a church on Polish Hill
Thursday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
On the 28th of December, one had an errand to run. It’s seems that the ubiquitous ATM machines of a certain NYC based bank which my accounts are with are not so commonly found here in Pittsburgh. That meant that in order to avoid paying a fee when withdrawing some cash, I needed to drive for a bit in order to do so. I will crawl through broken glass to avoid paying ATM fees, as a note. That’s how I ended up in the Oakland section of Pittsburgh, nearby the campus of the University of Pittsburgh or “PITT.”
That’s the literal crowning glory of their campus, called the “Cathedral of Learning.” I know very little about it, but the Wikipedia link attached to the name can explain it all to you, lords and ladies.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Since I was sort of in the neighborhood, I satisfied my curiosity regarding an impressive religious building that I had spotted from the flatlands of the Strip District on prior outings to this area.
That’s the Immaculate Heart of Mary Church, a 1905 structure that hosts a presumptively Polish Roman Catholic congregation. The prominence it is set onto is called Polish Hill.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
One thing I can report, after my very limited experience here in the Pittsburgh area, is that the neighbors are quite friendly. Several times have I been approached while taking pictures of this or that, expecting the old refrain of “what are you doing, or you can’t do that, or are you in Al Qaeda” that I’ve often encountered. Instead, there’s a real pride in the neighborhood bubbling out of the locals, as in the case of an older gentleman who walked over to me while I was cracking out a few exposures. Before ten minutes rolled by, he told me his whole life’s story before he had to skedaddle off to meet a girlfriend. Dude had to be 80. You go, son, you go!
Most of the chats have been the usual ones – they have a camera that they don’t know how to use and do I know what it’s worth – that sort of thing. The second I open my mouth to speak, and they hear the accent, they’ll ask “where are you from.” When I tell them I just moved to Pittsburgh from New York, they look at me all puzzled and say “Why?”
This has happened several times.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
One circled around the church in the automobile, easily finding spots to park in when an interesting point of view appeared. This one is looking north towards the Allegheny River from up on Polish Hill.
A lot of my time at the moment is being spent trying to a) finish the moving process and get established here, and b) learn the jigsaw puzzle of the neighborhoods and roads which form Allegheny County.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
There’s an abandoned looking parochial school just up the hill from Immaculate Heart of Mary, which is one of the very few places I’ve seen graffiti. I don’t know if it’s municipal will or civic pride, but I find it striking how little of that sort of thing I’m seeing. Maybe it’s just how over the top NYC is with graffiti. I’m not talking about the nice “street art” murals kind of graffiti, mind you, I’m talking about “punks” “tagging” stuff.
It’s been very interesting living in a place where the government doesn’t seek to “monetize” you quite as much as the NYC one does. Robot cameras aren’t sitting on the traffic lights, there’s abundant free or fairly cheap parking for motor vehicles, especially so nearby mass transit centers, and when you need to go somewhere only a few miles away you can do so without passing through a crucible of purposely induced traffic jams. You can also go from one section of the metroplex to another without having to shell out an hour’s wages in tolls.
Again, it ain’t necessarily sunshine and handjobs out here, but it’s nice not having an army of professional assholes thinking up new ways to get the buckaroos out of your pocket so they can fund some numbnut’s political ambitions.
Say… how’s d’at fer da most Brooklynz t’ing I’s said inna last few weekz?
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I really, really want to get inside this building. I’m positive that I’ll figure out a way to do so, and my desire to photograph whatever glories it contains should be obvious to longtime readers. I like photographing Catholic Churches (Greek ones too!). This is, of course, something I’m going to figure out a way to social engineer some official permission for. I’ve never been one of those guys who walks into a church and just starts shooting without asking. That’s rude.
I mean, I’ve done it, but it was rude. Like I said, this part of the country has manners, and is polite. They also don’t curse as much, if you can ‘effin believe that.
“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.
riding the T
Wednesday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
On December 23rd, one awoke to the horror of not having any sort of gift to present on Christmas morning to Our Lady of the Pentacle. Not wanting to disappoint, nor to drive, one climbed up the hill in Dormont to the T streetcar line and headed into Downtown Pittsburgh to visit a holiday market that gets set up in a ritual center for the downtown area called “Market Square.”
