Dark by design
Wednesday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Mid scuttle begins today’s post, between my starting point up on Troy Hill and what could be called a middle point here on the 16th street bridge.
As mentioned previously, this was the first set of clear skies that Pittsburgh had offered in a couple of weeks, and the cloudless situation was causing no end of trouble for the camera, regarding the unoccluded burning thermonuclear eye of god itself bobbing about in the sky.
All caught up.
Look at me, complaining about the sun after I decided to walk south west while facing into it in the middle of a clear afternoon. Schmuck.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Thing is, I really like inclement lighting conditions as they’re so difficult to capture. Strobing, hot spots, deep contrast – difficult. Nepenthe.
For the last couple of weeks, I’ve been carrying a ‘bare minimum’ kit in my camera bag. Haven’t been able to handle the thought of dragging the big knap sack around, so it’s been a sling bag with two prime lenses and a few necessities like extra batteries. The big 24-240mm zoom lens is installed on the camera for this sort of duty.
I like an ‘all in one’ for photowalks.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Exiting the 16th street bridge, discovery of where all of Pittsburgh’s pigeons like to hang out occurred. A gigantic flock of the rock doves were involved in a panicked murmuration, sparked off by the passing of a semi truck on the streets below.
This section of my scuttle was little more than an inconvenience, passing through the Downtown section, as I didn’t have anything to shoot in this zone which would draw me here or there.
The goal was to just push through the warren of ‘Dahntahn’ streets as quickly as possible, and emerge onto the Monongahela River’s shoreline to continue with my peregrinations in search of interesting things to point the lens at.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
There’s a whole generation of urban planners from the 1960’s and 70’s whom I hope went straight to hell when they died. Shadowing the streets with massive bridges and buildings, eliminating any possibility of organic growth in pursuance of… ‘traffic flow’… bah! They do a lot better these days, but… hell… they rammed this monstrous thing right through middle of their downtown back in the 1980’s to complete an idea that Robert Moses gave them back during the Great Depression.
Pittsburgh didn’t have a Jane Jacobs to lead the charge, I guess.
One of the things that’s just maddening about ‘Dahntahn’ is that the office buildings were built without setbacks on the upper stories, creating monolithic shapes that form forever shadows on the streets below.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Not exactly an inviting pedestrian experience, downtown, nor one that draws me into it with the idea of spending some cash. The big draws in the particular direction pictured above are a series of high end and middle of the road hotels. A few blocks away from that there are dying shops, bars, restaurants which suffer from a lack of foot traffic. The owners of the buildings blame all on a hangover from Covid, work from home policies, and everything else they can think of.
It’s their high rents, in an area that’s not exactly ‘salubrious.’ Think Downtown Brooklyn’s Flatbush Avenue Corridor in the late 1980’s for what I mean by that.
Also, the downtown area is a bit ‘crimey.’ Literally the only place in Pittsburgh where I’m looking over my shoulder, and doing those little NYC style heel spins on the regular to see if anyone’s following me. A few times, somebody was – in fact – following me. Junkies.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Lighting. Lighting fixes a lot of a City’s problems. In areas of persistent shadow, like the ‘way’ alley pictured above, a 24/7 street lamp will solve whatever it is you’re worrying about. The trick with modernity is that junkies have cell phones, and I’ve developed a perception about this. You walk past one group of junkies and one of them starts texting. Guy coming has got a camera, that’s probably what the text says. By the next corner there’s somebody already waiting, and watching. Networked junkies.
Now, yeah – I’m a bit paranoid. Saying that, I also lived in NYC for half a century and I can literally sense ‘it’ coming, almost in the manner of extra sensory perception or ‘ESP.’ I can ‘feel it’ when I’m being watched by the creatures of the street. There was some character who was following me for a spell while I was shooting these, as a note. I did the ‘stand and stare’ move, which this fellow found disconcerting and he broke off.
Back tomorrow.
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Kicking dirt, north shore style
Tuesday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
After a lovely walk down Troy Hill, where a cemetery was visited and the very steep Troy Hill Road walked upon, your humble narrator soon found himself crossing one of those pedestrian bridges which overfly a vast complex of high speed roads here in Pittsburgh.
The Fort Duquesne, Fort Pitt, Veterans, and West End Bridges are nearby, and the complex of interchanges between I-376/I-279/I-579/Route 28 and the primary and secondary local ‘arterial streets’ dominate this formerly industrial section of Pittsburgh.
