Posts Tagged ‘The T’
Smokey Pittsburgh, part 2
Friday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
A humble narrator woke out of his nest around 4:30 am, hastily cooked up a pot of coffee, and was out on the road by 5:15 after inhaling three cups of the stuff. The weather forecast called for a bank of heavy fog to set up overnight, which would be coupled with a pall of wildfire smoke so thick that it triggered a bunch of governmental warnings about air quality being transmitted to Pittsburgh’s citizenry.
One returned to West End Overlook Park, to see what this sort of thing might look like, as the burning thermonuclear eye of god itself rose in the eastern sky.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
When I got there, you could hear the city but couldn’t see it. Heck, I could barely see the cameraman from local CBS affiliate KDKA and he was about thirty feet away from me. It was actually a fairly difficult drive, with visibility of under a hundred feet. Luckily this POV is only about twenty minutes from HQ by car.
I hung around for about thirty minutes, hoping that the occlusion would thin out a bit, but if anything it got thicker. A change of plan was instituted and I packed myself back into the car and headed for a different spot to do my thing from.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
As is my habit, while stuck at a traffic light, the camera was thrust up through the car’s moon roof. At this interval, I had traveled down about 800-900 feet in altitude, and was more or less on flat land and quite near the Monongahela River. The fog – as it turns out – was acting like a low flying cloud, and the West End Overlook Park was right in the middle of the mass. Down here, it was mainly smoke, with heavy fog.
Pittsburgh smelled kind of like everybody in it was BBQing.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
After getting down to a river frontage of the Monongahela, and having parked the Mobile Oppression Platform in an appropriate fashion, a bit of scuttling ensued.
Pittsburgh’s downtown, where the large buildings are, was fairly invisible. As mentioned above, you could hear the city but couldn’t see it. That was eerie and weird, and worth waking up early for.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The camera was waved about, that’s the T light rail heading out of Pittsburgh on the Panhandle Bridge. The Smithfield Street Bridge is just visible behind it.
One had drank his coffee before leaving the house, but no Breakfast had been endured, and right about here is when I started wishing that Pittsburgh had NYC style bodegas on every corner. An ‘egg sandwich’ doesn’t mean the same thing here as it does in ‘the old neighborhood.’ In fact, when I’ve asked for an egg sandwich in the NY manner here: two scrambles, ham and swiss, on a roll – I get puzzled looks back from the Yinzers with a “you want what now?”
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Finishing up the morning, with a last couple of shots pointed in the direction of Downtown and the Liberty Bridge. The fog, at least, had begun to disperse. One scuttled back to the vehicle and then back to HQ.
Back next week.
“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.
Wound up
Friday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Crossing the Monongahela River, one headed back in the direction of the T Light Rail which had provided a humble narrator with transport from the suburban HQ in Dormont over to the titular center of Pittsburgh.
I was on the Hot Metal Bridge during this particular interval.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Said span is pictured above, and the one in the distance in the first shot is called the Birmingham Bridge. For more, click here.
Rather than sticking to the waterfront as is my habit, this time around I decided to walk down one of the ‘main drags’ in the neighborhood immediately found nearby. This commercial ‘high street’ is called East Carson St., and there’s an abundance of eating and drinking establishments found along it. Apparently this area is irresistible to the younger cohort of Pittsburgh, the sort which enjoys a tipple on a Saturday night, and the corridor often makes the news with tales of mischief and drunken mayhem. For you New Yorkers – think Avenue A between St. Mark’s and Houston.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I grabbed an actually exceptional slice of Pizza on East Carson Street, which I happened across on my way back to the T. I quaffed the thing, and then continued on back to the station.
Back next week with more from 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.
Heading into town
Tuesday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
It was time for my weekly ‘long walk,’ the sort which sees me scuttling along for 15-20,000 steps over several hours. I don’t wear a Fitbit or anything like that to keep track of my walks, rather I just check the iPhone health app and see what it says after I return to HQ. It’s not a terribly accurate count, but some sort of metric is better than nothing at all, and it really doesn’t matter all that much in the end anyway.
Pictured is a street in the town I’m living in, Dormont. The car Mobile Oppression Platform was left at home this time around, and a humble narrator was heading for the Pittsburgh light rail service known as “The T.” It’s a bit of a drag, I’d mention, getting ‘up’ to the tracks, as I live way down at the bottom of that hill pictured above. There’s a less severe hill to walk up which gets you to the high ground ridge line which the T tracks are on, but that’s Pittsburgh for ya. Also, the point of this exercise is actually ‘exercise,’ so… scuttle, scuttle, scuttle.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Service on the T is fairly frequent, more so during the ‘rush’ periods as you’d imagine, but you’re seldom waiting more than 20-25 minutes for your ride. This one is coming from Pittsburgh, whereas I was waiting on one that’s going ‘to.’ One weird thing about their setup here revolves around fare collection. You pay when you board the Pittsburgh bound service, and pay when you’re exiting for the away from Pittsburgh route. Apparently, there’s a zone system built into the operation, but Dormont is far enough from the center that you pay full fare anyway. Once you’re in the actual center of town, the service runs free between Station Square and the North Side terminal stops.