As is my habit, I debarked the transit line a couple of blocks early and took a meandering scuttle to my destination. That skyscraper rising in the shot above is the U.S. Steel tower, and is home to that corporate entity.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Pittsburgh is experiencing the same phenomena that other American cities are in this age of hybrid and remote work. The streets are fairly deserted without the hustle or the bustle, and large numbers of the shops which would service the gastrointestinal or other needs of the office workers have gone out of business. Most of the people you see wandering around are living rough, and display a number of behavioral issues which cause one’s caution to rise.
Personally, having lived in NYC my whole life, I don’t feel at all threatened by this population but there you go. Regardless, shields up, and be aware of what’s happening around you. My big worry right now is that since I’m unfamiliar with the local culture, I won’t see it coming.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
After purchasing a whimsical hat for Our Lady, one made his way over to the T to return back to Dormont, which is about 5 or so miles away from Downtown. There’s a few different lines on the T, all of which flow through downtown in a tunnel that originally carried freight trains under the city during the Steel City era.
I guess I waited about 15-20 minutes for my ride. Pictured above is a “Blue Line” light rail unit approaching the Gateway Center stop.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
As has continually been the case in this area, I was marveling at the lack of graffiti and cast off garbage and litter. We are absolute slobs in NYC. Admittedly, Pittsburgh makes it a lot easier than NYC to be responsible – there’s litter baskets everywhere, ones which even have separate receptacles for cigarette butts. I’ve seen a bit of graffiti tagging here and there, but comparatively nothing when contrasted with Brooklyn or Queens.
The “Broken Windows” theory of Bill Bratton is thoroughly debauched in the eyes of most in NYC these days, but there’s a corrosive effect in terms of civil order when the citizenry sees litter and graffiti everywhere. It makes you not care, since everything is shitty, and why should you go out of your way when nobody else does? Pittsburgh maintains itself much better, and thereby the citizenry seems to “make an effort.”
– photo by Mitch Waxman
My “Red Line” T finally arrived, and I soon boarded it. As mentioned previously, the way things work here is that transit is free in the city center, and you pay your fare when leaving the train on your way out of Pittsburgh. On the way in, you pay when you board.
Both buses and T train sets use a protected corridor called a “Bus Way” for part of their journey. The bus ways are also used by other municipal vehicles like Police, Public Works, and Ambulances. You encounter signage forbidding private vehicles from usage of these corridors at various intersections through the City.
Compared to the bloated nightmare which is New York City’s governmental system, Pittsburgh gets so much more “bang for the buck” with literally 1/10th the financial resources available to the agencies of NYC.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The T dropped me off back in Dormont, with Our Lady of the Pentacle’s whimsical Christmas hat stowed securely in my camera bag.
It was time for us to hunker down for the coming cold snap. By the time Christmas Eve rolled around the next day, atmospheric temperatures had dropped down to literally zero and with the wind chill factored in it was negative 20. We had prepared for this, and decided to just spend a couple of days at home unpacking and making the house a home.
More tomorrow, from Western Pennsylvania, at 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.
north by northeast
Tuesday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
After doing a sunrise tripod session (described yesterday) with the camera at the West End Overlook park on the 21st of December, a humble narrator pointed the nose of the automobile east after having crossed the Monongahela River to the southern side of the Golden Triangle. A number of rail lines snake through here, and there’s a couple of small rail yards as well.
I was mainly trawling about trying to develop an idea of the surrounding area, and looking for spots to return to when light and atmosphere would combine and align to get a proper photo.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
One of the things I’ve been doing, while randomly driving around Pittsburgh, is to motor up the prominences and see if there’s any sort of point of view I can find without trespassing. I guess that I was about 15 or 20 miles back on the Monongahela from the Downtown area where the three rivers converge.
I’m being extremely careful about the trespassing thing. Pennsylvania is an open carry state, and embraces “Castle Doctrine” which essentially makes it legal for somebody to start blasting away if they feel “threatened” while on their own property. There are gun shops in the shopping malls here. It’s probably a big part of why everybody is so polite in this part of the country.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
One of the places I wanted to take a look at is Braddock, which is around ten miles east of Downtown. Beyond making a mental note to drive Forgotten-NY’s Kevin Walsh here if he ever visits, I was in absolute jaw dropping awe the entire time I was there.
