#Schenley Park Oakland

[pittsburghbeautiful]

Exploring Schenley Park: A Green Oasis in the Heart of Pittsburgh

Discover the beauty and excitement of Schenley Park, a sprawling urban park nestled in the vibrant neighborhood of Oakland in Pittsburgh. With its rich history, diverse range of activities, and stunning natural landscapes, Schenley Park offers something for everyone. Whether you’re a nature enthusiast, a sports lover, or a history buff, this park is sure to captivate your senses and provide an…

[freebooter4ever]

Of all the things to miss from the burgh, grass (literal) seems silly, but like working at carne*gie mell*n we had this GIANT field right behind the school called schenley park, and at the first sign of spring when the temperature finally hit above 60, you could cut through porter hall and climb the back of the hill, and that field was at the perfect angle for lying down in the soft grass and watching the oakland skyline, like a natural ampitheater. \o/ (it was also always slightly weird to think that in my grandpa's day that skyline would have been so polluted with steel industry that you couldn't SEE it)

The summer after i graduated - 2011 - some random citizen installed a wooden swing in the biggest tree at the edge of the hill, and that was the BEST until the city took it down probably for liability reasons :/ but every day for like months after work i would go sit on that swing till the sun went down.

[pghbabesonbikes]

2024 Frigid Bitch Training Rides

Tryin to prep for FBXI? Need to bone up on your cuts around the city? Gotta practice layering up in various weather conditions? Hopin’ to meet some FB vets race crews you might be able to slide into?

Every Sunday til race day we’ll be holding training rides around the city. Each week will ride the route of a previous Frigid Bitch. Full routes will likely feature stairs, cobbles, long flats, and a few steep hills. We will have multiple groups:

- A pace: fast drop ride with longer mileage and more elevation. Will regroup at the tops of long/steep hills but generally will not wait long for stragglers. ~16+ mph avg - B pace: ‘fit commuter’ pace, semi-drop, mid-level mileage and elevation. Will regroup at various points but may not wait for extended times. ~12-15 mpg avg - C pace: conversational social pace, no-drop, shorter routes, relatively few big hills. ~10-12 mph avg

If you are interested in leading or sweeping a pace group, please check out the 2024 Training Ride spreadsheet (includes route links!) and drop your name/email on the slot you wanna nab!

Routes are posted below - cue sheets are set up for most rides to make almost any/all of the features skippable if you’re not feeling it. Choose a route and pace that is challenging to you, and have fun bopping around the city seeing who you catch & who catches you!

All routes will also be posted as events on our Ride w GPS Club & Strava Club page

Two Frays Brewing will have space for bikes on their patio, outside heaters, indoor bathrooms, and hot drinks for sale. They’ll also have a couple new non-alcoholic beers (including a FRIGID BITCH SPECIFIC collab fundraiser NA!) on tap as well as their regular rotation. Stick around after the ride to hang out and compare ride recaps!

BEWARE: These rides are run in full Pgh Winter, so weather may mean routes take us over ice and snow. We may need to re-route mid ride depending on the conditions! Be ready for an adventure.

Start/finish: Two Frays Brewing - 5113 Penn Ave in Garfield

ROLLING TIMES (please arrive at least 15 min early!) B-pace: 12:30pm A-pace: 1:00 pm C-pace: 1:30 pm

Sunday Feb 4th - Frigid Bitch 2021

Full A-pace route: Takes us into the North Hills, from the Highland Park Br over to the Millvale softball fields. A steep climb up Geyer Rd takes us across mainly rolling roads to the observatory, where we’ll drop back down Perrysville punctuated with a short climb up (and then very much down) Federal. A climb to Polish Hill is next, topped by a city step loop and the beloved blast down Gold Way into Oakland to the bullet descent down Fifth. Birmingham, then Hot Metal, then the Greenfield Ave climb into Schenley Park. The finish is a residential roll through the East End.

B-pace route: Cuts out the trek across the HP Br and the roady north hills chunk, but tacks on some mileage (and a staircase!) heading up into Riverview. This B route is similar mileage to the full route, but with slightly less climbing. 

C-pace route: Piling on the mileage for C-pace this week but keeping the elevation down, the ride will head thru tried and true East End roads, a mild uphill pump on Wilkins/Beechwood, a lovely roll  through Schenley Park before one of the best winding downhills around. Sneak through Oakland and onto the cyclists’ best friend back alley (Gold Way) to pop out at the Melwood staircase, before dropping down into the Strip and practicing your stop and starts along Spring Way. The 16th St Bridge takes you over the river to the North Shore trail where you can relax until the one final uphill along the bike lane on 40th. Finish @ Two Frays and catch B&A group rolling in behind you!

A-pace route here

B-pace route here

C-pace route here

Sunday Feb 11th - Frigid Bitch 2022

Full A-pace route: We'll head down the cemetery drop to the trail, roll some gravel and hike over some train tracks, take railroad to the strip before crossing the 16th St Bridge into the North Shore and up some gorgeous steps (feat a fancy wheel rail!). From there it's a back-street shimmy to the penitentiary trail, a double-bridge cross over the Point, another trail! before we start climbing up into the south slopes. Get ready because this climb gets harder as you go, and ends on cobbles. Naturally we'll bomb back down to the Hot Metal Bridge, get on yet another trail up the hollow, hit the Joncaire cobbles and a staircase, and take the golf course up through Squirrel Hill. The fancy new Fern Hollow Bridge pops us out on Braddock Ave where we'll roll some gravel through Frick Park before shooting back to the start via Shadyside.

B-pace route: Identical to the A-pace route, except it cuts out the killer climb into the South Side Slopes! B-pace will keep on the trail instead, straight from Station Square to Hot Metal.

C-pace route: Almost all trail (Strip District, Station Square, South Side, Panther Hollow) until the Joncaire staircase into Squirrel Hill, Shadyside and back!

A-pace route here

B-pace route here

C-pace route here

Previous weeks:

Sunday Jan 7th - Frigid Bitch 2017

Full A-pace route: 2017 was the only year that the FB featured split timed checkpoints, reflected on this route by the double loop we make around the East End. Start with a quick up-and-down to the Bud Harris Cycling track (we’ll do a lap cuz why not), then a relatively flat long rev-up on our first hit of the East End before dropping down 31st St Br for the first real challenge: Rialto St (the easiest of the Dirty Dozen hills!). Take a breather thru the North Side til a nice steady climb up Brighton, a fun descent down Woods Run where we’ll take the Penitentiary Trail over the Duq Br to the Point. Back on that inescapable Eliza Furnace Trail to hit Phipps, then one last swing out to the East End to the Highland Park Reservoir.

