The Newtown Pentacle

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Posts Tagged ‘Brightwood

Deer Davis

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Monday

– photo by Mitch Waxman

Topsburgh to Bottomsburgh part two:

As one may recall, last week your humble narrator had pulsed out the door of HQ and set out upon one of his longish scuttles through Pittsburgh. In accordance with recent interests – the Steel City’s North Side, and in particular – the ‘Perry Hilltop’ neighborhood is where this one started.

A construction project forced me to reroute my steps to get the newest bridge (2025) in Pittsburgh, a pedestrian and bike connector called ‘The Davis Avenue Bridge.’ Along the way, I slipped on a patch of ice and came pretty close to an injury, but managed to walk away just a little stiff.

The reroute put me in front of that baby deer pictured above, so I guess everything was meant to be.

– photo by Mitch Waxman

One broke off of the original path at a narrow and steep road called ‘Rodney,’ which carried me away from the descending road to an ascending one. Really narrow road, with no sidewalks. No bueno. Very Pittsburgh.

Saying that, this was only the equivalent of a city block. When a vehicle did pass me by, I just stood to the side and let them transit through.

– photo by Mitch Waxman

At the top of Rodney Road is another abandoned home. This is a huge problem in Pittsburgh, and that’s something which always jumps out at me while moving around the area. So many.

The good news is that you can see the Davis Avenue Bridge directly behind the abandoned house, which means that I had gotten to the top of this particularly steep road and closer to ‘stop 1’ on my scuttle.

– photo by Mitch Waxman

Well, there you are.

Yep, I felt a little non-plussed, or ‘non-trussed’ if you would…

Saying all that, getting this bridge ‘modernized’ and replacing the earlier iteration of the span here, which was in danger of collapse, seems to have been a generational project for the folks in the neighborhood across it from the park – which is dubbed as ‘Brighton Heights.’

– photo by Mitch Waxman

One waved the camera around a bit up here, but the only POV’s on hand were looking back down at the same homes I had just walked past – and where that patch of ice lurked.

That slip and fall did have an effect on me, just not an orthopedic one.

I smacked down onto the pavement with a decent amount of energy, and accordingly my shoulders and neck were a bit sore afterwards.

Hilariously, the bad ankle was just fine even though it was directly involved in the slip and fall, due to my heel striking on that fairly invisible patch of ice.

– photo by Mitch Waxman

Accomplished, and I can scratch another Pittsburgh bridge off the list.

Thing is, I wanted a ‘bridge,’ not some mere high flying truss.

Turning my heels and pointing the toes in a direction where more massive infrastructural interests lie, and then scuttling through another set of the neighborhoods which causes the Yinzer jaw to literally drop open when I say I’m ’going there for a walk.’ I’d be heading in a mostly westerly direction, thereby.

Seriously… Fear is the mind killer.

Back tomorrow.


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Written by Mitch Waxman

May 4, 2026 at 11:00 am