Highland Park – Run All The Streets

Reminiscing on Thanksgiving 2023

Thanksgiving is the start of the end of the year. I like to take a look at where I am and where I want to go. For this project, in particular, while I have been ticking off a few streets recently, this blog has been very neglected. The last one was way back in March 2023!

OK, so here’s my current status.

CityStrides shows there are 4,753 streets in the City of Pittsburgh. Since it uses OpenStreetMap, that number fluctuates, as people, sometimes mistakenly, add street names to driveways and trails. Apparently there are some editors who also take streets away as well. I’ll leave that to the urban planners and historians.

Anyway, I have about eight more to do. There’s also a “secret” street, with a nice blue street sign and everything, which has remained unnoticed. That will be my last street. Stay tuned!

As for blogs, I have 17 more runs to blog about, stretching back to early 2022. This blog, for instance, will cover two cold runs in January 2022. Without further ado, let’s go!

RATS #495 – Back to one of the hilliest sections of Pittsburgh

So, for this run, I had a couple of small streets targeted. West Blaine off of West Liberty Avenue and the end of Hillgrove, entangled in the hills of Beechview. I don’t really recall the weather, but Strava tells me that it was a chilly 41 degrees. Pics show a cloudy day with splotches of snow leftover from an earlier storm.

After running up Blaine, I returned to West Liberty and cruised along Wenzell Avenue to Boustead Street. I turned right and quickly made the left onto Hillgrove. This time, I stayed to the left of a Y intersection and made it to the end of Hillgrove. On another run, I had made a right at the Y; just showing that the Right decision is sometimes wrong. With that word play behind me, I trudged up Boustead, up nearly 100 feet in a tenth of a mile. Whew!

I took the Rutherford Street steps as a shortcut to Hampshire Avenue. My intention was to get to the very end of Canton Avenue. Everyone knows Canton is the steepest public street in the United States, from Coast to Hampshire. But, do they know where it ends? It doesn’t end at the jersey barriers, but rather a tenth of a mile into the woods.

With that, I trundled back to my parking spot along Brookline Boulevard’s business district.

RATS #496 – Eastern Hills of Pittsburgh

RATS Run #00496 in Homewood, Highland Park, Stanton Heights and East Liberty

My next RATS run, a week later, was on the other side of Pittsburgh. I wanted to clean up some small streets in Lincoln-Lemington as well as tackle terrifying Allegheny River Boulevard. This day was significantly colder than the previous run, with afternoon temps in the low 20’s.

I parked in North Point Breeze, took North Lang across the pedestrian bridge and straight up to Apple Street. I popped up the steps to Arbor Street and boldly continued all the way down Hedge Street through the back alley, Owasso Way.

Continuing past Paulson Playground, I sought the end of Olivant Street. I had been in the area on an earlier run, but thought perhaps I could slide along a fence to the last node on Olivant. However, it wasn’t to be. There’s a Duquesne Light substation at the end of Olivant. A secured fence completely blocked the way.

Generally, this area has some nice homes, especially compared to the row-houses on Paulson Street. but it is pervaded by a high level of down-home security; fences, gates, dogs and signs. I find that unnerving.

From here I took Lemington Avenue down to Highland Drive and Washington Boulevard. I wasn’t sure about doing Allegheny River Boulevard (ARB), but I thought I’d see how busy it was. The intersection of ARB and Washington Road wasn’t too bad, so I set out along ARB.

Umm, not my best decision. Quickly, I lost the sidewalk and just ran along the road’s small shoulder. Every now and then, icy seepage jutted out into the road, forcing me to skate along. Eventually I made it to the border of Penn Hills and Pittsburgh. A small white “Penn Hills” sign was overshadowed by grinning Gus the Groundhog . I returned on slightly different route, along an old railroad below, the Brilliant Branch. Closer to the ARB, Washington Blvd intersection, there’s a cool train trestle which crosses the Allegheny. Recently, that railroad spur was transferred from Allegheny Valley Railroad to Aspinwall Riverfront Park. It will be converted to a bike trail, as described in this article in “Next Pittsburgh”.

Back at the intersection of Allegheny River Boulevard and Washington Road, I took a “shortcut” though Highland Park to try to find a small alley in Upper Lawrenceville. I cut down Stanton Avenue and one of my favorite streets, Christopher Street. I like the way it emerges from Stanton Heights onto a dramatic downhill with views of the Allegheny River far below. It has a hidden, Sleepy Hollow feel. From Christopher, I dodged over to Duncan Street in search of Joy Way. All I found was steps alongside a house with a car in front. Street? Maybe on OpenStreetMap, but not on Google and not in reality.

A little sad with no Joy, I scurried through Stanton Heights, emerging at the top of North Aiken Avenue. Plunging down into Garfield, I “ran” a tiny alley off of Fairmont Street, Armitage Way. It is pretty much a wide driveway hovering above Negley Avenue.

From there, it was a few more miles back to the strategic parking spot on North Lang, a few streets done and fourteen miles covered.

Last August

Here are a couple of runs to finish out August of 2021. It wasn’t my highest mileage month, by far, with only sixty-one miles recorded and eight street runs. But, there were other life events; a vacation, a wedding, so I’m okay with it.

RATS #00443 in Highland Park and Stanton Heights

This was an evening run to catch a few streets from Highland Park to Stanton Heights. I started by running up from North Highland Avenue to Sheridan Avenue. I circled Sheridan Court, a mid-50’s “modern” housing plan. From there, I dove into the Highland Park.

