Posts Tagged ‘Lawrenceville’
Walking a line
Friday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The industrial building pictured above, as seen from the streets of Pittsburgh’s Lawrenceville section, is the home of Carnegie Robotics. The end of the world is probably being invented in there right now.
There’s an air of dread floating about in my mind when I see industries working in this direction. Developing technology in this direction will lead us out of the current ‘Robocop 3’ reality show we’re all living in, go right through Terminator, and end up being the back story for Dune.
Butlerian Jihad, anyone?
– photo by Mitch Waxman
There’s a big ‘H’ on the wall of the Carnegie Robotics property. It signifies the former owner of the site, the Heppenstall Company. Luckily for me, Pittsburgh City Paper’s Chris Potter did a piece on the Heppenstall outfit back in 2006, so I didn’t have to hit the books and do my own detective work.
One kept on walking. Forward, ever forward.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
My obeyance to the conceit of following the ‘way’ or alley streets continued, and in this case, I ended up walking along the ballast rock path alongside a set of Allegheny Valley Railroad tracks. I would have been thrilled, were the white whale to have appeared, to capture a photo of one of their train sets.
It’s getting stupid at this point. I’ve learned to predict the movements of two of the four railroads that commonly operate here, and am beginning to figure out those of a third. The fourth – AVRR – is like a phantom.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
That’s the 40th street bridge pictured above, a colossal vehicle span connecting the north shore nearby Rialto Street and Route 28 to Lawrenceville.
I had to walk through a company’s parking lot directly after this.
One of the cool things about Pittsburgh is how few shits anyone gives about that sort of thing. Unless you’re messing around and trying to break into the cars in the lot or something, it’s completely uncommented upon and ‘ok.’ What a difference compared to all the yentas who would bug me back in NYC with the ‘what are you taking pictures of’ and ‘who are you with’ comments before telling me that taking photos was a crime and they were going to call the cops on me. I’d laugh when a car of Cops, particularly on the Queens side of the Creek, would pull up and say ‘Hi, Mitch.’
I once had a mob of old Greek ladies chase me down the block, over by St. Irene’s in Astoria, and they were yelling ‘it’s Al Quaeda’ at the top of their lungs after seeing my camera. Yikes!
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Just as a point of fact, there are no actual laws in the United States forbidding photography – with just a few exceptions – mainly focused within the confines of Military Bases and around Judicial Courts. The ‘rule’ is that if you are in a public space – street, sidewalk, park – whatever – you have no ‘expectation of privacy.’ This is the very ‘right’ that the cops exploit that allows them to put security, red light, or bike lane cameras up wherever they want to. Good for the goose, all that.
I didn’t see any AVRR activity, but I did see a bunch of their rolling stock being stored on this siding.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Looking back where I’d been, and this ended up being my favorite shot of the day for some reason. Everything went right with the exposure and I barely had to ‘touch’ it when doing the developing phase in Adobe Camera Raw. Process wise; the shots comes off the camera, are converted to a format native to Adobe’s software family, they get a basic set of settings governing this, that, and the other thing, are cropped, edited a final time, and then published. I go out of my way not to alter photos in any way other than basic adjusts to contrast and that sort of thing. When I employ a ‘trick,’ like exposure or focus stacking, I usually describe what I did under the photo here. I aspire to journalistic ideals.
Everything you see here is part of the tyranny of the real.
Back next week 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.
Stumbling around in Lawrenceville
Thursday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
A post or three has been offered in the past exploring the sights and ‘milieu’ of a section of Pittsburgh called ‘Lower Lawrenceville.’ It’s probably got a few other names which I’m ignorant of, but until then I’m going with that. This could be regular Lawrenceville as well.
This scuttle started at the corner of Lawrenceville’s 50th street and BlackBerry Way – right here.
It’s more or less the border between ‘mixed use’ zoning and ‘industrial area’ zoning to my eye. This spot is on the northern/Allegheny River side of the so called ‘Golden Triangle’ of Pittsburgh. My ultimate destination would be back downtown, where I would be meeting Our Lady of the Pentacle at a roof top bar.