B-pace route: Cuts out the steady climb up Brighton and the long way back on the Penitentiary Trail, heading thru downtown instead to catch the Eliza Furnace. Optional end of ride cut: anyone done before the HP Res can swing left on Coral from Negley and head straight back to Two Frays.

C-pace route: 10-mile no-drop loop through the East End, featuring 2 mild hills - short and punchy up Bunker Hill to the Highland Park Reservoir and a longer steady climb up Wilkins into Oakland.

A-pace route here

B-pace route here

C-pace route here

Full route cue sheet here

Sunday Jan 14th - Frigid Bitch 2018

Full A-pace route: Starts with some easy rolling hills through the East End before climbing up Stanton and descending to Butler St, where we’ll do a little back-roading before popping over to the rt 28 side of the Allegheny River and hoisting our bikes up the Troy Hill steps. Why stop there? More steps!: The West End Br pedestrian tunnel is next, taking us to the Station Square trail, to the South Side trail, across the Birmingham Br and up to the Hill District Water Tower. A final winding descent down Herron drops us at a final climb up Liberty and back to Two Frays.

B-pace route: Cuts out the West End Br and entire South Side chunk of the route. Instead, riders will take the 16th St Br and climb the backside of Polish Hill to the Water Tower. From there, the route drops down Blessing St to the Bloomfield Br - at the bottom of Blessing, hike your bike up the steps to the pedestrian over pass to access the Bloomfield Br sidewalk!  

C-pace route: From Two Frays to the Wheel Mill via the Neighborway, Negley and the East Liberty Ave bike lanes. Swing back around for a steady climb up and then down Stanton Ave to the Button, then back up to Two Frays via the Allegheny Cemetery.

A-pace route here

B-pace route here

C-pace route here

Full route cue sheet here

Sunday Jan 21th - Frigid Bitch 2019

Full A-pace route: Features some fun winding roady sections and some long climbs to city overlooks with glorious downhills. Start with a secret cut thru the Allegheny Cemetery, to a short steep cobbled hill on the outskirts of Chatham University, a quick offroad dip into Frick Park and a long time trial down Beechwood Blvd. A super fun fast windy downhill thru Schenley takes us back to Oakland, where a super fun straight blast down Fifth Ave stops on a dime to hike up the Mohawk St steps, turn around and cross the Birmingham Br. The South Side trail pops us out at a sidewalk slog up PJ McArdle to the most famous overlook, then drop down one of the nicest Dirty Dozen hills (Sycamore) to cut through downtown and back up to another overlook. Oops we’re going down a Dirty Dozen hill again! Suffolk takes us to East St, the trail, a really lovely pedestrian bridge to Herrs Island where we’ll off-road a little bit to the park at the point (not The Point). Once more over 31st but instead of Liberty-ing it back just yet, we’ve got some back roads (pothole alert) swooping us under the Bloomfield Br before we cut across Bloomfield back to Two Frays.

B-pace route: Cuts out the cemetery jaunt, the off-roading in Frick Park, replaces the bomb down Fifth Ave with a less dramatic but still fun bomb down Swineburn, keeps the Grandview Overlook climb but cuts out the Fineview Overlook climb.

C-pace route: Hit 5 checkpoints this week by sneaking down the Neighborway and Negley Ave to a cobbled climb up Murray Hill, then a quick out-and-back for a Frick Park choose-your-own-adventure (on/off bike) on the trail. Cut through Shadyside and swoop under the Bloomfield Bridge for a backroad pothole wonderland, then a one-two punch of bridges (30th&31st). A nice interim of flat trail before oh, it’s another bridge (40th) and a zig zag cut up Lawrenceville takes us back towards Two Frays. Optional cemetery add-on to hit the Boob Tomb for the  voyeuristic.

A-pace route here

B-pace route here

C-pace route here

Full route cue sheet here

Sunday Jan 28th - Frigid Bitch 2020

Full A-pace route: First, a descent - towards downtown, under the convention center, via the rainbow waterfall underpass. Then, a flat - to Bicycle Heaven, home of the Peewee Herman bike. Next, a climb - up the South Side slopes, to the St Michael’s Cemetery. From there, another descent! This time through a backway down to the park and back into the SS Flats. Hot Metal takes us back up thru the Hallow, clear across the East End, across the Highland Park bridge and up to the Aspinwall Firestation, at the foothills of another DD hill. Back across the river, a short steep climb to some city steps, then a long steady climb thru the cemetery brings us back to Two Frays.

B-pace route: Cuts out the Aspinwall Fire Station. Opts to climb Stanton instead, and drops down the hill to the take the Duncan St steps in reverse.

C-pace route: Dirty Jones returns for a short jaunt around the East End. Optional addition of the Highland Park loop.

A-pace route here

B-pace route here

C-pace route here

Full route cue sheet here

[carnegiemuseumnaturalhistory]

The Power of the Falcon in Ancient Egypt

by Raina Holt

I have always been super curious about how the natural environment influences people’s beliefs and rituals. As I learned about ancient Egyptian religion, I found elements that fascinated me. My curiosity led me to build a replica of a pyramid in 5th grade with a secret trapdoor inside. In college, I learned about mummification and continued to discover how and why the ancient Egyptians’ belief in an afterlife was so extensive. My recent internship with Carnegie Museum of Natural History gave me the opportunity to dig deep into my interest in Egypt using research to explore the significance of birds in ancient Egyptian religion.

Research involves asking questions and searching for answers by finding facts and information to explain the unknown. My research allowed me to explore how birds, including vultures, ibises, and even owls, were a big part of Egyptian culture and religion. In ancient Egypt, birds were very commonly associated with different gods. For example, the falcon represented the god Horus. In a comprehensive compilation of related essays titled, Between Heaven and Earth: Birds in Ancient Egypt (University of Chicago Press, 2012), the culture-wide association of gods with birds is partially explained as people’s perception that birds could fly and therefore be closer to the gods. Some birds of prey such as falcons, hawks, and owls are particularly skilled flyers, owing to physical adaptations such as long wings, relatively short tails, and powerful chest muscles. These features, when combined with others, including keen eyesight, sharp, curved talons, and sturdy, razor-edged bills, enable them to capture and kill prey. In some predator-prey encounters, speed is also a vital part of the killing equation. Lanner Falcons, for example, a species well-represented in ancient Egyptian art works, can reach diving speeds of up to 90 miles-per-hour in pursuit of smaller flying birds. Their strength, speed, and beauty made them ideal representatives for certain Egyptian gods.

