Posts Tagged ‘Eliza Furnace Trail’
Nice parabolas, baby
Thursday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I really, really miss wearing head phones and listening to audio books on these long walks. I broke that habit, long held, during COVID and since. The streets got lonely, and since all things evil are born from loneliness, bad things were more likely to occur. Caution became a part of my tools. I need to hear the signaling slap of a sneaker upon the pavement, and can’t intentionally occlude or filter out the auditory environment anymore. Everything got weird during COVID, and it’s stayed that way, even here in Pittsburgh.
Instead, I now philosophize during these intervals. The ‘take pictures’ side of me is actively at work, and quite busy doing stuff, but there’s a whole different layer buzzing away behind the eyes and between the ears while I’m clicking the buttons on the camera. It’s where phraseology like ‘all things evil are born from loneliness’ comes from.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
On this particular walk, what I was engaging in was mostly ‘background worrying.’ In this case, it was a website design impasse I found myself at, but there you go. I was mentally working out different solutions to a design problem, which I’d attempt upon getting back home again and sitting in front of The Device. I also wondered about the best way to chop onions, and considered the current gas mileage statistics of my Mobile Oppression Platform parked back in the driveway at HQ. It was quite humid out, and I was ‘sweating bullets.’
This was also one of the outings where I was intentionally traveling light – one zoom lens, two primes, one camera. No tripods, filters, nothing. Just me and the camera.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
While considering the musical impact of the 1960’s animated children’s cartoon Underdog’s theme song has had on Popular Music, and then entertaining myself along the way with fanciful imaginings about starting a religious cult, realization that the ‘turnaround point’ I’d been walking towards was arrived at.
One last look back at the Eliza Trail, and then over the Monongahela River didst I scuttle.
Back tomorrow.
“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.
Shlepping on
Wednesday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
After having ridden Pittsburgh’s light rail service, dubbed ‘The T,’ into the City from Dormont, I hung around one of the stations and got another shot of their rolling stock. I haven’t had to have this conversation here yet, but it’s a certainty that I’m going to end up having to explain myself to a cop at some point in the future.
I can just feel that one coming. Wonder what I’ll end up saying in response when asked ‘why are you taking pictures of…’ by Pittsburgh law enforcement. As a note, Cops usually have zero sense of humor when on duty, don’t find the citizenry or our quirky behavior cute, and as far as my interest in photographically documenting the rolling stock of interurban transportation services for posterity’s sake goes…
I did have an odd conversation with a small town Cop when I first got to Pittsburgh. It was in Clairton, and the officer was more or less the sort of guy you’d expect to be wearing a badge in a steel town – defensive lineman body type and sporting a spectacular mustache. I asked for a moment of his time, and indicated that since I was new to Pittsburgh and was wondering what the local rules might be, regarding me taking shots of a steel mill. Sometimes, if you hand a Cop your business card and introduce yourself, it heads off future trouble as you’ve just landed your self into a cop category called ‘harmless.’ Never hurts to be friendly and proactive, I always say.
The Cop whom I asked about what’s kosher or not in his jurisdiction filled me in on rules regarding trespassing at the plant, and then went off on a tangent about my First Amendment Rights to creative expression and that as long as I didn’t violate any of the aforementioned rules regarding trespass – what I was doing with the camera would not be and could not be any of his business. This was a pretty evolved point of view, constitutional law wise, for a small town Cop. Kudos.
Did you know that it used to be illegal to take a photo of or on, and that there are Port Authority Police snipers permanently stationed upon, the George Washington Bridge over the Hudson River? Homeland security, Bro.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
After leaving the T system at the First Avenue Station, I walked past the City of Pittsburgh’s jail, and then onto the Eliza Furnace Trail. This one moves along a corridor which carries multiple high speed roads, although the path itself is entirely separated from traffic. That separate quality is sometimes quite illusory. There’s one long section where you’re moving along, and on the other side of nothing but a chain link hurricane type fence and less than 20-30 feet away are semi tractor trailers moving at 80 or 90 mph on the highway. At that speed a loaded truck and trailer would punch through a foot of brick wall like it was cardboard. Do the math, mass x speed = a squished narrator, amirite?
