Posts Tagged ‘Pittsburgh’
Transitional zone
Monday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
As you may recall from last week’s folderol, thy humble narrator was busy scuttling along the Allegheny River side of Pittsburgh, towards its ‘Golden Triangle,’ on a constitutional and exploratory walk. The effort began in Lawrenceville, to the east, and the goal was to get to the ‘Downtown’ section where a T light rail station would provide me with transport back to HQ about five miles away in the Boro of Dormont.
Pictured above is the massive 31st street bridge.
Beyond a bit of exploring on foot, and snapping a bunch of photos, the purpose behind this walk – specifically – was to take advantage of one of the very few places in Pittsburgh that is ‘flood plain flat’ to give the still recovering broken ankle some much needed exercise. Flat walks of this type are one of the legs of a three legged stool for me at the moment, along with walking down steep slopes and negotiating ‘natural’ surfaces. By ‘natural’ I mean walking through grass and soil in semi woodland environments. Still having trouble with sloped surfaces.
If my ankle, hips, and legs ain’t sore at the end of a walk, I didn’t walk far enough. Rebuilding muscle is not very much fun. Nevertheless, push on, push, push, push. I’ve had enough sitting down for a lifetime.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The Appalachian soil which underlies the Pittsburgh metro is famous for producing potholes during the winter, as well as promulgating the formation of sinkholes. Seriously, this happened here in 2019. Saying all that, this is precisely the sort of obstacle course which I’d normally dance my way through and barely even notice, but which – at the moment – I need to stop and scry a path through before stepping forward.
My walking speed has suffered tremendously from the inactivity, and I’m currently scuttling along at a speed which most would describe as ‘normal’ or ‘understandable’ but which I call pathetic. I’ve often mentioned here how toxic my inner dialogue is, and this circumstance im in has found me mentally berating myself for breaking the ankle in the first place, like an asshole would. My Jewish mother may be dead, but part of her lives on rent free in my head.
Push on, weakling. Push. Do better. Do more.
This inner voice of mine is quite profane and mean spirited, and it speaks in a dialectical manner that would have been judged as politically incorrect even back in 1980’s Brooklyn, let alone these days. None of this self abuse is ‘machismo’ based, by the way, nor is it sympathy speaking. I just know that I can and will do better if I overlook the pain and atrophied weakness. It’s temporary. Everything is temporary, the tyranny of the ‘now.’
Push, push, push.
One of my literary heroes, and the originator of an oft repeated motto, is Boxer the Horse from Animal Farm, with ‘I will work harder.’
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Anyway, back to Pittsburgh.
Having just wandered about in the shrinking sclerosis of an industrial zone in Lawrenceville, and having crossed under the 31st street Bridge, I was now officially in a ‘transition zone’ – or as I used to call such areas back in NYC – the angle – between Lawrenceville and The Strip District.
The cognomen ‘Strip District’ refers to an area in Pittsburgh which used to serve the larger city as a food warehousing and distribution center, with rail and boats bringing fresh produce in for wholesale distribution to urban markets and shops.
As I understand it; 19th and 20th century pre-supermarket era, that’s when the Strip’s glory days were. There’s a section of it which is a sort of historic district, with businesses that predate the modern era and seem to be a big part of the multi-generational cultural heritage around here. People drive to this zone, over multiple hours, to then wait on line for a certain cheese to ‘bring’ on Thanksgiving or Christmas or just ‘for the holidays,’ that sort of thing.
I’ve been here a few times since coming to Pittsburgh, but my experiences in the area are fairly limited. There was lots and lots of intriguing stuff on this walk which hasn’t been featured because I have got to know more about it before mentioning it.
More tomorrow.
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Turty Turd st. bridge, and such
Friday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The 33rd street rail bridge isn’t just a bridge, it’s a complex of ramps and trestles which sprawls along both sides of the Allegheny River, between Herr’s Island and Millvale on the northern shore, and Lawrenceville on the southern. It was erected in 1921 by the B&O RR people, which replaced an earlier rail bridge here that was built in 1884. It’s massive.
Would love to see a train moving on this thing, but it’s serviced by the Allegheny Valley Rail Road (AVRR), a Class 3 railroad which moves and switches rail cars around in service to the Class 1 railroads (CSX, Norfolk Southern, Wheeling & Lake Erie) here in the Pittsburgh region. AVRR doesn’t have many train sets operating at any given time, so spotting one is like spotting ‘a white whale’ ala Melville.