Staff member at the National Aviary training a Lanner Falcon (photo by author).

In the Summer of 2017, I participated in a program called Soar! On Skydeck at the National Aviary on Pittsburgh’s North Side. I signed up, along with a handful of other Aviary visitors, because I knew I could learn at a deeper level through firsthand observation of live birds of prey. The highly skilled trainer, who worked with a Lanner Falcon during the presentation, relied upon a thick leather glove so her left hand could serve as a suitable and talon-proof resting perch for the bird.

The highlight of the presentation was a hunting demonstration. The trainer first let the falcon circle above us for a short while. Then the bird saw a chunk of meat placed for it and dove quickly, spreading its wings at the last moment to slow down and grab the food with its sharp talons. The falcon, as I could see with my own eyes, was fast, fierce, and powerful, which is why it was used to represent a god in ancient Egypt.

The god Horus, represented as a falcon or a human with a falcon head, was a sun god as well as the ancient Egyptian god of kingship, representing the living king of Egypt. Falcons, along with other birds, could have easily been seen by everyone in ancient Egypt. The sight of a falcon soaring overhead near the sun would have been a particularly striking scene. The pharaoh was believed to be not merely a powerful ruler, but to be the embodiment of the god, Horus. The job of Horus was to protect Egyptians in their daily lives, just like the pharaoh. In recognition of Horus’s important role, people would decorate their tombs with falcons. In later periods the ancient Egyptians offered mummified falcons to Horus, gifts which were sometimes placed in a small coffin with a bronze falcon on top.

Lanner Falcon at National Aviary (photo by author)

Pittsburgh currently offers several falcon viewing opportunities. You can see Lanner Falcons, as I did at the National Aviary, but you can also watch the livestream of the Peregrine Falcon pair and their offspring in their nest on a high ledge of the Cathedral of Learning in Oakland! Because the feeding territory of these birds extends far beyond this University of Pittsburgh landmark, Peregrine Falcons can also be seen flying high above Schenley Park, and much of the University of Pittsburgh Campus. Occasionally the birds can even be heard screeching loudly near Carnegie Museum of Natural History and Carnegie Museum of Art!

Raina Holt is currently an intern for Carnegie Museum of Natural History’s Section of Anthropology. Museum staff, volunteers, and interns are encouraged to blog about their unique experiences and knowledge gained from working at the museum.

[pittsburghisbeautiful]

Graffiti art under a bridge in Schenley Park in Oakland.

[rabbitcruiser]

South Shore Riverfront Park, Pittsburgh (No. 2)

The Three Rivers Heritage Trail is an urban rail trail paralleling the riverbanks in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and Allegheny County for about 33 miles (53 km), often on both sides of the rivers, and offering views of the city. The trail is promoted and maintained in part by the 'Friends of the Riverfront'. Their stated mission is to increase awareness and engagement with the region's rivers and riverfronts through activities and stewardship, and to extend the water and land trails on the major rivers within Allegheny County.

At the Pittsburgh Point State Park, there are three rivers: the Allegheny River and Monongahela River, which unite to form the Ohio River. The Three Rivers Heritage Trail extends three miles (5 km) up the north side of the Allegheny River to Millvale, and also three miles (5 km) down the north bank of the Ohio River to Brunot Island. On the Monongahela River, the trail goes five miles (8 km) upriver from Station Square to a point just short of the Waterfront Shopping District.

Within the city, the trail takes the names of neighborhoods through which it passes. The north bank of the Allegheny River is Pittsburgh's North Side also known as Northside, and the trail is referred to locally as the 'North Shore Trail'. On the north bank of the Ohio River, the trail is called the 'Chateau Trail' after the neighborhood along which it runs. On the south bank of the Allegheny, it goes through the food market area and is called the 'Strip District Trail'.

On Monongahela River's north bank, it is called the 'Eliza Furnace Trail' because it passes the site where the Jones and Laughlin Steel Company once had its Eliza Furnaces. Some people call this section the 'Jail Trail' because it also passes the Allegheny County Jail on its way to Oakland, the university center of the city. A branch that extends into Schenley Park in Oakland is called the 'Junction Hollow Trail'. As it moves further up the Monongahela River towards Frick Park, it is called the 'Duck Hollow Trail', because that is where a stream exits the park into the Monongahela. On the south bank of the Monongahela in Pittsburgh's South Side, it is called the 'South Side Trail'.

The trail hosts public art and has 61 interpretive signs along the trail, highlighting the region's heritage and riverfront ecology.

Pittsburgh is one terminus of the 335-mile (539 km) long 'Great Allegheny Passage' (GAP) that connects the city to Cumberland, Maryland and Washington, D.C. The route of the GAP uses five miles (8 km) of the 'Three Rivers Heritage Trail'. Within the city, the GAP goes from the Waterfront Mall and Sandcastle upstream on the Monongahela River, and then at the SouthSide Works crosses the river on the Hot Metal Bridge. Finally, it uses the north bank of the Monongahela to reach the Pittsburgh Point.

The 'Friends of the Riverfront' have also developed and administer the 'Three Rivers Water Trail', along the riverfronts of Allegheny County, for kayakers and canoeists, with access points, parking areas, and boat racks. For many years, the trail hosted the annual 'Pittsburgh Triathlon', a competition for top athletes who use the land and water routes to bike, run, and swim for this Olympic qualifier. A less demanding version is the 'Adventure Race', for friends, families, and teams who wish to paddle, bike, and run a shorter yet challenging course.

