Posts Tagged ‘Downtown Pittsburgh’
Gazing, a ride, and then a ‘hey now’
Thursday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
This shot involves the ‘gazing’ part from the title. Downtown Pittsburgh, with its shadow casting monoliths.
They don’t seem to do ‘set backs’ out here, so the massing of the upper floors of these towers mirror their bases. This causes a permanent sense of ‘dusk’ for these downtown streets, except for those narrow stripes of sunlight which somehow manage to beam past them. No Bueno.
This walk had been a pretty involved multi hour effort, but I wasn’t done yet.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The T light rail stop at Gateway Center was entered. I used the elevator to get down to the platform level, just to see how well it functioned. Your humble narrator will often go out of his way to see what people who are less abled might be experiencing in these sorts of municipal systems. But for the grace of god…
I boarded the first T that came into the station, and merrily sat down. First time I had sit down since I was moving through Skunk Hollow about two hours prior.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
It would only be a few stops on the T, and all in the ‘free zone.’ The light rail runs for free at the City’s core. It’s all very civilized.
The light rail unit made its underground stops, then emerged back onto an elevated causeway at First Avenue Station, whereupon it then proceeded across the Panhandle Bridge spanning the Monongahela River.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The transit service vomited me forth and onto the mean streets of the South Side Flats section, at the Station Square stop. Soon, I was kicking dirt again.
My plan for the rest of my day involved reward for the effort.
The brewery which I haunt is a 15 minute walk from this spot, and I was powerfully thirsty by this point. Hadn’t had a drop of liquid pass my lips since leaving the house, and I’d pretty much walked here from all the way over in East Liberty.
I’ve had to break my usual rule of not carrying water with me on photowalks in Pittsburgh during the summer months, but during the winter months? Not so much. If you drink liquid, you’ll need to pee. That creates a logistical problem, even in a place which routinely deploys Porta-Potties around the city for use as public bathrooms.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The light was pretty great, so I cracked out a shot or two of the Liberty Bridge. This bridge is the ‘other side’ of West Liberty Avenue and the Liberty Tunnels which I showed y’all recently.
A quick call to HQ revealed to Our Lady where I was and served well enough as ‘confirmation of life’ for her to say ‘Have Fun.’
– photo by Mitch Waxman
It had been about a month since I was able to grab a beer and hang out by the CSX tracks here on the South Side. Missed that.
Tomorrow – lotsa Choo Choo.
“follow” me on Twitter- @newtownpentacle
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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.
“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.
Feasting, and dancing
Wednesday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I cannot help it, as despite all of my best efforts, I’m feeling an emotion.
This is the ultimate post of 2025, as in its the last one this year. This has been a year of absolute agony and pain for me, due to the recovery from a shattered left ankle, and I’m quite glad to be putting that behind me.
Every single day for the last year, I’ve played this song and sang along with it. I will survive this year, if it kills me.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
One pushed onwards, as he does, since ‘what choice do you have otherwise’ applies. Forward, ever forward.
I’ve always been a believer in the idea that if an immovable object is actually meeting an irresistible force in your vicinity, the best thing for one to do would involve navigating around the conflict and sidestepping it. Lateral thought is what that’s called. Who wants to get involved with an esoteric conflict of absolutes and universal maximums? Not me, that’s none of my business, if force and object want to fight.
I’ve also grown quite fond of this cover song, during my interval as an invalid. If Elvis was still alive, I would hope he and Tom Jones would be doing covers of Simon and Garfunkel together. Cool, baby.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Speaking of cool, while walking in a shockingly discombobulated style towards the light rail stations, this excellent iteration of a bike rack was encountered. I think it’s a bike rack, at least. Definitely art.
The headphones came out during this section, as downtown is well populated, and there’s often large agglutinations of adolescents with mischief on their menu roaming about down here. They are seldom good natured. You’ve also got a sizable and edgy population of ‘street people’ who can be volatile or unpredictable.
As I always say: ‘You do you, boo, I’m just passing through.’ I’ll usually throw in a ‘be safe’ as my closer. The humans, even the debased ones, like that sort of thing.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Does this sort of scene call out to you, in the manner of a siren’s song, as it does to your humble narrator? Clawing intent, drawing you towards shuffling into those depths, and finding out what’s…
Actually, I’ve seen what goes on in these alleys, and it’s mostly intravenous drug use and public urination or defecation. The office buildings whose walls form the alleys use them for storing garbage bins. There’s signs everywhere admonishing against trespass and advising that rule breakers will find themselves under ‘video surveillance.’
I lived in NYC my entire life, until 3 years ago, and for every single day of it I was under video surveillance at one point or another. Just going to school as a kid, for instance, I’d be videoed half a dozen times between the front door and my desk. Security cameras are as numerous in NYC as rats. The question always was, and is, is anyone actually watching the camera feed?
The cops collect footage when there’s a crime, but that’s afterwards. In the glorious new world of AI, there will be a ‘somebody’ watching – everything – everywhere – as it happens and all at the same time. Predictive policing is on the horizon.
Hey… that’s my last dire warning about AI for 2025.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
As has been mentioned a few times recently, I’m chronologically isolated from the day that you’re reading this as I’m way ahead of schedule for once, and I’m writing this post on the first Saturday of December. It’s entirely possible that we’ve all been wiped out by the Venezuelan Space Force or something by now, but I’m betting that it’s just the usual horror of pedantry and politics that are annoying us at the moment. Hell, I’m also presuming that I’m not one of those 28 people (an annual average) who died by driving off the side of a cliff in the Greater Pittsburgh region.
