongside a double smash burger. Yum.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
This shot, depicting the Sterling Street steps, which I returned to with Our Lady in tow (she’s caught the bug for exploring the steps), was shot in a manner that attempts to visually describe the PTSD symptoms I’ve been experiencing when traversing stairs, since breaking my ankle on a set of steps at home last year. It kind of looks like this to me, that moment when the blossom of terror opens.
Enough of all that personal terror and weakness, though, it was a beautiful day and that was the focal point.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
One truly odd holdover from that experience is that due to all of the opioid pain killers that the Docs were feeding me after the surgery, my memory of this exact period (approx. September to November) from last year is extremely fragmented, or nonexistent. I’m missing about 5-6 weeks of time.
Constant agony, yes. That I remember.
I promise I’ll eventually stop talking about this. Don’t worry, something else that’s horrible or profound will happen to me and then that’ll be my new ‘thing’ to worry about. Sigh.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Our final set of stairs for the day were attained, and we returned to more or less flat ground at the bottom of the hill. The rest of our walk would be mundane, visiting shops and eating lunch, along the commercial corridor of East Carson Street in the South Side Flats section of Pittsburgh, which brings you back to the first photo and the end of the the last steps story.
It was nice having company for a scuttle, must say. I used to sell tickets in NYC to groups of people who wanted to walk around with me. Narrators need to narrate, occasionally.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Eventually, we found ourselves at the shoreline of the Monongahela River, nearby the Birmingham Bridge. It was time to head back to HQ again, and Moe the Dog. He’s sort of our constant, Moe.
Back tomorrow with something different.
“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.
Diagonal scuttling
Thursday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
This scuttle began at St. Michael’s Catholic Cemetery on Pittsburgh’s South Side, up on the ‘slopes.’ This was going to be a ‘short walk’ of well under five miles, and Our Lady of the Pentacle came along for the effort.
As has been mentioned multitudinous times, downhill slopes offer the sort of exercise which my still gamey but recovering left ankle requires.
I do intend on returning to this cemetery at some point and walking the grounds. Interesting monuments here, with some dating back to before the First American Civil War (I’ve decided to just start calling it that, as I can read the writing on the wall at this point). I poked around a bit, and the earliest interment which I’ve seen mention of at this facility was back in 1849, during the short 16 month term of U.S. President Zachary Taylor.
German Catholics are the predominant group interred here, it seems.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The elevation which the cemetery is set upon offers commanding views of a section of the ‘Mon Valley,’ which is how the post industrial corridor along the Monongahela River gets referred to locally, here in Western Pennsylvania and the surroundings.
That prominent building pictured above is the University of Pittsburgh’s (PITT) 42 story Cathedral of Learning, and it’s over in the very urban Oakland section.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Up here on the south side, the buildings are a bit more modest.
It was a lovely day in Pittsburgh, with temperatures in the high 50’s and a steady breeze. We began our scuttling, and it was all downhill from here.
South 18th street’s curving path carried us down towards the flood plain of the Monongahela River, and the South Side Flats area.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
It looks like someone experienced a residential fire since the last time I passed through here. My heart (as it were) really goes out to people who experience this sort of horror. Clothes on your back is all you’ve got afterwards. Everything is gone, all the mementos and the existential reality of the home – appliances, clothing, furniture, family photos, electronics, expensive possessions – all gone in a flash.
I’ve been told that the biggest problem after a fire is document related. Birth and marriage certificates, wills, licenses, passports etc. Replacing them is a pain in the neck, and not all that simple.
Sucks, that.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Our Lady became intrigued by my newfound interest in the City Steps of Pittsburgh, and wanted to check them out. Our route diverged from South 18th street and then we headed towards the ‘Church Route’ steps along Pius Street.
I cannot walk past this particular view without taking a photo of it. It’s a problem for me. I need help.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Just as we got to the top of the Church Route steps, a Norfolk Southern train thundered through the scene (bottom foreground) but was just out of view behind the verge. In the distance, that’s the Birmingham Bridge, which I walk over with some regularity.
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.
Roadslug, baby, roadslug
Wednesday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Hey Now! This CSX train, #2218 specifically, bears a painted cognomen on its side that reads ‘Roadslug.’ I had to check with my ‘rail rabbi’ back in NYC to find out what that meant. His response follows:
“Sweet. Road slug is a locomotive without a prime mover. (No diesel engine to generate power) the electric motors on the locomotive revive power from the “mother.” The other locomotive attached to it. CSX road slugs have a cab for control and the fuel tank is piped to provide extra fuel for the mother unit.”
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The railfan rabbi continues:
“2218 used to be a GP35 class unit before it was de-engined. It was a cost effective way in the 1990’s to re-use outdated locomotives without needing to buy new locomotives.”
Now… my ‘rail rabbi’ pal… he just has this information floating in his head. That’s what a railfan is, and it’s the reason why I keep on pointing out that I’m not (as I don’t have anywhere this amount of knowledge on the subject) and ultimately – I just like taking pictures of trains.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
There were only the two locomotive units on this one. They headed off, ‘towards Ohio’ and I finished my ‘luncheon beer’ at the Sly Fox Brewery. After returning my glass, and then ‘inspecting the porcelain’ again, I adjusted the camera straps and bag, and set off for the last leg of my scuttle.
The ankle was in fine fettle once again, after the 30 minute sit down. Yes, that’s how long it takes me to drink a pint. I’m a nurser.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Along the path, a T light rail was observed exiting the Panhandle Bridge after crossing the river, heading out in the direction of its terminal stop in the South Hills section. Soon, I’d be on a similar train set and heading back to HQ, where Our Lady of the Pentacle and Moe the Dog awaited my return.
I had quite a job ahead of me at home, roasting a pork loin for dinner.
The effort would yield lunch the next day, and a couple of days after that too. I actually had to give some of it away to a neighbor. Meat, in particular, has grown so expensive over the last ten months or so that I’m eschewing ‘cuts or chops’ in favor of large portioned items which are a couple of bucks less per pound.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The Smithfield Street bridge was crossed. One last look back at the Monongahela River shoreline and the bike/ped trails which line it.
The last embers of this effort glowed dimly as I made my way to the T’s First Avenue Station on the so called ‘Golden Triangle.’
– photo by Mitch Waxman
While waiting for my ride back to HQ, couldn’t help but pop out a few shots of the Pittsburgh bound T rail sets crossing the river on the Panhandle Bridge.
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 