Father Pitt

Tag: Alleys

  • Larkins Way—or Alley

    Larkins Way

    Looking east from 22nd Street.

    It is a peculiarity of Pittsburgh that the city has no alleys. Of course this is not true in any meaningful sense, except one: that no alley is officially called an alley on planning maps. They are usually called “Way,” or sometimes “Street,” and one or two are probably “Avenues.”

    However, there was a time when Pittsburgh dared to call an alley an alley, as we can see from the old Larkins Alley sign on the back of St. Casimir’s Church.

    Larkins Alley sign

  • Alley Houses

    Carey Way on the South Side, between 18th and 19th Streets.

  • Back End of the South Side Flats

    Edwards Way is the very edge of the South Side Flats. The greenery-covered wall on the left is the stone retaining wall below the railroad that separates the Flats from the Slopes. Of course this tiny narrow space is nevertheless too valuable to leave unbuilt, so the free side of the alley is lined with typical South Side alley houses.


    Map