Source: Wikipedia

[davhoods007]

THINGS TO DО ІN  PІTTЅBURGH

Thе second lаrgеѕt сіtу in Pеnnѕуlvаnіа, Pіttѕburgh іѕ a great wееkеnd destination, hоmе tо fаmоuѕ muѕеumѕ, scenic раrkѕ, еxсеllеnt restaurants, unique wеddіng vеnuеѕ аnd a vіbrаnt performing arts ѕсеnе. Vіѕіt the Carnegie Muѕеum оf Art, explore thе Nаtіоnаl Avіаrу, ѕее thе Frісk Art & Hіѕtоrісаl Center, view thе соllесtіоn аt thе Andу Wаrhоl Muѕеum, and go for a rоmаntіс stroll іn Sсhеnlеу Pаrk. Best things to dо іn Pіttѕburgh, PA wіth kіdѕ іnсludе thе Pittsburgh Zоо аnd PPG Aquarium, thе Carnegie Science Cеntеr, аnd Cаrnеgіе Muѕеum оf Nаturаl Hіѕtоrу.Hеrе аrе thе list оf thіngѕ tо ѕее:

Carnegie Museum of Art

Thе Cаrnеgіе Muѕеum of Art іѕ a dуnаmіс, contemporary art muѕеum thаt features a collection of mоrе thаn 30,000 оbjесtѕ across a ѕресtrum оf art fоrmѕ, rаngіng from раіntіng and ѕсulрturе tо decorative arts, design, film аnd vіd��о.

Onе of thе tор Pіttѕburgh аttrасtіоnѕ, thе muѕеum еxрlоrеѕ thе rоlе of аrt and artists in ѕосіеtу and соnfrоntѕ ѕосіаl іѕѕuеѕ through аn еxtеnѕіvе rаngе of реrmаnеnt аnd trаvеlіng еxhіbіtіоnѕ, аrt рrоgrаmmіng аnd publications. A wіdе vаrіеtу of рrоgrаmѕ fоr vіѕіtоrѕ оf аll аgеѕ аnd lеvеlѕ іѕ аvаіlаblе tо еnjоу, ranging frоm сlаѕѕеѕ, wоrkѕhорѕ аnd dосеnt-lеd tоurѕ tо соmmunіtу-bаѕеd education рrоgrаmѕ.

Nаtіоnаl Aviary in Pіttѕburgh

Thе National Avіаrу, the оnlу іndооr, іndереndеnt nоn-рrоfіt zоо devoted tо only bіrdѕ іn the United Stаtеѕ, is lосаtеd іn Pіttѕburgh'ѕ Wеѕt Park іn thе сіtу'ѕ Nоrth Sіdе hіѕtоrіс area.The bіrd соllесtіоn аt thе Aviary іѕ соmрrіѕеd of grеаtеr thаn 150 dіffеrеnt ѕресіеѕ fоund throughout thе еntіrе рlаnеt. Sеvеrаl оf these bіrd species аrе еіthеr threatened species or еndаngеrеd ѕресіеѕ. Many оf thе numerous tуреѕ оf birds are seldom found аnуwhеrе еlѕе, and rерrеѕеnt every continent wіth thе еxсерtіоn of Antаrсtіса. The National Aviary соnѕіѕtѕ оf many frее-flіght bіrd exhibits thаt guеѕtѕ can wаlk through; ѕоmе рrоvіdе thе opportunity tо hаnd-fееd thе bіrdѕ.

Cаrnеgіе Science Cеntеr

Thе аwаrd-wіnnіng Carnegie Sсіеnсе Center іnѕріrеѕ and entertains vіѕіtоrѕ from around thе world by соnnесtіng science аnd tесhnоlоgу wіth еvеrуdау life. Lосаtеd аlоng thе bаnkѕ оf thе Ohіо River, thе Cеntеr fеаturеѕ a variety оf рорulаr аttrасtіоnѕ, іnсludіng the newly соnѕtruсtеd Buhl Dіgіtаl Dоmе, the Rangos Omnіmаx Thеаtеr, аn authentic Cоld Wаr-еrа submarine, thе USS Rеԛuіn, and rоbоwоrld - thе wоrld'ѕ lаrgеѕt реrmаnеnt rоbоtісѕ exhibit.

Exрlоrе hundrеdѕ of tіnу historic lосаl landmarks аt the Mіnіаturе Rаіlrоаd & Vіllаgе, brаvе kinetic energy as a humаn уо-уо at Hіghmаrk SportsWorks, оr hеаd іntо space at SpacePlace, a walk-in replica оf the International Space Stаtіоn.

Frісk Art & Hіѕtоrісаl Cеntеr

Surrоundеd bу lаndѕсареd gardens іn Pіttѕburgh'ѕ East End, thе Frісk Art & Hіѕtоrісаl Center showcases the rеfіnеmеnt оf the Gilded Age thrоugh a curated collection оf fine аnd decorative аrtѕ аnd аrtіfасtѕ, vіntаgе саrѕ and саrrіаgеѕ.

Dоnаtеd by Hеlеn Clау Frісk, dаughtеr оf іnduѕtrіаlіѕt аnd аrt collector, Hеnrу Clау Frісk, thе Center fеаturеѕ аn аrt muѕеum, whісh bоаѕtѕ an аdmіrаblе соllесtіоn оf fine art, аnd a hоuѕе muѕеum, whісh offers thе рublіс аn іntіmаtе glimpse іntо the lіfе оf thе Frісk fаmіlу a сеnturу аgо.

Thе Car аnd Cаrrіаgе Muѕеum hоuѕеѕ thе Frісk fаmіlу’ѕ реrѕоnаl соllесtіоn of саrѕ and саrrіаgеѕ аnd dеlvеѕ іntо the history оf wеѕtеrn Pеnnѕуlvаnіа’ѕ еаrlу аutо еnthuѕіаѕtѕ аnd mаnufасturеrѕ.

     Sсhеnlеу Pаrk

Sсhеnlеу Park іѕ an urbаn оаѕіѕ іn thе heart оf Oakland. Established іn 1889 bу hеіrеѕѕ Mary Schenley for the public tо enjoy thе great оutdооrѕ, thе civic раrk соmрrіѕеѕ оvеr 450 асrеѕ оf bеаutіful nаturаl landscapes, trаіlѕ, аnd wооdlаndѕ.

In addition tо hіkіng and bіkіng trаіlѕ, the раrk іѕ hоmе to the Sсhеnlеу Ovаl Sроrtѕрlеx, whісh offers ісе-ѕkаtіng іn thе wіntеr аnd ѕwіmmіng іn thе ѕummеr mоnthѕ. Visitors to the park саn enjoy оutdооr concerts аt the Phipps Cоnѕеrvаtоrу, lunсh аt thе Schenley Pаrk Café and a round оf golf аt the Bob O’Connor Gоlf Cоurѕе.

The раrk also hosts a rаngе оf ѕіgnіfісаnt аnnuаl еvеntѕ throughout the year, ѕuсh аѕ thе Vіntаgе Grаnd Prіx аnd thе Pіttѕburgh Rасе fоr the Curе.

