– photo by Mitch Waxman

Ia, Ia… look – there’s one of them now – risen from dark waters to…

Actually, that’s no Lovecraftian ‘Deep One,’ instead it’s the mascot of the ALCOSAN outfit – here in Pittsburgh – and the character’s name is ‘Frankie the Fish.’

It happened, lords and ladies… finally… it happened…

– photo by Mitch Waxman

I got to go the sewer plant in Pittsburgh.

GLEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!

Three things:

First off – the Newtown Pentacle time warp continues to fibbulate. These shots were captured on the 19th of September of this year, with the posts being written during the second week of October.

Secondly – the Allegheny County Sanitary Authority – aka ALCOSAN – operates an enormous 59 acre sewerage and wastewater treatment plant, along the Ohio river here in Pittsburgh.

The authority holds an annual ‘Open House’ (since 2004 at least) wherein the general public is invited onto the property to see how the sewerage process works, and how tax monies are being spent. Said agency makes a big show of the Open House event, and there’s a carnival style area for families with kids to explore, with staffed booths describing the plant and its operations and there was also a giant fish tank this time around which they said was ‘new.’ I paid near zero attention to all of that.

Additionally, there were also plant tours to attend.

Third – Plant tours, did you say?

– photo by Mitch Waxman

After signing up for the tour, my neighbor Sam (who accompanied and drove me to this event) and I split away from each other.

Sam is a lettered Chemist, and his interests were pulling him towards a tour of the various laboratory rooms within the buildings, wherein the water testing is accomplished. I’ve been to DEP’s labs back in NYC, and it was a remarkably unexciting experience from a photographic POV, so I opted for the plant tour instead.

Sam disappeared. Didn’t see him again for around three days, and that was back at HQ in Dormont. Sam’s like that.

The plant tour goers were shepherded onto small shuttle buses, and our first stop was at Alcosan’s Pump House.

– photo by Mitch Waxman

Oh, it’s been so long…

There was a period of around ten years of my life when I was in that sewer plant in Brooklyn’s Greenpoint at least once a month. One learned a great deal during that interval, mainly about how local NYC Government actually works. I learned a lot about urban drainage too.

Pictured is a symbolic map showing the status lights for the various pumping stations found around Pittsburgh, which push wastewater towards the Alcosan system found here at the plant.

– photo by Mitch Waxman

The pump house itself is contained within a gigantic cylindrical space, and once you enter the red ceramic bricked top level, you’ll realize that you’re standing on a platform/walkway, one which connects to multiple flights of stairs that are all heading downwards. Lots and lots of ‘big’ equipment is everywhere. Cranes on the ceiling, all that jazz.

I never caught our guide’s name but he had a fabulous mustache. He was obviously a Boss, or at least a Senior level employee at Alcosan. He was offering the ‘millions of gallons per hour’ versus ‘square acreage of drainage area’ talk, and not delving too deeply into the various Court orders and ‘Consent Decrees’ Alcosan has been forced to accept by judges and legislatures over several decades to ‘clean up their act.’

This plant was opened in 1959, long before the Clean Water Act set a higher bar for wastewater treatment than existed previously. Saying that, Pittsburgh historically emptied both residential and industrial sewage directly into the rivers, right on through to the 1950’s when this plant opened.

During the 19th and early 20th centuries Pittsburgh had ridiculously high infection rates for water borne diseases like Typhus and Cholera.

A 2007 agreement with the Federal EPA saw Alcosan agreeing to begin a massive and expensive new project, one designed to lower the amount of combined sewer outfall water escaping into the rivers, via the construction of a diversion tunnel in which the overflows could be stored during wet weather events.

A similar sewage retention tunnel plan is part of the the post Superfund Newtown Creek for the NYC DEP, btw. Nobody who is alive right now will see that project even begin, let alone finish though. Perhaps a newborn will see it.

– photo by Mitch Waxman

The shot above looks down through the cylindrical structure of the Pump House, where the actual machinery that handles the flow is found.

Since this is where most of Allegheny County ostensibly drains to, it’s theoretically the lowest point in Pittsburgh – which our guide described was eleven stories down from the surface, where we were standing. Neat!

You’re looking at the ‘Undaburgh.’

Back tomorrow with more.

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– photo by Mitch Waxman

‘Everytime you leave the house it doesn’t have to be the Odyssey,’ that’s what I keep telling myself.

Now that the busted ankle has transitioned to ‘more or less reliable’ again – I’m additionally trying to make my ‘old’ exercise schedule of ‘two short walks, and one long one, 20-30 miles every week’ habitual, again.

