Posts Tagged ‘Pittsburgh’
Visiting the Zoo, in Pittsburgh
Tuesday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Our Lady of the Pentacle and myself paid a recent weekend visit to the Pittsburgh Zoo and Aquarium. An amazing institution dating back ultimately to 1898, the Zoo is, but one’s empathy is nevertheless activated when encountering ‘near peer’ intelligent creatures that are living in such captive circumstances. Saying that, these critters would probably be dead or entirely extinct were they still out in the wild and living rough. The Veterinarians and Zoology people here are devoted to the health and relative happiness of these creatures.
These Gorillas are likely treated better than we would treat our fellow humans condemned to a prison, so there’s that at least. Wonder if that gorilla pictured above has ever flown a kite to the next cell block, or learned to make pruno from fruit juice and bread in a plastic bag.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I screwed up my shots on the aquarium side of the operation, which is difficult shooting to start with, by getting too fancy and exact with the camera settings. To be fair though, it’s hard under the best of circumstance to focus through half inch or inch thick plexi or glass tank walls. Especially so when they’re all smudged up with little kid fingerprints. Saying that, missed those aquarium shots entirely.
That’s an Orangutan, I’m told. Old man of the forest, as they’re known in Asia.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The Elephants were inside their enclosure, in a large concrete building which acts as their stable. Elephants, as it turns out, have a very particular and strong smelling musk. It took about twenty minutes for that smell to waft away after we transited through. I recently was exposed to a poll, one which revealed that about 9% of Americans think they can win a one on one fight with an elephant. Elephants are Batman class opponents, I would mention.
Empathy was especially felt for the three species pictured above, and for the staff of professionals who care for the needs of these intelligent and emotionally complex animals.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The Komodo Dragons, on the other hand? Eff them. Carrion eating monstrosities with tiny sinister minds, isolated island leftovers from a time when their kind ruled, Komodo’s are literal abominations. I’m quite the chauvinist when discussing the Reptiles vs. we Mammals, as you may know. The Komodo is the largest of the Monitor Lizards, has a venomous bite, and infects it’s prey during that bone crushing bite with highly virulent strains of Botulinum.
That thing was eyeballing me like it wanted a taste. Fire. Fire fixes everything.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Outside, there were all sorts of critters in enclosures. Literally – Lions, Tigers, and Bears. What I mentally refer to as a “Gigalope” is what the rest of you might call a Giraffe. Y’know they’re huge intellectually, but it’s hard to really get a sense of how big these things actually are until you see one walking around.
Nearby, a fight between two Zebras broke out, which caused every other out doors critter to go take a look at the fence. The Cheetahs were particularly interested in the Donnybrook.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
They also have a Rhino at the zoo, which is probably as close to a dinosaur as anything you’ll ever get to see – except for that effin Komodo Dragon.
Did you know that the primary cause of death amongst Komodo Dragons are other Komodo Dragons?
Back tomorrow with something different, from the Paris of Appalachia, at 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.
Hot Metal, 3 Rivers Heritage Trail
Tuesday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The path which the Monongahela River enjoys is somewhat serpentine in nature, prior to the waterway’s juncture with the Allegheny River, where they mutually become the Ohio River nearby Downtown Pittsburgh. Last week, I drove the Mobile Oppression Platform (the Toyota) over to a neighborhood called the Southside Flats and parked in a lot associated with a park and the Three Rivers Heritage Trail. The MOP was left directly beneath the Birmingham Bridge, pictured above.
It’s a young bridge for this section of the world, having been opened for business in 1977. It’s another bowstring arch bridge, not unlike the Fort Penn bridge discussed last week. The fact that it’s not painted yellow indicates that it’s a state – rather than a city – bridge. My plan for the afternoon was pretty simple – I’d walk eastwards along the trail, cross the river and then walk westwards, whereupon I’d circle back to the MOP. It was overcast in Pittsburgh, with roiling clouds bolting around up in the vault, and the temperatures were comfortable and in the mid 50’s.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
This is another one of the sections of Pittsburgh where there used to be a steel mill, I’m told. The trail itself follows active freight rail tracks on the south side of the river. In tomorrow’s post, the north side of the scene will be explored, but for the first half of my walk it was all about the south side and getting to where my crossing would be found.
