Posts Tagged ‘Oakland’
Veiled scuttling
Thursday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Squirrel Hill to Oakland…
Locally, the ‘bicycle people’ in Pittsburgh style themselves as ‘bikePGH.’
A non-profit, the group is focusing some of its city-wide efforts on pedestrian concerns this year, and offering walking tours through the various neighborhoods which discuss traffic, safety, and transit issues. A recent excursion occurred in the Squirrel Hill neighborhood, and your humble narrator was in attendance. Nice people, fairly short walk.
After the tour, though, I got all concerned with pedestrian concerns of my own. Getting back to HQ in Dormont!
I leaned into a five mile(ish) scuttle, during which I feared that my life would be snuffed out by some speeding car or random pickup truck no more than three times. Pretty good for Pittsburgh, that.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
One cut through a park, which was horrifically nice and terribly well maintained. The burning thermonuclear eye of god itself stared down at me balefully, hurling electromagnetic radiates with hateful intent. The breeze carried waveforms of airborne micro-ballista at me, in the form of needle nosed pollen missiles. My skin hurt for some other reason, maybe it was the pollen, but… For once, I didn’t urgently need to pee. My left eyebrow also hurt for some reason. The ankle was… ahhh feck… I’m all ‘effed up.
The plan was – and I did check the direction on my little compass – to head towards the Monongahela River from the central triangular peninsula of Pittsburgh, but where I was poised is pretty close to the hypotenuse. One had pondered this route the night before, and ‘step one’ would involve heading towards the big colleges, from Squirrel Hill. Specifically I was heading towards the ‘Pitt’ (University of Pittsburgh) and ‘CMU’ (Carnegie Mellon University) zone of the Oakland neighborhood.
Tall buildings that stick up over the tree line, which you can use as navigational landmarks, are indeed a plus. I used to navigate all around NYC by triangulating the World Trade Center, Empire State, and Chrysler buildings.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
There’s a series of ornate bridges, found where the campuses bump up against the park. This particular bridge was closed for construction, but the bike lane remained open and I followed that course.
Can’t close a bike lane, it’s all that truly matters, the bike lane.
One feels very much out of place in this area, as a note. I’m a thousand years old, and horrible to behold in my state of decay. There I walked, scuttling past impossibly young people at the very beginning of their journey.
One must have looked like some sort of ancient mariner, trapped in his endless existential loop, marching around with a camera in a strange city.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Down below, in the park, there’s a set of rail tracks. I did spot a train going through, but couldn’t get a decent shot of it. Fail.
It was right around this point that I realized a new pair of shoes will be needed pretty soon, as too little of the treads on the soles of the ones I’ve been wearing are still extant. There has to be at least 500 to 1,000 miles of wear on the ones I’ve been wearing since last summer.
All this scuttling adds up, Y’know…
– photo by Mitch Waxman
On the bridge over the park closest to Pitt’s campus, hundreds of padlocks are on display along the fenceline.
I’m told this is a modern custom for young lovers to engage in, with the symbolism being that they are locked together. I see these all over the place on bridges, and it’s adorable, but apparently also a source of great angst for the engineers who maintain these bridges. Literally hundreds to thousands of pounds of ‘load’ are being inserted into their bridge equations due to this social media trend. Also, that chain link ain’t structural.
People, huh?
– photo by Mitch Waxman
There were still miles and miles, and a river, to cross.
One leaned into it, pushed forward, adjusting the various camera and bag straps affixed to my torso as I did. A good moment to check all of my pockets, and confirm that all the small things which are secreted about my person were still there. Wallet, keys, Leatherman, cash, headphones, all the camera stuff, etc.
‘Personal Area Network’ is the underlying concept that guides me when I’m dressing to leave the house. Everything has a function, and a place.
I’ve had to expand that list since living in Pittsburgh, to include a water bottle, and a few other objects which weren’t part of the NYC version of my ‘everyday carry.’ I’m very, very embedded into the ‘EDC’ concept.
Back tomorrow with more.
