Urban Exploration – Page 25 – Run All The Streets

Picturesque Frozen Wanderings

It was cold, even on a sunny Saturday afternoon. Starting in Squirrel Hill, as I often do, I ran toward Schenley Park. It’s a beautiful, heavily wooded park with winding roads, hills, playgrounds, a golf-course and a lake.

Up Serpentine Drive
Stone Bridge in Ravine

After a couple of miles, I emerged into Central Oakland. This part of Oakland is dominated by student housing of all sorts. There are upscale condo/townhouses and street after street of apartment buildings and houses re-muddled into apartments. The area is pretty flat and the streets are relatively long, straight and in a grid. The area was busy with students. I remembered that as a student, I was always worried about money, classes, jobs, homework, girls and family (not necessarily in that order). As a father with college age children, I want to say to them “Don’t worry too much, do your best and you’ll be fine”. However, I do know that their lives are opaque to me, I don’t know their struggles and that they will have to find their own way. So, I just run past, nodding a silent greeting. Who knows if they gave any thought to the old guy lumbering past them?

And lumber past I did, cutting down Neville Street as it plunged into Panther Hollow. I ran under Schenley Drive and Forbes, eventually emerging in North Oakland, with its large institutional buildings, museums, churches. I found my way back along Ellsworth Avenue in Shadyside before turning up Negley Avenue back home.

Central Oakland neighborhood of Pittsburgh

Running Before the Storm

Spring Hill City View Neighborhood of Pittsburgh

It was early. It was raining. It was forty degrees. This would be the best weather we would have for a week. I HAD to get out there and run! My office was close by and if I got done early enough, I was hoping I could sneak in and change into my office clothes without too many people noticing.

“Running before the storm” is ingrained in my mind as a wild time before a major storm comes bearing down on you. Perhaps it is from all those nautical adventures I read as a kid. But that expectation of something calamitous coming crackles with energy. Starting near my building on the Northshore, I knew I wanted to ascend into the labyrinthine Spring Garden hills to get some elevation. I wasn’t EXACTLY sure the best way to do it, so I zipped up into the Northside grid, with its flat streets and alleys in a regular pattern. My goal was to hit Tripoli Street which crosses I-279. The rain was beginning to come down hard. I passed one woman with a purple raincoat and umbrella walking her reluctant chocolate lab and a couple of dudes with baggy jeans and flannel shirts waiting for the bus.
Tripoli Street is flat and took me high over I-279, already filling with headlights coming into Pittsburgh. I made a left onto Chestnut Street and started up the hill. OMG! What a hill!

The blue dot is on Tripoli as it finishes crossing I-279. That sharp left is Chestnut. The mountain of elevation is going toward High Street.

I continued up and up, my theme. It was pouring at this point and mini Mononagahelas ran down every street. I made sure the dead-end sign on Leister Street was correct, backtracked and ran up Hunnel. The neighborhood is varied with some nice houses, decent yards, and vertigo inducing hills. Below is a picture of Hunnel Street in more pleasant weather.

Wooden stairs on the side of Hunnell Street with green trees and white houses on the very steep street. — Hunnell Street Wooden Stairs in the Spring

Up and up I ran. Woessner Street was cute. It did NOT have a dead-end sign on it and I felt like a roller coaster approaching the big drop. (That’s the middle peak on the elevation chart.) It ended in a circular asphalt pad at the top. No actual street intersected it, just narrow Wessel Way alley. Down the alley I went, saying “Hi!” to another hardy soul walking her dog in the rain. I began to plot my way back; Rhine Street, Mathias Street, Lappe Lane (below the cemetery), Buente Street, Overbeck Street and finally down Solar to catch a way across 279. I crossed it on Guerst Way, which is a pedestrian bridge. Back in familiar territory again, I resisted the urge to run up Rising Main and got to my office early enough to change. I basked in the warmth of the office and the run as the rain changed to snow and the storm blew in.

Run All The Streets 0017: (that’s right, 17)

footnote

If you regularly follow this blog, you may have noticed that I skipped a few runs. I went from “Run All The Streets 0014” to “Run All The Streets 0017”. Don’t worry, I will be sharing those runs and the remainder of my January 2019 runs in summary blog post. While there’s usually something notable on every run, I run more than I blog, so instead of letting them pile up for posterity, I’ll just do a catch up blog every now and then. Thanks for reading.

