Trip #441 Irvona Way, Crafton Heights took place on April 25, 2020, and was published on May 18, 2020.
Don’t bother looking for Irvona Way on Google Maps – it’s not there. The only way to find it is to go all the way to the end of Clairtonica Street. And once you start climbing, you’ll leave the world of barking dogs, oversized trucks, and discarded beer bottles behind, and step into a scene of pastoral repose. There’s an old wooden fence, lush green leaves, vines with creeping tendrils, and some very curiously shaped handrails, coated in a rich patina of cracked and peeling paint. All that is needed is a gentleman farmer with a straw hat painting plein air, and you would swear you had stepped into a Walt Whitman poem – until you catch sight of the large, renovated house with the inground swimming pool, diving board, and slide.
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And as writing stories is one-quarter inspiration and three-quarters editing, I’ll leave that portion of the tale for someone else to tell.
Field Notes: You won’t find Irvona Way on Google Maps but there is a street sign for this Way that is city steps. There’s one large-ish sized house at the top (complete with an inground swimming pool!) but not much else. The railings for these public stairs are quite different from other ones I’ve seen,
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.