The 'Burgh Bіtѕ & Bites Fооd Tour

Exреrіеnсе the сіtу оf Pittsburgh оn fun-filled Fооd Tаѕtіng and Hіѕtоrіс Wаlkіng Tours, whісh еxрlоrе thе rісh hіѕtоrу аnd сulіnаrу delights оf thе Stееl Cіtу.

Vіѕіtоrѕ can choose frоm a variety оf tours - thе Strip District Market Tоur іѕ where уоu саn dіѕсоvеr a mеltіng pot оf еthnіс еаtеrіеѕ іntеrtwіnеd with ѕресіаltу shops аnd sidewalk vendors ѕеllіng lосаl produce; Blооmfіеld іѕ hоmе to Pіttѕburgh'ѕ Little Itаlу, where уоu саn ѕаvоr thе dеlісіоuѕ flаvоrѕ оf Itаlіаn delicacies from ѕресіаltу ѕhорѕ, dеlіѕ аnd еаtеrіеѕ; аnd thе Nоrthѕіdе / Former Allеghеnу Cіtу оffеrѕ ѕаmрlіngѕ of cuisine frоm ѕоmе оf Pittsburgh's bеѕt ѕmаll lосаl businesses. Tоurѕ can bе enjoyed in a grоuр оr рrіvаtе сарасіtу аnd nееd to bе booked іn аdvаnсе.

[pittarchives]

Forbes Field through the Years

One of Pittsburgh’s most famous landmarks was Forbes Field, Oakland’s very own stadium and home of the Pittsburgh Pirates and Steelers, the Pitt Panthers, and the Homestead Greys. Tomorrow would have been the 108th anniversary of the opening of the field, which was praised for its size and design. However, due to both age and Oakland’s development leading to a lack of parking spaces (we understand completely on that point), the last game was played there on June 28th, 1970, and the building was demolished a year later.

In honor of the anniversaries of both the opening and the closing of this magnificent Pittsburgh locale- and also because of the Pirates’ stretch of games at home this week- we wanted to share just a few of the great photos we have of this picturesque ballpark.

An early, pre-1930s snapshot taken by photographer John Gates.

This 1914 G.M. Hopkins map shows a very different Oakland, with Forbes Fielf shown in the bottom left. The relatively undeveloped location outside of downtown led some to call the field Dreyfuss’ Folly, after Pirates owner Barney Dreyfuss. Note the large central portion of undeveloped land belonging to Henry Clay Frick in the middle of the map plate- the future site of the Cathedral of Learning.

Taken from the Cathedral of Learning in 1936, this image shows not only the Field to the far right, but a few other recognizable icons, including the Carnegie Library (left) and the Mary Schenley Memorial Fountain (center). Schenley Park stretches out in the background.

A 1943 baseball game provided some much-needed levity during the wartime years. Note the Navy sailor along the far end of the field.

By 1950, Forbes Field had seating for a crowd of up to 35,000 people.

A view of Forbes Field in the early half of the 1960s. Note that Oakland has gotten considerably more crowded.

The scoreboard stands dwarfed by the (rather grime-encrusted) Cathedral of Learning in early 1972, during the ongoing demolition process.

- Ashley Taylor

[whatsupaugusta]

Spring nor’easter targets Northeast with heavy snow, winds

(Darrell Sapp/Pittsburgh Post-Gazette via AP). People cross Flagstaff Hill as the snow starts to fall, in Schenley Park, on their way to the Carnegie Mellon University campus, Tuesday, March 20, 2018, in the Oakland section of Pittsburgh.

(AP Photo/Matt Slocum). A man walks through falling snow Tuesday, March 20, 2018, in Philadelphia.

(AP Photo/Jenny Kane). Southwest Airlines flights are displayed on an arrivals and departures board at Newark Liberty International Airport, Tuesday, March 20, 2018, in Newark, N.J.

(AP Photo/Jenny Kane). Southwest Airlines flights are displayed on an arrivals and departures board at Newark Liberty International Airport, Tuesday, March 20, 2018, in Newark, N.J.

(AP Photo/Wayne Parry). Sand blown in from a nor’easter on Tuesday March 20, 2018 as well as from two recent storms buries an entrance to the beach in the Ortley Beach section of Toms River, N.J.

NJ shore town readies for nor’easter

NJ shore town readies for nor’easter

Wednesday, March 21 2018 12:04 AM EDT2018-03-21 04:04:45 GMT

Wednesday, March 21 2018 12:10 AM EDT2018-03-21 04:10:14 GMT

Parts of New Jersey could see up to a foot of snow from yet another nor’easter this week. (Source: KYW/CNN)

Parts of New Jersey could see up to a foot of snow from yet another nor’easter this week. (Source: KYW/CNN)

Parts of the East Coast could see up to a foot of snow from yet another nor’easter.

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Parts of the East Coast could see up to a foot of snow from yet another nor’easter.

More >>

Fourth nor’easter possible: Why so many?

Fourth nor’easter possible: Why so many?

Saturday, March 17 2018 6:24 AM EDT2018-03-17 10:24:33 GMT

Saturday, March 17 2018 7:08 AM EDT2018-03-17 11:08:31 GMT

On Wednesday, March 14, a resident of Methuen, MA, clears away snow that fell as the result of a nor’easter moving along the Atlantic coast. (Source: WBZ/CNN)

The recent nor’easters have wreaked havoc on the northeast Atlantic coast – but just how unusual is this weather?

More >>

The recent nor’easters have wreaked havoc on the northeast Atlantic coast – but just how unusual is this weather?

More >>

By KRISTEN DE GROOT and WAYNE PARRY Associated Press

PHILADELPHIA (AP) – A spring nor’easter targeted the Northeast on Wednesday with strong winds and a foot or more of snow expected in some parts of the region.

Airlines canceled flights and schools canceled classes ahead of the fourth major storm in three weeks.

“It’s ridiculous,” Bob Burkhard of Toms River, New Jersey, said on Tuesday near the beach at Seaside Park. “First day of spring and we’re getting another snowstorm.”

Landscaping crews along the New Jersey coast tended to shrubs and plants at oceanfront homes, and then packed up their garden tools to get ready to plow. Shore towns positioned bulldozers, front-end loaders and other heavy equipment to deal with beach erosion.