If I do get a shot of a train on this bridge, ever, it’s going to be a lucky stroke and pure serendipity for me.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
As mentioned, the structure is massive. To the right of the roadway pictured above is a Restaurant Depot warehouse, and yeah – I was having serious ‘memberberries’ while walking through their parking lot to get a few shots of a gigantic bridge. To the left of the shot is a complex of theatrical studios (TV and Movies) set up in former warehouses, which are dubbed as the ‘31st street studios.’ Made me think about Broadway Stages back in Brooklyn. Lots of tv and movies film hereabouts. ‘Mayor of Kingstown’ keeps them busy these days.
One continued on with the scuttling. Walking involves a lot of conscious thought for me at the moment. ‘Don’t protect the ankle,’ ‘don’t waddle like a penguin,’ ‘keep your eyes on where your next heel strike is going to land,’ ‘stride, don’t step.’ All of this used to be simply autonomic, but for the late recovery stage of this horrific injury, it’s required.
I’ve relearned how to walk, now I need to relearn ‘walking with a purpose’ and ‘Brooklyn strut.’
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Saying all that, the path I ended up walking was an incredibly difficult one. Torn up pavement, potholes filled with six inches of street runoff, gravel and rock ballast everywhere, all sorts of obstacles. Not ankle friendly at all, but the goal is ‘stretch and strengthen’ so that means I need to challenge myself by not walking solely on flat pavement. As mentioned in prior posts, the end goal for this walk would involve getting a ride on the ‘T’ light rail back to HQ. The station I was heading for was underneath that orange colored building in the distance, the one with the ‘KL Gates’ logo on it, as that’s where the T’s ‘Wood Street’ station awaited.
Back next week with more, from the Paris of Appalachia – at this – 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.
Scuttling, the dream
Thursday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Glorious! Believe it or not, places like this are what I was dreaming about during all of those months of medical downtime. This post continues with photos captured on a recent walk which started in Pittsburgh’s Lawrenceville. This part of the city is located on the triangular peninsula formed by the confluence of Monongahela and Allegheny Rivers. Downtown, where the big office buildings are, is found at the very tippy tip of that triangle. The area I was walking through in these posts is about six to seven miles east of there, and found along the northern side of the ‘golden triangle,’ where the Allegheny River flows.
One scuttled back a few blocks from the waterfront as it became increasingly difficult to get past a series of ‘No Trespassing’ warnings and ubiquitous fence lines. I found a set of train tracks, which seemed to be at least semi active, as evidenced by shiny metal wear patterns breaking through layers of corrosion and rust. I’m informed that these are all Allegheny Valley Rail Road (AVRR) rights of way in modernity.
Saying all that, didn’t see a train at all moving through. Like I said the other day about AVRR: ‘white whale.’
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Your humble narrator is really trying to ‘lean into it’ at the moment. Rebuilding strength and endurance in my legs and hips after suffering the long hermitage caused by the shattered ankle is my priority. Status on that situation is as follows – I’m walking a LOT slower than I used to, need to have a quick sit down periodically, and fatigue sets in a lot quicker than formerly. This walk ultimately blew open my outer distance range, clocking in at about six and half miles. Given that two weeks ago I was jumping with joy at having conquered five miles… progress.
The goal is to be able to reliably walk twenty miles by June. May is going to hurt a bit, I think. I’m already planning the ten mile threshold’s walk. By August, I plan on resuming the full schedule of one long walk of 10-15 miles and two short walks of about 5 miles each per week.
There was quite a bit of activity going on just out of frame, but it mainly involved utility workers, auto mechanics, and various warehouse operations. Most of the buildings in this ‘IBZ’ seemed occupied, but other than a few cars in the parking lots it was just me, all alone and wandering about on foot. It all seemed quite apocalyptic, but there was a feature rich environment.
Lots of ‘what’s that thing over there’ going on while scuttling along.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
My path through this area followed the rail tracks, and this route would eventually lead me to a named street called ‘Railroad Street.’ I’m of the opinion, which was formed along Newtown Creek’s ‘Railroad Avenue’ in Blissville, that every city in America worth a damn has a ‘Railroad Avenue’ or ‘street’ in it. Here’s the one in Vermont’s Burlington.
One continued on in a generally westerly direction back towards downtown. The plan for the rest of the day was to make it downtown and then catch the ‘T’ light rail back to HQ. Saying that, I still had a couple of hours of walking ahead of me. Given that I’m moving as slowly as I do now, that meant I was just getting started on this walk.
What? You don’t dream about experiencing perfect solitude in a fairly post apocalyptic landscape? To one such as myself, it’s nepenthe.
Come with, see more? 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.
