Posts Tagged ‘East Liberty’
Transient observer
Friday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
For once, I wasn’t suffering while walking. The gamey ankle was playing ball, it was neither too cold nor too hot, and I didn’t have to pee urgently. The ‘minimum kit’ camera bag wasn’t biting into my back. If anything, I was a bit peckish but you can’t walk for miles and miles with a full belly.
I like to analogize my physical state using certain Norse religious concepts, specifically the ones which revolve around the divine squirrel Ratatoskr running up and down the world tree Yggdrasil, except in my case it’s not a divine messenger that’s accidentally causing earthquakes, eruptions, and storms while moving about and it’s instead a ‘pain squirrel’ that is crawling about on my personal world tree. The bugger is found on a different branch of the tree each and every day, randomly and unpredictably.
It isn’t ’how did I hurt my shoulder while asleep,’ rather it’s ’what did that rascally squirrel Ratatoskr do while I was dreaming’?
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Another interesting religious building caught my eye.
They really love their gods in these parts. There’s a Hindu temple in nearby Monroeville, for instance, that’s incredible to behold but they forbid photography there. The Catholics of Pittsburgh weren’t shy when decorating their churches either, and they usually don’t mind photos if you ask nicely.
Shame about the Hindus, someday I’ll try and talk my way inside their temple with the camera. Maybe I’ll end up shooting an event there sometime.
‘Sacred Spaces’ is a project I’ve long talked about but haven’t truly started.
Basically, I want to take pictures of your church, or synagogue, or temple, or meeting room, or the open field where you gather around a fire with others and worship your gods. I’m not terribly interested in recording your rituals, joining your observances, getting evangelized, or doing any photography revolving about or of the humans your organization services. Just the masonry, architecture, and so on. In return, should you invite me in, you’ll get to use my photos until the pixels wear out and will get invited to any potential ‘openings’ and a free photo book of images associated with the effort.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Yet another magnificent religious building is found along this path, this time the landmark First United Methodist Church.
Now… allow my ignorance to shine here, as I grew up Jewish. I can tell you what the finer points of difference are between the ultra orthodox and the ordinary orthodox, and what the beef between Conservative and Reformed Jewry is. My perspective is somewhat warped, as most of the ‘Christ worshippers’ I’ve known over the years were either Roman Catholic or some stripe of charismatic evangelical. My parents actually worked for the RC church at the NY Foundling Hospital, so in my mind Christianity is pretty much ‘Catholic’ and then ‘everybody else.’
What I know about Methodism or Presbyterianism wouldn’t fill a shot glass, and other than being able to offer odd historical anecdotes about heretics and apostates in the Dutch Reformed Church, dating back to the 17th century in Dutch owned New Amsterdam and Breuklyn…
– photo by Mitch Waxman
This church sits at one of those invisible demarcation points in Pittsburgh where one neighborhood suddenly transforms into another.
So, we’re out of ‘East Liberty’ and will spend the next few blocks moving through (I think) the edge of ‘Shadyside.’ This is where pedestrians can be observed walking about in hospital scrubs, and there’s an enormous complex of hospitals and specialist medical offices found nearby.
‘Eds and Meds’ was Pittsburgh’s formula and plan for recovering from the abandoning of the City by manufacturing industries. The ‘Eds’ part revolves around giving the University of Pittsburgh and the other colleges most anything they want, and the ‘Meds’ part is based around an 800 pound gorilla in Western PA. that is called ‘UPMC.’
The ‘Eds’ provide a low cost work force who labor while training for their occupations, and the ‘Meds’ employ them. When literally everybody asks me ‘why Pittsburgh’ I have to answer that one of the reasons is that the medical system here is top notch, and comparatively well staffed. No lying on a gurney in the hallway of Brookdale Hospital’s ER for 28 hours out here, yo.
Hell, they cured Polio out here.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The church sits on a bit of a prominence, and I walked around it a bit.