As you’d deduce from the shot above, the former Heinz factory is found nearby. It’s been turned into residential lofts in the post industrial period.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
These pedestrian ramps hide the presence of a fairly well established homeless encampment, one that can be observed below them. There’s a few holes cut into the fences here and there for egress. The encampment, seems to use a different spot, under and towards the end of the ramp as a latrine. It’s easy to find, if you follow your nose. Heroin is apparently one heck of a drug.
Other than leaving a bag of old clothes here and there for the unhoused, or passing off cans of dog food to a particular fellow that hangs around one of the tunnel exits whose pup I feel bad for, I try not to get involved in the lives of the street people. Trouble.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Pittsburgh offers drivers a series of confusing choices which they need to make at the very last second. The city has odd road usage conventions that indicate needing to use this left lane – or the right one – to proceed. In some spots, you need to shift into the right lane for less than a block – before reaching a mandatory right turn – and then shift back into the original travel lane you were in to continue straight – merging right in the middle of the intersection after the lane you started in has to make a mandatory left turn. Confusing. This works out well once you can anticipate the situation, presuming you’re overly familiar with the place and its mores, but for a newcomer or visitor – it’s chaos. As I call it – Pittsburgh Vernacular – you just have to ‘know.’
Regardless, I was on foot.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I passed through the campus of the former Heinz Factory. Spectacular terra cotta and industrial design here. Beautiful spot, in the middle of a not so beautiful spot. There’s a number of things which, as a former New Yorker, it’s hard to reconcile about this city. There are entire neighborhoods which should be ‘popping,’ but aren’t. This is one of them.
Bah! I really aspire to not care about anything anymore.
Google’s AI tells me that ‘A lack of emotion is often defined as apathy, meaning an absence of feeling, interest, or concern, leading to reduced motivation; it can also manifest as emotional numbness, detachment, or flat affect, a reduced expression of emotion, often seen in conditions like depression, PTSD, or neurological disorders, with specific terms like alexithymia describing difficulty identifying/describing feelings.’
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Next on my list for a walk around is actually this section of the North Side. Looks seedy, but Andy Warhol’s family is still in the scrap metal business back there somewhere. Maybe there’s a giant soup can or something. I’ve wandered through here in the past, but not while consciously cataloging what I’m seeing. Most of the time in this zone, I’m walking on the waterfront trail when rolling through and heading somewhere else.
Maybe that’s the problem this section of the North Side has – it’s a liminal space that people pass through but seldom dwell in. I used to be familiar with a waterway in Brooklyn and Queens that had the same problem.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I crossed the Allegheny River on the 16th street David McCullough bridge. This brought me to Pittsburgh’s so called ‘golden triangle,’ which is the peninsular section where most of the corporate and governmental powers reside.
The orthopedic incident had seriously retarded my efforts in 2025. That’s more or less over now, and your humble narrator is enthusiastic about being back on the prowl in a free roaming manner.
Back tomorrow.
“follow” me on Twitter- @newtownpentacle
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Down, down, down
Monday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Troy Hill Road, as in sights seen along it, is offered in today’s post, which narratively continues a fairly long walk recently undertaken here in Pittsburgh. Your humble narrator has built a long list of ‘things’ to see while on foot as I’ve driven about the city of Pittsburgh, and this course is one of them. A local roadway, Troy Hill Road drapes along the side of a landform cliff which has a high speed road (Route 28) at its base, as well as a rail line and the Allegheny River. It’s all very confusing.
Also, just to catch you up – it was quite cold and I was heavily dressed for winter, the sun was bothering me, and everybody hates me. If you don’t hate me yet, you will, just wait till you meet me. I’m a terrible person, just ask anybody. Awful, atavistic, aberrant, argumentative, a real icehole. Children and dogs shriek when they see me, old ladies clutch at their pearls, and men form armed posses to ascertain my intentions. In short: I suck.