Scuttlebug
Wednesday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Intriguing is how I’d describe this section of Pittsburgh, found along the Allegheny River. There’s a lovely industrial zone there, complete with railroad tracks, shattered dreams, and that particular shaping of desolating loneliness which I so enjoy. Don’t get me wrong, there was all sorts of activity going on all over the place, but there was a real sense of ‘under utilized’ in this ‘IBZ’ if you know what I mean. The gentrification furnaces glow quite brightly in nearby sections of this and neighboring areas. I’ll show you some of that in upcoming posts.
This scuttle started at the corner of 40th and Willow, in Pittsburgh’s Lawrenceville. It was temperate out, but breezy and dry. I was wearing the filthy black raincoat and a flash orange baseball cap, along with my usual ensemble.
It reminds me a lot of Philadelphia, this section, in terms of the sort of built environment you encounter. Row houses with narrow sidewalks, basically. When I’m told by the locals that this is ‘Pittsburgh’s Williamsburg,’ I smirk a bit, remembering when Grand Avenue was a hooker’s stroll and Radiac was storing nuclear waste right across the street from Domino. Just like Brooklyn’s Williamsburg, this neighborhood has seen rents skyrocket, and lots of new construction occurring. Basically – this is where the Cool kids want to live – or so I’m told.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
First thing which I wanted to check out hereabouts was Lawrenceville’s River Trail.
It’s truncated, and didn’t seem to join up with other rail trails in the area according to the ‘pre gaming’ I had done in Google maps, but you never know what’s what until you take a look for yourself.
The bridge spanning the entrance to the trail is the Fortieth Street or Washington Crossing Bridge. As it turned out, the Lawrenceville section of the river front ‘rail trails’ is indeed isolated from the rest of the network and you’re meant to walk back out the way you came in, but I opted to just scuttle over the railroad tracks and regain the street grid via a former homeless camp’s ‘desire path.’
There’s around 3-4 blocks worth of scuttling to enjoy back there, and a dog park, whereupon you have to return to the streets the way you came in.
After returning to the streets in a less than legal manner, and heading in the general direction of downtown Pittsburgh, the streets run into a giant chunk of railroad infrastructure called the 33rd street rail bridge. We’ll get there in a subsequent post later this week or beginning of next. I visited the opposite shoreline of the river in Millvale last year, you can check that out here.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The terminus of the trail is actually a spot I’ll return to in the future, and where I’ll vaingloriously await a locomotive that never arrives in pursuit of a photo. Experience suggests bringing something to sit on, and a sandwich. These tracks are used by the Allegheny Valley Rail Road – or ‘AVRR’ – which I sometimes refer to as the ‘White Whale’ as spotting them is pretty rare, compared to other rail services in Pittsburgh like CSX or Norfolk Southern.
More 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.
Mud splatters
Tuesday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Well, I finally missed a day, yesterday, disappointing all those who expect regularly posted missives from your humble narrator to appear in their inboxes as normal, on a Monday. At any rate, there you are. Sorry, and ‘Oops.’
Pictured is an apartment complex in Pittsburgh’s Green Tree neighborhood. Don’t know much about it, other than marveling at its observed size and bulky brutalist architecture. There’s a few large apartment complexes in Green Tree, and I often wonder why. Most of the community is housed in one family suburban style homes, yet…
Recently, I learned that quite a few of those suburban style homes are built on top of a subterranean freight rail tunnel, and also where that tunnel emerges back onto the surface. It’s a bit of a hike, involves a bit of fence climbing and woods walking, activities which I’m not ready to chance yet.
Something to look forward to.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
A recent social engagement in Pittsburgh’s Strip District found me waiting for a cab afterwards, and standing under the 16th street David McCullough Bridge while sheltering from rain. McCullough, a noted historian and Pittsburgh native, wrote what I consider to be the best book on the building of the Brooklyn Bridge (1983’s ‘The Great Bridge: The Epic Story of the Building of the Brooklyn Bridge.’) McCullough narrated the audiobook of it as well, which I listen to periodically.
It seems like life is returning to normal, finally, or at least whatever ‘normal’ is for one such as myself. I’ve been walking as much as the weather and schedules allow, and following the instructions from the team of doctors who cared for me during all of this busted ankle related drama. Continuing the stretching exercises from ‘PT’ and all that.
See… I mentioned the ankle. Promise that I’ll stop talking about that situation soon. Should be nothing more than just another war story within a few months.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Circumstance recently found me in one of the lesser populated sections of Mount Washington’s Grandview Avenue, where this view awaited. I’m planning on heading to this location again with the full kit, setting up the tripod and getting busy. This is pretty far from the overlooks and inclines, this particular spot, and a less common point of view.
Back tomorrow with something 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.
The Newtown Pentacle 