Braddock is home to United States Steel’s Mon Valley Works, a still active steel mill which incorporates the 1875 Edgar Thomson works into its operation. Never in my life have I seen a working steel mill.
Wow. Yes, I will be back.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Seeking some sort of prominence from which I could get a view of the enormity of the Mon Valley Works, I crossed the Monongahela and looked around but couldn’t find a spot where I was certain it was “kosher” for me to shoot from. That’s something to figure out for the future, thought a humble narrator, and I decided that it would be a good idea to head back home and have lunch.
The pathway back to Dormont carried me through McKeesport, which is the second largest urban area in Allegheny County, after Pittsburgh. Truth be told, I’m fuzzy on where Pittsburgh ends and McKeesport begins, but all of that will sort itself out in the fullness of time.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Just as I was thinking to myself “hey, I wonder if this rail bridge is active” a CSX freight train appeared and started transiting over it.
Forgive my ignorance here, as I like taking pictures of trains but I’m not a “train guy.” It seems that this bridge is the beginning of the “Pittsburgh subdivision” for CSX.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The water which the bridge spans is apparently the confluence of the Monongahela and Youghiogheny Rivers. It’s down the block from the municipal center of McKeesport, where the politicians and the Cops live along with their friends in the Fire Department. There was a little park set up under the bridges, which led to a couple of waterfront trails. Again, noted for spring and summertime exploration.
More tomorrow from Western Pennsylvania, at 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.
baby steps
Monday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Time, as in the sort of time I normally devote to wandering about taking photos, had come at a premium price for me in the months of November and December of 2022. On December 14th, I was recovering psychologically from the “have-to” of driving from NYC to Pittsburgh the previous day, which is an all day sort of thing. This is the day after the “threshold moment” when all of my belongings were packed up into a moving truck at the apartment in Astoria. A walk was in order.
That’s my new neighborhood pictured above, in the Pittsburgh Borough of Dormont. As I’ve mentioned in prior posts, the hills here ain’t no joke.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
At the very top of the hill I live on is a light rail transit line called “the T.” Pittsburgh’s “master cylinder” as far as mass transit goes seems to be buses, but one of the things that made the South Hills area – which Dormont is a part of – attractive to Our Lady of the Pentacle and myself is this street car line. $2.75 is the fare for us, but it’s a “zone system” operation. The T runs free in the downtown area, but you have to pay after it crosses out of a certain geography. Essentially, you pay your fare when boarding a Pittsburgh bound car, and pay as you’re getting off on one heading away from Pittsburgh. That’s “Pittsburgh” as in the downtown municipal center area where the office buildings and the stadiums are found. It’s all very confusing, really.
In another post coming later this week, I’ll show you some more T action. As the title of this post indicates, I’m exploring bit by bit.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
All of my friends kept on saying that Pittsburgh’s weather was ferocious during the winter months, but that isn’t really true. It’s more or less the same weather in NYC, we just get hit here a couple days in advance of the City. I haven’t lived outside of NYC long enough yet to weave “the old neighborhood” or “back home” into my speech pattern like some mobster on witness protection. This is what Dormont looked like on the morning of December 18th. The shot looks towards the bottom of the steep hill seen in the first photo in today’s post. The horizon line at the top of the shot is the street where the T line runs.
The local news was all agog about the arctic air and windy condition which would be arriving at Christmas, which seemed like it would be quite unpleasant to deal with. Our Lady and I decided that the best move would be to hunker down in the house for a few days, accordingly. A quick trip to the local market and we were sorted out as far as comestibles go. It was still relatively seasonal, however, with temperatures floating around freezing.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The 21st was a cold day, saying all that, and since recent exertions had seen me rising up and out of bed at 4 or 5 a.m. for a few weeks, it was normal for me to be out and about before the sun rose anyway. I decided to take advantage of this rare early morning phase of mine and head over to a park in a nearby neighborhood, called the “West End Overlook,” for a sunrise session.
