Bloomfield Park, Bloomfield: 4400 Dargan Street
Bloomfield Park, like its Polish Hill counterpart, West Penn, offers a lot of local flavor. The public pool, known affectionately as Bloomfield Beach, is the undisputed social hub of summer. The athletic fields are popular for formal and informal games, and the skate park (tucked dramatically beneath the Bloomfield Bridge and currently seeking design input on EngagePGH) keeps things lively. Within two blocks, the myriad of food and drink options along Liberty Avenue are readily available.
The park’s one sore spot is its recreation center, which appears as the “Bloomfield Ration Center” after years of missing letters on its sign. Closed for nearly 30 years, it’s a monument to what happens when maintenance budgets shrink, renovations stall, and costs climb.
At the turn of the twentieth century, the back slope of the park led down to Skunk Hollow. It was an impoverished but tight-knit neighborhood of narrow lanes and tar-paper shanties crowded around the train tracks, reachable only by long flights of wooden city steps. The physical remnants of those days are long gone, but the spirit of family and neighbors gathering after a long day for a bit of relaxation still lives on.
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City Steps of Pittsburgh: A History & Guide explores the history of the steps and the neighborhoods in which they were built. It also includes 13 guided walks and 20+ locations worth visiting—all with detailed descriptions, directions, and resources for creating your own urban hiking adventure. All areas of Pittsburgh are represented: north, south, east, and west. The book is available through all online shops (including our publisher) and local and independent bookstores.