Posts Tagged ‘Pittsburgh’
Polish Hill, please
Tuesday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
There has been a single post about a visit to Polish Hill during the interval that I’ve dwelt within Pittsburgh, which can be accessed here.
Despite my vow in that post to get inside of and photograph the Immaculate Heart of Mary RC Church, I have not done so yet. Ready your darts for hurling, as I have not done what I said I would do.
For those of you who don’t know me in real life, you should know that the mantra of ‘do what you say, say what you do’ is one of my core mottos.
I’ll get it going eventually… that ‘Sacred Spaces’ project of mine is likely going to kick into gear as we slide into winter, I think. Churches require a bit of social networking to get access to. I’ve been busy with suffering from the ankle dealie, so haven’t been social at all.
God’s lonely man, that’s me at the moment.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Leaving Bigelow Boulevard for the local street grid on Polish Hill, one soon found himself walking down a steeply graded street.
My routes are still being cherry picked for down hill slopes. This is part of the recovery process from the busted ankle, as these steep slopes allow me to specifically ‘stretch and strengthen’ the muscle groups which atrophied during the ‘sit around and wait’ part of this experience.
See that… an existential crisis has now transmogrified in my mind to being ‘an experience.’ It’s now just ‘something that happened to me,’ but saying that, I’m not going to print up t-shirts and start a nonprofit to advocate for ‘ankle safe spaces.’ Nor will I deride people who aren’t ‘ankle aware.’
Man oh man, do I hate the way that the future has turned out.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Our living future is just so pedantic, and seems to mirror the plot line of the movie ‘Robocop 3.’ Are there moving sidewalks? Only in airports. Jet packs? Nope. Space bases? Pfah.
We did get cryptofascism, pocket computers, government surveillance, and all that though… Bah!
That’s the Immaculate Heart of Mary RC Church pictured above.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Another set of City Steps were encountered, but I was still pretty determined not to stray from my course.
Famously, I like to plot out my paths using Google Maps in advance of a walk. There’s lots of dead end streets and cul de sac neighborhoods here in Pittsburgh, and coupled with the steepness of the streets… you don’t necessarily want to find yourself having to walk back out of a dead end street that’s set into a twenty degree grade.
I don’t use the Google app ‘in the field’ all that much, I just like to plan out a route which gets resolved while I’m walking it.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
There’s an abandoned catholic school alongside the church, and those city steps, above. Clearly, if any building is going to be haunted, it’s this one.
I’ve read that the RC Church here in Pittsburgh is anxious to disburse itself of real estate holdings left over from when the City’s population was double or triple its current size, during the era of steel.
There’s actual church buildings and all sorts of scholastic and medical buildings available. One of the stop gaps for the real estate people, surrounding these properties, is that the RC church wants top dollar for the real estate and they insist on ‘covenants’ governing what can be done with some parts of the land once it changes hands. You’ve also got ‘historic district’ limitations on a lot of their stock, so… it’s complicated.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Seriously: haunted looking, ain’t it?
One continued on with kicking the dirt, and following his downhill spiral.
Back tomorrow.
“follow” me on Twitter- @newtownpentacle
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Views via Bigelow Blvd.
Monday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
As established last week, your humble narrator could have been observed as scuttling along on Pittsburgh’s Bigelow Boulevard, enjoying views from on high.
The route I was walking is more or less parallel to one which carried me through Lawrenceville (which is down there on the Allegheny River’s flood plain) a few weeks back. That’s the 33rd street rail bridge, btw., for a point of reference on the Lawrenceville walk.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
There’s a few residential buildings found along Bigelow Boulevard which have stout garage doors facing out onto this de facto highway. There’s an auto detailing shop found further along the route as well, and both on the opposite side of the ‘Polish Hill’ side of the road where I was walking. That’s some door.
For some reason, George Romero and the Pittsburgh incidents of 1968 and 1978 came to mind as to why it seemed so secure and stout.
One continued on his way.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Every now and then when I’m walking along, I’ll spin 180 degrees and grab a quick shot of where I’ve been. Old habit, it also informs if someone is following me. That happens sometimes. Whether it’s a ‘creature of the street’ or a ‘neighborhood guardian’ or just some maniac junkie who thinks I might be an easy mark, I want to know if I’m being predated.
Of course, I was the only maniac walking down Bigelow Boulevard on a blisteringly hot July day in the late afternoon.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
From the look of this structure, my guess would be ‘used to be a car mechanic’s location.’ There were a few businesses located along this stretch, along with a handful of residential buildings. I saw a good number of ‘for sale’ signs affixed to the latter.
One pondered the complexities of sewer and water lines, electrical and telecommunications hookups, and all the complications surrounding the necessities of habitation, as associated with siting a building at the apex of a steep hill that has a high volume road at the front door.