As a note, the sky in Pittsburgh was positively boiling and cascading about on this particular day. I have been putting a bit of effort into finding the right photographic exposure settings for capturing the dynamism of these Pittsburgh sky in recent months.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The climate is very different here than the one I’ve always known back in NYC. It could be 90 degrees with an 80 percent dew point at 3 in the afternoon, but 8 hours later it’s 60 degrees with a 30 percent dew point. The clouds positively boil over sometimes, after churning about, and when they finish dumping out moisture for an hour you’ll suddenly get glorious blue skies, golden light, and cotton ball cloud formations. An hour later and the sky is black with thunderstorms. Also, there’s actual forest cover laced into the City, meaning that the ‘urban heat island effect’ doesn’t seem to be as big a factor here as it was ‘back in the old neighborhood.’
At any rate, my carriage had arrived, and it was time to get onboard and head into the City of Pittsburgh. Here’s a bit of trivia – when you see blue street signs with white/knock out lettering, you’re in Pittsburgh – as in ‘The City of…’
Back tomorrow, lords and ladies.
“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.
Scuttlin along, peaceful and calm
Thursday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
A friend from the ‘old neighborhood’ who was visiting with us had headed home to NYC the night before, and ‘exercise day’ reared its head again. A humble narrator crawled up the hills here in Dormont, where HQ is found, and boarded the Light Rail service which is known as ‘The T.’ I was headed into Downtown Pittsburgh.
Unlike NYC, which is flat, in Pittsburgh you need to have some sort of plan for a walk lest you find yourself walking up incredibly steep hills and then back down the other side into a valley where you inevitably hit another steep hill which needs climbing. There’s exercise day, and then again, there’s a forced march. I don’t do forced marches unless I have to. Hence ‘a plan.’ It started with the T Light Rail, pictured above.
The so called ‘Golden Triangle’ Downtown area of Pittsburgh is a river delta, so – sort of flat. That means I can wander about without a plan and see what wants to be seen. Always a wandering mendicant, I.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I debarked the T at the Station Square stop on the southern shoreline of the Monongahela River and scuttled across the Smithfield Street Bridge.
One wasn’t carrying a full kit, rather I had outfitted myself for a ‘photowalk’ and had zero intentions of getting artsy or fartsy with filters or tripods. The point of the effort involved kicking my feet about and burning off some calories while getting the ticker to tick at an elevated but not too elevated rate for a set period of time.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
There is an absolutely surprising amount of port activity here in Pittsburgh. Lots of tugs. Supposedly, it’s possible to navigate to both the Great Lakes (Erie) and the Mississippi River from here. For reference, Pittsburgh is more or less 400 miles away and about 1,000 feet up from where you’ll notice the ocean.
Back tomorrow, as always.
“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.
Old fashioned
Wednesday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
That Porta Potty in the shot above might actually be a Tardis, used by a Time Lord like Doctor Who to travel through time and space. At least that’s what it looks like to me. The rubble used to be a cold storage warehouse which is in the process of demolishment, but there’s a stoppage at the site currently since the process has destabilized buildings on neighboring lots. Guess what they’re going to build here? Yup, ‘affordable housing.’
After the Doors Open tour we attended, which allowed us access to a few amazing spots including two very interesting Roman Catholic Churches, it was time to head home. Our Lady of the Pentacle and myself had left the Mobile Oppression Platform (the Toyota) back at HQ and were traveling ‘to and from’ using the T Light Rail system.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
After negotiating our way on foot to one of the T stations in Downtown Pittsburgh, we had about a 15 minute interval to wait before we boarded. The T runs off a catenary wire when it’s outside, but I think it uses a third rail shoe underground. The service is fairly frequent, even on the weekends, and there are multiple lines. It costs $2.75 to get back and forth from HQ.
Seriously, I’m absolutely loving having a car, especially one with a hybrid engine that regularly clocks in at 39 mpg while I’m living in a City where ‘all day parking’ costs something between $6 and $9, but there are days when I’d rather cut my head off than drive. The availability of transit is one of the factors that drove our choice of location regarding HQ here in Pittsburgh.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
That’s the Red Line T arriving at the station. Notice the absence of garbage on the tracks, the lack of graffiti, and that nothing is dripping mystery sludge onto the platforms, and also the complete absence of pizza rats. Old ladies sat on a bench chatting while waiting for their train, without a care in the world. Nobody’s head was ‘on a swivel,’ except mine.
I used to always refer to NYC as ‘Home Sweet Hell’ in a joking matter. I don’t smile anymore when saying that.
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 