Pictured above is the ‘Gateway’ T Light Rail Station, which is where would be where I’d be leaving the street behind and heading back to HQ in Dormont. I remembered one of my ‘old habits’ and spun around on my heel to capture an inverse view.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
There we are.
Also, I spun on my heel! I managed to spin on my left heel!
It would seem that I have indeed survived this last very challenging year, and at least as far as the first Saturday in December goes, it still hasn’t killed me.
Back next year – with something different – 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.
Sky Palaces & the ultramundane
Thursday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
One of Quentin Tarantino’s ‘bits,’ from the ‘Kill Bill’ movies, offers the supposition that Clark Kent isn’t a secret identity for Superman – rather it’s that Clark Kent is commentary on humanity, and revelatory as to how the Man of Steel regards mankind. Weak, cowardly, indirect, messy, all that. That’s balderdash, Superman has the most ‘humanity’ amongst all of the fictional men. He’s a miracle.
Philip Johnson, architect of PPG Place here in Pittsburgh, was a guy whom I’d imagine didn’t like the idea of humanity very much. Whenever I’ve found myself walking around or within his buildings, a sensation of ‘inhuman’ jumps out of me. You can exist in Johnson’s work, but not ‘live’ there. The architecture is the main character, and you’re just a ‘walk on’ extra. Johnson lived in a glass house, literally, and threw stones all the time.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Saying that, Johnson’s stuff is always pretty photogenic. I’ve got an idea for a cool shot in this area, one of my rare ‘moving image’ forays. Planning on trying to surmount the ordeal of capturing it as the winter gets closer, and the skies grow more dynamic.
I’ll need fast moving weather for what I’ve got in mind.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I had a few errands to run, and then the afternoon would be mine to waste. A couple last shots from downtown, and I was heading across the river to the usual spot at Sly Fox Brewery, for what ended up being a fairly productive late afternoon session of shooting trains.
One headed over to the Smithfield Street Bridge to cross the river.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Cola Street caught my eye again during the effort, with its Color House. That vehicle bridge in the shot is a part of the PJ McArdle Roadway, which I’ve walked down several times.
The Paris of Appalachia, yo.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
On my walk to the brewery, I spotted a BNSF locomotive moving along CSX’s Subdivision tracks. Movers and shakers, BNSF is the country’s largest railroading outfit and operates over 8,000 locomotives.
They seemed nice.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
A bit closer to Sly Fox Brewery and the concrete company next door to it was unloading what looked like sand from a barge. A crane handled the work and conveyor belts transported the market across the tracks and into the mixing vessels.
Your humble narrator repeated his usual ritual of using the brewery’s lavatory and then ordering a pint of beer, starting a tab. I planned on hanging out here for a while, and photographing trains.
More on that 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.
Six unrelated photos
Wednesday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Newtown Pentacle HQ is currently housed in Pittsburgh’s Borough of Dormont, where the local governing body has been working assiduously to build a sense of community amongst the thousand or so households contained within its confines. On one recent event, Our Lady of the Pentacle and myself wandered the borough and got friendly.
One of the neighbors has fashioned himself as the ‘Hogfather’ in honor of the pigs his family keeps as pets. Pictured with them (partially) is the ‘Hogmama’ as the former personage had to go to work that day.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Found myself sitting in a parking spot in downtown Pittsburgh one day, and admiring the exterior of the First Presbyterian Church of Pittsburgh. As soon as I can make it happen, I want to get the camera up close and personal with this building. Wow.
As is the case with these sorts of posts, I crack out a lot of shots during my daily rounds. Most of them are gathered in pursuit of narrative – I’m taking a walk, or I went to a thing, or saw something cool. Posts like this one gather together shots I like, but couldn’t easily fit them into the narrative ‘flow’ of whatever else it is I might be rattling on about.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I was nearby the Monongahela River one day, behind the wheel of the car, when I noticed three military helicopters just hanging static in the air over ‘Technology Drive,’ which is another former steel mill site that has been developed as a scholastic and business incubator for next level ‘tech’ that’s populated by Carnegie Mellon and other institutions.
The helicoptors were Air National Guard.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Dormont Borough has been busy, and they organized another great event called ‘Porchmont,’ wherein about sixty households signed up to welcome visiting neighbors onto their porch for a ‘get to know each other’ conversation. People put out food and beverages, and one guy named Vinnie was even BBQing Japanese style chicken. Great event, this.
Couldn’t help but get a shot of a passing T light rail from one of my neighbor’s porches.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Bridgeville is practically next door to Dormont. It’s a residential community, but there’s an enormous agglomeration of strip mall development along its main drag. Chain shops, from Home Depot to Walmart and Texas Roadhouse, mainly. On one of the ‘back roads’ an enormous Flea Market can be found.
Our Lady asked me to drive her over for a ‘browse,’ and after parking the car in the Flea Market’s lot, I couldn’t help but get a couple of shots of their enormous flag. Wow.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Hey now! This one is from that walk across the Fort Duquesne Bridge described last week. I was zoomed all the way out, but still had to crop the image a bit. That’s the Duquesne Incline in the background, and CSX was heading away from Ohio in a southeastern direction, along the Monongahela River.
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 