…so… do what you say and say what you do?… These aphorisms of mine really do bind me into jams…

This time around, it was the South Side Slopes section of Pittsburgh, for a short walk of around five to six miles, and the first thing that caught my attention was this tiny tree growing out of a concretized sidewalk seam.

Neat.

– photo by Mitch Waxman

After negotiating an interesting downwards course involving a couple of sets of Pittsburgh’s ‘City Steps,’ my target for the next section of my day involved the ‘PJ McArdle Roadway’ – a busy vehicular pathway, cantilevered out from the face of Mount Washington and providing diagonal egress between the ‘flats’ below and the prominences above.

The section of the roadway I was visiting additionally provides, for those of us who are wandering mendicants wielding cameras, an overlook opportunity for the trackage of the Norfolk Southern railroading outfit.

Hey Now!

Norfolk Southern #1099 was coming through.

– photo by Mitch Waxman

This is a relatively safe spot to hang out and wait for trains to come and go, I’d mention, with stout concrete and steel separation between the pedestrian path and the vehicle lanes. It’s also a kind of photogenic spot, since you can see the tower buildings of Downtown Pittsburgh from it.

My old pal Bernie always said ‘make sure you get something in the background to give it a sense of place.’ He was referring to Newtown Creek, of course, and how compositions with the Empire State Building in frame instantly ‘placed’ the waterway and told an implicit story.

Norfolk Southern #1099 was hauling a long train of cars that were carrying a black mineral. Probably coal, but unless I know what something is, I stay general.

Take a look (Flickr link). What do you think it is?

– photo by Mitch Waxman

In between trains, I was entertained by the antics of the local fauna, but I’m a man/boy simpleton. Ask anyone.

One was traveling light again on this walk. The camera was wearing the 24-240mm zoom lens, and the only spare lens I had with me was an 85mm one, which I can use to shoot through chain link fences.

– photo by Mitch Waxman

One of the advantages of this spot is that you can see the RR signal lights from up here, and thereby I knew to hang around as ‘something else was coming.’ You can look that one up, the codes for the lights, btw.

About twenty minutes behind #1099, along came Norfolk Southern #6955.

Hey Now!

– photo by Mitch Waxman

Norfolk Southern #6955 was pulling a line of train cars similar to those that were behind #1099, but these particular contrivances were loaded with large quantities of – what seemed to be – metallic slabs.

Most likely these were slabs of steel, as this is – indeed – Pittsburgh.

That’s a guess, though, and as in the case of the black minerals being hauled by #1099 above – if you don’t know what something is – for sure – speak about it in ‘general terms.’

What do you think it was? Take a look (Flickr link).

Back tomorrow with something different – at this – your Newtown Pentacle.

“follow” me on Twitter- @newtownpentacle

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– photo by Mitch Waxman

Pictured are various overhead trestles branching off the 33rd street rail bridge, here in Pittsburgh. This bridge serves as – more or less – the division marker for when you’re exiting the Lawrenceville section and entering Pittsburgh’s Strip District.

One had followed the shoreline of the Allegheny River from nearby the Highland Park Bridge, scuttled along Butler Street, and then headed slightly northwards to capture railroad shots. As the crow flies, this would be a six to seven mile walk, but with all the curves that the river introduces to the path, by the time I returned to HQ in Dormont, I had scuttled around twelve and change miles by the time I returned to HQ.

That’s what the phone said it was, at any rate.

This walk was a major ‘post broken ankle’ threshold point for me, as a note. Longest scuttle I’ve managed to pull off since shattering the joint back in the fall of 2024.

– photo by Mitch Waxman

As mentioned at the start of this opus, I was traveling light. No tripods or other heavy gear, which I absolutely regretted when observing the scene above. I’ll be back for this one at some point. That’s the ‘Washington’s Crossing’ bridge, pictured above, as a note.

I actually stopped off at a sandwich shop and ‘filled my tanks’ for the last stage of things. The sandwich was shit, but the icy cold Gatorade was key.

– photo by Mitch Waxman

From here, it was all ‘known territory’ for me.

I feel obliged to mention that the Newtown Pentacle time warp is still very much in effect. These shots were gathered on the 14th of September, and the posts are being written during the first week of October. If my scheduling is correct, you’re seeing this during the second week of November. Given that there are literally thousands of undeveloped shots on my hard drive at HQ which are ‘in production,’ it’s likely that the time warp will continue and intensify as we move into the winter months.

