Posts Tagged ‘North Side’
North side, Pittsburgh
Wednesday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
As part of a very frustrating afternoon, wherein I had to go fetch a few compositions for this week’s posts while the region is in a deep freeze, one found himself on Pittsburgh’s North Side. The past still seems to be standing tall in this area, nearby the ‘Mexican War Streets’ and ‘Chateau’ historic districts. What you’ll see lining the streets here is pretty much the same as every other historic district you’ll encounter in the northeastern United States, old commercial and light industrial structures repurposed to modern needs, with the streetscape being preserved in atavist fashion.
I’ve been meaning to take a walk around here for a while, although it’s not like this section has escaped my notice since moving out to Pittsburgh from Queens’ Astoria in December of 2022. Of course, I was taking a drive on this particular day rather than a walk, since my shattered left ankle is still reconstituting itself and the ground is cloaked in snow and ice.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
One of the many odd things about Pittsburgh is that it’s not all that hard to find a place to park, even on weekday in the central business districts, although I prefer leaving the car in a parking lot (about $5-7, depending) to metered street parking. On this particular afternoon, however, it was street parking that I used. My goal for this location involved trains, but Norfolk Southern seemed to be in on the whole ‘let’s not let Mitch see anything he might find interesting’ conspiracy.
It’s not so easy being the main character, sometimes.
When I got out of the car, a local resident who was smoking a cigarette asked me what I was up to. We actually had a pretty nice conversation about the area, photography, and conversation revealed that he was one of the many people who had bought an apartment in one of these renovated historic buildings. The Harvester International Building was that particular structure, right alongside the RR tracks. He said the building’s soundproofing was spectacular.
Saying all that, it was freezing and my ankle hurt, so I headed back to the Mobile Oppression Platform (a Toyota) and turned on the heat within the cabin. I had already decided to just throw my hands up and admit defeat.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
It’s a warren of narrow 19th century streets that you’ll find in this area. Narrow and canyonesque due to the built environment, there’s a lot of interesting details and ‘pregnant’ locations in this zone. When it warms up a bit and I’m fully back on my feet, this place is going to be examined closely.
Pictured is part of the Emmanuel Episcopal Church, an 1886 vintage ‘sacred space’ which I’m definitely going to try and visit at some point in the future, and hopefully get some interior shots of.
Back tomorrow.
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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.
Catenaries and atavists
Tuesday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I’ve mentioned that the local transit agency – dubbed ‘PRT’ for ‘Pittsburgh Regional Transit’ – which operates the T light rail service, has been conducting a profound series of repairs and upgrades to the Red Line light rail service which runs through the area that HQ is located in all summer long.
The availability of rail based mass transit is one of the factors which decided where Our Lady of the Pentacle and I would settle, I’d mention.
These repairs have been going on since June, and in lieu of running the T service, rail shuttle buses have been carrying the load instead. Theoretically, the week after Labor Day was meant to see a return of regular T service, but a fallen tree had interrupted things again by pulling down a series of the catenary wires that power the thing. Outbound from Pittsburgh’s center was running fine, but inbound towards the City was blocked by repairs and rewiring.
Sigh. I finally rode on a bus in Pittsburgh, thereby.
The rail shuttle carried my fellow commuters and I via surface streets to the Station Square facility along the Monongahela River, whereupon we were directed onto one of the T platforms to finish our journeys. The other two lines were, and have been, up and running and while waiting for a Blue or Silver line light rail unit to show up at Station Square to carry us the rest of the way, an outbound Red Line caught my eye as it entered the facility.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
This was a ‘long walk’ day. The Blue Line T arrived, and deposited me at its terminal stop on Pittsburgh’s North Side, nearby the sportsball stadiums. I was eschewing the headphones on this scuttle for some reason, wanting to pay attention to my surroundings with the whole compliment of built in sensory equipment. My goal was to wander back to more or less the start of this walk at the Station Square T facility.
The North Side is absolutely lovely, despite it having a somewhat ferocious reputation. There were a few spots along a loosely decided upon route that I had in mind, but I had planned in ‘serendipity.’
Serendipity is when you happen across something which you didn’t anticipate on a photowalk, and is a joyous sort of experience.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
As it turns out, there’s a Historic District tucked into the North Side, full of late 19th and very early 20th century structures, a fact which was otherwise unknown to me. It’s called ‘Allegheny West,’ and it’s one of twelve such historic districts in Pittsburgh which receive special attention from the City and the residents who live there. Neat!
I’ll definitely be wandering back through here again, and checking out what’s on display. How the other half lives, indeed.
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.
Never miss an opportunity
Monday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
A humble narrator has been obliging the wishes of his team of doctors in recent weeks, who have decreed that he submit to a now annual series of tests. These procedures are ingenious, including the use of high frequency sound waves and or queer radiations which are focused through my decaying flesh and the rot of my physical firmament.
The white coat and blue pants brigade have also been siphoning off the ichor in my veins, and sampling the various jellies and syrups found within the skinvelope, for chemical analysis. Nothing is particularly wrong with me other than the usual stuff, but these scholars seem to enjoy testing my patience as well as my fleshy bits.
My resolve is to ‘play ball with the docs,’ on a now annual basis. Back in NYC, I’d generally only seek medical attention when bleeding.