This was still just the ‘first mile’ of my day, after all, and didn’t want to bog down. Didn’t even try the door to this church, figuring that I’ll make it a point of visiting the interior when convenient or when I’ve secured an invitation.
A good moment to police one’s personal area network was at hand. The bag and camera straps were adjusted, as was the relative position of my waist belt to the ground (I pulled my pants up.) A quick bit of camera maintenance saw me blowing some dust off the lens, and then off did I scuttle.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
This house, which seems to have recently been used as a restaurant, was sporting a realtor’s signboard suggesting it as being an excellent development opportunity. Hard to argue against density in this area, to be honest. It’s a proper city here in East Liberty, with walkable streets and lots of sidewalk level shops and restaurants.
Leaving it behind, I have to offer one of my NYC analogies for this area – Bushwick, it’s a lot like 1990’s gentrified Bushwick.
Back next week with more – at this – your Newtown Pentacle.
“follow” me on Twitter- @newtownpentacle
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“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.
B… B… Baum B… B… Boulevard
Thursday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
As was intoned yesterday, your humble narrator had headed over to Pittsburgh’s East Liberty section to start a scuttle. After a brief distraction caused by a monumental church with a locked door, one set about his plan for the day.
Part of a larger project that involves walking several of the major streets in the central section of Pittsburgh, this scuttle was built around a consequential thoroughfare called Baum Boulevard.
From Google’s AI:
Early History & Naming
- Baum Family Roots: The street is named after the Baum family, wealthy merchants who owned large tracts of land in the area, including the homestead “Friendship”.
- Formalization: First appearing as Baum Street in 1872, it was officially established by ordinance in 1881 and later became Baum Avenue before merging with Atherton Avenue to form the current Baum Boulevard in 1913.
The Automobile Era
- “Automobile Row”: By the 1910s, Baum Boulevard became Pittsburgh’s hub for the auto industry, attracting many dealerships (Buick, Cadillac, Ford, etc.).
- Lincoln Highway Connection: When the Lincoln Highway route was established through Pittsburgh in 1913, it ran along Baum Boulevard, bringing cross-country travelers and further boosting auto-related businesses.
- Key Landmarks:
- First Drive-In Gas Station: Gulf Oil opened America’s first drive-in gas station at Baum & St. Clair in 1913.
- Ford Assembly Plant: A Ford assembly plant, built by Albert Kahn, still stands at Baum & Morewood.
- Motor Square Garden: The massive, domed building (once a market and later a Cadillac dealership) is a key architectural survivor.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
One of my ‘little tricks’ when out and marching about is to take photos of street signs at intersections, so I can easily ‘place’ myself in the midst of what’s often hundreds of photos which will land on the computer back home. In the case of this walk, I had more than 700 shots on the camera card when arriving back at HQ.
Now, I didn’t see 700 individual things, rather I usually shot something three or four different ways, since I never really know how these posts are going to hang together until actually constructing them. There’s a lot of ‘pick and choose’ editing going on once the shots hit the hard drive.
Based on what Google’s AI is reporting (above), this carven ‘Baum Street’ cornice stone is likely to have been erected sometime between 1881 and 1913, when ‘Baum Street’ became a ‘boulevard.’
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The whole walk saw me doing my NYC ‘heel spin’ move, although I wasn’t feeling threatened or overly attracting insalubrious attention. I just wanted to make sure I didn’t miss anything. The church is visible for most of the roughly 1.5 miles of Baum Boulevard.
Apparently, Baum Blvd. is synonymous with shopping for a car to a certain generation of the Yinzers. East Liberty itself is also somewhat synonymous with the auto industry, I’m told. Mechanics, car lots, all that stuff.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
There’s attractive residential real estate visible here and there.
Behind me were public housing projects and a few high density apartment blocks. A significant number of institutions and buildings serving the medical industrial complex can be accessed nearby as well.
Personally, one of the top dogs amongst my team of Doctors can be found about a mile away from here, in Bloomfield.
