Trip #411 Rostock Street to Solar Street, Spring Hill City View, Pittsburgh took place on February 15, 2020, and was published on March 11, 2020.
“My family has lived right here for seven generations. I have the original deed to this house; it was a farmhouse, from 1897. This here, where the garage is, used to be where we stored the eggs. This neighborhood was so busy. From here, you could easily walk to five different bakeries. It always smelled like bread and cookies. When they put that highway in, that was the end. Everything was destroyed. It all just disappeared.”
.
Over the last year, I’ve thought a great deal about the neighborhood that once connected Spring Hill to Fineview. Today, it’s the Thruway North, and all that remains are a scattering of houses alongside the periphery and city steps (in various stages of decay). It’s hard to reconcile the historic photos with what you see today. Before photographing the Rostock Street stairs, I met a woman chipping ice off of the street, and she gladly offered up some memories before returning to her work. After taking this Polaroid, I was a bit dismayed to discover that the sun had overexposed the scene and nearly obliterated the view. But then, considering the stories I had just heard, it seemed sadly appropriate. The neighborhood of her youth has disappeared.
Field Notes: While visiting these steps I met an older woman (probably in her late 60s or 70s) whose family lived in his area of the neighborhood since 1897. She talked about what it was like here as a child, before the big economic collapse and the highway. “There were five bakeries that you could walk to. It always smelled like bread and cookies.” The neighborhood of her youth has entirely disappeared.
Want to visit these stairs? You can locate them on the Pittsburgh City Steps Plan website!
See the Risograph print of this photo and story in the Mis.Steps Shop.
Be a good neighbor! Have you visited these stairs and found them in poor condition or that illegal dumping (large items like tires, old furniture, and construction debris) and trash were abundant in the area? There are two things you can do to take action and make our city steps cleaner and safer for everyone! First, grab a photo if you can, and submit a report to Pittsburgh 311. All problems, both broken stairs, and railings, as well as trash and dumping, should be reported to the city. You can easily do this online or by calling. If the location has an abundance of illegal dumping and trash, also contact Allegheny Cleanways, letting them know the location and the nature of the garbage. Thank you!!
