Posts Tagged ‘South Side Flats’
Used to be, once, long time ago
Wednesday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
As mentioned yesterday, a humble narrator was desirous of spending a night out on the town, and used mass transit to get to a bar which occupies a visually interesting location. The area which this particular establishment is found in is feature rich, so one planned in a two hour long scuttle, to exercise both the camera and myself, prior to settling down in front of a pint glass.
There’s lots of natural compositions to be had in this part of Pittsburgh, alongside the Monongahela River. Vehicle and rail bridges, lots of industrial activity… that sort of stuff.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
As you’re reading this, Our Lady and myself are barricaded in the house back in Dormont. Today is the anniversary of the ‘Pittsburgh Incident’ of 1968. A documentary film about the regional tragedy was made available to the public in October of that year, one which is now in the public domain, and you can watch it at this YouTube link.
This is a solemn night in Pittsburgh, and the tradition here is to board up your windows in remembrance and to stay up all night with a loaded gun on your lap until dawn. The Pittsburgh Incident of 1979, aka the Monroeville Incident, is seldom discussed hereabouts as it started at dawn and led into a fairly lousy day.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Brrr. One found a comfortable spot at the brewery’s outside seating and settled in for a few drinks. Conversation with a fellow patron ended up consuming several hours of merrymaking, and many pints of the brewery’s offerings were consumed.
That’s the T light rail passing over the Panhandle Bridge, incidentally. 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.
Tomato makes everything taste better
Friday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The best thing about the shot above is that I was in a bar with outdoor seating, one which adjoins the tracks, and could just sit and quaff beer while waiting for a train to come my way. The other best part was that the tracks involve a couple of street crossings, so I had ample notice to jump up and get into position with the camera, well before the train appeared, since the signal arms would go down and warning bells start to ring when it’s approaching the spot. Awesome!
The brewery has pretty ok burgers too. It’s called Sly Fox Brewing Co., and I can endorse it as place to drink beer and take pictures of trains.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The bar is also right next door to a concrete factory which I’ve found myself pointing the camera at more than once.
A ‘T’ light rail station is also nearby, so I also didn’t have to worry about getting back home after pouring alcoholic beverage into my maw.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
A short walk from the position of the first shot allows one access to a point of elevation, where views of the train tracks are available as well.
Back next week 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.
McArdle Roadway Viaduct
Friday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
While I was cracking out the shots of St. John’s featured in yesterday’s post, it was noticed that I was particularly close to sort of a little bridge which I’d driven over countless times. Every single one of those times, I’ve made a mental note to look it up, and to figure out a way to access its pedestrian and bike partition. I’ve also made a mental note to look up who this P.J. McArdle guy was, and it turns out he was actor Zachary Quinto’s Great Grandfather, so there’s a Spock/Star Trek angle. Win.
Turns out the bridge is called the McArdle Roadway Viaduct, and it’s part of the P.J. McArdle Roadway – which ramps traffic up off of the flat lands south side of Pittsburgh and towards the Liberty Tunnel which is punched through the base of Mount Washington.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
When you’ve got a de facto cliff adjoining the confluence of three rivers sitting in the center of your City, engineering challenges abound. There’s the automobile and other vehicle lanes, and there’s also a series of heavy freight rail tracks, all terraced and woven in on the side of the cliff. This shot is from about a 1/4 mile or so west of the bridge structure, as a note.
Historicbridges.org has a nice page about the McArdle viaduct, accessible at this url.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I’ve been trying to figure out a way to get to the top of the viaduct and walk down the frankly terrifying sidewalk which leads to the walkway on the bridge. Problem is that the top of the walkway is where the entrance to the Liberty Tunnel is, and that area ain’t exactly what I’d refer to as “pedestrian friendly.” There’s some pretty choice and “less common” views of the city center available from there, so…
Back next week with Choo-Choo’s.
“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.
St. John the Baptist Ukrainian Catholic Church
Thursday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
As I’ve been roaming about here in Pittsburgh, a certain church building has been continually catching my eye. On South 7th street at East Carson Street in what I presume to be the South Side Flats neighborhood is where you’ll find it. St. John the Baptist Ukrainian Catholic Church’s Parish was organized in 1891, the church building itself was erected in 1895, and then enlarged in 1917. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1974.
Ukrainian Catholicism is a complicated story, so I’m just going to refer you to the Wikipedia page about it. There’s Kings and Warlords, Mongols and Russians, Schisms and Synods. All are involved in a multiple millennia long storyline that goes all the back to the beginnings of the Christian era in Europe. Suffice to say that this organization is what the Vatican regards as a “Particular Church” which is part of its organizational hegemony and its adherents are considered as full fledged Catholics despite the Church not using the Latin Rite. The Ukrainian Catholics organization also includes a Major Archbishop who is part of the pecking order back in Rome.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Those two paragraphs up there are not everything I’ve been able to find out about this branch of the Catholic family, but truth be told I don’t want to deep dive into that sort of thing and it’ll probably piss off some of you if I do. On a side note, A few weeks ago, I showed you a photo of and mentioned a Byzantine Catholic Church in Pittsburgh’s Oakland section. Saying all that, it’s a pretty interesting thing to read up on, the history of Europe’s churches. If you use the term “Europe” in a larger sense than its geographic boundary, you’ll find other people’s interpretations of the material amongst the neighbors. Notably – the Copts of the Levant and North Africa are pretty interesting.
What drew me here was curiosity, which was piqued while I was moving around other sections of Pittsburgh and my eye kept on drifting toward this church. Beautiful building.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The Ukrainians use the so called “Greek” or “Patriarchal Cross,” and this spectacular Mosaic was arranged over the lintel and under the cruciform of the main entryway. Unfortunately, I didn’t go inside, but as I always say – I’m like a Vampire, I need to be invited into a building in order to do my work. Hopefully, I’ll manage to get to know somebody from St. John’s in the future. It’s got to be amazing in there.
I really dig religious art of this kind. I’d love to know all of the references that the various parts of it point to. Flag, blue shirt, water, palm tree – every thing there has to have some meaning.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
A sportsball field of some kind, quite modern in design with bleachers and everything, adjoins the Church. I speculated for a moment about whether or not there might have been a parochial school in its footprint once which was connected to the church, but I haven’t been able to find anything to back up my theory. All up and down the Monongahela River, which is a few blocks away, there were Steel Mills and Rail Yards. A lot is missing from the scene witnessed here in 1917 when the expanded version of the building opened.
As mentioned, this place has been catching my eye for a while.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Here’s a long shot of the place, nestled into the foothills of Mount Washington. The South Side Flats neighborhood that St. John’s is at the western end of has a really interesting catalogue of private homes and commercial buildings which could be described as “old timey.” There’s a thriving night life industry in this area with lots of bars and clubs which, as I’ve read, draws in the college kids.
Hopefully, I’ll find a way to get me and the camera invited inside the building sometime, would love to get some photos of the interior.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I covered a decent patch of ground on this particular day. One drove up and down the streets hereabouts, which were luckily pretty traffic free, scouting out interesting things to return to on foot in the future.
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.
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