Posts Tagged ‘Fineview’
The Big Kahuna of City Steps
Friday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Lanark Street, on the north side of Pittsburgh, and looking back towards the Fineview Overlook where this scuttle got started. According to municipal signage, I was standing on ‘Television Hill.’
The reason for that is pretty obvious, if you look at the next photo.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
This broadcast antenna is used by two local television stations WPGH-TV (Fox 53) and WPNT (The Point). It was in a large and stoutly fenced off property with lots of ‘no trespassing’ and ‘danger of electrocution’ signs. No bueno.
I underexposed this one by a couple of stops to make that pale sun visible in the cloudy sky.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
So, why was I up here on Television Hill on the ‘ass side’ of the Fineview neighborhood? Glad you asked.
Pittsburgh offers pedestrians a choice of hundreds of sets of ‘City Steps’ to help negotiate the often steep streets within this Appalachian city.
I was heading for the fourth longest set of steps in the city, which offers 371 individual vertical steps that play out over just 2/10ths of a horizontal mile. The vertical distance from the top to bottom of these steps is equivalent to the height of a 15-18 story building. Masochists and sports enthusiasts use these steps for training and running upon, usually in an upward direction. I opted for the downhill experience instead.
That’s where I was heading… and they’re called ‘Rising Main.’
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The first sets of steps along Rising Main Avenue you see are wooden, constructed from the sort of ‘treated’ lumber which is commonly used for decks and docks. The first house at the corner of Rising Main Avenue looked abandoned and I spotted a condemnation notice on its window. This persists for about a block, ending at a wide intersection.
That’s not so dramatic, you might think. Interesting but…
Then you see the actual Rising Main steps.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
One has been fascinated by the City Steps of Pittsburgh since moving here. Remember when I walked down those terrifying metallic steps nearby Duquesne University back in 2023? I’ve been wandering all over the place, using the ones strung through in South Side Slopes section as well. Heck, I’m just getting started out here…
On a side note: let’s say somebody regularly experiences fairly debilitating episodes of PTSD, at the top of staircases due to having suffered an ankle crushing injury in the recent past. In that case, what sort of gentle ‘exposure therapy’ might you recommend in the direction of mending this mental health issue?
18 steep stories of rickety ass steps? Yup, that’s the ticket.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Also, I’d like to mention that I’ve been going back and forth on the title of this post. It’s not my term, ‘Big Kahuna,’ rather that’s what they call these steps locally. Saying that, I’m fairly certain that there’s got to be some form of racism which I’m completely clueless about which describes the origin of the term ‘Kahuna.’ Don’t know. If so, sorry. That’s what they call these steps. The Big Kahuna.
Back next week with more from Rising Main and the North Side of Pittsburgh 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.
It’s a fine view, yo.
Thursday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
There are scuttles, and then there are scuttles.
Most of my walks over the winter months have been constrained by ice and snow, and the still recovering busted ankle situation. Now that the streets are clear again, one feels unbound. Accordingly, a walk which I’ve been desirous of experiencing was finally at hand, and I had all the time in the world to wander about on the 12th of March, a Thursday.
Fineview is this neighborhood’s name. It’s found on Pittsburgh’s extremely hilly north side, and there’s an ‘overlook’ platform there from which to take in and admire the sights. I wasn’t there to look at Pittsburgh from on high, though, I was on a mission.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I did pop out a shot of the ‘Heathside Cottage,’ which was built between 1864 and 1868, and somehow still stands. It’s not remarkable when an important office or governmental structure from the middle 19th century is encountered, it is so when it’s a private home. Wow.
The path at the outset of this one involved a street called ‘Lanark.’
There used to be a trolley/street car which operated on the 12.5% graded Lanark Street, the Route 21–Fineview line, which was extant until 1966. There’s a video on YouTube, with still photos, from the last day of its service – click here for that.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
So… the first thing I learned on this particular day involved transit, which was the beginning of a series of lessons on this day spent in the university of the street.
This scuttle ended up blowing my mind, as it uncovered a series of historic revelations which I had no suspicion about previously. Serendipity!
I am – of course – putting absolutely zero effort into historic research about Pittsburgh – at all… none, zilch.
One prefers to live in total ignorance, and not attempt to understand the terrain that is found all around me. I’d rather that strangers on the TV tell me things to believe and to be afraid of, instead of seeing them for myself and then reading scholarly texts to intuit their actual history…
Saying that, I’ve got two things which I’m currently reading about… crap… I’m not doing any research! Nothing, nein, nada. My ignorance is palpable.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Walking up the hill on the former trolley route of Lanark Street, you encounter a set of raised sidewalks attached to residences. Empty lots begin to manifest soon after this, and signage becomes scant.
My path had been ‘figured out’ before leaving HQ, and I knew – more or less – where I was heading. A few cars passed me by, but there were never more than four or five vehicles. There were zero pedestrians, bike riders, or even people walking dogs – none of that sort of urban stuff – nor were there indications of morbid habitations, or even homeless encampments.
It felt like visiting Salem’s Lot, during the daytime.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
One followed the prescribed path, across these raised pavements, and started for a truly unoccupied section up further. There’s some kind of commercial broadcasting operation up here, supposedly there’s a drinking water reservoir up here, and also a whole lot of abandoned houses are found in the direction which I was heading towards.
This section of Pittsburgh, on the North Side of the City, has a ferocious reputation, but I had zero interaction with anybody up here – good or bad. The people on the TV tell me I’m going to get shot while walking around here.
Barbarians abound.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I had no real idea what I was about to see, or what the research I’m definitely not doing afterwards might reveal.
Suffice to say: cheap Pork knuckles, a huge and populous neighborhood, urban renewal horror stories, and a section of the city which Pittsburgh and the PA state highway people pretty much nuked in the name of ‘progress’… that’s what’s found lurking on the other side of that hill.
Come with? Sounds salubrious, don’t it?
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 