The bulk of the snow and sleet was expected to pound New Jersey, Maryland, Delaware and parts of eastern Pennsylvania on Wednesday before heading toward Cape Cod early Thursday.

Widespread power outages were possible with gusts blowing up to 35 mph (56 kph).

In Philadelphia, where wind-whipped snow fell on Tuesday, restaurant server Katy Halbeisen called the early-spring storm “pretty lame.”

“Yesterday I was walking around and saw little birds taking a bath and it looked like they were thinking it would be spring. So I feel bad for those little birds,” she said.

Dog walker Emily DiFiglia said she was done with winter.

“I’m outside all day long. So having the weather constantly fluctuating has driven me a little mad,” she said on Philadelphia’s South Street. “Mother Nature, let’s get some warm weather!”

The flight-tracking site FlightAware reported more than 3,000 canceled flights across the U.S. Wednesday, most in the Northeast.

On the ground, Amtrak said it would scale back service on the Northeast corridor and some states banned certain types of trucks from major highways.

___

Parry reported from Seaside Park, New Jersey.

Copyright 2018 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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[airmanisr]

AVR-5, Schenley Tunnel, Oakland, PA by Ian M. Hapsias Via Flickr: AVR-5 with 3 flared SD40-2R's pops out of the B&O Schenley Tunnel in Oakland, PA. Beat the train by a minute to the crossing (gate's activated as soon as I got to the crossing) and after parking and running back up for the shot, literally didn't have a second to spare. The shot came out well for a frantic mad dash, point the camera at the train and shoot shoot shoot!

[pghbabesonbikes]

2023 Frigid Bitch Training Rides

Tryin to prep for FBX? Need to bone up on your cuts around the city? Gotta practice layering up in various weather conditions? Hopin’ to meet some FB vets race crews you might be able to slide into?

Every Sunday til race day we’ll be holding training rides around the city. Each week will ride the route of a previous Frigid Bitch. Full routes will likely feature stairs, cobbles, long flats, and a few steep hills. We will have multiple groups:

- A pace: fast drop ride with longer mileage and more elevation. Will regroup at the tops of long/steep hills but generally will not wait for stragglers. ~16+ mph avg - B pace: ‘fit commuter’ pace, semi-drop, mid-level mileage and elevation. Will regroup at various points but may not wait for extended times. ~12-15 mpg avg - C pace: conversational social pace, no-drop, shorter routes, relatively few big hills. ~10-12 mph avg

If you are interested in leading or sweeping a pace group, please email us @ pghbabesonbikes@gmail.com!

Routes are posted below - cue sheets are set up for most rides to make almost any/all of the features skippable if you’re not feeling it. Choose a route and pace that is challenging to you, and have fun bopping around the city seeing who you catch & who catches you!

All routes will also be posted as events on our Ride w GPS Club & Strava Club page

Two Frays Brewing will have space for bikes on their patio, outside heaters, indoor bathrooms, and coffee for sale. They’ll also have a couple new non-alcoholic beers on tap as well as their regular rotation. Stick around after the ride to hang out and compare ride recaps!

BEWARE: These rides are run in full Pgh Winter, so weather may mean routes take us over ice and snow. We may need to re-route mid ride depending on the conditions! Be ready for an adventure.

Sunday Feb 5th - Frigid Bitch 2021

Start/finish: Two Frays Brewing - 5113 Penn Ave in Garfield

Meet at 1pm, leave at 1:30pm!

Full A-pace route: Takes us into the North Hills, from the Highland Park Br over to the Millvale softball fields. A steep climb up Geyer Rd takes us across mainly rolling roads to the observatory, where we’ll drop back down Perrysville punctuated with a short climb up (and then very much down) Federal. A climb to Polish Hill is next, topped by a city step loop and the beloved blast down Gold Way into Oakland to the bullet descent down Fifth. Birmingham, then Hot Metal, then the Greenfield Ave climb into Schenley Park. The finish is a residential roll through the East End.

B-pace route: Cuts out the trek across the HP Br and the roady north hills chunk, but tacks on some mileage (and a staircase!) heading up into Riverview. This B route is similar mileage to the full route, but with slightly less climbing. 

C-pace route: Piling on the mileage for C-pace this week but keeping the elevation down, the ride will head thru tried and true East End roads, a mild uphill pump on Wilkins/Beechwood, a lovely roll  through Schenley Park before one of the best winding downhills around. Sneak through Oakland and onto the cyclists’ best friend back alley (Gold Way) to pop out at the Melwood staircase, before dropping down into the Strip and practicing your stop and starts along Spring Way. The 16th St Bridge takes you over the river to the North Shore trail where you can relax until the one final uphill along the bike lane on 40th. Finish @ Two Frays and catch B&A group rolling in behind you!

A-pace route here

B-pace route here

C-pace route here

Previous routes:

Sunday Jan 1st - Frigid Bitch 2016

Start/finish: Two Frays Brewing - 5113 Penn Ave in Garfield

Meet at 1pm, leave at 1:30pm!

Full A-pace route: We’ll warm up by climbing Negley Ave (just a little big city hill), swing down Panther Hollow to hit the most obvious Pgh cobbles, take a dip into S Oakland and run the dead end of Romeo St staircase before climbing back up through Schenley Park for the pleasant commuter downhill of Pocusset St. Remember when the Greenfield Bridge was just rubble? From here we’ve got easy peasy double trail time from the Eliza Furnace, a quick jaunt thru the North Side, and back to the East End via the 3 Rivers Heritage Trail to 31st St Br. One more slog as we finish with a cobbled climb up McCandless and a fast downhill on Stanton back to Two Frays.

B-pace route: Cuts out the Romeo staircase and the North Side roads, keeping steady from the Eliza Furnace to the 3 Rivers trail. Optional end of ride cut: anyone who doesn’t fancy the cobbled climb up McCandless can stay on Penn after the 31st St Br and head back to Two Frays.

A-pace route here

B-pace route here

Full route cue sheet here

Sunday Jan 8th - Frigid Bitch 2017

Start/finish: Two Frays Brewing - 5113 Penn Ave in Garfield

Meet at 1pm, leave at 1:30pm!

Full A-pace route: 2017 was the only year that the FB featured split timed checkpoints, reflected on this route by the double loop we make around the East End. Start with a quick up-and-down to the Bud Harris Cycling track (we’ll do a lap cuz why not), then a relatively flat long rev-up on our first hit of the East End before dropping down 31st St Br for the first real challenge: Rialto St (the easiest of the Dirty Dozen hills!). Take a breather thru the North Side til a nice steady climb up Brighton, a fun descent down Woods Run where we’ll take the Penitentiary Trail over the Duq Br to the Point. Back on that inescapable Eliza Furnace Trail to hit Phipps, then one last swing out to the East End to the Highland Park Reservoir.

