Founded as Montour City, Imperial was renamed for the mining company that founded it, the Imperial Coal Company. It is picturesque in its decay, and yet not decayed enough that it is not a pleasant town to live in. The buildings along the old Montour Railroad below, for example, are still in use by a construction contractor. The other two views are parts of the business district on Main Street, which has little business these days.
Outsiders visiting Pittsburgh are often surprised to find that, when buildings are in the way, we just drive right through them. This is Henry Street, which goes through the Software Engineering Institute.
The entire length of Wood Street, from Fort Pitt Boulevard in the foreground to Liberty Avenue at the other end.
The broad plaza of Smallman Street in the Strip, looking toward downtown from 21st Street.
So the lens says, though the camera says “Sony.” Father Pitt happened to be in Beechview today, so here is a typical Beechview streetscape as seen by an old Soviet “Индустар” (“Industar”) lens, a copy of the Zeiss Tessar, mounted on a Sony Alpha 3000 camera.
It is impossible to resist taking pictures of these narrow South Side alleys. Fortunately, with digital photography, a photograph is within a mill or two of free, so there is no reason to resist the temptation.
Beechview is one of those neighborhoods where three dimensions must be taken into account in any attempt to navigate the back streets.