I traipsed down One Wild at the back of the Pittsburgh Zoo. I had gotten a late start, so it was getting dusky when I saw lights through the trees. A dragon! These cute white and blue creatures! Are they Chinese zodiac lanterns? This was the closest I got to the Lantern Festival.

One Wild Place meets Butler Street just before the large zoo parking lots. In prime summer season, this little stretch is clogged with cars; families going to the zoo; families getting ice cream and dogs; silly commuters trying to make their way through this mess. Now, however, the sun was setting, the zoo lots were empty and the burgers were sold out, leaving stragglers with only malts, floats and sundaes at the Lock & Dam Dog Shop.

Just past this intersection Gallatin Street rises from Butler, crosses Baker Street and steps its way into the tip of Morningside. I took a left on Witherspoon until it becomes Java Way, a little cul-de-sac between small houses. I worked my way through Morningside to Greenwood Street, where steps rise to Stanton Heights.

The dusk had given way to full blown night by the time I made through Stanton Heights to Arcade Way. Looks like high summer is over.

RATS run #00444 was a wet little run in East Liberty. Hudson Place, Armstrong Way, Tyler Way, Kalida Drive and Weldin Way were on my list this night. Following a theme, I got a rather late start; 8 PM, in a downpour. My pictures are all blurry with splotches of light, quite representative of my vision that night.

I really didn’t mind the rain too much and splashing through puddles is, after all, one of my superpowers. However, I scared the bejeebers out of someone on Weldin Way.

Weldin Way is a potholed alley which dead-ends into a parking lot surrounded by dingy apartments. Just before I made my turn down onto Weldin Way, a car turned down the alley. Normally cars are in another dimension – they speed by like I’m a rock. However, with the low light, potholes and rain, this one went slowly, in fact almost as slow as I was going. I kept hoping it would turn off somewhere, but no, it went all the way to the end of Weldin with me only a few yards behind. It parked while I splashed to the end of the lot. As it was a dead-end, I had to go back out. While I gave the car a wide berth, a woman got out of it and screamed just as I ran by. I had totally surprised her. I muttered apologies and ran out of there.

That, my friends is all for August 2021.

Stone Age

https://www.strava.com/activities/4902223367 — RATS #00376 – East Liberty, Belmar, Highland Park

This early March, Saturday run took me from alleys of Highland Park into the heights of Belmar and took care of some intervening areas in Larimer. I was also stretching out the distance, aiming for more than ten miles.

I started out on a few dead-end alleys in Highland Park, remarkable for their Stone-Age Era wall paintings. Then, I ran into typical streets trouble; colonized streets. This time, it was Glenview Place. I recognize that residents want to make the most of their living space, and a small, dead-end road is an ideal choice for extending your space, for parking, for car washing, for cookouts, for putting greens. However, it is a bit annoying to find public roads plastered with “Private Property” and “No Trespassing” signs a quarter mile before the end. Grrr!

Nonetheless, the pleasant morning made up for the irritation and returned the way I came, this time scaling down Violin Way until it wrapped around St. Marie Street and Chinn Way. Shaking off the dust from Highland Park, I entered the meat of my course in Larimer. I had laid out a route to do all of Indiana Way, finish a section between Larimer Avenue and Negley Run Road, then zig-zag across Larimer to Lincoln.

It isn’t actually that far. Indiana Way starts out well, makes it past the autobody shop and then disintegrates into a sidewalk along a playground. Orange Street, however, doesn’t really didn’t go through, I had to bushwhack through tall weeds and under broken trees to do it. That, of course, roused the local dogs, and by the time I stopped to take a picture of Orange Street, their howls were unnerving. It was also disappointing to see that a house with newly installed windows had already had its new windows broken. Then, a faded blue and white full sized van crept past me, going not more than 15 mph. Fine, residential area, old guys go slow. Continuing down Lenora, I passed this van as the driver slowly parked. Lenora ends, aptly, at Orphan Street which is high above Negley Run Road. This whole area seemed rather orphaned, honestly.

Now on a mission to complete the remaining little streets, what should slowly drive by, but the blue and white van. There was a veritable traffic jam as I tried to cross the street, while the van slowly made a right and sporty car quickly came up behind it. At this point I had just about had enough. Why was this guy driving so slowly? At any rate, I figured I could do this section later and zipped onto the other side of the street. I came up Victor Way as it squeezed past two houses en route to Rapidan Way, but two cars up on blocks for repairs impeded my progress to Renfrew Street, so I adjusted my route and crossed over to Lowell. Coming down Lowell, what should I see but the blue and white van slowly coming down the street! Ugh, three times a charm, so I bolted over to Lincoln Avenue, where I caught a picture of the faded glory of the Elks Club.

Railroad Crossing, Watch Out For Icicles!

Lincoln crosses high above Washington Boulevard, but below a set of train tracks. I was surprised to still see icicles below the rusty trestle. The far side of Washington Boulevard is fairly spread out with long alleys and steeply rising hills. It seems I always find cemeteries on hilltops, and this was no exception. There’s also a juvenile detention center, a defunct veteran’s complex and Job Corp, which seems to be a campus tech school of some sort. Their website is pretty flowery, but the grounds were thoroughly fenced in.

At this point, I made my way back to Highland Park via Negley Run Road. Under the Meadow Street Bridge, soaring high above, defunct steps stood out against the brown winter leaves.