– photo by Mitch Waxman

This pedestrian survey of mine has ranged all over Pittsburgh in the last year, as the ankle has healed and the post surgical atrophy of the musculature in my legs has receded.

North Side, South Side, East, West, all over the place.

At this point, I can pretty much say that if it’s within ten miles of downtown and there are sidewalks which you can see a river or train tracks from, I’ve likely wandered through it by this point. I’m beginning to understand the place, and develop some intimacy with it.

Next up, and one of my winter projects, will be ‘Operation Busway.’ That set of moves is still being planned, but I’m hoping to achieve some level of granularity on the subject in those posts. Long time readers of Newtown Pentacle will tell you – there’s nothing more interesting to me than novel transit infrastructure.

– photo by Mitch Waxman

The long walk had taken a toll.

My ankle was sore, and so was my back. As mentioned above, I had stopped off for luncheon at a shop along the way but otherwise I’d pretty much been walking nonstop for something like four to five hours by this point.

As a note, that concrete wall you see in the distance there is ‘Crosstown Boulevard,’ and that blue tower is the brand new FNB building. Both of these were described in prior posts, click the links if interested.

Leaving the Strip District, you soon find yourself ‘Downtown.’

– photo by Mitch Waxman

The last scraping steps of this scuttle saw a horrific localized phenomenon best described as your humble narrator alter course, as it pointed that loathsome pre-corpse, within which I dwell, in the direction of the T Light Rail’s ‘Gateway’ station.

The usual wilting of plants and barking of dogs occurred as one moved along, as did the always welcome purse clutching, and defensive deployments of cell phones and pitchforks amongst the gentry. Security cameras swiveled, and followed my path. ‘Flock that,’ I said.

A quick ride on the T, and I was soon back in the tender embrace of Moe the Dog and Our Lady of the Pentacle. This spared anyone from outside the household any chance of being startled by my ignominy.

Back tomorrow with something different – 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.

– photo by Mitch Waxman

So… as you might recall from last week, your humble narrator was involved in a long scuttle along the Allegheny River side of Pittsburgh’s central peninsula, one filled with lots of self-recrimination. Fun walk, lots to see and ponder. Everybody hates me. All caught up.

One had wandered into the Lawrenceville section, and encountered a passing freight train at street grade, and then…

I saw this street sign.

– photo by Mitch Waxman

Now – for some ‘behind the curtains’ POV – I’ve started inserting shots of street signs into the flow of photos at my Flickr account, to act as visual bookmarks and to remind me of where I was when one photo or another was captured. At the end of the week, when you’re looking at a thousand raw captures, this practice aids in the organizing of things, from a cogently geographical and narrative sense.

Yes, that is a real Pittsburgh street sign, signifying the intersection of Willow Street with 43 1/2 street.

– photo by Mitch Waxman

I stood there staring at this sign for a couple of minutes, in disbelief. Was it a fake? Something some real estate yahoo screwed onto a pole?

Nope.

From Google’s AI:

Origins and Naming Original Name: The lane was originally called Snowden Alley.

Landowner: It was named after H. Snowden, who owned property on both sides of the alley north of Butler Street around 1852.

Fractional Renaming: The city changed the name to 43rd ½ Street via a city ordinance in 1871. An 1881 ordinance accidentally listed it back as Snowden Alley, before it was officially updated again to “Forty-third and One-Half Street” in 1896.

Local Lore: Early Pittsburgh historian and columnist George T. Fleming joked in a 1915 Pittsburgh Gazette Times column that the quirky fractional name meant the street “surely has a name and a half”.

– photo by Mitch Waxman

I have no information, regarding the artist or intention of that mural painted on the residential building pictured above, but I dig it.

As you can see in the shot’s background, this is right about where a bunch of the ‘new’ construction, found on the border between Pittsburgh’s ‘Lawrenceville’ and ‘Strip District,’ collides with older real estate schemes.

Were I as loquacious as I was back in Queens, I’d christen this as ‘an angle between’ those two neighborhoods. I’m not.

Neat.

– photo by Mitch Waxman

By this point, my walk through the ‘Butler Street Corridor’ had transmogrified into ‘the Willow Street Corridor is more interesting right about now,’ so I followed it under the 40th street Bridge where the roadway becomes a narrow pass for pedestrians and bike riders only.

The predominance of my scuttle having been accomplished, the route now became an expedient one, designed to angle my toes towards a T light rail station that was still at least a couple/three miles away in the ‘Downtown’ section.

