Trip #637 Stapleton Street, Brookline, Pittsburgh took place on September 11, 2021, and was published on September 20, 2021.
At the top of these sidewalk steps, a school looms and sprawls. In all likelihood, hundreds of neighborhood children have traveled up and down this flight every morning and afternoon. Growing up, I had to ride the school bus, much to my chagrin and dread. I envied the kids who never suffered this torture and simply walked (or ran) the few blocks from their homes. No loud-mouth jerks or mean-faced upperclassmen. No seating hierarchies. No nausea-inducing jostling with every pothole and turn. Every ride transformed me into a sullen-faced, thoroughly annoyed human. If you search out this location on Google Streetview, you’ll find an image of a girl, past childhood but not yet at adolescence, standing on the steep street and balefully offering a single-finger salute. One could easily misinterpret this image and assign all sorts of anti-social qualities. But in her face, I recognized something from my past: She’s sullen and annoyed at having to walk up a steep street and envying the kids who are transported to and from school in a long yellow bus.
Field Notes: This flight of sidewalk steps is clear at the bottom of the block but overgrown at the top. While I usually prefer clear images of the stairs, the green grasses and all the native flowers attracted my interest!
Love city steps? Get yourself the latest issue of Mis.Steps: Our Missed Connections with Pittsburgh’s City Steps! Each copy is unique and features 10 randomly selected “trading cards” of Pittsburgh’s 739 public stairways. Visit the Mis.Steps online store to see all issues and place your order.
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.