Skinny Southside Sarah

Map Highlighting the Southside Flats Neighborhood of Pittsburgh — Southside Flats Neighborhood of Pittsburgh

One of the cute things about the Southside Flats are the street names. They are not the aboreal type. They are not formal last names like “Wilkins”, or “Forbes”, but friendly first names; “Mary”, “Jane”, “Sarah”. I think this fits the Southside Flats in character. If they were people, all of these sister streets would be wearing skinny jeans with fashionable rips in them. As it is, they are narrow, relatively straight and have copious “fashionable” potholes. So on a rather chilly January, I felt compelled to run around Sarah Street, all the way to the end.

Much of the Southside Flats is a mixture of narrow houses, newer condos, warehouses, corner bars and a coffee shop or two. This is the area between Carson Street and the rising mountain of the Southside Slopes. Sarah Street threads her way though these streets, making a little jog right when she hits 10th Street and finally ending at the 9th Street side of George K. Cupples Stadium, which is an 8,000 seat football field used mainly for high-school games. At any rate, Sarah comes to a screeching halt there. Not having enough of a snowy, dark, run, I decided to cross over Carson Street and continue.

Thus, I ended up on Cabot way. Cabot Way was narrower and long. This section of the Southside flats looks less friendly. The warehouses look bigger. Carson Street on the right seems to get higher and higher. The dark river is closer.

Lights of downtown Pittsburgh on a foggy night as seen from the Terminal Building across the Monongahela River. — Light of downtown Pittsburgh from the Terminal Building on the Southside

But the potential creepiness is tempered by the lights of downtown across the river and the general emptiness of the area. I saw nothing too scary, beyond a young guy coming out of his apartment clearly drunk. Quiet, beyond the padding of my feet and the occasional car. Cabot Way continues all the way to the parking lots at Station Square where I passed a young couple strolling home. Turning around, I went up and down a few of the steep, cobblestone streets which go up to Carson Street. Then, I ran on Terminal Street, which has the feature that it becomes an elevated walkway between buildings. It has an interesting history.

Snowy railroad buildings at night. — Snowy Railroad Tracks

I made my way toward Sarah Street, along Bingham Street, Wright’s Way, and Carey Way. When I finally met up with Sarah again, I was tired and getting cold. So, I got in my car, revved up the heat and went home. See ya later, Sarah!

Proceed to Warp 10!

Map of Upper Hill District in Pittsburgh, PA — Upper Hill District

This was a short, exhilarating, heart pounding run. But first, ever watch Star Trek? From its start in the 1960’s as a campy TV series to its glitzy big screen movies, such as 2016’s Beyond, Star Trek has moved words into the general lexicon that just weren’t there previously; just look at “Beam me up” and “warp-speed”.

With those random thoughts bouncing around my head, I set out to join the Steel City Road Runners for their Saturday run. I was jogging through the Upper Hill, trying to warm up. The Upper Hill is a part of the Hill District neighborhood. The Hill District stretches from Downtown to Oakland. The Upper Hill is a small round area on the crest of hill right above North Oakland, the University of Pittsburgh, and above the Bloomfield Bridge. The streets are mostly wide open affairs, going up and down the steep hillsides. It is an area with a bad reputation (perhaps deserved, perhaps racism) and I am somewhat vigilant as I run along. As with all of the Hill District, the housing stock varies. There are boarded up brown brick row houses. There are bright, well-kept brick homes. There are new townhouses rising three stories and freshly painted.

Running past one of these new townhouses, thinking “This looks nice”, I hear the muffled barking of a dog. No worries, inside dog. Nonetheless, I look around hoping to see the mutt in a window. Then, I hear the a garage door rattling open and see the beige door slowly rise. Now, the barking is louder and there it is! A big brown dog of uncertain breed is galloping at me, trailing a leash. Warp Speed 1 Sulu! I take off. Usually if I pass the dog’s territory, it’ll stop. But no, wolf-spawn is still chasing me. Warp Speed 10! I gave it my all. Then with Fido a few yards away, he gives up. He must have finally heard his Master’s voice calling him back. Whew! That was the fastest 100 yards I’ve run in a long time, a 5 min/mile pace.

