Posts Tagged ‘North Side’
Scuttling in Shadeland
Tuesday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Topsburgh to Bottomsburgh part three:
After visiting the Davis Avenue Bridge, accessed via the Perry Hilltop ‘zone,’ your humble narrator began loathsomely forcing the rotting pre-corpse through and along the hazy borders of the Marshall Shadeland and Brighton Heights neighborhoods.
Man, what a ‘zone’! The housing stock here is exquisite.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
This church seemed to have constructed atop a giant outcropping of rock, and I couldn’t stop myself from getting a photo of it.
This section of my day is best analogized by an old aphorism of mine from Queens, which is that ‘you pretty much have to walk through Sunnsyide to get to Newtown Creek from Astoria, so just get used to it.’ Also, Queens’ 43rd street used to be ‘the Shell Road,’ so you’re walking through Dutch colonial era NYC history by going that way. Connected the Rycken (Rikers) properties on the north all the way to Newtown Creek on the south. Just saying.
To get where I was going, I needed to scuttle through a couple of residential neighborhoods.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Disturbingly heterogenous, that’s how I’d describe the residential architecture encountered along this route. There were a few row houses, and many examples of ‘Pittsburgh style’ brick home, which features an enormous front porch.
While scuttling along, I saw a curtain drawn back as a shadowy figure observed my passage. I hissed in that direction, in the manner of a stray cat. The curtain fell back to a resting position.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Finally, the end of the world was reached.
At least, it’s the end of this part of the world. It put me right where I hoped to be, but there was a decidedly dodgy street crossing ahead. I was actually a bit anxious about this crossing, which can be difficult to navigate – in a car.
Fear… Fear is the mind killer.
Loping along like some crippled chimpanzee, with my stiffened shoulder and neck due to that slip and fall annoying me, and a perfect mud tattoo of the butt on the back of his filthy black raincoat, your humble narrator nevertheless strove on… and on…
Really, what choice did I have? If you stop moving, you stop moving.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The world – or at least the legal borders of ‘Pittsburgh’ – more or less ends at that fence, which then leads you down to a short set of stairs. Those stairs place pedestrians at a spot never meant for them, despite there being crosswalks and walk/don’t walk signals which were an obvious ‘add-on.’
On the other side of that fence is found Ohio River Blvd./Route 65, a de facto four lane highway masquerading as a local street. Historically speaking, it’s meant to be the deadliest of Pittsburgh’s high speed roads, due to its conditions in the 1960’s and 70’s.
Sounds nice, no?
– photo by Mitch Waxman
That’s the intersection which I was worried about, which theoretically allows pedestrians to cross Ohio River Blvd. and access the walkway to the McKees Rocks Bridge.
You see Junkies with signs here begging for handouts, but this ain’t exactly a safe spot – street crossing wise. Heavy traffic flow from three sides, lots of big trucks, angry pickup truck drivers who had to endure an entire two or three minutes of traffic congestion… brrr…
One survived the crossing, obviously, as these shots were captured at the end of March and here I am still rattling on about them in May. Besides, as I had already hurt myself during that fall, the safety odds were now on my side.
Right? Right? That’s the way the world works, right?
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.
Topsburgh to Bottomsburgh part one
Friday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
My latest scuttle started pretty close to the highest point of elevation that is found within the confines of Pittsburgh (said to be some 1,370 feet up from the MLW or Mean Low Water point as defined by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and ‘officialdom’ at large), and began atop upon a landform which I’m led to believe was once colloquially known as ‘Knob Hill’ but which is referred to in modernity as either ‘Observatory Hill’ or ‘Perry Hilltop.’ The ‘Perry’ in that naming was meant to honor the memory, and commemorate the military service, of Commodore Perry.
One has been exploring the various neighborhoods of Pittsburgh’s ‘North Side,’ on foot, for the last few weeks, with this walk the latest excursion.
As is my habit, a thorough Google Maps examination of the route was obliged in advance, but construction and other obstacles you might encounter along the way are things you just have to deal with ‘on the day,’ and you really need to be able to adapt. Think on your feet. All that.
Also habitual, I started at the high elevation point and then walked downhill, as I’m fairly old now. Feeble too. A scuttling fossil, really.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Interesting homes lined this particular roadway, which in this case was a steeply graded course called ‘Mairdale.’ This one would then lead me to that one, where I’d make a left…, and then…, and then…, you get the idea.