B-pace route: Cuts out the steady climb up Brighton and the long way back on the Penitentiary Trail, heading thru downtown instead to catch the Eliza Furnace. Optional end of ride cut: anyone done before the HP Res can swing left on Coral from Negley and head straight back to Two Frays.

C-pace route: 10-mile no-drop loop through the East End, featuring 2 mild hills - short and punchy up Bunker Hill to the Highland Park Reservoir and a longer steady climb up Wilkins into Oakland.

A-pace route here

B-pace route here

C-pace route here

Full route cue sheet here

Sunday Jan 15th - Frigid Bitch 2018

Start/finish: Two Frays Brewing - 5113 Penn Ave in Garfield

Meet at 1pm, leave at 1:30pm!

Full A-pace route: Starts with some easy rolling hills through the East End before climbing up Stanton and descending to Butler St, where we’ll do a little back-roading before popping over to the rt 28 side of the Allegheny River and hoisting our bikes up the Troy Hill steps. Why stop there? More steps!: The West End Br pedestrian tunnel is next, taking us to the Station Square trail, to the South Side trail, across the Birmingham Br and up to the Hill District Water Tower. A final winding descent down Herron drops us at a final climb up Liberty and back to Two Frays.

B-pace route: Cuts out the West End Br and entire South Side chunk of the route. Instead, riders will take the 16th St Br and climb the backside of Polish Hill to the Water Tower. From there, the route drops down Blessing St to the Bloomfield Br - at the bottom of Blessing, hike your bike up the steps to the pedestrian over pass to access the Bloomfield Br sidewalk!  

C-pace route: From Two Frays to the Wheel Mill via the Neighborway, Negley and the East Liberty Ave bike lanes. Swing back around for a steady climb up and then down Stanton Ave to the Button, then back up to Two Frays via the Allegheny Cemetery.

A-pace route here

B-pace route here

C-pace route here

Full route cue sheet here

Sunday Jan 22th - Frigid Bitch 2019

Start: Corner of Penn & Winebiddle

Fnish: Two Frays Brewing - 5113 Penn Ave in Garfield

Meet at 1pm, leave at 1:30pm!

Full A-pace route: Features some fun winding roady sections and some long climbs to city overlooks with glorious downhills. Start with a secret cut thru the Allegheny Cemetery, to a short steep cobbled hill on the outskirts of Chatham University, a quick offroad dip into Frick Park and a long time trial down Beechwood Blvd. A super fun fast windy downhill thru Schenley takes us back to Oakland, where a super fun straight blast down Fifth Ave stops on a dime to hike up the Mohawk St steps, turn around and cross the Birmingham Br. The South Side trail pops us out at a sidewalk slog up PJ McArdle to the most famous overlook, then drop down one of the nicest Dirty Dozen hills (Sycamore) to cut through downtown and back up to another overlook. Oops we’re going down a Dirty Dozen hill again! Suffolk takes us to East St, the trail, a really lovely pedestrian bridge to Herrs Island where we’ll off-road a little bit to the park at the point (not The Point). Once more over 31st but instead of Liberty-ing it back just yet, we’ve got some back roads (pothole alert) swooping us under the Bloomfield Br before we cut across Bloomfield back to Two Frays.

B-pace route: Cuts out the cemetery jaunt, the off-roading in Frick Park, replaces the bomb down Fifth Ave with a less dramatic but still fun bomb down Swineburn, keeps the Grandview Overlook climb but cuts out the Fineview Overlook climb.

C-pace route: Hit 5 checkpoints this week by sneaking down the Neighborway and Negley Ave to a cobbled climb up Murray Hill, then a quick out-and-back for a Frick Park choose-your-own-adventure (on/off bike) on the trail. Cut through Shadyside and swoop under the Bloomfield Bridge for a backroad pothole wonderland, then a one-two punch of bridges (30th&31st). A nice interim of flat trail before oh, it’s another bridge (40th) and a zig zag cut up Lawrenceville takes us back towards Two Frays. Optional cemetery add-on to hit the Boob Tomb for the  voyeuristic.

A-pace route here

B-pace route here

C-pace route here

Full route cue sheet here

Sunday Jan 29th - Frigid Bitch 2020

Start/finish: Two Frays Brewing - 5113 Penn Ave in Garfield

Meet at 1pm, leave at 1:30pm!

Full A-pace route: First, a descent - towards downtown, under the convention center, via the rainbow waterfall underpass. Then, a flat - to Bicycle Heaven, home of the Peewee Herman bike. Next, a climb - up the South Side slopes, to the St Michael’s Cemetery. From there, another descent! This time through a backway down to the park and back into the SS Flats. Hot Metal takes us back up thru the Hallow, clear across the East End, across the Highland Park bridge and up to the Aspinwall Firestation, at the foothills of another DD hill. Back across the river, a short steep climb to some city steps, then a long steady climb thru the cemetery brings us back to Two Frays.

B-pace route: Cuts out the Aspinwall Fire Station. Opts to climb Stanton instead, and drops down the hill to the take the Duncan St steps in reverse.

C-pace route: Dirty Jones returns for a short jaunt around the East End. Optional addition of the Highland Park loop.

A-pace route here

B-pace route here

C-pace route here

Full route cue sheet here

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Purchase Pitt fake diploma and transcript from USA

Where to buy Pitt fake diploma, buy Pitt fake degree, buy Pitt fake transcript, buy Pitt fake certificate, buy Pitt fake document, buy Pitt fake diploma and transcript. The University of Pittsburgh (commonly referred to as Pitt) is a state-related research university located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. In 1787 after the American Revolutionary War, it was founded on the edge of the American frontier as the Pittsburgh Academy. It developed and was renamed as Western University of Pennsylvania by a change to its charter in 1819. After surviving two devastating fires and various relocations within the area, the school moved to its current location in the Oakland neighborhood of the city; it was renamed as the University of Pittsburgh in 1908. For most of its history, Pitt was a private institution, until 1966 when it became part of the Commonwealth System of Higher Education. How to buy Pitt cheap and safe fake diploma, buy Pitt cheap and safe fake degree, buy Pitt cheap and safe fake transcript, buy Pitt cheap and safe fake document, buy Pitt cheap and safe fake diploma and transcript. The university is composed of 17 undergraduate and graduate schools and colleges located at its urban Pittsburgh campus, home to the university’s central administration and 28,766 undergraduate, graduate, and professional students. The university also includes four undergraduate schools located at campuses within Western Pennsylvania: Bradford, Greensburg, Johnstown, and Titusville. The 132-acre Pittsburgh campus has multiple contributing historic buildings of the Schenley Farms Historic District, most notably its 42-story Gothic revival centerpiece, the Cathedral of Learning. The campus is situated adjacent to the flagship medical facilities of its closely affiliated University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC), as well as the Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh, Schenley Park, and Carnegie Mellon University. The university has an annual operating budget of approximately $2 billion, which includes nearly $900 million in research and development expenditures.

