Trip #695 Frank Curto Park, Strip District, Pittsburgh took place on May 2, 2021, and was published on February 21, 2022.
In May of 2021, I convinced a group of friends to explore the remains of the Strip District’s only set of city steps. We could have simply walked the narrow sidewalk along Bigelow Boulevard to Frank Curto Park, but we decided to meander the hillside above Stockholm Street. The roads that traversed this area: Plutarch, Crescent, Tyrone, and Towers, along with the dozens of homes, are long gone. And while the scramble was a bit more than we had anticipated, and the stairs were in terrible shape, it was a fantastic adventure. Some of life’s most memorable times come from pushing ourselves into unfamiliar areas, and this day held that a hundredfold! When I look back on this photo from that warm, sunny day, I think about how spring, and all of the excitement and fun it brings, is right around the corner.
Field Notes: A fun afternoon with Josiah, Leslie, and Elizabeth exploring the hillside below Frank Curto park. It’s hard to imagine what the area looked like 100 years ago when people still lived in this hillside area between the Strip and the Hill District! It’s a trek that’s best taken before all the greenery fills in, as I imagine it gets pretty dense once summer appears.
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.