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Oakland 2 Uptown
Tuesday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
One last mansion, from Pittsburgh’s ‘Millionaire’s Row’ on Fifth Avenue in Shadyside. This one is called called the Hillman house.
The next section of this particular scuttle would see me moving through a very, very different section of Pittsburgh, called Oakland.
A quite urban section of the City, it’s replete with ritual centers for the various religious denominations, universities, and you’ll observe vast campuses of hospitals and college buildings.
Traffic is always heavy here and it’s the only place in Pittsburgh, other than nearby a stadium on a game day, that I’ll regularly observe thousands of pedestrians milling about.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Eventually, I’m going to properly explore Oakland – on foot – in a block by block fashion, but on this particular outing my goal was to get through it as quickly as possible. Your humble narrator had an evening assignation with Our Lady of the Pentacle, during which we were going to meet up for a dinner ‘out’ at a restaurant, and I was anxious about getting myself over to that comparatively far flung area where we’d be meeting up.
When you’re on foot, most places are far flung.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The Fifth Avenue corridor in Oakland is a congested mess. Street construction is never ending, and they’re building a couple of new hospitals, and there’s ten million college kids milling around, and grinding red light related traffic is omnipresent. I don’t fear driving through here, because I’m a former New Yorker, and this still ain’t what I’d call ‘traffic.’
If you’re not being forced into pushing your car’s transmission lever into the ‘park’ modality while sitting still in a trench on the BQE, or find yourself admiring Maspeth from up on the LIE, it ain’t traffic.
The Yinzers, on the other hand, would seemingly rather have bamboo shoots inserted under their fingernails rather than sit in this sort of slow down. Road rage is always on display here in Pittsburgh. That makes this sort of traffic dangerous to move around on foot.
As a note: the middle pedal in front of the driver’s seat activates the brake. Cars don’t just move forward – they can slow down, and stop too. Also, you can turn the steering wheel fully during a turn, it’s not just small adjustments and then driving up and over on the sidewalk’s curb.
These are people who have lived and learned to drive without the gentle guidance of the NYPD showing them the way, to be fair.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Polio was cured somewhere along this stretch. Jonas Salk, vaccines, scientific miracle – all that. Remember this as being part of ‘reality,’ as it’s also called ‘history.’
One managed to negotiate his way through the crowds of students, and started thinking about the next leg of this scuttle. I had already decided to attenuate certain plans…
It should be mentioned that this walk occurred on the one year anniversary of the broken ankle incident. My original plan had involved some ‘showing off,’ thusly, but I thought better of it.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I was planning on spitting in the eye of my stair based PTSD by walking down the most insane set of City Steps which I’ve encountered so far in Pittsburgh – the ones leading down from ‘The Bluff’ nearby Duquesne University. In a rare moment of comportment, one reconsidered that plan and decided that it would be ‘daring the universe’ to do so.
One will be scuttling those steps again, just… not yet.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Plan B involved crossing the Monongahela River via the Birmingham Bridge, just under a mile away, and downhill at that. More on that one tomorrow.
Remember: if it looks bad, don’t look, and always save the last bullet for yourself.
“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.
Where the ‘other 1%’ lived
Monday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
As has been mentioned previously, one of my little ‘Pitt Projects’ is devoted to getting to intimately know the place, and this has seen me walking along the ‘long’ streets and avenues found on the central peninsula/spine of Pittsburgh – streets which all ultimately terminate nearby the downtown area at the ‘point’ of the golden triangle.
For this scuttle, I had used a rideshare to drop my sorry ass off over in the Shadyside neighborhood of Pittsburgh, and along Fifth Avenue.
Cool architecture, there. Residential, though, which I don’t normally photograph – as it freaks people out when some strange old guy in an orange baseball cap and wearing a Cuban shirt walks up with a camera and starts to take pictures of their houses.
I really prefer the industrial stuff, anyway. Also, liminal spaces like bridges, and railway stations and tracks… tugboats, too… that’s me. I have to keep moving, or I’ll stop moving, so I’m always looking for something to look at while I’m scuttling about. This time around, it’s a section of the Fifth of Pittsburgh’s many Avenues.