In the Pittsburgh area, ‘alleys’ are called ‘ways.’
– photo by Mitch Waxman
It was warm out, but quite tolerable. Your humble narrator was in his usual summer getup, the black cargo shorts with a white Cuban shirt (Guayabera) over a t-shirt. One has begun wearing a flash orange baseball cap these days, as I often find myself walking around wooded areas and hunting is a genuine passion for people out here.
There’s a lot of tech firms set up in this area, with an unhealthy number of companies that manufacture industrial and military robots. I don’t know if you’ve ever read Asimov, but it might be a good idea to start talking about the concurrent development of AI and these ‘destined for the battlefield’ style robots forming a Venn diagram describing humanity’s extinction. Other tech companies in Pittsburgh are working on self driving cars and trucks.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Neat old building, right there.
Science Fiction has been warning us about the coming moment for more than a century. I’m not talking about us going instant terminator here, but let’s face it – a sufficiently ‘intelligent’ AI will quickly surmise that the most direct threat to its continued existence is us. What does logic dictate to a networked intelligence there? In many ways, the near future will see the emergence of digital angels and devils. Mass global unemployment will just be the start of the fun. Wait until our new overlords began rationing food and water.
I was recently chatting with a professor from Carnegie Mellon who is working on this technological breakthrough, and my only comment to him was to ensure that some sort of dead man’s switch was present – or a plug – that can be pulled only in meatspace. These AI entities will be able to move so fast that stopping one which has ‘escaped into the wild’ would be exactly like trying to fight an Angel or a Demon. I suppose ‘Djinn’ would be more appropriate in context, due to that class of supernatural entity’s association with light and fire.
In magickal terminology, angels and demons are called ‘the sons of fire,’ and humanity are ‘the children of clay.’
Terrifyingly enough, the CMU Professor fellow had never seen ‘Colossus, the Forbin Project.’
– photo by Mitch Waxman
One continued on, while pondering this particular end of the world scenario. “The future sucks” thought a humble narrator. For some reason, I decided that I would be walking down several of the ‘ways’ or alleys whenever opportunity presented.
There seemed to be some sort of power plant on the other side of that wall. Can’t tell you much about it at this juncture. I’m sure I’ll do so in the future. Something to look forward to.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
These worker cottages caught my eye. Obviously recent renovations have occurred, but what drew me were the clean lines and homogeneous nature of the structures. Neat.
I had to get back on one of the avenues, as the alley ‘way’ I was walking ended at stout brick wall. A left was thereby hung, and one marched inexorably on.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Plan wise: the first year I was here in Pittsburgh, it was all about the center of things. Second year, the Monongahela River and its communities. Then the ankle situation occurred and I lost most of the third year here to recovery. This next year, I’m planning on working my way up the Allegheny River and seeing what’s what, and where it is.
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.
Transitional zone
Monday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
As you may recall from last week’s folderol, thy humble narrator was busy scuttling along the Allegheny River side of Pittsburgh, towards its ‘Golden Triangle,’ on a constitutional and exploratory walk. The effort began in Lawrenceville, to the east, and the goal was to get to the ‘Downtown’ section where a T light rail station would provide me with transport back to HQ about five miles away in the Boro of Dormont.
Pictured above is the massive 31st street bridge.
Beyond a bit of exploring on foot, and snapping a bunch of photos, the purpose behind this walk – specifically – was to take advantage of one of the very few places in Pittsburgh that is ‘flood plain flat’ to give the still recovering broken ankle some much needed exercise. Flat walks of this type are one of the legs of a three legged stool for me at the moment, along with walking down steep slopes and negotiating ‘natural’ surfaces. By ‘natural’ I mean walking through grass and soil in semi woodland environments. Still having trouble with sloped surfaces.