Yep, could have always hopped on a bus, but that’s not the actual point of these endeavors. Got to keep moving or I’ll stop moving.

– photo by Mitch Waxman

At 33rd street, where a gargantuan railroad bridge is found right along the waterfront of the Allegheny River, that’s where I walked past next.

There’s all sorts of signage from the railroad people warning off trespass, camping, and other morbid occupations, but I continue to operate in compliance with the rules of 1980’s Brooklyn.

‘Things are only illegal if there are Cops around,’ or if you break into or graffiti onto something, and as there weren’t any Cops hanging around and I had no intention of painting my name here, there we are. I did find a private spot in the bushes for a piss.

There’s rail tracks on the ground, I’d mention, but they are clearly not active and are quite overgrown. I’ve seen videos of camera wielders getting hassled around here by the RR Cops, but have a feeling that those particular videographers made themselves ostentatious to the gendarmerie.

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.

– photo by Mitch Waxman

Oh boy, Pittsburgh’s Lawrenceville really does remind me of the late 20th century version of North Brooklyn, in so many ways.

Centuried buildings standing alongside brand spanking new luxury residential towers, ancient and insufficient infrastructure which was built for a low density industrial zone suddenly finding itself handling a high density residential population – composed of self important ‘master of the universe’ type tech and real estate ‘bros’ – with their artsy fartsy hipster hanger on’s and arounds… all that good stuff.

After luckily running into a passing freight train, and having kicked around five to six miles of dirt around by this point, one realized that he was somewhere around the half way point for the day’s effort.

From this spot, I’d be angling my feet in the direction of a still distant series of T light Rail stations, where I’d find a ride back to HQ in Dormont.

– photo by Mitch Waxman

In the meanwhile, the area I was moving through was fairly deserted and I had a camera, so ‘wheee.’ Massing shapes, structures of expedient execution, busted up crap… all my kinds of bag.

It was a good time to remind myself of all the usual tropes;

• Everybody hates me, on sight.
• Nobody has a real friend.
• It’s best to not even try, anymore.
• No hope, and no future.
• All is dire, and colored a sickly pinkish gray.
• When I die, people will say ‘Good, that’s finally over with.’

Actually, I’ve long held a desire to have my corpse frozen solid in liquid nitrogen, and then fed into a wood chipper on the back of a boat on NY Harbor, which would then spray scarlet rainbows of ‘Mitch bits’ into the Newtown Creek.

At least I’d feed the fish on my way out…

My own corruptions, mixing with those of the Creek, and… and…

– photo by Mitch Waxman

Yeah… I do miss it sometimes. New York, I mean, not the human infestation it hosts.

I’m the type of person who feels completely alone in a room full of people who would profess to love me, but I’m sure they’d just be saying that anyway to set me up. As soon as I’d turn my back….

Me? I’m perfect, just like Caligula, and like that long ago Augustus I set the standard of sanity for the rest of the world to follow.

Anything that goes wrong when I’m in the room is something I should, or could have, stopped from happening. Everything bad is my ultimately my fault, somehow. You got cancer? Sorry, my bad.

It’s never been a good place, between my ears.

– photo by Mitch Waxman

Hey, I think that those might be some of the ‘murder bots’ which Carnegie Mellon University is working on for the Marines.

Yep, whereas the conversation about AI has centered in on the resources that data centers will consume, we’ve all forgotten that the United States Military is currently working on building autonomous ‘Hunter-Killer’ battlefield technologies – here in Pittsburgh – with young geniuses whom I can tell you have never read Asimov. I know this because I’ve asked several of them, and in addition to ignorance of Asimov, they haven’t read Stanislaus Lem or Phillip K. Dick either.

What could go wrong?

– photo by Mitch Waxman

Sigh… I’m old and won’t last too much longer, so this is not my problem yet – but AI is likely to somehow be my fault somehow. Ask anyone.

Some street furniture was encountered. Looks like a comfy park bench, if you ask me, but it’s likely very unpleasant during rainy weather.

– photo by Mitch Waxman

Pictured is one of the more frustrating ‘things’ you regularly encounter in Pittsburgh, with some working guy parking his truck right in the middle of a narrow street.

No doubt the truck is there to facilitate something practical, but damn does it suck when you make a left turn and then see this in front of you.

Back next week with a bit more from this long walk – at this – your Newtown Pentacle.

