Posts Tagged ‘16th street Bridge’
Hurtling scuttle
Monday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Welcome back to the midpoint of a decently long walk in Pittsburgh.
I had to cross the street to get to the 16th street David L. McCullough bridge, and while negotiating the crosswalk (with the light and a walk signal) some redneck decided it would be funny to try and hit me with his car while he was making a left. Not accidental at all, he intentionally swerved towards me, forcing me to jump forward to avoid being hit and yelling ‘what the fuck?’
The country mouse got caught at a light, where he then got to hear this city mouse loose a string of blue invective at him. I was also hurling esoteric occultist curses. Seven times seven generations worth of bad luck will now accompany this particular hillbilly’s line of descendants.
Don’t annoy a humble narrator by trying to hit me with your car, country mouse, that’s the lesson. I ain’t all that humble in real life, and I also have a hot temper and an extremely adaptable moral compass.
Bah.
At any rate, that’s the 16th street bridge pictured today.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The 16th street bridge itself is easy walking, and deposits you into a part of the central peninsula of Pittsburg where the Strip District transitions into Downtown. There’s a stolidity to this three arch span, with its steel and flagstone construction, that I just like. It’s also a fairly visually attractive bridge with those triple arches, and a set of neat sculptural elements atop the piers. The bridge is named for David McCollough.
David L. McCullough was a Pittsburgh native, and nationally famous historian, who wrote many great books – but his Brooklyn Bridge masterpiece has a special place in my heart, and is one of my touchstones for NYC history in the middle and late 19th century periods. If you can find the audiobook which the author personally narrates, buy it.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Looking towards downtown, and that’s the Veteran’s Bridge, a high volume connector between Downtown Pittsburgh to the south and Route 28 and I-279 on the north. It’s a pretty massive structure.
I debarked the 16th street bridge and then headed in a south westerly direction. I’ve taken to adorning one of my camera bag straps with a small compass, in order to keep track of the cardinal directions. Yeah, the phone has a digital compass, but I’d have to fish it out of my pocket… meh.
Everything doesn’t have to have a chip inside it to be useful
– photo by Mitch Waxman
One last look back at the 16th street bridge and away I go.
The plan for the second half of this outing involved getting out of the downtown area, and then heading over to the more familiar south side of the Monongahela, which is found on the opposite side of the triangular landform that the towers of downtown loathsomely squat upon.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Under the Veterans Bridge, and a bit of trivia for you: Pittsburgh’s Coroner’s office is housed directly across the street from where I was scuttling along, as is their version of the NYC DEP (water and sewer).
Gotta say, it’s fairly shabby around these parts, and along Liberty Avenue. It has that sort of dead street/blight vibe that always happens around governmental offices. The Heinz museum is just a couple of blocks away from here, and the convention center just beyond that. Despite that, section is pretty defined by the Coroners, a few bail bondsman storefront operations, and those parking lots. Gotta park somewhere, I guess.
Me? I kept on keeping on. Striding has become part of locomotion again, although I’m still walking a good deal slower than I formerly did.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
A steel mill ladle pot occupies a couple of parking spots in a lot at 12th street. Wonder what it costs to park a giant steel pot in downtown Pittsburgh for a day. Aww… who am I kidding, it’ll be about $15.
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.
Onions make you cry
Wednesday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
As mentioned earlier in the week, a humble narrator is in the midst of an intractable argument with the guy in the mirror. It’s not fun behind the eyes or between the ears at the moment, but that’s me – I’m like the Kiwi – a fuzzy little fruit with a lot of personality, which doesn’t taste anything like you think it would if you take a bite.
That’s the Heinz factory pictured above, which has been converted over from production of the 57 varieties to housing. I love the aesthetics of the campus, and we actually considered it as a place to land when moving out here. Ultimately, it was too ‘urban,’ and one of the things we wanted, when moving from NYC, was to not share walls with random madmen anymore.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The 16th street bridge, which I walked back and forth over a few times on my constitutional short walk – on it and a section of the adjoining Great Allegheny Passage trail (about 8,000 steps, according to my phone) – offers some pretty nice views of the center of Pittsburgh. That’s ‘Downtown’ or ‘D’ahn-tahn’ as the local idiom would call it.
Translating from NYC Brooklynese to Pittsburgh Yinzer – Youse is Yinz. Being nosey is ‘being nebby’ and so on. The Yinz slang thing is commonly embraced here, and there’s a range of products available which embrace the linguistic stylings thereof. It’s odd. Rubber bands are called ‘gum bands’ in Pittsburgh, and they also put french fries in salads.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
While scuttling back to the Mobile Oppression Platform, parked in one of the Great Allegheny Passage parking lots on the north side, I spotted a Norfolk Southern train set transiting over the Fort Wayne Rail Bridge in the distance. Luckily, I had a zoom lens on the camera and was able to get a long telephoto shot of it.