I’ve driven through this section multiple times, but this is the first time on foot. The land here seems to be on the plateau where several steep hills meet. It’s relatively flat, by Pittsburgh standards.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Two things here. First off, while waiting for a traffic signal to change in order to get a ‘clean shot’ of what was clearly a monumental structure that the supermarket chain was housed in, conversation was struck up with some random guy who was also waiting for the light to change so he could go shop. Jeff, that was his name.
It was like meeting myself back in Long Island City, and the guy was actually the neighborhood historian who displays an amazing range of detail and recall. After about twenty minutes, I had to excuse myself from his fascinating conversation about the history of East Liberty and ‘Auto Row.’ Now I know what that’s like.
Unrelated to this fellow, a post from interestingpennsylvania.com discusses the history of this building, which was built as a Dodge automobiles dealership back in 1934. Truth be told, I wish that I had found that great site before the walk, but there you are.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
More of that fine residential housing stock along Baum Blvd. is above, but the green and white one seems to host a real estate agent’s offices. Baum Blvd. intersects with nearby Bigelow Boulevard.
Back tomorrow with more.
“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.
Gesundheit, Mon Frer
Wednesday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
This is the start of a spate of posts, detailing what ended up being the longest scuttle I’ve been able to undertake since the ‘orthopedic incident.’
One used a rideshare to carry the bloated pre-corpse he dwells within, traveling from Dormont in the South Hills section to a community known as ‘East Liberty,’ which is found on the peninsular ‘Golden Triangle’ central section of Pittsburgh where it begins to widen out.
East Liberty is historically an African American community, I’m told, but the gentrification furnaces burn brightly hereabouts. The usual urban story plays out in its past – oblique and heavy handed City Planning, race based redlining by insurers and banks, massive poor populations trapped into vertical spires of poverty built as public housing, all that.
Same story as North Brooklyn, LIC, and the Bronx, actually.
Crypto fascist Le Corbusier strikes again, huh?
As an aside, East Liberty was Gene Kelly’s hometown.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Motor Square Garden. That’s what this structure was called when built. These days, it’s the Pittsburgh HQ of the AAA outfit. This is another one of the structures which I hope to actually have a reason to enter soon.
It’s ‘bizness.’ The last holdover from New York State that I’m still carrying around is a NYS focused EZ Pass on my windshield, to pay for tolls. Have to convert that gizmo over to a PA issued one sometime soon. It’s so low priority for me that I just keep on not doing it.
Before the start of this walk, I had mentioned to Our Lady of the Pentacle that I’d be trying to get into a few of the churches along the route. As it turned out, the main entrance to that church featured photographically in this post was locked. Denied the lord’s succor, me.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
‘East Liberty Presbyterian Church’ is what this building is called, and it was built with private funds offered by a branch of the Mellon family. This is the fourth church to exist on this plot, but you can just read all about that right here.
One was disappointed that the entryway to God’s Kingdom was locked, and after tugging on the door I said – out loud – ‘well, let’s just see if the Methodists are any friendlier.’ Some lady, sitting on bench while waiting for a bus, busted out laughing at my remark.
I still got it.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
According to Google’s AI:
The most prominent public sculpture near East Liberty Presbyterian Church is Virgil Cantini’s 1969 “Joy of Life” fountain, featuring cubist-style figures holding hands in a joyful dance, symbolizing unity and cooperation, located right next to the church and Carnegie Library branch.
The plan for the day started with a quick circumnavigation of the church. I’d be walking along Baum Boulevard, then heading off into the hills and then downtown, and since this was a warm day – eventually end up at that brewery with the CSX trains on the South Side that I haunt.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
This was literally the only day, in a two week long interval, where the forecast wasn’t calling for ice or snow or sleet and during which the air temperatures were predicted to never get lower than about 50 degrees.