During the gilded age, this section was where the millionaires of Pittsburgh lived. In the 19th century, being a Millionaire was quite similar to being a Billionaire in the 21st century.
Whereas I do appreciate a good palace (but prefer castles), it should be mentioned that it’s impossible for me not to be filled with vestigial ‘class rage’ when observing the mansions where these robber barons lived. Maybe it was ‘great’ then, America, but the ‘divvy up’ of the ‘ole cashiola’ sure wasn’t fair.
There’s a reason that workers fought and died for collective bargaining and unionization rights in the Chicago Stock Yards, on the docks of NYC, and in the steel mills of Pittsburgh. A lot of modern corporate America actually still operates under union rules – paid days off, various insurance policies, the 40 hour week, all that HR stuff you need to oblige about health and safety… we collectively owe that generation a debt.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I know that I’ve likely reignited a conversation about ‘Robber Barons’ vs. ‘Captains of Industry’ in the comments section again… sorry, not meaning to be provocative there, but I’ve read a lot more 19th century newspapers, magazines, and technical/scientific journals (in pursuit of Newtown Creek History, n’atch) than most people have and I’ll report to you that America’s post civil war to WW1 period was a freaking political powder keg of inequality and political corruption that was just waiting to blow. FDR and the New Deal staved off a revolution.
Anarchists were blowing stuff up, assassins going after the Capitalists in their offices and on the streets, boom and bust economic chaos, bank failures… there were socialists of different philosophical schools fighting with each other in the streets, the temperance leagues, the rise of organized crime, the decaying power of Tammany in NYC… it was… not a great time. There was a real scent of revolution and class war in the air back then.
The ‘millionaires row’ section here in Pittsburgh, though, that’s what this post is about. All else above is context for a forgotten time.
A lot of these buildings have been carved up into apartments, hotels, or condos and many provide student housing for the kids at Carnegie Mellon and Pitt. Saying that, and despite my working class contempt for this sort of situation, there are some fine looking buildings on display in this stretch. Here’s a link in Google Maps that’s centered in on one of these structures, which is pictured below, that has been converted over to a luxury short stay hotel. Why not use street view and have a quick ‘look around’ the area for yourself?
I often/almost always use street view to ‘scout’ a bit before I commit to a walking path. Gives me an idea of what to look for, and which lenses and or gear to bring with me.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
It was a warm and summery day in Pittsburgh, and it was late in the afternoon during this scuttle.
Speaking of gear; I was carrying a fairly minimal ‘kit’ with me. A zoom lens on the camera, and a few ‘fast’ primes in a sling – bag just in case I found myself wandering into a church or something. In the end, I only used the zoom and stayed out of doors, but it’s better to not need something that you’ve got with you than to need something which you left at home.
I kept on thinking about my pal Kevin Walsh from Forgotten-NY, who would have likely loved this particular walk. Right up his alley, as it were.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
As mentioned, a lot of student housing was on display. It was an interesting potpourri of styles and eras, as you could see various architectural epochs playing out in wood and stone. Brutalist, gothic, mid century modern, you name it.
All of this is set against Pittsburgh’s crazy terrain. This area is somewhat level and flat, as a note. Shadyside and Oakland seems to have been built on a bit of a plateau, up in the hillocks.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The McCook family estate, that’s what that is. A landmark, it was built as a private home for the family of one of Henry Clay Frick’s lawyers. It’s a landmark property, built between 1906 and 1907.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
This structure is a real beauty, as far as vampire mansions go. The Negley–Gwinner–Harter House is located at 5061 Fifth Avenue, and apparently this area is still in the neighborhood of Shadyside. Another landmark, this building is owned privately.
On, your humble narrator scuttled.
Forward, ever forward – now – more than ever.
“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.
Around and around
Monday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
When a humble narrator finds himself driving around Pittsburgh, the camera is always sitting on the passenger seat, and is preset for a certain kind of capture. If i find myself sitting at a light, or have pulled over somewhere and am saying ‘wow, lookit that,’ said camera is often rudely thrust through either the Mobile Oppression Platform’s moon roof or the drivers side window so that a quick image gets captured.