I’m making the best of all these violations of comfort and privacy, and since I’m in the habit of carrying a camera with me everywhere I go – took the opportunity after a recent ultrasound lookie-loo to crack out a few shots from the roof of Allegheny General Hospital’s parking lot roof.
Have to admit, I love the sound of the word ‘ultrasound.’
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The hospital where this particular procedure was inflicted is on the north side of Pittsburgh, so the perspective on this one is looking southwest towards the downtown section. It’s a ‘stitched panorama,’ meaning that I took about five photos while twisting at the waist, and ran them through a photoshop function to combine and blend them together into a panorama.
As a note: My neck was all sticky after the ultrasound, and its accompanying application of weird institutional jellies, and I felt pretty gross. Bleh!
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I don’t know about you – lords and ladies – but one such as myself is silently screaming when submitting to the attentions of the physicians. Nightmare fuel, most of it.
A recent trial involved a multiple appointments series of Periodontal treatments at my Dentist. I’ve lived my life in a manner which is designed to avoid having power tools inserted into my mouth, but acquiescence to medical advice is a wise course of action and thereby I endured multiple hours of this particular torture. Good news is that my gums are now as pink as a baby’s bottom.
Did you know that most of the men who would eventually form the KGB’s torture squads, under the early rule of the Soviets, were Dentists?
“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.
Just scuttling, me
Friday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
A long walk was underway, and a humble narrator was enjoying the day. The weather was on my side, and so was the light. As you’ll see next week, things were about to get super interesting for one such as myself to marvel at – trains, tugs, all sorts of interesting things crossed my path.
One walked from the Penn Station ‘T’ light rail stop over to the Allegheny River and crossed the waterway on one of the ‘Three Sisters’ bridges, specifically the Roberto Clemente bridge.
I think that’s the Rachel Carson bridge pictured above, which is named for the Pittsburgh author who wrote the seminal environmentalist text ‘Silent Spring.’ I might be wrong, though, as the three bridges are fairly identical.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
My walking path continued along behind the sportsball stadiums on Pittsburgh’s north side, where I indulged myself by shooting some of the many on and off ramps which carry highway traffic through this section of the city.
I’ve often mentioned how attracted to the parabolic arcs and clean linear nature of such infrastructure I am, despite its somewhat conflicting purpose. It’s likely that I-279 is up there, but who knows? There’s an absolute web of these highways and byways that converge around the stadiums.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The first lucky ‘gotcha’ that I encountered on what ended up being an extremely lucky afternoon was a T light rail unit rising up out of its ‘subway’ tunnel, and onto the elevated tracks that carry the service towards its terminal stop. My plan was to pass all that by and walk over to the West End Bridge over the Ohio River, head east, and then follow the shoreline path back to where I’d encounter the T again at a different station.
Back next week with some of the cool stuff I encountered along the way 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.
No scuttle, no peace
Tuesday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Pictured above is an Allegheny Valley Railroad train set negotiating itself over the Fort Wayne railroad bridge, which spans the Allegheny River and the train is heading towards Downtown Pittsburgh. This bridge, and the particular direction that the AVRR train is heading, lead to a set of tracks in the center of the city which Amtrak and Norfolk Southern also use to head eastwards.
As mentioned a few times in this story, this scuttle was playing out on a warm day, and a humble narrator had spent the couple of weeks prior sitting on his butt at home. I was not enjoying the humidity or warmth as I haven’t fully acclimated away from winter yet, and in my defense it was forty degrees not two days before these shots were gathered. I was thereby in a full sweat, and every step was increasingly an act of will even though the first mile of my intentions had barely been expressed.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
One was scuttling along the section of the Three Rivers Heritage Trail which is found on the north shore of the Allegheny River. It’s not exactly a demanding route, given that it’s graded and paved, but after my long somnolent period – agony. My back hurt, and so did my butt. I was sweating profusely and not feeling so great. The drill is to lean into it, tough it out, and get past thoughts of discomfort though. You can sit and whine about it at home later, I told myself. It’s not like you have a choice about exercise, it’s a requirement.
While pedantically negotiating with my lizard brain, I couldn’t help but notice a little blue house which seemed to be the sole survivor of a lost civilization, nearby the former Heinz Factory.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The trail is well wooded, and there are long intervals during which you’re marching through a tunnel of trees and vegetation. That’s nice.
Last time that I scuttled through here during the early winter, there were dozens of homeless encampments observed along the path – tents and lean to’s surrounded by middens of garbage. I’ve heard that the gendarmes were sent in to clear the area of such habitations, and the effort seems to have been successful at accomplishing its stated goal. I do wonder where all the street people have moved on to, though.
Right about when I was shooting the photo above at a clearing in the wall of vegetation, of a tug and barge doing some sort of construction duty with a ‘Dick’s Sporting Goods’ advertising blimp overhead, that’s when I really started craving some sort of hydration. I seldom carry a water bottle with me, and my NYC born habit always involves the statement that ‘I’d stop at a bodega somewhere and grab a Gatorade or something.’
The problem with Pittsburgh, as I’ve discovered, is they ain’t got no bodegas out here. It’s ‘car country’ and the best you’re going to do is find a gas station with a convenience store attached to it or happen across some random 711 or McDonald’s, but those are far and few between.
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 