Sometimes you just need motivation.

Fireflies in the Dark

Another Wednesday in January. Running well after sunset. Running in Squirrel Hill, away from the bright lights of the Murray Avenue shopping district. This hadn’t been a bad January yet, but tonight’s run featured patchy ice and snow on the sidewalks. I was in no hurry to fall, so I fell back to run with one of my favorite groups of runners; Amy, Kristen, Dayana, Denise, Haley, and Nicole. Honestly, I’m not sure if everyone made it that night. Did I mention it was dark? Somehow, when the weather is damp all lights seem weak. Blackness seemed to spill out of every crevice and crack. We ran away from Dunkin Donuts, away from all that fat, sugary deliciousness. We ran toward Homewood Cemetery. Great.

Homewood Cemetery in Pittsburgh's East End on a sunny Fall afternoon. Large trees overhang old graves and a young deer standing next to an American flag stops to look up. — Homewood Cemetery

Now, on a day like that in the picture, Homewood Cemetery is quite interesting. Deer, turkey, rabbits and other wildlife scamper along the endless paths bordered by full spreading trees. Visions of past lives rise from the ornate mausoleums, old headstones, and fresh graves. On the other hand, on a cold, wet January night, the half-mile, uphill, run along the blackened stone cemetery wall is dull drudgery. You try NOT to think about past lives rising up. In fact, you only try to keep the fireflies of light; the pulsing ankle lights of Dayana and the Tracer target of Kristen in sight as you scurry by.

And scurry by we did. No one fell, the warmth from running and friendship pushed back the darkness. We returned to the lights of Highland Avenue and back to the runners cove of goodies called Pro Bike and Run. It was a good night after all. Five miles in the books. Fireflies put away until the next dark run.

Run All The Streets 0008: Squirrel Hill North and Shadyside

Esplen in the Winter

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Esplen_(Pittsburgh)

Thanks for joining me! I started this journey of running all the streets in Pittsburgh by heading out to the neighborhood of Esplen. Esplen is a little community in a corner of Route 51 as it swings away from the Ohio River to cross over Chartiers Creek and go into McKee’s Rocks. Driving north on Rt 51 coming out of the Southside, I just put “Esplen” into Google Maps and let it direct me.

“Go North on Rt 51”
- check!
“Make the next left onto Tabor Street”
- Great, it’s at a light, check!
“Make a right onto Radcliffe Street”
- Hmm, I suppose, but check.
“Make a left onto Oak Way”
- Wait a minute, that’s just a little alley between some houses! Argh, I’ll do it THIS time.
“Make a right onto Harrison Way”
- WTF! No way, that’s an even SMALLER alley

At this point, I turned off Google Maps, drove to the next bigger street (Stafford) and headed toward a shopping area I had noticed across a low bridge. I was now out of the City of Pittsburgh and in the shopping Mecca of Mckee’s Rocks.

I crossed the bridge over muddy Chartier’s Creek and plunged into the streets of Esplen. There are some industrial looking buildings on the right and then the little houses of Esplen. It was a gray, cold day, just above freezing. Most of Esplen is flat, with a gradual rise in the streets as you go away from Rt 51 and away from Chartier’s Creek. The houses were mostly occupied. They looked to be two or three bedroom houses. Alleys are standard between all the roads and most people’s garages opened up on the alley. It was quiet. I think I saw two people, total, in that morning’s run. One section, Esplen Street and the alleys coming off of it, was dominated by the hill behind it and a railroad bridge which crosses the Ohio onto Brunot Island. Houses decorated for Christmas and ever-present Steelers flags lifted the gloom of the morning.

Rising above Esplen is the neighborhood of Sheraden. The streets going up to Sheraden are long and steep, Stadium, Arden and Stafford to name a few. Sheraden had nice views of the Ohio from Brunot Street. The streets continue to rise to the crest of a hill.

I ran slowly and took pictures. Only a few miles of running and I had done most of the streets and alleys of Esplen. Not bad for the first foray.

Running Route — Run All The Streets 0001: Esplen

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