This is one of the neighborhoods that the news people on the TV will encourage one to avoid, with lurid tales of savage crime and anarchic adolescents.
This neighborhood reminds me a great deal of the Bushwick Avenue corridor, back in Brooklyn, prior to around 1990 when the gentrification hammers began to fall. Economically driven tidal forces smashed that homegrown community into diaspora, in order to make room for wealthier strangers and their coffee shops.
That doesn’t seem to have happened up here, yet, but it’s coming. I can just feel it coming, in the same manner as when you say ‘I think I’m getting sick.’ You’re not ill, quite yet, but…
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Mairdale Avenue transmogrifies into ‘Woods Run Avenue’ somewhere along this route. To my right were really nice and well kept homes and neighborhoods which climbed up slopes and over hills, and to my left was a fairly large city park, one with a celestial observatory at its apex. The shot above looks back at where I’d just been.
My decided upon plan had involved moving into and through that facility, which is dubbed as ‘Riverview Park,’ but I encountered a pretty big construction project along the way which occluded and blocked the entrance, and I had to ‘rekajigger’ my path accordingly.
What drew me in this direction, for this section of the scuttle at least, was the presence of Pittsburgh’s newest bridge – a high flying pedestrian and bike connector which overflies the valley that Mairdale Street rides through, and connects the Brighton Heights neighborhood on the next elevation with the park.
That’s the sort of thing which I always want to take a look at.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Your humble narrator was feeling pretty good.
Striding along, enjoying the sights and the sounds of morning bird song. The weather was great, low 60’s with zero humidity. For once I was out in the early part of the morning, I guess it was about 9-9:30 a.m. The usual secure pocket rich ‘Mitch suit’ was arrayed about my rotting form, including the filthy black raincoat – sans lining as it was warmish.
Camera wise, it was a 24-240mm zoom lens, and in the bag I had a couple of primes – a 16mm and a 50mm.
It was mentioned, a couple of weeks back, that my filthy black raincoat needed a wash due to there being a big splodge of mud on it, in the butt region. Everybody suggested just washing it. My butt, I mean.
I promised that I’d tell that mud butt story when I got to it, so…
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Right after that construction sign, the sidewalk – as it turned out – was covered in an incredibly thin and completely invisible layer of clear ice. It had been below freezing the night before, atmospheric temperature wise, but…
As I stepped on that invisible tenth of a millimeter layer of ice at full walking speed, one suddenly found himself hanging in the air for a good half second – body fully horizontal to the ground. I basically pivoted ninety degrees at about belt height, and then dropped to the cement like a bucket of rotting pig guts. My shoulders hit first.
Wham!
It looked dramatic enough that somebody who was driving past pulled over to the curb to ask me a few times if I needed assistance.
I laughed and said ‘nope, landed mainly on my butt.’ I did actually come close to cracking my head on the sidewalk, but that enveloping Mitch suit of mine (springtime variant) includes a thick cotton ‘hoodie’ style sweatshirt, and the gathered up fabric padded the impact for my head and neck region. I did clack my teeth together though, when my chin hit my chest.
While mid fall, I grew concerned about the teeth clacking thing and managed to get ahead of really hurting myself.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
One fell like a photographer, actually, protecting the camera and camera bag as I went. A lens cap popped off one of the lenses, that’s all that happened to the gear.
It’s funny, the way that the brain works. This entire slip and fall tale had to play out in less than a second or a second and a half, but I went into ‘slow motion’ mode, and managed to wiggle myself into a safer pose while hanging in mid air. Felt like I was floating there for thirty seconds. I have a similar memory of the fall which busted my ankle. Perception of time alters, everything slows down. During that one, I managed to get my hands behind my neck and protected the spine while falling.
Must be what it’s like to be a squirrel.
I did end up with a lovely portrait of my butt cheeks and part of my belt, rendered in mud, on the black raincoat though. Had to walk through ‘the hood’ with that on my butt, so win. My shoulders and neck were a bit stiff afterwards, but I had just cracked the back of my noggin when smacking into the ground. Didn’t crack my teeth!
Can’t win.
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.
A North Sided Hey Now!
Wednesday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
After passing through the California Kirkbride neighborhood and visting the Sunday Street City Steps, one made his way towards a rail yard. This one belongs to Norfolk Southern, and I’m told that it’s called the ‘Island Avenue Yard.’