If my ankle, hips, and legs ain’t sore at the end of a walk, I didn’t walk far enough. Rebuilding muscle is not very much fun. Nevertheless, push on, push, push, push. I’ve had enough sitting down for a lifetime.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The Appalachian soil which underlies the Pittsburgh metro is famous for producing potholes during the winter, as well as promulgating the formation of sinkholes. Seriously, this happened here in 2019. Saying all that, this is precisely the sort of obstacle course which I’d normally dance my way through and barely even notice, but which – at the moment – I need to stop and scry a path through before stepping forward.
My walking speed has suffered tremendously from the inactivity, and I’m currently scuttling along at a speed which most would describe as ‘normal’ or ‘understandable’ but which I call pathetic. I’ve often mentioned here how toxic my inner dialogue is, and this circumstance im in has found me mentally berating myself for breaking the ankle in the first place, like an asshole would. My Jewish mother may be dead, but part of her lives on rent free in my head.
Push on, weakling. Push. Do better. Do more.
This inner voice of mine is quite profane and mean spirited, and it speaks in a dialectical manner that would have been judged as politically incorrect even back in 1980’s Brooklyn, let alone these days. None of this self abuse is ‘machismo’ based, by the way, nor is it sympathy speaking. I just know that I can and will do better if I overlook the pain and atrophied weakness. It’s temporary. Everything is temporary, the tyranny of the ‘now.’
Push, push, push.
One of my literary heroes, and the originator of an oft repeated motto, is Boxer the Horse from Animal Farm, with ‘I will work harder.’
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Anyway, back to Pittsburgh.
Having just wandered about in the shrinking sclerosis of an industrial zone in Lawrenceville, and having crossed under the 31st street Bridge, I was now officially in a ‘transition zone’ – or as I used to call such areas back in NYC – the angle – between Lawrenceville and The Strip District.
The cognomen ‘Strip District’ refers to an area in Pittsburgh which used to serve the larger city as a food warehousing and distribution center, with rail and boats bringing fresh produce in for wholesale distribution to urban markets and shops.
As I understand it; 19th and 20th century pre-supermarket era, that’s when the Strip’s glory days were. There’s a section of it which is a sort of historic district, with businesses that predate the modern era and seem to be a big part of the multi-generational cultural heritage around here. People drive to this zone, over multiple hours, to then wait on line for a certain cheese to ‘bring’ on Thanksgiving or Christmas or just ‘for the holidays,’ that sort of thing.
I’ve been here a few times since coming to Pittsburgh, but my experiences in the area are fairly limited. There was lots and lots of intriguing stuff on this walk which hasn’t been featured because I have got to know more about it before mentioning it.
More 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.
Turty Turd st. bridge, and such
Friday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The 33rd street rail bridge isn’t just a bridge, it’s a complex of ramps and trestles which sprawls along both sides of the Allegheny River, between Herr’s Island and Millvale on the northern shore, and Lawrenceville on the southern. It was erected in 1921 by the B&O RR people, which replaced an earlier rail bridge here that was built in 1884. It’s massive.
Would love to see a train moving on this thing, but it’s serviced by the Allegheny Valley Rail Road (AVRR), a Class 3 railroad which moves and switches rail cars around in service to the Class 1 railroads (CSX, Norfolk Southern, Wheeling & Lake Erie) here in the Pittsburgh region. AVRR doesn’t have many train sets operating at any given time, so spotting one is like spotting ‘a white whale’ ala Melville.
If I do get a shot of a train on this bridge, ever, it’s going to be a lucky stroke and pure serendipity for me.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
As mentioned, the structure is massive. To the right of the roadway pictured above is a Restaurant Depot warehouse, and yeah – I was having serious ‘memberberries’ while walking through their parking lot to get a few shots of a gigantic bridge. To the left of the shot is a complex of theatrical studios (TV and Movies) set up in former warehouses, which are dubbed as the ‘31st street studios.’ Made me think about Broadway Stages back in Brooklyn. Lots of tv and movies film hereabouts. ‘Mayor of Kingstown’ keeps them busy these days.