The day after this walk, temperatures plunged and snow began to fall. A week later and snow would still be arriving, in discrete daily bands, and was accompanied by bone chilling temperatures and high winds. Fun.
Your humble narrator was ‘traveling light,’ with a sling bag full of essentials and a 24-105 zoom lens installed on the camera.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I’ve got to get inside of this building, with my full photo kit, sometime. As is often mentioned, however, I’m like a Vampire inasmuch as I need to be invited inside to do my work. Social networking, that’s the ticket…
Back tomorrow, for the actual start of a very long scuttle.
“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.
boldly away
Friday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Nearby the spot where I ate my final dinner on this trip to Pittsburgh, an enormous religious building was dominating the sky. Turns out that what was catching my attentions is found in the East Liberty section, and is specifically called the East Liberty Presbyterian Church. It’s a cathedral, I tell you!
Apparently, the original church here was erected in 1819, but the cathedral building that towers over East Liberty today was opened in 1935. The building was designed by Ralph Adams Cram, an architect who designed a series of notable buildings – including NYC’s own Cathedral of St. John the Divine in upper Manhattan. Signage around the cathedral indicated that it can welcome 1,300 people for worship at a time. That’s a whole lot of praying, right there.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I had noticed the structure earlier in the day, when Our Lady of the Pentacle and myself were tooling around in a rented car.
I was pretty impressed by the rented Toyota RAV4 hybrid SUV, incidentally. It got somewhere in the neighborhood of 35 mpg, was very comfortable, and the electronics package under the dashboard was sweet. It had some sort of system which let me know where I was in terms of highway lanes, one which beeped at me if I was straying out of my own. This came in handy on the Pennsylvanian high speed roads. By high speed, I mean a 70 mph speed limit once you got out of the City. The locals treated 70 as a starting point, by the way. I would be cooking along at the speed limit, and semi tractor trailers would blow past me like I was standing still.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Of course, by this stage of the trip, I was on foot.
I got to find out what “crazy homeless guy” looks and sounds like in Pittsburgh while shooting these photos. Being a lifelong New Yorker, I found the fellow amateurish and somewhat charming. Bless.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
A wide circle was navigated around the central node of East Liberty, and I made it a point of trying to take advantage of the setting summer sunlight. It was warm and humid in Pittsburgh.
Whenever I mention Pittsburgh to anyone back in NYC, the first thing they say back seems to involve an impression about ferocious weather. According to the National Weather Service, however, Pittsburgh is in a bit of a regional sweet spot as far as hot and cold goes. They have more or less the same amount of precipitation that NYC and Philadelphia have, but fewer “extreme” weather events than the coastal cities do. Because of the nature of the terrain, it’s a bit more humid than NYC is, but on average it’s about ten degrees less extreme on seasonal highs and lows. The humidity results in mold problems for property owners, and you apparently need to climb up on the roof once every couple of years to clear away moss. The weather is quite volatile in the short term here, and I’ve had more than one Pittsburgh native say to me “if you don’t like the weather right now, wait about about an hour and it’ll be different.”
As it turns out, we were in town for what the TV weatherman described as “the hottest day in the last four years.” It was 86 degrees, with a mid 60’s dew point. Warm and uncomfortable yes, but compare that to the end of July and beginning of August in NYC when that forecast would be a relief from the dog days of summer.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
“The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation – Photo License Center, East Liberty” is what this domed building is called these days. The structure was erected at the start of the 20th century between 1898 and 1900. When it first opened, the building was used as a market, but it was focused instead on the emerging automotive market in time.
It was called the Motor Square Garden when it opened in 1913, and this section of Pittsburgh was associated with the automobile business.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Apparently, the usage of this enormous structure over the last century has involved auto shows, boxing matches, basketball games, and in modernity – it’s the home of Pennsylvania’s local Department of Motor Vehicles operation, I’m told. I was drawn in by the enormous steel and glass dome on its roof, frankly.
More next week, 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.
The Newtown Pentacle 