Recent endeavor found me heading over to the City’s ‘Oakland’ section, which is when the shot above was captured, depicting the Cathedral of Learning looming over the scene.
I was on my way to attend and observe a meeting of a local transit group, who are headquartered in this section. The irony of driving to a transit group’s meeting is not lost upon me.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
After the event, I was struck by the manse across the street from the meeting’s address. The housing stock in this section of Pittsburgh is astoundingly well wrought. Oakland and neighboring Squirrel Hill, in my experience, are the most ‘urban’ sections of Pittsburgh in terms of overall population density. There are other sections which are also quite ‘urban,’ but these exist within the negative connotation of the term – crimey, grimey, etc. There’s a potpourri here.
Where HQ is located in the South Hills, alternatively, is quite suburban. Saying that, analogizing things back to my frame of reference back in NYC, when I say ‘suburban’ I mean the Queens/Nassau County border or the Yonkers/Westchester border and not ‘deep suburban’ like Suffolk or Putnam counties.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
That’s the Liberty Tunnel – or ‘tubes’ – pictured above, a mile long and hundred year old vehicle tunnel that’s punched through the base of Mount Washington on the southern bank of the Monongahela River. One was sitting at a light waiting for my chance to turn into the facility and head back home, when the fancy of getting a night shot of the place struck me. It’s a long light, after all.
The settings on the camera were previously configured, as mentioned above. Daylight wise, that means f4 and ISO 800 with the exposure settings dialed into whatever they need to be. Night wise it’s f2.8 and ISO 6400. The model of camera I use has a swivel out screen, which allows one to point it at something which would otherwise require a gymnast to use the diopter eye piece in order to compose and adjust exposure on otherwise.
Back tomorrow with something very different, 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.
Soggy in Pittsburgh
Thursday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Pittsburgh’s Oakland section, where you’ll find the University of Pittsburgh and Carnegie Mellon University and a staggering number of cultural organizations like the Carnegie Museum, is the most ‘urban’ part of the metro area – to my eyes. It’s crowded with high pedestrian volumes, stores operating at street level which are selling sandwiches and tacos, and there’s densely packed automotive traffic as well. There’s people zipping by on bikes, and crazy guys screaming ‘President got his hand in my pocket’ to no one in particular. The streets are noisy and narrow and kind of dirty… like I said – ‘urban.’
My soggy companion and I diverted from the ‘main drag’ and soon found ourselves walking down one of the many ‘alleys’ or ‘Way’ streets. They call an alley a ‘way’ here. Guess ‘way’ sounds better than alley.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The ‘Ways’ are proper but narrow streets, I’d mention, but this is where the garbage trucks operate and you see a lot of the surrounding building’s infrastructure along these alleys. There’s plenty of business addresses based along these back streets, I’d mention, as well as student housing and parking lots.
As described earlier this week, this walk was a bit of an experiment. My car was parked in the downtown area, and my companion’s was in a lot about a mile and change behind us. My friend and I’s goal involved walking mostly downhill from Oakland back to my vehicle, whereupon I’d drive him back here and we’d then go our separate ways.
It worked out, the plan, I’d mention.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
This is a pretty interesting section of Pittsburgh, I’d also mention.
The post steel mill economic plan for the city is defined by the phrase ‘Ed’s and Med’s’ which indicates a ‘bend over backwards’ municipal policy to satisfy the aspirations of both the Universities (Ed’s) and the Hospitals (Med’s), and to draw in National level investments for both systems. Hey, the Polio vaccine was perfected by Jonas Salk just a few blocks way from this spot, so there’s precedent.
A few miles away, one of the most terrifying things I’ve ever heard of is being worked on – self driving and autonomous Semi trucks – so the plan is definitely pulling some bucks in from the tech industry and automotive sectors.
I’ve said it a bunch of times over the years – when there’s an example of a self driving locomotive, I’ll start taking that self driving car aspirational technology seriously. If ‘self driving’ hasn’t been sorted out on vehicles that operate on tracks…
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 