“follow” me on Twitter- @newtownpentacle

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– photo by Mitch Waxman

Lucky. To start, that locomotive engine pictured prominently in today’s post is older than I am – and that’s saying something at this point in time.

Built in December of 1966, the ‘GP40’ engine originally showed up for work as engine number 183 for the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad. In 1970, it changed jobs after a merger and went to work for the Burlington Northern RR as engine number 3013.

– photo by Mitch Waxman

In 1987, BN retired the engine, and it found a new job and identity at the National Railroad Equipment Company, where it became known as NREX 3013. In 1994, this old trooper received a rebuild which brought its emissions into line with modern regulation, whereupon the ‘Carload Express’ outfit bought the unit and branded it as ‘Allegheny Valley/AVR 4001.’

This particular set of tracks, as I understand it, is a part of what AVR calls its ‘Valley Line.’

I asked Google’s AI about this, and here’s its result:

AVR-2 (Valley Line Freight): Primarily a third-shift night job working Sunday–Thursday up the Allegheny River valley to New Kensington and Arnold. However, heavy fracking sand demands mean regular Saturday morning “Sand Extras” run in daylight along this corridor.

– photo by Mitch Waxman

Before you ponder, I was on the ‘correct side’ of the signal arms with my back planted firmly on some factory’s chain link fence.

Y’know, was kind of glad that I decided to divert from the Butler Street corridor right around here. Yeah! I’d been ‘out of sync’ with RR shots for the last few walks.

– photo by Mitch Waxman

All that I can tell you about their cargo is that these are the the kind of train cars which get filled up from chutes found above, and which then deposit their cargo into chutes found below. Maybe this is that ‘fracking sand’ train Gemini mentioned above? Could be, but as is often stated – I don’t ‘guess.’ All I can offer is the most general form of visual observation, which boils down to what sort of rail car this is.

Covered Hopper Car, I’d wager.

What do you think, railfans?

– photo by Mitch Waxman

As I backed away, the secondary locomotive engine appeared. It’s what they call a ‘DPU’ in railroad world.

Also via Google’s AI:

A Distributed Power Unit (DPU) is a locomotive or group of locomotives positioned in the middle or at the rear of a long freight train, rather than just at the front. These units are uncrewed and are operated remotely by the engineer inside the lead locomotive cab using a radio-based control link.

– photo by Mitch Waxman

Sated, your humble narrator returned to his miserable course.

If defeat, humiliation, and personal dissolution could be given human form, it wouldn’t appear as pathetic or horrific as that which greets me in the reflections of store windows while scuttling past. I used to be pretty.

I look like the personification of six of the seven deadly sins these days, manifested within a badly functioning human body that’s armored in scars and drowning in sorrow.

Children cry, dogs howl, birds fly away in a panic.

Well… most birds… the Canada Gooses are always a different story.

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.

– photo by Mitch Waxman

Butler Street in Pittsburgh, which your humble narrator recently scuttled down. This post is the third part of a longer travelogue. Scroll back a couple of posts for the beginning, or you can just jump in here. All are welcome at Newtown Pentacle, as nothing matters and nobody cares – after all.

I should mention that the Newtown Pentacle time warp continues to swirl. I’ve intentionally cut the lead time down a bit, by largely goofing off in September, but these images were captured on the 14th of September, and the posts they are embedded in should be arriving in your inboxes during the first week of November if I’ve got my scheduling correct.

This section of Butler Street enters into a neighborhood called ‘Lawrenceville,’ which is where the gentrification furnaces burn most brightly in Pittsburgh. An infusion of ‘tech’ investments in the area has brought a new population to Lawrenceville in the 21st century – a group referred to locally as ‘the tech Bro’s.’

– photo by Mitch Waxman

Me? I’m of course focused on what used to be here, since the past is usually far more interesting and less worthy of an argument than the present is. On the register of ‘historic places’ is the former Hunter Saw & Machine Company’s 4 building complex. Caught my eye.

Now, I’m told by the locals that Lawrenceville used to be considered a dangerous and quite ‘crimey’ area, and was one of Pittsburgh’s ‘hoods.’

The gentrification hammers began to fall here sometime around the start of the 21st century, sort of analogous to the same real estate driven process that played out in North Brooklyn and Long Island City back in New York during that same interval.

– photo by Mitch Waxman

I’ve learned to identify where gentrification zones begin in the various Pittsburgh neighborhoods – and it’s right where you see a royal blue painted house with odd exterior modifications sticking out, right in the middle of a block of row houses. Over the next few weeks, I’ll be offering more real world proof of this observably ‘gentrification blue’ theory of mine.