There’s gigantic infrastructural elements available for inspection and appreciation along the way – storm sewers, enormous concrete and iron retaining walls that keep the slopes of sedimentary soil deposits from sliding into the river. One section had steel plates holding up a wall of soils, with the steel plates bolted into place with giant lug nuts that were the size of dinner plates.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
That’s the 1887 vintage Hot Metal Bridge. During the Second World War, 15% of American steel production would travel over it on the rails. In 2000 AD, it was converted over to vehicle and pedestrian/bike usage. Its “official” name is the “Monongahela Connecting Railroad Bridge and Hot Metal Bridge.” On the path approaching it, there’s historic signage which describes the steel industry and the railroads which served it.
There’s post industrial development everywhere you look in this zone, and a few large corporate anchors are located nearby, including the clothing company American Eagle Outfitters.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
On the Hot Metal Bridge’s pedestrian path, which is completely separated from the vehicular lanes, and heading north – that’s where this shot was gathered. I didn’t have any particular goal for the afternoon other than kicking my feet about and getting some exercise, but I was able to piece together a mental map of where I was scuttling based around prior explorations – which I’ve described here – of the Monongahela Valley. Locally, it’s referred to as the Mon Valley by the politicians, but when they say that it’s usually in reference to the still quite industrial areas to the east like Clairton and Braddock.
There were just a few other people on the bridge. A bike rider or three, joggers, one or two other pedestrians. No dogs.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
This one looks back towards the south side of the river across the Hot Metal Bridge. My original plan was to circle back to the south side and the MOP using the Birmingham Bridge… but more on that tomorrow.
The north side has quite a different circumstance than the south does, with high speed roads like I-579 riding on elevated structures and an industrial and commercial zone. When you get to the north side, the Three Rivers Heritage trail is renamed as the Eliza trail to commemorate the J&L Steel mill which was located here. This bridge is also part of the Great Allegheny Passage trail.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
On the north side, I turned westwards. The neighborhoods around this intersectional area are Oakland and the Hill District. The terrain here is difficult due to its verticality, and I can tell you that it’s a real challenge to climb these hills on foot. Luckily, the path I was walking on was graded for rail, meaning one foot of elevation for every hundred feet horizontally.
Tomorrow, I find myself walking through the sort of place which most would logically go looking for my corpse, if I’d gone missing.
“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.
Carnegie Museum of Natural History
Monday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Our Lady of the Pentacle and myself were desirous of getting out together and experiencing something new to us here in Pittsburgh. So we hopped into the Mobile Oppression Platform (my pet name for the Toyota) and drove over to Pittsburgh’s Oakland section, where the Carnegie Museum of Natural History is located. Parking cost $10, and non member admission tickets ran us $25 a head.
I’ve been to the British Museum in London, and quite obviously – the American Museum of Natural History back in NYC – so I’m a bit jaded by scale and scope, but this is one spectacular institution here in Pittsburgh.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The 115,000 square foot museum was founded by Andrew Carnegie back in 1896, and is one of several cultural institutions which the founder of U.S. Steel endowed while feeling guilty about the Homestead Strike and massacre. The museum also incorporates an art museum into its design, and you can move freely between the two once inside. It was a cold day in Pittsburgh, and a Sunday, so there were lots of family groups moving around inside with their kids. The Oakland neighborhood surrounding it hosts multiple cultural institutions and churches, in addition to the university properties.
We saw several interesting exhibits, notably the Alcoa Foundation Hall of American Indians and Polar World: Wyckoff Hall of Arctic Life. As is usually the case with a museum, we didn’t see everything on the first go.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Most of the art on display during this visit was eminently modern, and the curatorial intention seemed to revolve around hot button modern day political issues. It was a nice space, and a great collection. Apparently the museum’s total collection include some 22 million individual specimens and artifacts, with some 10,000 items on public display.
There’s a lot of behind the scenes science work going on, we were told by museum staff. This includes the so called “Alcohol House” which is where they store the remains of collected animals and plants for future curation or study in sealed jars of alcohol.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The mineral rooms were fascinating, and quite well presented. Normally this is the sort of thing which a humble narrator walks right past, but this particular exhibit pulled me right in.