How do you get deliveries? Where can a truck or car pull over to drop a passenger? Is it ever quiet? This is probably where the ‘way’ or alley streets come into play.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The cross streets visible from Bigelow Boulevard, which are a part of a neighborhood called ‘Polish Hill,’ offer a few clues. In my own steeply hilled neighborhood, back in the Borough of Dormont, Our Lady and I seldom use our front door when coming and going. The car is in the driveway out back, and we typically use the basement door to access the house from that entrance rather than the one in the front we get mail delivered to. I imagine it’s much the same deal up here. Guessing, though.
The Hill District, long the titular center of Pittsburgh’s African American community, is just next door to Polish Hill on the next elevation, but I never hear the latter described as being a part of it.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Along the path that I was following, a couple of sets of City Steps were observed, and noted. Future scuttles will, I’m sure, incorporate these paths. Saying that, divergence from my path wasn’t on the menu. Too hot for serendipity.
For this one, I had a prepicked turn in mind, which would lead to something else I’ve been keen to take a long hard look at.
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.
Bamming down Bigelow
Friday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Pittsburgh’s crazy terrain forced the need for primary and secondary arterial roadways to be carved into and set along cliffs and bluffs, in order to connect the various sections of its metro area. Pictured above is the intersection of Route 380/Bigelow Boulevard and the Bloomfield Bridge. This is a stretch of road which is also part of the ‘Lincoln Highway,’ which predates the Interstate System. To get from ‘a’ to ‘b’ in this section of Pittsburgh, you’ll likely have to pass through this intersection. High volume, high speed.
There’s a sidewalk along it, though, which sits behind a line of jersey barriers. It had been a stressful week, and your humble narrator needed to take a walk that he hadn’t already taken, and every time that I’ve driven through here recently the intrusive thought that I’d like to scuttle through here instead has manifested. That’s the story of how I ended up having a rideshare drop me off here.
The traffic flow is so heavy that there’s a pedestrian bridge.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The bridge at the crossing makes sense, and so did that of a second bridge found just a few blocks away, which has had its span and crossing of Bigelow Boulevard removed.
The stairs related ptsd thing which I’ve been experiencing since the busted ankle last September is retreating, thankfully, no doubt due to all the ‘exposure therapy’ that I’ve been subjecting myself to. I should mention that structures like this one have always been favorites of mine – weirdly overbuilt pedestrian only spaces are the rizz.
As mentioned in prior posts, I’ve spent most of the month of July catching up on medical related stuff which got pushed to the side during the ankle adventure. You hit a certain age, Y’see, and the Docs want nothing more than scans and tests to assure themselves of your continuing homeostasis in order to plan the pharmaceutical orders which are meant to vouchsafe said state. It’s all in my best interest, I’m told.
All of these July trial results came back clean and fairly lovely, as a note. It seems that I will continue on for a spell. Need to lose some weight.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Unremarkable graffiti was seen everywhere on this passage – tags, political sayings or mottos, and so on. It was a warm day in Pittsburgh, with temperatures in the high 80’s and a dew point humidity level which the local CBS affiliate’s weather chart listed as ‘ridiculous.’ That’s literally a category on their broadcast graphics: ridiculous.
The plan for this outing was to follow Bigelow Boulevard for a bit, then turn off onto Polish Hill, which is an extremely interesting neighborhood with super steep streets. If you follow Bigelow long enough, you run out of sidewalk at one point and then you’ve got at least a half mile of walking on the side of a highway with no barriers or protection. Yikes.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The post ankle PTSD thing is worse on descents than ascents, stairs wise. I’ve gotten to the point where I no longer grasp at the bannister with a death grip, and have instead progressed to just floating my hand about a half inch over the bannister while descending. The death grip thing has almost tripped me up a few times.
I will survive this year, if it kills me.
Yeah, that’s kind of my theme song right now.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I wasn’t standing in the middle of the road for this one, as there’s a curb ‘bump out.’ Bigelow Boulevard, and here’s a shot from downtown of it just to get an idea of this road’s scale and setting, is fascinating.
Bigelow is the road on the right hand side of the above linked shot which proceeds down through the trees. There has to be at least a 500 foot change in elevation from the pedestrian bridge to its end, when it comes down to ‘flat’ ground downtown. Bigelow also feeds into a traffic exchange called ‘Crosstown Boulevard’ which allows highway connections to a couple of bridges and the interstate.
This was a ‘full kit’ walk for me, and even though I didn’t end up needing either the umbrella or the tripod (combined, about six pounds), I had them both with me. I also had a bag full of lenses (about eight pounds) that I didn’t end up using either, as this ended up being a zoom lens kind of walk.
Good news is that I carried an unnecessary fourteen pound weight around with me for no good purpose on a super hot day, so exercise!
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The 24-240mm zoom lens was kind of essential for this walk, as I kept dialing between wide and telephoto the whole time, and it would have been a pain in the neck to be continually switching lenses.
That green colored house caught my eye. It’s pretty typical for Pittsburgh, with the metallic awnings overflying the front porch and windows. Buildings constructed before the ago of air conditioning in this area have all sorts of work arounds for the humidity, with those metal awnings being a commonly observed one.