It was right about here that I decided to abandon Butler Street for a spell, as I had walked the following section during an ‘Open Streets’ event just a few weeks prior. I headed vaguely northwards, towards the river.

– photo by Mitch Waxman

A quick bit of gazing into Google Maps and at my compass ensued, just to confirm that I was heading towards where I thought I was going. Given my recent proclivity for walking in the opposite direction of where I intended to go, it’s best to double check. Had to make this a habit.

Yup, I was fixing to head off in the wrong direction, again.

After ascertaining the correct path, once more did I begin sloshing forward, like some sort of antagonistic jelly carrying a camera.

– photo by Mitch Waxman

There’s a section of Lawrenceville which is still quite industrial, and… there happens to be an active set of rail tracks back there… so…

Big skies. You also get ‘big sky’ in industrial zones.

Honestly, wasn’t expecting to see a train back here, but…

– photo by Mitch Waxman

Hey Now!

Here comes Allegheny Valley RR #4001!

More on all that tomorrow.

“follow” me on Twitter- @newtownpentacle

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– photo by Mitch Waxman

Your narrator continued his shambling scuttle, humbly, along Pittsburgh’s Butler Street in a generally north-westwards direction that followed the serpentine southern shorelines of the Allegheny River.

Observationally, the Allegheny or ‘North Side’ of the peninsular landform which Pittsburgh occupies seems to be a lot more ‘post-industrial,’ and long term residential, than the southern side along the Monongahela River is. Just an observation from a newcomer, there.

Have I mentioned how much I’m enjoying not knowing everything about everything out here? Back home in NYC – and particularly so in North Brooklyn or Western Queens – if you picked up a random stone off the street, I could have probably told you a story about it.

Ice ages and boloids, mammoths and osage oranges… that’s me.

– photo by Mitch Waxman

The cool thing about this route was that for much of it, I was scuttling along a protected bike and pedestrian space. There were a few street crossings in front of me which would be causes of concern and caution, but there are signal lights and crosswalks so it wasn’t anything crazy.

A former steel mill property on the flood plain has been redeveloped, and there were multiple corrugated steel buildings housing all sorts of light industrial outfits down below. An auto parts warehouse stood out, but amongst the many organizations found at this site is a cool non-profit outfit called Tree Pittsburgh.

– photo by Mitch Waxman

That’s what’s known as an ‘albino roof’ in environmentalist circles.

Passive cooling system, using a light colored paint on the roof which rejects a whole lot of solar radiation during the warm months. Kind of surprised it’s not all covered in solar panels, to be honest, as the redevelopment here was done under the auspices of the Governmental ‘URA’ or Urban Redevelopment Authority.

The ankle was holding up just fine, thanks for asking.

– photo by Mitch Waxman

They are really, really big on renaming pre-existing bridges after their politicians in Pittsburgh, which is how the 62nd street bridge ended up being called the ‘Senator Robert D. Fleming’ bridge.

This is a modern trend, and NYC has suffered the same sort of thing with the ‘Ed Koch Queensboro,’ the ‘Robert F. Kennedy Triborough,’ and others.

Oh, the urbanity….

My answer to this urge amongst the electeds to rename bridges for their friends had always been: ‘hey, why dontcha rename the Brooklyn Bridge for Bloomberg? The kids can call it the ‘3B’ then.’

The fancy people were not amused, as Bloomberg wasn’t a member of ‘the club’ which gets preexisting bridges named after them.

– photo by Mitch Waxman

One had scuttled out onto the 62nd street Bridge for this shot, and it looks back on where I had been walking in the first shot (above).

The weather was on my side for once, as it was lovely out. The temperature was struggling to get up to 70, there was a breeze, and zero chance of precipitants. For once, I didn’t need to urgently piss.

I was walking to the rythym of the song ‘Sweet Caroline.’ Step, step, drag left foot and bum ankle… pause, step, step, drag left foot and bum ankle, step… step, pause, step, drag left foot and bum ankle… and so on.

Just kidding there, I was walking in tune with the rhythms of the Gorilla Biscuits’ seminal ‘Start Today’ album.

– photo by Mitch Waxman

An enormous fuel transfer facility was encountered, branded with the logos of the Sunoco corporation. I wanted to stand at the fence and photograph this operation in some detail, but my ‘spidey sense’ was alerting and intuiting that I’d certainly get to meet the Cops were I to start doing that.