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.
Apples are Doctor prophylaxis
Tuesday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I’m only joking with that title, but I actually have been eating a daily apple since I moved to Pittsburgh for some reason. Granny Smith kind. Yummy. As I’ve discovered, my new friend Moe the Dog likes the green apples too, so double win.
That’s the 16th street or David McCullough Bridge pictured above, which spans the Allegheny River. Pittsburgh native McCullough wrote one of my all time favorite NYC history books about the Brooklyn Bridge’s construction – ‘The Great Bridge, the epic story of the building of the Brooklyn Bridge.’ I can highly recommend the audiobook version available on Amazon’s Audible service, which is free if you’re a ‘Prime’ member. The last time I posted a photo of the 16th street span, interest in the comments section was espoused in seeing a close up of the ornamental metalwork at the top of the bridge towers, so here you go.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
On the north side of the river, there’s a bit of heavy industrial activity going on, including a waste transfer/recycling facility called “Warhola Recycling.’ Yes, they are related to Andy Warhol (his nephews), and yes they are scrappers. There’s an Andy Warhol bridge in Pittsburgh, and a museum, not too far from this spot. I’ve been to the bridge, but haven’t been to the museum yet.
I continued on my merry freaking way, while sweating heavily. It was a very humid day, with atmospheric dew points in the high 70’s, as I was taking this walk. Rain, snow, sun… whatever, I’m still obliged to scuttle about every other day.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
On the peninsular section of the city, on the Allegheny’s southern shore, is found Pittsburgh’s ‘strip district.’ A cold storage warehouse used to be located where the rubble in the shot above is observed, and oddly enough – given my newness to the area – I’ve somehow managed to document several phases of its demolition. Funny that.
It seems that the bar next door, which is located in the extant red brick building, has been structurally compromised due to the demolition project, which has slowed down the process of building – you guessed it – affordable housing – on the surrounding site. There’s lots of newly constructed housing stock nearby, but I’m told it’s largely occupied by the ‘tech Bros’ from Microsoft and Google who are working on developing self driving automobiles here in Pittsburgh.
There’s someone in Pittsburgh who’s working on what are essentially robot shoes, too. If anyone wants to send me $1,100 to get a pair, I’ll gladly get them and let you know how many bones I ended up breaking.
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.
Pickle faced
Monday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
A humble narrator is in a bit of a mood at the moment. Nothing special is going on, just in the midst waging war with that most intractable and stubborn of all the enemies I’ve ever encountered – myself. Bah.
Forgive any dark outlook or prognostication this week, I’m in a mood.
The good news is that no matter what torrential and self referential hellscape might manifest twixt the ears, life always needs tending to. It was time once again to give the Mobile Oppression Platform a drink of the fuel it craves, and I got lucky when the tracks across the street from the gas station I frequent were suddenly occupied by a passing freight train operated by the Wheeling & Lake Erie outfit.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The M.O.P., which is how I refer to my Toyota RAV4 Hybrid, gets an absolutely science fiction level of gas mileage – just as promised by the manufacturer. Topping off the tank gives me an unbelievable 560 miles of range. According to the analytics in the dashboard, which I’ve confirmed by real world reckoning, I’m getting about 39 mpg. This is working out for me, as the car is a necessity in these parts.
I’ve also finally figured out how to get Google Maps to offer me driving route options which use local rather than highway streets to get where I want or need to go.
In the case of the need for a constitutional ‘short walk’ here in Pittsburgh recently, that route involved me driving through the central business district and then over to the waterfront trail found on the north side of the Allegheny River, nearby the former Heinz Factory, from HQ in the South Hills community of Dormont.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Heinz has been converted over to housing, and there’s several attractive but quite expensive (by Pittsburgh standards) domiciles available for lease. I think they also do Condos in there, but who knows. The last thing I want to do in my dotage is live in the center of a city again. HQ is about 6 or 7 miles south of the Heinz Factory Lofts, and it’s a 2 story house, in a suburb with my very own driveway. I’ve got deer regularly walking around in the yard, and there’s a family of ground hogs living under the yard. We’ve got Chipmunks too, and every kind of bird you can think of is regularly spotted – including eagles. Just the other night, something huge skulked through the yard, but all I saw was its shadow. Might have been a Squonk.
As mentioned, a section of the ‘Great Allegheny Passage’ trail runs through this section of Pittsburgh, which also offers up a safe parking spot for that great gas mileage car of mine, so I ended up wandering around for bit and burning up a bit of shoe leather while wandering in this section.
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.
The Newtown Pentacle 