It’s for the best that I’m alone so much.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
A closed off set of ‘City Steps’ was encountered. One moved past them in the typical ‘herkie jerky’ fashion I’m famous for. The wind was whipping my filthy black raincoat around, the burning thermonuclear eye of god itself was bobbing about in the vault and lighting up every speckle of dust on my eyeglasses, and I also needed to pee but not too urgently. I was in fine fettle otherwise, and the ankle which was so affected by the orthopedic incident was playing ball with me on this scuttle.
historicpittsburgh.org offers a photo of a group of workers building Troy Hill Road, from back in 1911.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
One continued down, past retaining walls which water pipes were affixed to. Don’t know if they were sewerage or supply, but it must be a real challenge to get water to fight gravity. I’m told there used to be a Resovoir up here on Troy Hill. As I moved down the slope, building densities began to change. The flood plain at the bottom of the hill is where all the industry used to be – tanneries, abattoirs, mills of very type. The world’s preeminent ketchup and baked bean factory, for instance.
What’s down there now on the flood plain is an amazing amalgamation and concentration of 75 years of vehicular expressway and automobile related infrastructure expansions, but that’s for tomorrow’s post.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
It’s pretty common to park with half of your car up on the sidewalk around Pittsburgh, due to the narrowness of the roads. In the ‘fancy shmancy’ areas like Shadyside or Squirrel Hill, it’s resident permit parking only, or there’s no ‘on the street’ parking at all.
As a former New Yorker, I require clear and omnipresent signage to govern my parking of the Mobile Oppression Platform. The Yinzers just sort of pull over to the side of the road and park their cars in a ditch.
If I did that, the NYPD might find me out here and write a ticket for an alternate side violation. ‘No parking west of the state between 8 and 11 a.m.’ You can’t escape the NYPD.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The adaptations for the terrain in Pittsburgh never cease to amaze. Everywhere you look, however, there’s bulging century old retaining walls in these sections. Nothing is ‘plumb.’ Look at me, the crooked man who’s commenting on a crooked mile. No wonder everybody hates me.
The plan for the rest of the outing was pretty simple. I’d continue on, cross the two rivers, and either catch a T light rail or a cab back to HQ. Had lots of miles ahead of me, though, which you’ll see this week in subsequent postings.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Pittsburgh is big on ‘entering the neighborhood’ murals, and in the case of Troy Hill they’ve got a freestanding mosaic sign. Back on relatively flat ground again, one leaned into things and started pushing his way towards the south and west. Right into the sun.
Can’t win.
Back tomorrow with more.
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Top a da world, Ma, top a da world
Friday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
After having bid ‘adieu’ to the Voegtly Evangelical Church Cemetery on Pittsburgh’s Troy Hill, one leaned into the walk. A steep landform on the northern bank of the Allegheny River, Troy Hill is.
Just like that mirroring landform to the south which overlooks the Monongahela River, where the summit of Mount Washington forms a ridge line that overlooks the peninsular ‘golden triangle’ section of downtown, so too does the Allegheny River side form a high ridge. The south side of Pittsburgh offers West End/Elliot, Grandview Avenue on Mount Washington itself, and the South Side Slopes all have charms to delight the altitude aspirant. I’m just getting started on this side.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I had previously figured out a route, utilizing my usual method of using Google Maps street view’s ‘remote viewing’ to scout a few things out. Are there sidewalks? That’s one of the questions I like to have an answer for before setting out for a scuttle. Will I trap myself inside of a valley or cul de sac, which will force me to have to scale a cliff or something to get out of? It’s good to know about that sort of thing in advance when planning a day’s outing. Larger issues of destination and bridge crossings are present in my plan as well.
That’s Rialto Street pictured above, fifth steepest street in Pittsburgh.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The 1901 vintage firehouse for Engine Co. 11 caught my eye, and especially so for the fine carving exhibited on its signage. Here’s a close up of that signage. Remarkable work. Apparently, the fire dept. doesn’t use this building anymore, and it’s where the cops who enforce commercial vehicle rules for the municipality work out of in modernity. Neat. I’ve also seen this building referenced as and referred to as ‘Troy Hill Fire Station #39’ by a couple of sources.
One swirled along the sidewalks, a maelstrom of black sack cloth with a camera sticking out of it. Scuttle, scuttle, scuttle.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
See what I meant when saying that you could see the ‘germanity’ in the local building stock. The building above is likely a parsonage, as it’s right next door to a large church, but I’m guessing there. Why guess though?
The church is the Saint Anthony Chapel, which is said to house the largest number of Catholic relics outside of the Vatican. Pictured above is the Most Holy Name of Jesus Rectory.
Further did I scuttle – twirling – ever twirling – towards freedom.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
This had been the first day of clear skies in about three weeks, here in Pittsburgh.
