Posts Tagged ‘Allegheny River’
Peanuts & Crackerjacks, yo
Friday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
After having ridden the T light rail into Downtown Pittsburgh from HQ in Dormont, your humble narrator hit the streets. Pictured above is (what I’m told) the former home and 1893 vintage ‘flagship’ department store of the Joseph Horne Company at Stanwix Street and Penn Avenue.
There was an event going during this particular afternoon, a couple of miles away, meant to be taking place on the North Side of the Allegheny River which seemed like it was going to be quite silly, and was the sort of thing I normally would like to point a camera at. When I got there, no event. It was, in fact, silly.
My footsteps were nevertheless being loosely organized in that general direction.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The Pirates were three innings into a baseball game with the Reds, directly across the Allegheny River.
It was positively sultry out, with temperatures in the low 90’s and a fair amount of humidity. A steady breeze was blowing, however, and whenever shade could be found – things were existentially tolerable.
Saying that, it was hot, and this ended up being one of my ‘short walks.’
– photo by Mitch Waxman
As an aside, I have managed to survive all of the tests and ministrations which my team of doctors have insisted upon in the last four weeks.
After having to delay several prescribed things due to the ankle situation, I can report that your humble narrator has now been analyzed fully. Just visited the dentist too, so I can honestly say ‘head to toe.’ Not ‘exactly’ a clean bill of health came back to me from all the tests, but then again, I’m in my late 50’s so… you ain’t gonna get no good news from the blue pajamas and white coats crowd after 50.
As is usually the case with me, just keep walking, that’s the curative for everything. When you stop moving, that’s when you’ve started to decay. Get out of the house and go see something, ya lazy…
My entire philosophy is based, suffice to say, on this: Put one foot in front of the other… (There’s also ‘What would Superman do’ of course.)
– photo by Mitch Waxman
On game days, such as this particular Sunday, the city closes the Roberto Clemente Bridge to traffic so that the baseball fans can use it as a pedestrian ramp to the stadium from downtown. No way am I not going to take advantage of that – as it’s a very interesting situation.
No shade, though, and did I mention it was HOT. Saying that, I seem to possess an ability which most do not these days.
I can sublimate temporary discomfort for a while, without freaking out about becoming dehydrated within three minutes or worrying about my electrolyte balance. Yeah, it was uncomfortable, but it’s the world. You want comfort, stay home.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
There were a steady stream of Baseball fans leaving the stadium, and I overheard one of them telling his wife on the phone that it was just ‘too damn hot to sit in the stands.’ That’s probably why so many people were sitting in those shady ‘nose bleed’ seats at PNC Park.
I attended a Pirates game here in 2024, check out the views from inside the stadium here if you like.
The earphones came out shortly after starting the walk on the Clemente Bridge, which is one of Pittsburgh’s iconic ‘Three Sisters Bridges.’ Full sensory and situational awareness was required.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
A heel spin, and looking back at the pathway I’d walked.
An old habit, born in NYC, to see if anyone is following me. Let me tell you, the camera gets instantly noticed by the street people here. Usually, I’ll stand there staring at their eyes so when the gaze retreats off the camera and up to the ‘size the victim up’ phase, they see me intently glaring at them and sometimes smiling. That’s usually enough in Pittsburgh, but… everybody besides me is packing a pistol in Pennsylvania. Concealed carry is kosher here.
I can do the Bene Gesserit voice from Dune, as a note. Just tell people what to do and they start doing it without realizing.
Back next week with more, 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.
Up high, in Allegheny City
Thursday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
As mentioned in past postings, your humble narrator has been playing ‘catch-up’ with the wishes of the Medical/Insurance Complex. They have ordered technicians to irradiate me, beam high intensity sound through my flesh, and also sample the various internal ichors sloshing about within for chemical analysis. All of their ambitions are in my best interest, of course, and several of these annual diagnostic tests are overdue, having been ‘put on hold’ during the broken ankle ordeal.
One of the ‘reasons for Pittsburgh’ is the quality of health care here. Absolutely top notch. They literally cured Polio here in Pittsburgh ‘back in the day,’ and the medical system here is fairly well staffed and equipped. Everything in Pittsburgh is ‘easy’ in comparison to the drawn out struggles of dealing with NYC’s health system.
Cannot tell you how many times that I said, during the physical therapy part of the ankle recovery period, that ‘thank god I’m not in NYC.’ To wit: on this particular morning, I had a test scheduled at the main hospital here in Pittsburgh, Allegheny General. It’s the building you see used for exteriors on that HBO show ‘The Pitt.’
I literally drove here in 15 minutes from HQ during rush hour, arrived at their parking lot and then easily found a convenient spot, got into an elevator and was seen at precisely the time which my appointment called for. In and out in an hour. Back at the parking lot, and then back home in 10 minutes. Easy.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
That’s the setting for these shots. As you can see, it was quite misty out at about 8:30 in the morning on Pittsburgh’s north side this particular morning. The lot is multi-story, the sort which you drive through and the ramps are set up like the threads of a screw. I always head up to the open air top level. Less crowded. Culturally speaking, the locals will go to blows over a spot nearby the entrance on the first level, whereas the ones up top are normally waiting for a car to fill them.
My test results came back as ‘normal,’ although there’s some stuff going on in there that the docs want to ‘keep an eye on.’ I’m at that age where everything the docs want to look at, or warn me about, sounds terrifying.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Saying all that, I’m nearly 60. The clock, as it were, is ticking. No time to waste. I’m obliging the science stuff here, because it’s colossally stupid not to. Their first name is ‘Doctor,’ and I’m just a schmuck with a camera, so I try to follow the advice of the blue pajamas and white coat crowd as much as possible. If they want photo taking advice, I’m available.