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.
Potpourri day
Thursday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Circumstance and ‘getting things done’ finds me driving all over the City of Pittsburgh on the regular.
As a former New Yorker, one of the things you’ve got to get past here is a long encoded belief that ‘crossing the river’ or ‘rivers’ is kind of a big deal.
If I had to go to New Jersey from Queens, it would be an all day ordeal with the City of Greater New York throwing up random obstacles at every step of the way. In Pittsburgh, you just go.
Picklesburgh was recently offered to Pittsburgh, a resounding success according to all reports. The closest I got to it this year was the shot above, captured through my car’s windshield. It was in the high 90’s that weekend, which isn’t exactly ‘brined food’ weather.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The town of McKees Rocks was also recently transited through, and there was something about this truck parking lot which caught my eye.
Round three of scouting has begun, I should mention, now that I sort of know some of the shape of things out here, and I’ve been noting what I call ‘pregnant locations’ for a while now which I wanted to get a bit more granular with. This section of McKees Rocks is called the ‘Bottoms’ and it’s a visual treat. Kinda crimey, I’m told.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
McKees Rocks has a lousy reputation, which sometimes includes ‘murder capital of Pennsylvania.’ It’s also got a medium busy rail yard with a CSX outpost. There also a rail company based out of here which I also haven’t seen on any of the tracks I’ve been watching. One of the two ‘white whale’ RR’s in Western PA which have so far escaped my camera.
I’ve spent a bit of time over the last few weeks in a quest for ‘points of view,’ and driving from place to place. I’ll spend some time in Google maps the night before, tagging locations via their street view before an ‘explore’ when I visit these spots in the real world.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
A particular interest of mine at the moment, there’s a rail trestle over a highway in Carnegie which I’d love some shots of a train crossing, but so far I haven’t figured out how to get close to it. Pictured above is a service road leading to and from a U.S. Mail sorting facility, which dead ended right where Google suggested a route up to the trestle would exist.
Frustrating. Yeah, I know, use a drone.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Next door to Dormont, where HQ is located, is the tony suburb of Mt. Lebanon. It’s populated by tree lined streets with expensive homes, mainly, but nearby one of the T stops this massive apartment house and parking garage is seen. It really stands apart.
To the rails…
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The scouting work pays off occasionally, and I’ve just found a point of view which looks downwards at Wheeling & Lake Erie’s Rook Street Yard.
There’s nearby parking, and this is definitively a spot you need to drive to. There’s a really cool shot waiting to be captured here, just has to be the ‘right time’ for this ‘right place.’
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.
Pittsboids part two
Wednesday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Every time that I try to say what kind of a bird a bird is, I screw it up, so I just make up names for them. I also think that birds are uniformly dicks, and would take my eyes if they could. This bird prejudice is a problem for me, as the Audubon Society can be harsh, and I shot these photos at the National Aviary where these flying lizard things are venerated.
Never forget, birds are jerks.
Those two are obviously Flamingos, but I didn’t see any signage to suggest what sort of Flamingo they were, so I’m just going to say ‘Variegated Antarctic Flamingo.’ They must really stand out against the permafrost and glaciation with their bright colorations.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Dual lobed Snail Gobblers. That’s what I’d name those two, which are actually and probably Pelicans. Simply known as gobblers to the world’s fishermen, these things.
They’re the National Pelicans, I would point out, as they’re housed at the National Aviary – which was so named by an act of Congress, which was signed into law by a President.
Remember that? Law? Process? Democracy? Predictability?
– photo by Mitch Waxman
A Five Eyed Cumulonimbus Hen, that’s what I’d call that thing above.
It was actually pretty neat having these evil eye stealing critters roam around during the event. There were ‘no touching’ signs and a goodly number of staff volunteers were watching out for their charges.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
A songbird room absolutely captivated Our Lady for a bit.
Me? As stated, I think birds are assholes. Feathered lizards who will take your eyes and shit on you from high above. Maybe I’m scarred by all the Canada Goose problems I’ve experienced over the years.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
That character up there, and this time around there was sign, is a juvenile Bald Eagle. Teenagers, huh?
As mentioned, your humble narrator is also not a fan of being caught up in the tidal flow of a crowd of humans. The Aviary began to really fill up towards the end of our visit, and it was clearly time to start heading for the exit.
As a rule, I don’t do crowds. You’ll never see me at a protest march or a stadium concert. I’ve talked about this particular wrinkle in my psyche before, and an obsessive need to know where the fire exits are when in public spaces. When I stay in a hotel, I walk into the hallway and close my eyes, and then count how many doors it is to get to the fire exits. Just in case.
I know…
– photo by Mitch Waxman
When I shot this one, your humble narrator was thinking about the implied metaphor of the National Birds above. The one looking left seems indignant, and is completely ignoring the one on the right, which has its head up its ass.
Of course, a cigar is just a cigar. Don’t assign meaning or interpretation to images. That’s for the person looking at the photo to do.
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 