Father Pitt

Author: Father Pitt

  • Kelly-Strayhorn Theater

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    [Update: A kind correspondent (see the comment on this article) reminds Father Pitt that he really ought to link to the theater’s Web site. He also reminds us that there are two good Ethiopian restaurants within a short walk of the theater, which is as good a reason as anyone needs to visit East Liberty.]

    This little gem of a theater in East Liberty has been beautifully restored for live stage shows. It’s named for two of the East Liberty neighborhood’s most famous sons: movie star Gene Kelly and jazz composer and arranger Billy Strayhorn.

    The Kelly-Strayhorn Theater is just a few blocks from the East Liberty station on the East Busway.

  • Romanesque in Lawrenceville

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    The fame of Richardson’s courthouse made “Richardsonian Romanesque” a favorite style in Pittsburgh for decades. Here a small industrial building in Lawrenceville shows that a little tasteful Romanesque detail is never out of place. (Update: This is actually the old Lawrence School, built in 1872, now converted to other uses.)

  • Back Side of the Strip

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    Smallman Street in the Strip is lined on one side with an odd combination of wholesale food outlets and trendy nightclubs. The other side is one long, low building that houses many wholesale produce dealers.

  • Panhandle Bridge

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    A 47L train heads across the Panhandle Bridge as it sets out on its long journey to the edge of the earth, which in this case is Library, at the southern border of Allegheny County. In rush hour, all routes except 52 (the Allentown Trolley) run two-car trains like this one, made up in this case of two CAF cars. The rear car acts as a trailer; it has no driver, and its doors open only at high-level platforms with fare booths, not at street-level stops.

    The Panhandle Bridge was originally a railroad bridge; in the 1980s the streetcars from the South Hills were diverted over it (they used to come in by the Smithfield Street Bridge) when the new subway opened. (Part of the subway reused the old railroad tunnel that had taken trains from the Panhandle Bridge to Penn Station.) Since the cars come out of the Mount Washington tunnel right at the end of the Smithfield Street Bridge, diverting them to the next bridge over required an extraordinarily sharp curve at Station Square. But sharp curves are just one of the challenges a trolley has to pass before it’s good enough for Pittsburgh.

  • One Oxford Centre

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    One Oxford Centre is a typical 1980s tower that looks like a cluster of interlocked octagons. Those horizontal stripes are certainly distinctive, if perhaps a bit monotonous. The lower floors are a shopping arcade for the rich, famous, and prodigal. A skywalk connects the arcade to Macy’s (formerly Kaufmann’s) two blocks away.

    One Oxford Centre is a short walk from the Steel Plaza subway station.

  • Inside the Arches

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    The porch of the City-County Building is a massive, welcoming space. Something has to be done inside those gargantuan arches, and this is it: an abstract pattern of interlocking arcs that makes the ceiling look something like the vault of heaven, with the sun at its zenith, surrounded by cheerful cumulus clouds.

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    The City-County Building is two blocks south on Grant Street from the Steel Plaza subway station.

  • Onion Snow

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    In western Pennsylvania, we call it an onion snow: the last snow of the season, late enough that you can see the tops of the onions through the snow. It’s the cue for every good Pittsburgher to say, “We’ve never had weather like this before.”

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  • Deco Romanesque

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    The County Office Building is a curious combination of Romanesque and late Art Deco, with more than a hint of the style Father Pitt likes to call American Fascist. Below, an eagle ornament on the corner holds the Allegheny County arms in its talons. On the arms: a ship, a plough, and three sheaves of grain (though they look like mushrooms in concrete).

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    The County Office Building is a short walk away from the First Avenue subway station.

  • Chinatown

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    Chinatown in Pittsburgh was a tiny but lively enclave  of two blocks behind Grant Street between Second and Third Avenues. Today it’s mostly lawyers’ offices. The Hong Kong Express 2 is newer, inhabiting an old Chinatown building; but the Chinatown Inn, which goes right through from Second Avenue to Third Avenue, is the sole remnant from the old days. Above, the Second Avenue side of Chinatown faces the ramp to the Boulevard of the Allies viaduct; below, the Third Avenue side faces a construction site.

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    Chinatown is a short walk away from the First Avenue subway station.

  • First Avenue Subway Station

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    It may be a bit perverse to call it a subway station when it’s clearly an elevated station, but this is the section of combined streetcar lines that Pittsburghers generally call the subway. Most of it is indeed underground; First Avenue is the only elevated station downtown. Above, an inbound train arrives on its way into the subway tunnel; below, an outbound train picks up passengers.

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