It was gigantic, this facility, and when you got a bit closer to these tanks – tanker equipped semi-truck toys seemed to be arranged around their bases. These were, of course, not toys, but full sized fuel trucks.

I definitely would have gotten to meet the cops.

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.

– photo by Mitch Waxman

It has been a long twenty five or so months since… at the end of September in 2024… an accident at home saw your humble narrator shattering his left ankle while walking down a flight of steps.

An ambulance ride, and then surgery, came next. An agonizing three months in a wheelchair, followed by six months of extreme pain and physical therapy, and then the doctors ‘released me back into the wild.’

Atrophied, weakened, less than – one nevertheless began setting out on his constitutional walks again. At first, I scuttled at a snail’s pace, with palsied aspect, struggling to get through a mile or two. Forced to swing my hips about in order to stride, one displayed a walking posture reminiscent of the Batman villain Penguin, and resolve to regain my legs emerged.

A year of constant ‘push’ has followed, wherein I regularly hit the streets for a series of ever longer and more strenuous walks around the City of Pittsburgh, and its environs. One mile, three miles, five miles, seven miles.

Rinse, repeat.

The scuttle described today, and in several subsequent posts, is the one where I finally broke through an elusive ‘ten mile’ barrier, and did it without injuring or otherwise crippling myself.

Pictured above is the 1932 vintage Lock and Dam #2, Allegheny River, nearby the Highland Park Bridge. The lock and dam are operated by the United States Army Corps of Engineers.

Here is where the lock and dam are found, on a Google map.

– photo by Mitch Waxman

Across the water, on the northern shore of the river, is a fairly wealthy community (by Pittsburgh standard) called Aspinwall. There’s an enormous Veteran’s Administration hospital and long term care facility up in the hills there, as a note.

The primary ‘corridor’ for the day, which I’d be odiously scuttling through, surrounds Pittsburgh’s Butler Street on the southern shore of the River.

This path would carry me into Lawrenceville, where I’d break off of Butler Street and wander about in search of ‘serendipity,’ actually encountered this time around. This corridor is found upon the north side of the central peninsula which Pittsburgh is centered upon, colloquially called the ‘Golden Triangle.’

– photo by Mitch Waxman

One had prepared well for the day, and was carrying many things I might need, including a water bottle. One packed the camera bag a bit light for this walk, loading an ‘all in one’ zoom lens onto the camera, and only basic essentials were with me. Since I’d be walking through and across several busy traffic intersections, I opted to wear a bright ‘flash orange’ ball cap, one which has replaced my old Newtown Creek Alliance ‘NCA’ hat as the daily ‘go-to.’

Apparently, those are active rail tracks down there, but nothing was doing when I was in this ‘zone.’

A rideshare had dropped me off at a nearby starting point. After straightening out my clothing, and all of the bag and camera straps, it was time to lean into it and I assiduously began kicking the dirt.

– photo by Mitch Waxman

It should be mentioned that these traffic barriers seemed to suddenly appear along this route sometime last winter (or at least that’s when I noticed them), and this infrastructure elevated a formerly undesirable walking path into one that drew me all the way out here from the South Hills section of Pittsburgh for a walk.

For all of you transit geniuses and bike yahoos – back in Astoria and LIC – this is what a protected bike lane looks like. ‘This’ is what I was trying to hold out for in Queens Plaza, you jackasses. Why do you think I was always asking DOT about when they were installing concrete planters?

Sheesh. You think those little plastic sticks and green paint on the ground are going to stop a truck?

– photo by Mitch Waxman

Butler Street is fairly well elevated over the flood plain of the river in this section, and there were a substantial number of structures down below.

Nearby the 62nd street ‘Senator Robert D. Fleming’ Bridge, Butler Street suddenly offers an overview of what turns out to to have been the campus of the ‘Union Steel Casting Co. (a division of the Blaw-Knox company),’ and more recently, ‘Tippins International Inc.’

Via Google’s AI Gemini:

The Union Steel Casting Company was a major heavy industrial manufacturer in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, known for producing locomotive frames, driving wheel centers, and alloy steel castings.

The company specialized in heavy steel castings, including proprietary vanadium steel and “Univan” tough steel alloys used extensively in the locomotive and railway industries.

Corporate Ownership: It later operated as a division of the Blaw-Knox Company, and the plant was subsequently used by Tippins International Inc.

Site Closure and Demolition: The former manufacturing plant closed in 1983. The site was acquired by the Urban Redevelopment Authority in 2007 and fully demolished by 2009.