One continued on with the scuttling. Walking involves a lot of conscious thought for me at the moment. ‘Don’t protect the ankle,’ ‘don’t waddle like a penguin,’ ‘keep your eyes on where your next heel strike is going to land,’ ‘stride, don’t step.’ All of this used to be simply autonomic, but for the late recovery stage of this horrific injury, it’s required.
I’ve relearned how to walk, now I need to relearn ‘walking with a purpose’ and ‘Brooklyn strut.’
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Saying all that, the path I ended up walking was an incredibly difficult one. Torn up pavement, potholes filled with six inches of street runoff, gravel and rock ballast everywhere, all sorts of obstacles. Not ankle friendly at all, but the goal is ‘stretch and strengthen’ so that means I need to challenge myself by not walking solely on flat pavement. As mentioned in prior posts, the end goal for this walk would involve getting a ride on the ‘T’ light rail back to HQ. The station I was heading for was underneath that orange colored building in the distance, the one with the ‘KL Gates’ logo on it, as that’s where the T’s ‘Wood Street’ station awaited.
Back next week with more, from the Paris of Appalachia – 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.
Scuttling, the dream
Thursday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Glorious! Believe it or not, places like this are what I was dreaming about during all of those months of medical downtime. This post continues with photos captured on a recent walk which started in Pittsburgh’s Lawrenceville. This part of the city is located on the triangular peninsula formed by the confluence of Monongahela and Allegheny Rivers. Downtown, where the big office buildings are, is found at the very tippy tip of that triangle. The area I was walking through in these posts is about six to seven miles east of there, and found along the northern side of the ‘golden triangle,’ where the Allegheny River flows.
One scuttled back a few blocks from the waterfront as it became increasingly difficult to get past a series of ‘No Trespassing’ warnings and ubiquitous fence lines. I found a set of train tracks, which seemed to be at least semi active, as evidenced by shiny metal wear patterns breaking through layers of corrosion and rust. I’m informed that these are all Allegheny Valley Rail Road (AVRR) rights of way in modernity.
Saying all that, didn’t see a train at all moving through. Like I said the other day about AVRR: ‘white whale.’
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Your humble narrator is really trying to ‘lean into it’ at the moment. Rebuilding strength and endurance in my legs and hips after suffering the long hermitage caused by the shattered ankle is my priority. Status on that situation is as follows – I’m walking a LOT slower than I used to, need to have a quick sit down periodically, and fatigue sets in a lot quicker than formerly. This walk ultimately blew open my outer distance range, clocking in at about six and half miles. Given that two weeks ago I was jumping with joy at having conquered five miles… progress.
The goal is to be able to reliably walk twenty miles by June. May is going to hurt a bit, I think. I’m already planning the ten mile threshold’s walk. By August, I plan on resuming the full schedule of one long walk of 10-15 miles and two short walks of about 5 miles each per week.
There was quite a bit of activity going on just out of frame, but it mainly involved utility workers, auto mechanics, and various warehouse operations. Most of the buildings in this ‘IBZ’ seemed occupied, but other than a few cars in the parking lots it was just me, all alone and wandering about on foot. It all seemed quite apocalyptic, but there was a feature rich environment.
Lots of ‘what’s that thing over there’ going on while scuttling along.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
My path through this area followed the rail tracks, and this route would eventually lead me to a named street called ‘Railroad Street.’ I’m of the opinion, which was formed along Newtown Creek’s ‘Railroad Avenue’ in Blissville, that every city in America worth a damn has a ‘Railroad Avenue’ or ‘street’ in it. Here’s the one in Vermont’s Burlington.
One continued on in a generally westerly direction back towards downtown. The plan for the rest of the day was to make it downtown and then catch the ‘T’ light rail back to HQ. Saying that, I still had a couple of hours of walking ahead of me. Given that I’m moving as slowly as I do now, that meant I was just getting started on this walk.
What? You don’t dream about experiencing perfect solitude in a fairly post apocalyptic landscape? To one such as myself, it’s nepenthe.
Come with, see more? 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 