Personally, I’m continually amazed at the ‘need for speed’ displayed by the automotive proletariat here in Pittsburgh. Comfort zone for when I’m driving involves maintaining a highway following distance (1 car length per every ten miles of forward velocity, under ideal circumstance), obeisance towards speed limits (70 mph is plenty fast by me), and a general generosity displayed towards other drivers who need to enter or exit lanes. These habits of mine seem to enrage the average Pittsburgh driver, who has seemingly never learned how to safely merge lanes or drive in close traffic at speed.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
My plan for the rest of the walk involved getting about another mile away from where this spot was taken, to a pedestrian bridge pathway over the river. Along the way, there were several interesting tableaux on offer, and one could not stop himself from recording them.
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.
Eliza Furnace Trail
Wednesday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
After having crossed the Monongahela River here in Pittsburgh, via the Hot Metal Bridge, one then proceeded onto the Eliza Furnace Trail heading in a generally westerly direction towards Downtown Pittsburgh. In yesterday’s post, I walked on the two other trails found on the south side of the river, and then on one set on the Hot Metal Bridge itself. It’s all very confusing, really, but you get where you want to eventually.
Eliza Furnace Trail is cut through a weird liminal space formed by bridges, highways, industrial activity, and is set against very high ridges and cliffs… wow.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
There’s a maintenance project underway in this spot, involving one of the minor Bridge/Onramp structures weaving about on the north side of Pittsburgh. Workers were up on scissor lifts with concrete and metal working equipment. Scaffolding was in place, as were steel structures acting as drop cloths under the job site.
Pittsburgh is in a constant state of emergency repair, due to the challenging geology and a lack of systemic maintenance during its downward financial spiral at the end of the 20th century. Sinkholes are known to form here, and a few years ago – one opened up downtown and swallowed a city bus. It’s become an unofficial seal for the city, and people sell t-shirts and xmas ornaments of the scene.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The Eliza Furnace Trail wanders fairly far afield of the Monongahela River’s waterfront. My original plan for this scouting mission was to cross the river at the Birmingham Bridge and circle back to where I’d parked the Mobile Oppression Platform. Problem was that the construction project had obliterated the connection to the bridge and the surrounding streets, so I ended up having to scuttle about a mile further west than intended to get back to the south side. I need the exercise, anyway, so no big whup.
The traffic, the noise of construction, clouds of concrete dust and auto exhaust hanging in the air… it’s like I was back in NYC for a minute.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
A bunch of people whom I’m in telephone contact with have asked “do you miss it?” The answer is “I don’t.” I still feel like I’m on vacation somewhere, but… we now live in a house, on a quiet and somewhat suburban street. The vibe here in Pittsburgh is awesome.
What I do miss is the ability to stagger out the door and walk over to Sunnyside Yards for a few quick train shots, or over to Dutch Kills in LIC for yet another series of loving shots of that unloved industrial canal. I don’t miss the noise, danger, and constant bullshit right under my bedroom window. I have never, ever, had the quality of sleeping that I’m currently experiencing. It’s quiet and dark here at night.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I’m also quite enjoying the discovery of novel and new here. Back in NYC, I was a dirty rotten “know it all.” Want to know who built the NYC Ferry and where? Which one of Kathy Hochul’s sponsors will profit from her interborough rail plan? Who will get to build those 15 foot sea walls they’re proposing for Brooklyn and Queens, and what it cost them to be the first in line when Congress starts writing checks?
It’s lovely not knowing everything. Saying that, I can already tell you that the green/blue steel is owned by the State of Pennsylvania and that the yellow part is owned by the city of Pittsburgh. At least that’s what I think the different colors mean.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
My walk continued, after having passed under the Birmingham Bridge and the nest of on and off ramps which feed into it. The Eliza Furnace Trail transmogrifies into the Three Rivers Heritage trail and overlays the Great Allegheny Passage trail somewhere around where the above photo was captured. This path ultimately leads the Point State Park on the golden triangle section of Pittsburgh, where the Fort Pitt Bridge can be found.
Point State Park is the de facto center of the Pittsburgh metropolitan area, which encompasses multiple counties and satellite cities, towns, and boroughs in four states – Pennsylvania, Ohio, West Virginia, Maryland. Culturally and financially distinct from the nearby East Coast, Great Lakes, and Toronto megalopolis, one continues to try to wrap his head around this amazing part of the United States which I now call home.
More tomorrow, from the Paris of Appalachia, 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.
The Newtown Pentacle 