– photo by Mitch Waxman

There seems to be a waste transfer station that handles recyclable materials found down there these days, but you’ll see more of this ‘post industrial’ riverfront scene here in tomorrow’s post.

Come with?

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.

– photo by Mitch Waxman

It’s the most wonderful time of the year… and actually… this year the weather has been absolutely perfect here in Pittsburgh – and for better than two weeks in a row. This has aroused all sorts of suspicion from the locals, as Pittsburgh has a famously humid and dynamic atmosphere. The aphoristic quotation hereis ‘if you don’t like the weather, wait around 15 minutes, it’ll change.’

As described in yesterday’s post, that one and this post were intentionally ‘left blank’ in my ‘scheduled post’ list here at Newtown Pentacle.

All spring and summer, I’ve managed to maintain as much of a month of lead time on these posts. I prefer things this way, as it alleviates a lot of stress for a humble narrator, but there was Halloween to consider.

Currently, I’ve got the posts sorted out through the middle of November, and have literally thousands of undeveloped shots on the hard drive back at HQ.

Pictured is the recent Hunters Moon, as seen from HQ in Pittsburgh’s Dormont.

– photo by Mitch Waxman

I’ve been casting my eye about in the manner of the Lord of the Rings villain Sauron, looking for a ‘Halloween’ story.

There are a few local tales I’ve encountered, but they’re more tragic than they are horrifying, and nothing I’d like to repeat. Also, they’re not my story to tell. As a note: I’m pretty sure that one of my neighbors is being haunted, possibly demon oppressed, but that’s an opinion. Like an anal fistula, opinions are just something that everyone has.

I actually caused myself a bit of a panic attack, leaving these two posts open for last minute interpretations. Literally developed these shots just last night, went to sleep, and now I’m writing this post on the morning of the 30th at about seven a.m. Whew!

This post is nearly a live stream by my standard, thereby.

– photo by Mitch Waxman

These shots are from a very recent walk, and represent a break in continuity which I mention because I’m sure somebody will notice it.

I try to present things in the order which I saw them, and whereas the shot above and the ones below are literally from Monday and Tuesday of this week, next week’s posts will be reeling back to what I was seeing and doing in mid September and early October. Lead time.

Yes, the Queens Cobbler might have followed me out here.

– photo by Mitch Waxman

Abandoned wheelchairs always catch my eye.

Where did the person go? How? This one was at a bus stop. Did the person in the chair just stand up and then ride the bus? Won’t somebody steal the valuable thing left behind at the bus stop?

This very well might be a Vampire situation, lords and ladies. You can easily get away with not being to walk, if you can turn into a bat.

– photo by Mitch Waxman

Based on some activity which I observed shortly after cracking out a couple of shots of the interesting lighting under some of the many highway ramps found nearby Pittsburgh’s stadiums, ‘The Pitt’ television show is going to be presenting an involved outdoor scene involving a homeless colony that’s meant to be located in this general area. They’re currently filming the next season right now.

As a note, this isn’t where the encampments are (or observationally were, since the City of Pittsburgh made these people and encampments ‘disappear’ in the lead up to the recent NFL draft event), and the rough accommodations which the mendicants suffer within don’t look quite as ‘Mogadishu’ as the set dressers think that they might. The encampments actually look a great deal more like the way rednecks set up a hunting camp, these encampments, with elaborate tent and bivouac situations. A particularly developed one I observed on the south shore of the Monongahela River actually had a couch and other house furniture in it.

I’ve got shots of that dressed ‘Pitt’ set, but don’t want to run them yet. Spoilers…

What brought me here, to Pittsburgh’s North Side, was essentially a ‘short walk day.’ About four to five miles, if you’re curious. Lotsa Choo-Choo.

– photo by Mitch Waxman

After riding the T light rail back to Dormont, these spectral figures caught my eye. I always wonder about ghosts and the clothing they are reported as wearing.

Is that the ghost of a T-Shirt which it has on?

How did the garment die? If you’re wearing ghost shoes, were they the ones you had one when it happened or are they the kicks you wish you were wearing instead? What about glasses? I’ve got an astigmatism, does that continue – spectrally speaking – or can I look forward to centuries of wailing terror, but with the sharp and uncorrected vision that I remember from boyhood?

Have a Happy Halloween, lords and ladies, and it would be a good idea to stock up on canned goods and dry grains right about now. The proverbial global sheiste is about to hit the fan, I think. Last time I said something like this was about two weeks before COVID, so…

How’s that for a holiday scare?

“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.