Let me level with you lords and ladies – the burning thermonuclear eye of god itself was ‘harshing my buzz’ what with all the glare and strobing flares. Of course, I had accidentally timed this walk in such a manner that the thing would be hanging directly in front of me the whole way, and the solar furnace was blowing out my eyesight and causing finding the correct exposure settings for the camera to be a real challenge. Woe is me.
Honestly, this area is so damned cool, but it must be so challenging living up here – just like in the south side slopes.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The pathway to carry me back down to ground level was marked by the presence of an enormous school, which appears to have once been a Catholic institution but is now an elementary school which calls itself ‘Provident Charter School Central.’ The street I was looping onto is called Troy Hill Road, and I can’t imagine why anyone would choose to drive down Rialto Street when this route is just a few blocks away.
Back next week with more – at this – your Newtown Pentacle.
“follow” me on Twitter- @newtownpentacle
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That cemetery, on Troy Hill
Thursday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I’ve mentioned Pittsburgh’s Troy Hill section before, in posts focused in on one of its most iconic features – Rialto Street.
A few occasions have seen me driving up here, scouting and such. There’s a centuried graveyard up there that’s called the Voegtly Evangelical Church Cemetery.
There’s a great article found here which describes the history, and the story, of the Voegtly cemetery. It also advises that ‘Voegtly’ is a Swiss German family name that is pronounced in English as ‘VECKly.’ More interesting reporting can be accessed here, and here, and a 2003 report from the Smithsonian can be found here.
Quite obviously, this cemetery I was visiting is the second and surviving one, as the original one that was attached to a long demolished church is now a part of an interstate highway. Progress marches on, huh?
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The neighborhood up on Troy Hill looks mostly residential, wood framed buildings seldom taller than three stories. You can ‘see’ the ‘germanity’ in these structures, on the wood worked lintels adorning the windows and doors. The streets up here were definitely not built for a guy from NYC that’s driving a Japanese SUV around. Tight, narrow, and built for horse and carriage. The streets are steep as well. I left the car at home on this particular day, and arrived on Troy Hill via an Uber.
I chatted with some fellow who had volunteered to clean the place up, gathering wind blown trash and detritus which had collected along the fence line. Nice guy, and I always love meeting people who care.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
At the edge of the property, breaks in the tree line allow for views of the Allegheny River valley. Prominent, the 33rd street rail bridge connects right of way trackage across the river to Lawrenceville.
I maintained a pretty good margin of safety regarding the edge of the land here. Wouldn’t want to tumble down onto Route 28 below. I’ve walked that path before… shudder.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Observation reveals that this cemetery seems to have been largely filled up by the early 20th century. A number of the interments reveal entire families lying together, and there are some extraordinary monuments to admire in this polyandrion. Observed interment dates started around the First Civil War and end during the 1920’s. Non scientific survey, this, just what I took notice of.
As was the case with First Calvary back in LIC, the industrial atmosphere and consequent ‘acid rain’ has absolutely consumed and degraded the monuments composed of marble, whereas the granite ones look brand new. The marble ones have that typical ‘melting ice cream’ look. At Calvary, the acidic rain was due to the Phelps Dodge outfit operating an actual sulfuric acid factory right about where the Kosciuszcko Bridge currently stands.
In Pittsburgh, you can take your pick for ‘point source’ amongst all of the steel mills, railroads, and glass factories that used to be embedded around the place as being the origin point for corrosive gases in the atmosphere.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Fascinating spot, this, for a wandering taphophile. As mentioned above, several of the people buried here seem to have been ‘people of means.’ Look at the Neeb family monument a couple of shots up from this one as an example, but everywhere I looked there were fine carvings which must have cost a pretty penny ‘back in the day.’ Many of these graves were obviously meant for working people, but clearly there were ‘bosses’ buried at Voegtly too.
Me? I was just getting started on the day’s exertions. This was the start of a fairly long scuttle of about ten miles, and the longest walk I was able to pull off in 2025 – due to the orthopedic incident.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
There’s a monument to Western PA.’s firefighters at the Voegtly Evangelical Church Cemetery. Thought it appropriate to get a shot of it. I plan on returning here sometime soon, as a note. Interesting spot.
Back tomorrow with more wonders – at this – your Newtown Pentacle.
“follow” me on Twitter- @newtownpentacle
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The Newtown Pentacle 