Nothing new has emerged from the various peeks within, which is actually good news. Homeostasis has always been a goal.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
My parents were the members of the family who didn’t decamp Brooklyn for Long Island or New Jersey, which meant that they spent a lot of time looking in on and caring for the old timers still in the ‘old neighborhood.’
Take Aunt Vera to the doctor, pick up Aunt Edna on Ocean Parkway and after a few stops, then take them both out for a diner lunch, and then drop off a bag of support hose to Grandma on Linden Blvd. – that would describe my Dad’s average Saturday. I spent a lot of time as a kid around very, very old people and am thereby very familiar with what life’s ‘Act 3’ entails and looks like. The degradations, the humiliations, all of it.
I have no illusions about how my remaining years will play out. Dissolution is the nature of all things. Only thing you really can do for your self is find some way to be as comfortable as possible while you’re waiting on that exit line.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Having stated all of that gloomy yet inevitable stuff, I’ve still got a lot of people to piss off and there’s lots of fun that I haven’t had yet. Once I’m done with all of these medical obligations by the end of July, there’s a couple/three destinations which I want to hit in August/September. I’m also pretty hyped to actually be able to shoot ‘leaf season’ in the ‘burning hills of Pennsylvania’ this year.
Two of the outings are railroad specific, the other is a visit to a nearby urban core which I’m interested in seeing. I’m also pretty hyped about actually experiencing Halloween this year, something which has been denied to me by circumstance since prior to COVID.
It’s the most wonderful time of the year, after all.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
It was time to get on with my day, after the medical testing was finished.
Unfortunately for me, as I really didn’t want to be doing this kind of detailed and finicky work on this particularly atmospheric day, I had to finish a series of table top product shots back at HQ. Such matters are finicky, especially so when there isn’t a ‘stylist’ to prep the device in question for its portraits. A job’s a job.
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.
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.
Dahntahn Yinzerville
Thursday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
To start, the Pittsburgh people refer to the regional culture they enjoy as being ‘Yinzer.’ The local accent, which pronounces the word ‘downtown’ as ‘Dahntahn’ and says ‘aht’ when they want to say ‘at,’ uses a contraction for ‘you all’ that sounds like ‘y’inz.’ Use it in place of ‘y’all.’
There’s a cultural conceit and marketing gimmick built in here, therefore, centering around ‘Yinz.’ It’s common for people in the Pittsburgh Metro to describe themselves as ‘Yinzers,’ although you already figured out they’re ‘from here’ due to a Steelers jersey, worn with shorts in January. There’s a strain of masculinity here which likes to project that they don’t feel cold, as they’re far too tough for that.
That’s the explanation for the title of this post, ‘Dahntahn Yinzerville.’
After passing under the 1922 vintage ‘David McCullough 16th street bridge’ on the waterfront trail, I was definitively ‘Dahntahn.’
– photo by Mitch Waxman
There’s another patch of tall buildings about five to six miles to the east in Oakland, where CMU and Pitt’s campuses are found, but most of the businesses hereabouts enjoy horizontal setups rather than vertical ones.
Density ain’t what it used to be.
Another interesting wrinkle to Yinzer talk involves the supposition of a past tense variant for the word while using a verb in present tense. It’s not ‘the car needs to be washed,’ rather it’s ‘the car needs warsh.’
Fascinating.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Before plunging into the urban core, in pursuance of acquiring the T light rail at Wood Street Station, a few last wave arounds of the camera occurred. This one looks across the Allegheny towards its northern shoreline.
It was time to begin the last steps of this scuttle, and ‘the final paht of this scuttle needs walk.’
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.
Almost, almost…
Wednesday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
After reacquiring the waterfront trail here in Pittsburgh, which follows the shoreline of the Allegheny River, your humble narrator continued on his lonely path. I wasn’t using headphones on this walk, as I wished to remain very aware of my surroundings for some reason. Wasn’t worried about getting jumped at all, although I was likely the best target on the trail due to the camera. A vast physical coward, if somebody tried to mug me, I’d probably just end up vomiting on them out of fear. Experience states that puke ends a street fight faster than Kung Fu does.
This walk ended up being six and half miles long (that’s 411, 840 inches), a new personal best in this post broken ankle season I’m living through.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I was fascinated by the tree growth seen around the lumber piles above, which makes the wood look like it was molten and poured. There’s a ghastly life and death narrative at work there, with the cut lumber piles being subsumed by the living trees. Wonder what used to be here that needed docks…
This is where I soon found myself marching into another ‘angle’ between neighborhood areas, as it’s where Pittsburgh’s ‘The Strip’ metastasizes into ‘Downtown.’ Still wondering what was here that required docks…
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I cannot express the sense of joy I get from my ignorance, and then getting curious about something. Recent background reading has focused in on Zinc, as in the mining/processing/industrial application thereof. Positively galvanizing, the story of zinc is. It’s anodizing, as well.
Guess I’m going to have to start reading up on the history here, as I’m getting curious about all the ‘once, long ago/used to be’ stuff. Sigh. I’ve been enjoying my ignorance… did you know that Zinc is the 4th most abundant metal on the Earth, despite its relatively low melting point?
Your humble narrator still had a little bit of walking ahead of him to get to that T station where the light rail would be boarded for a ride back to HQ.
Come with? 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 