An old friend of mine once described walking around a museum like this as producing a psychological haze which he described as becoming “uberplexed,” a nearly narcotic level “high.” I can tell you, I was uberplexed.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The big draw at the museum, obviously, involves Dinosaurs. Several diorama displays were on offer, and every kid in the museum was required to walk into this room and throw their arms into the air while yelling “rawwr.”
Ever wonder how different this experience would be if instead of ‘Dinosaur’ we used ‘Gigachicken?’ I’ll betcha that Dinosaurs would have probably tasted delicious – grilled with a bit of salt and pepper and maybe a squeeze of lemon. As a human, it’s my responsibility to assess first how I would kill one, then wonder what it would taste like. Alpha predators have to alpha, yo.
20 guys with spears, working in tandem, that’s how you’d kill it. That’s how they used to do elephants and mammoths. It would also make sense to have dug out a muddy pit in advance, to trap it in one place so it’s easier to poke at with the spears. Gigachicken.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The institution is famous for finding and identifying the Diplodocus speciation back in 1899. The skeletons above are identified as Diplodocus carnegii.
Back tomorrow with more from Pittsburgh, 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.
Fort Pitt Bridge, part 1
Tuesday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
A man has to have a code, I opine. One of the many points in my personal credo involves getting out every other day to point the camera at things and walk around. Back in NYC, when a spell of ugly weather was being described by the meteorological enthusiasts, I’d often say to Our Lady of the Pentacle that “I’m going to go ride the trains” and I’d take off for the 7 line, and spend a few hours hopping on and off of the train getting shots of NYC’s most photogenic subway. Not an option, now, of course.
Amongst the many other bits of wisdom my code offers is “it’s better to regret something you’ve done than something you didn’t do” and that “if you regret something you’ve done, you can’t take it back or apologize to the party you’ve wounded so don’t feel guilty, just don’t do that thing again.” Also – “stop fucking up.” I do realize how sociopathic that sounds, but it’s true.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
“Nothing matters and nobody cares” was added into the code during the COVID period. “Don’t skimp on shoes, hats, or eyeglasses” is another bit of sage wisdom I can offer. One of my big revelations from the last year involves a concept I call “the conservation of energy.”
Expending energy into fixing a closed system is a waste of effort. You could put all the effort into it you want, but if a closed system is designed to fail, expanding the system with an input of energy isn’t going to change that. Sometimes it’s just best to do or say nothing at all. One of my “things” these days is to listen to people arguing about some hot button political topic of the day and then announce “I’ve got an opinion about that,” whereupon I leave the room without sharing it.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The Fort Pitt bridge in Pittsburgh, on the other hand, is quite material and doesn’t require a personal code of conduct other than not vandalizing or jumping off of it. The bridge dates back to 1959, and connects downtown Pittsburgh to its southern surroundings via Interstate 376 which is carried on its two decks. The pedestrian walkway is attached to the lower deck, overlooking the confluence of the three rivers. Interstate 376 traffic moves to and from the Fort Pitt Tunnel (opened in 1960) which is punched through the base of Mount Washington. A notable destination on the other side of the tunnel for some of this traffic flow is the Pittsburgh International Airport. This is the third bridge to span the Monongahela River in this spot, and the first one was erected in 1877. According to 2018’s official numbers, the bridge handles about 150,000 vehicle trips a day.
Since I’ve been living here in Pittsburgh, walking over this one has been on my to-do list.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
As you can see, zero effort was made to clear the walkway of snow and ice by its stewards, and the footing was quite treacherous. Couple that with waist high fencing along the drop to your death side of the path, and I made it a point of sticking close to the girders that support this double decked steel bowstring arch bridge should a handhold be required.
My plan for the day, which was mentioned in yesterday’s post, was to leave the car back at home and use the T light rail to get to and from HQ. After crossing the bridge, I’d head towards another stop on the T that’s less than a mile from where the pedestrian walkway would return me to Terra-Pennsylvania.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
While you’re walking along the path, just over your shoulder is an interstate carrying hurtling vehicles. As I’ve mentioned in the past, driving here is very, very different than it is back in NYC. I’ve got a practiced advantage when it comes to merging lanes, parallel parking, and a general obeisance to traffic law. Pennsylvania drivers seem to believe that the speed limit is a mere suggestion, or perhaps a starting point. I’ve driven this path before, and had people shoot past me at 70 while trying to handle a three lane merge within a few hundred feet. Brrrr.