Historicpittsburgh.org offers this text describing the place as ‘one of the primary junctions of the Norfolk Southern Railroad. It connects lines west into Ohio, south into West Virginia and Maryland, north into Erie, and east towards Philadelphia and New York.’
– photo by Mitch Waxman
From ‘up top’ on that vehicular bridge spanning the tracks which is pictured above, I spotted what looked like a great POV for photographing passing trains ‘down here’ and then made my way over to this spot. I had to crash through some brush and agglutinated litter, but I managed to get to that fenceline just in time.
Hey Now!
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I’d end up seeing Norfolk Southern #7001 a couple of times over the next hour or so. I tried looking up its ‘specs,’ but it seems that 7001 has been rebuilt – at least once – and it used to part of an entirely different locomotive outfit and everything was super confusing. It made my neck hurt, so – thereby – look, it’s a train!
A fun conversation was struck up with some local who was walking an absolutely gorgeous pit bull. The local was tickled pink that I was taking shots of trains, and shared some neighborhood stories with me.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
NS #7001 was moving on, and then so did I. It’s a ‘walk,’ not a ‘stand’ after all.
I soon wandered into another neighborhood, called Manchester.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
My path involved getting over to the T light rail, a vector which carried me along a series of industrial streets with the occasional residential block mixed amongst them. Ultimately, this area sort of ‘cul de sacs’ nearby Allegheny Commons Park and the West End Bridge.
The park is where that rail trench that I often point the camera at is found.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Son of a gun if I didn’t run into #7001 there again, but this time around they had shed themselves of the cargo which they were formerly hauling. Just the locomotive.
I’ve been noticing, particularly in the last few weeks, that the rail guys are closely visually examining the tracks as the locomotive chugs along, as in the shot above. Any of you rail fan types have an inkling of what they’re likely up to? I’m kind of curious.
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.
Pittsburgh Phil, and the road to California
Thursday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
For this scuttle, one used a rideshare cab to drop my pre-corpse off across the street from Pittsburgh’s Union Dale Cemetery, a polyandrion which is itself ‘on my list,’ but tapophilia wasn’t on the menu for this particular day. This area is in the ‘north side’ of the city.
The section which I’d be scuttling through during this effort is dubbed ‘California Kirkbride.’ While moving along the cemetery’s fenceline, a mausoleum demanded my attentions from the other side of a fence.
‘That’s something,’ said a humble narrator. Serendipity, indeed.
George Elsworth Smith died fairly young, but boy oh boy did he live.
Smith was a professional gambler, horses were his thing, and he made his living betting on them. He died young at 42, after having amassed a fortune of more than three million dollars – in 1905 – a sum which would be worth more than one hundred million dollars, in today’s money.
Another professional gambler assigned Smith the nickname ‘Pittsburgh Phil,’ in order to distinguish him from a crowd of other people in their orbit named George Smith.
Apparently, Smith designed his own mausolea, which cost him $30K, and it was ready for him some seven years before he died of tuberculosis. The portrait statue of him on the roof was commissioned by his grieving mother, and added posthumously. The piece of paper clutched in the statue’s hand is a betting slip from a racetrack.
Pittsburgh Phil.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
An effort is underway to visit sections of Pittsburgh which haven’t been considered quite yet, or at least that I haven’t experienced while out on foot. I’ve done a lot of auto based scouting, yes, but as I always say – you can’t see anything from a car because you’re moving too fast. I’ve resumed an old habit, by the way, which is to start recording the street intersection signage while moving around. I often need these ‘bookmarks’ afterwards, to make sense of all the shots and remember exactly where it was that I shot them. Good news is that a non contrived usage for AI has actually appeared, wherein I ask Google’s machine what neighborhood a particular intersection is found within. This is handy, for one such as myself.
California-Kirkbride, which is where the intersection of Brighton Rd. and Ingham Street is found, is another one of those ‘North Side’ Pittsburgh neighborhoods which has a ferocious reputation. ‘Don’t go there, ‘they’ll’ shoot you dead.’ My answer to that last one has become ‘who are ‘they’?,’ ‘what are their names?,’ ‘can we call them?’