West End’s Elliot, where the park is found, is a pretty old section of town I’m told, and West End was originally founded under the name “Temperanceville.” The park sits high over the Ohio River, nearby the McKees Rocks Bridge (I got that one wrong, and thx to NP reader Jon’s comment on this post – I can now tell you that it’s the West End Bridge) spanning the waterway.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
While shooting these, I decided that I’d need to come back here at sunset sometime. It was quite chilly on this particular morning, with atmospheric temperatures in the low 20’s. Luckily, this spot is about a 20 minute drive from my house, so…
After the burning thermonuclear eye of God itself had fully risen into the vault of the sky, I packed up the gear and turned on the heating in the car. Y’know, when I let the Toyota guy talk me into heated seats, I thought I’d never use them…
– photo by Mitch Waxman
After shooting the sunrise, I got into the car and drove over the Monongahela River from the south side of the water, where West End and my new HQ in Dormont are, to the Golden Triangle side of the Monongahela. I spent the morning heading eastwards along its banks, where enormous properties once devoted to industrial steel production now sit fallow.
I wasn’t looking for anything in particular, and was mainly scouting for photographic opportunity. I had built up a small set of waypoints in advance of this scouting mission, things that looked interesting in the top down view of Google maps.
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.
a day in the neighborhood
Friday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
First off, when you’re driving through Pittsburgh and you want to stop and get out of your car, you can find a metered parking spot pretty easily. As in, you drive somewhere and there one is. They use an electronic system here, one where you go to a nearby kiosk, enter your license plate information, and then pay your due. They also use coin meters here and there, but there you go. It’s mostly the kiosk version downtown, by my very limited observation. As a former New Yorker, this is a startling innovation to me.
When you leave an abusive relationship, normal courteousness seems revelatory to you.
Coming back from the Allegheny Observatory, I stopped off at the river it’s named for, and set up the tripod to take advantage of the late afternoon lighting. That’s downtown Pittsburgh pictured above.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I found myself a slightly elevated location to shoot from where I wouldn’t have to worry too much about watching my back. This allowed me to concentrate on what I was doing. The entire time I was shooting, I was hearing the words and songs of Fred Rogers, as in Mr. Rogers. “I like you just the way you are,” “everybody is special,” and so on. I wasn’t going crazy, instead I was at the Mr. Rogers memorial!
I should mention that I love Fred Rogers, and if you’re Generation X as I am, you probably do as well. That guy…
– photo by Mitch Waxman
In the American culture, we venerate warriors and businessmen and killers and sports heroes, generally. It’s not often that someone rises to the top of the heap for being kind to children. Rogers was a Pittsburgh native, and his show was produced at the local PBS station – WQED. A friend of mine who’s lived here for a few decades described seeing Mr. Rogers regularly at a local supermarket in the Squirrel Hill section where they both lived, and often overheard him talking to kids – “you seem very smart… I bet you know how to spell Broccoli, don’t you?” was the gist of how he described those encounters to me.
The monument to Mr. Rogers is wired for sound, and plays a repeating reel of him singing, and his various sayings. Fantastic!
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I had set myself up for “landscape” mode with the camera, shooting “low and slow” as I describe it. This is when I feel “creative” while shooting, rather than just being a shutter monkey. The problem you encounter with this setup – which involves a filter and a series of settings designed to reduce the amount of light moving through the lens – is when something is entering the frame and suddenly you want to capture it, without it going all motion blurry.
That’s the Fort Pitt Bridge and the entrance to the Fort Pitt tunnel which pierces Mount Washington pictured above.
Luckily, I’ve learned to be prepared for this change of circumstance when the camera is in landscape mode by the University of Newtown Creek, and I can be shooting “fast” images within about 20 seconds of rapid dial twisting and settings adjustments and without having to remove the filter or otherwise alter the operation.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I saw both the freight train and the tugboat coming together from opposite sides of the frame, and managed to pop off this shot.
It was time to head back home to Dormont. I packed up the gear, hopped back in the wheels, and made a decision that I was going to rely solely on my own sense of direction to get back to HQ rather than use any sort of navigation software. I’m going to come back to this spot at dawn sometime soon.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
On my way, I hit a small patch of rush hour traffic wherein the vehicle and I were only traveling at about 20 mph through downtown Pittsburgh. Heh. Traffic… what was that I was saying about abusive relationships?
I got stuck at a few traffic lights during this interval, but I popped open the moon roof on the car and took advantage of that on the way.
More next week, from the Paris of Appalachia, 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 