Trip #516 Halpin Street, Mount Washington, Pittsburgh took place on November 4, 2020, and was published on November 18, 2020.
City life or country life? Where is your favorite place? Would you choose people, skyscrapers, busses, and the sounds of industry and movement throughout the day and night? Or would you prefer a horizon unbroken except for towering trees and distant slopes with natural sounds surrounding? And if we all switched places for a day or two or ten, how would that be? If we brought our city ways to the country and our country ways to the city, would we all hopelessly flail and fail, like fishes out of water, or would we say, “Hey, this is kind of nice! I can understand why people like living here.” Because once the clouds float away, it’s easy to see that both places have stars burning bright, crows in flight, and the flashing lights of airplanes up above. I like the city, and I like the country too. What about you?
Field Notes: This long, wandering flight has a “wooded” area on one side and a quasi-boarded up building on the other. There are lots of pine trees, so the pine needles are everywhere and it smells quite nice!
See the Risograph print of this photo and story in the Mis.Steps Shop.
Want to visit these stairs? You can locate them on the Pittsburgh City Steps Plan website!
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.