Another one of my sage bits of wisdom is “you’ll get there when you get there, what’s the rush.” I should mention that I’m not at all naturally wise, instead there isn’t a mistake you can make that I haven’t already made. Remember rule number 4 – “stop fucking up.”
– photo by Mitch Waxman
This particular section of the walkway, leading down and away from the bridge towards the Duquesne Incline, was a positive skating rink. Hard packed ice with a layer of dry powder snow sitting loosely atop it. Luckily, I’m used to dealing with uneven, unmaintained, or challenging terrain.
More tomorrow 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.
Etna my heart out
Friday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
A last stop on my Allegheny River wanderings – after having visited Lock and Dam 2, Highland Park Reservoir, and Sharpsburg – was in Etna. Named for the Italian volcano, Etna was a steel town until 1953. My interest in the place was piqued by the promise of a waterfront trail with an attached parking lot. It took me a minute to find the parking lot, but after doing so, I left the Mobile Oppression Platform behind and headed for the water.
Check me out, a troll who can always be found under a bridge.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
That’s the 62nd street, or Senator Robert D. Fleming Bridge, pictured above. It’s a 1962 vintage truss bridge which connects south side’s Morningside and Lawrenceville to north side’s Sharpsburg and Etna. It overflies a set of railroad tracks and the entrance to the waterfront public space is found right alongside of it.
One was really hoping for a train to roll by. These tracks are Norfolk Southern ones, same line as those carried by the decaying rail trestle mentioned yesterday. Denied, however, on the locomotive front.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The bridge is a bit over 1,000 feet long, I’m told. I won’t be offering any shots of the trail itself today, since that’s not what I came to Etna to do. Honestly, I had been running around all day at this point, and Etna had already been decided on as my last stop before heading back to HQ.
As is the case with most of the public spaces I’ve visited in the area, there was a Porta Potty set up for public usage. Imagine that? An acknowledgement of human biology.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I’m definitely going to come back here sometime, and bring a folding chair. This will be a great spot for a railroad photo, something which I haven’t even gotten started on yet. As mentioned, nearly everything I’ve done behind the camera since getting to Pittsburgh in mid December has been basic scouting. Learning the lay of the land, and all that. Where’s what, why is it there, how did it get built, and when. That sort of thing.
Ignorance really is bliss, incidentally. Back in NYC, when I looked at street signage that carried somebody’s name, I could often picture the face of the actual personage (photos, yes, but also paintings and etchings) that the City named the street for. Farragut Avenue, anyone? How about The Bronx?
– photo by Mitch Waxman
As always, my odd appreciation of the elegant curves and supremely utilitarian nature of freeway on and off ramp architecture was particularly piqued here. As mentioned endlessly – scouting. That shot above? It’s a morning thing, and now on my list for a day when I went out before dawn for a sunrise and will need something to shoot during the breakfast part of the day. I’m planning to zoom in a bunch, towards the area nearby the do not enter sign, and frame the ramps up with the brightness of the morning sun lighting up the hill behind it. Should be sweet.
That’s the problem with the remote scout stuff, using Google maps and whole other bag of tricks, you don’t know what it looks like – really. Sometimes you get there and decide it’s best not to get out of the car. That’s the other thing which digital research can’t tell you – vibe. Instinct is something which is honed, and especially so after all those years walking around Brooklyn and Queens’ “picturesque” areas – Newtown Creek, LIC, the Happy Place, Skelson’s Office on Staten Island, industrial Greenpoint and Bushwick, Sunset Park and Red Hook, the Gowanus, several random but picturesque docks and abandoned railways, all those bridges, etc.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
On my way out of Etna, I spotted this absolute unit of a Roman Catholic Church. It’s the 1856 vintage St. Mary – Christ the King Parish church, I’m told. Wow.
That’s it for this week, from Pennsylvania’s Pittsburgh.
“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 