Funny thing – wasn’t scary at all – just another residential neighborhood and kind of a lovely one at that.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
See any ‘beater’ cars covered in tarps in the driveway or front yard? Garbage and furniture on the lawn? Old tires? Wooden panels filling the street facing windows? Nope? You’re in an ok section of town then. Relax.
Brighton Road is kind of the ‘main drag’ through here, and it snakes along the masonry retaining walls of that cemetery. Across the street is housing stock that’s quite typical of the sort that Pittsburgh’s post WW2 automobile enabled suburbanization process installed.
‘Dis ain’t no suburb, Mitch, you dumb.’ Actually, if you read up on the history of Astoria, Queens you’ll find out that Astoria was considered a suburb ‘back in the day.’ You’ve got Levittown on your mind when you hear that ‘suburb’ word…
If you’re interested in the history of this sort of residential architecture, and the stories behind its development, check out this 1994 vintage Rick Sebak documentary, from the local PBS outfit (pbs login required).
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I’m really going to have to take a hard look at this cemetery sometime…
Pittsburgh Phil was just a lucky find, but I didn’t come all the way over here to just stand around and admire the statuary. One leaned into it, and scuttle scuttle scuttle did I do.
As usual, I had figured out a walking route prior to leaving HQ, as it’s pretty easy to ‘cul de sac’ yourself on Pittsburgh’s hills.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
It was pleasant out, weather wise, with temperatures in the middle 50’s and a steady breeze. One had zipped the insulating liner out of his filthy black raincoat, and thereby felt quite ‘bon vivant.’
I was carrying the standard ‘kit’ in my camera bag, wearing the standard ‘Mitch suit,’ and had omitted usage of the headphones as your humble narrator was enjoying all of the bird’s singing and whistling.
You gotta drink up the little stuff, yo.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Yeah, I’ll definitely and really have to take a walk inside of this cemetery sometime…
Meanwhile, I still had miles and miles of scuttle ahead of me. Come with?
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.
North Side Pittsburgh w 2 Hey Now’s
Monday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Continuing today, with the last steps of a longish scuttle described in grueling detail in prior posts. Check out last week’s series for all that.
I was in the former ‘Allegheny City,’ annexed to Pittsburgh at the start of the 20th century. ‘North Side’ is how the modern day Yinzers refer to it. The Mexican War Street and Chateau historical districts are nearby.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The building stock here is disturbingly heterogeneous.
Wood frame private homes sitting next to five and six story tall brick apartment buildings are a common sight. This ‘zone’ survived rapacious levels of multiple decade long urban renewal projects occurring all around it, somehow.
I’m just now ‘getting smart’ about this ‘zone.’ Reading up on it, all that.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Hey, that’s the hospital you see on HBO’s ‘The Pitt’ medical drama.
We’ve been watching the show, which feels a lot like a sequel to ‘ER.’
Here’s where they go wrong in portraying the Steel City: virtually none of the actors uses a Pittsburgh accent, except for the head nurse character (get aht the hawse, jag off, you need go), the patients don’t wander into the ER dressed head to toe in Steelers or Pirates gear, and nobody is sipping from small containers of the locally brewed sweet tea brand.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
At Allegheny Commons Park, I took a different route than my normal one and walked past the lovely ‘Lake Elizabeth’ section. I was heading for that rail trench, which is smack dab in the middle of the park.
Of course, I suddenly needed to pee. I was asked recently whether or not my constant need to urinate is related to my enjoyment of local breweries. Sure, if you drink beer you need to piss, but as I had mentioned, it’s mainly a blood pressure pill which drives this dynamic for me these days. Not a drop of beer had passed my lips on this day, as it was also kind of early in the day to have a drink, to be honest. I often go two to three weeks without a drink, as a matter of fact, but I take that particular pill twice a day.
Luckily, Pittsburgh acknowledges human biology and there are Porta Potties installed around public places like this.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
My ‘all too human’ problem caused me to miss being stationed along that fenceline when Norfolk Southern passed by in the rail trench and I was just leaving the Porta Potty. Can’t catch them all.
I negotiated across the lawn, and got myself into position to capture the next one passing through.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
As mentioned, since I’ve been kind of seeing the Allegheny Valley Railroad a whole bunch in recent weeks, I’m going to have to stop referring to it as ‘the white whale.’ The term refers to something rarely seen, and I’ve been seeing them a lot. Saying that…
Hey Now!
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 