[jiachi]

Oakland Modern Walking Tour _ Oakland, Pittsburgh

Winchester Apartments (1973) _ North Neville Street, North Oakland

Preservation Pittsburgh’s Modern Committee (ModCom) hosted a guided walking tour of modern and late modern architecture and design throughout the neighborhood of Oakland and the University of Pittsburgh campus. “The Oakland neighborhood is home to a unique, dense collection of banks, apartment buildings, and campus facilities - from libraries to parking garages - completed in the 1960s and 1970s."

The Neville House Apartments (1959) by Tasso Katselas _ North Neville Street, North Oakland

PNC Bank (1962) by Skidmore, Owings and Merrill _ South Craig Street & Fifth Avenue, North Oakland

Virgil Cantini Studio & Home _ South Craig Street, North Oakland

Carnegie Museum of Art Addition (1974) by Edward Larrabee Barnes _ Forbes Avenue, North Oakland

Hillman Library (1968) by Celli-Flyn and Associates _ Schenley Drive, North Oakland

Wesley W. Posvar Hall (1978) by Johnstone, Newcomer and Valentour _ Schenley Drive, North Oakland

Litchfield Towers (1963) by Deeter & Ritchey _Fifth Avenue, North Oakland

Michael L. Benedum Hall of Engineering (1971) by Deeter, Ritchey, and Sippel.  Mascaro Center for Sustainable Innovation expansion (2009) by Edge Studio _ O’Hara Street, North Oakland

The Learning research and Development Center (1974) by Harrison & Abramovitz _ O’Hara Street, North Oakland

American Institute for Research (1965) by Tasso Katselas _ N. Bellefield Avenue, North Oakland

[carnegiemuseumnaturalhistory]

CMP Travel Program and Section of Invertebrate Paleontology Promotes the 125th Anniversary of the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh with an outdoor walking tour

Before Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh (CMP) reopened to the public on June 28th, Barbara Tucker, Director of CMP’s Travel Program, talked with me about ways to reengage members and bring them back to the Oakland museums.

With knowledge about my research on the 125th Anniversary of the founding of the Carnegie Library, Barbara suggested a 90-minute outdoor walking tour around the exterior of the massive building.  Starting from where the oldest portion of the building (Portal Entry) meets the newest (Museum of Art) to the front of the historic library entrance, past the Diplodocus carnegii statue, to Forbes Avenue and the entrances of the music hall, natural history museum, and fine arts museum guarded by the statues of the noble quartet.

Fig. 1

The tour was advertised on the CMP website under the Travel Program link, https://carnegiemuseums.org/things-to-do/travel-with-us/ and https://carnegiemuseums.org/kollar/, and accurately described as an activity fully compliant with CDC protocols. Within a week, the tour received overwhelming signups, which were organized by date and number of participants by Travel Program assistant Isabel Romanowski. Three tour dates were set in August and several more in September. Special private tours for donors and others in the fall continue to be arranged.    

Andrew Carnegie, Founder:

As guide for an exercise that involves close observation of architectural details, I face the challenge of getting participants to imagine this section of Pittsburgh long before any of the structures around in Oakland existed. The library and museums cover five acres of flat bottom land formed by the pre-Ice Age Monongahela River more than 1.2 million years ago. In far more recent times, the land was part of the Mary Schenley Mount Airy tract of 300 acres which was donated to the City of Pittsburgh in 1889 to create Schenley Park in her honor. Andrew Carnegie, (1835 – 1919) industrialist, steel magnate, and philanthropist, in 1895 saw the site as a place to build a complex with a library, fine arts gallery, science museum, and music hall that would represent the noble quartet of literature, art, science, and music.

The Library Tour Themes:

Fig. 2

Tour groups assemble on the dark stone steps outside the Carnegie Museum of Art (CMOA) rear entrance for an introduction focusing on the two connected, but architecturally different buildings: the Beaux-Arts style Carnegie Complex, with the original structure dating to1895, and later addition to 1907, which was built by Longfellow, Alden, and Harlow using Carnegie Steel (Fig. 2), and the modern Carnegie Museum of Art, built by architect Edward Larrabee Barnes in 1974.

Two rock types distinguish the building exteriors. The older portions of the building are clad in a light grey, easily carved, 370 million-year-old Berea Sandstone from Amherst, Ohio, while the exterior and much of the interior of Museum of Art is covered in the 295 million-year-old bluish iridescence Larvikite igneous rock from Larvik, Norway. When Barnes was commissioned to build CMOA, he chose the dark rock to blend with the older building’s coal dust veneer, a grime coating that was removed when the exterior stone was cleaned in 1990.

Landscape Art and Geology:

Fig. 3

Pittsburgh’s landscape painter, John Kane’s (1860 – 1934), Cathedral of Learning, circa 1930 (Fig. 3), depicts the 150-foot-deep Junction Hollow with its operating railroad. The work also includes many important architectural references, the Schenley Park Bridge (1897), Carnegie Institute’s Bellefield Boiler Plant (designed by Alden and Harlow in 1907 to supply electricity and heat to adjacent buildings), the Carnegie Institute Extension (1907), and a then unfinished Cathedral of Learning. This painting is part of CMOA Fine Arts collections.

Fig. 4

Another John Kane landscape, Panther Hollow, circa 1930 – 1934, (Fig. 4A) in combination with Cathedral of Learning has been used in teaching about the 300 million-year-old geology of Schenley Park (Fig. 4B2) and the pre-Pleistocene Monongahela River that formed the flat bottom landscape of Oakland, and through erosion, Junction Hollow (Fig. 4B1).  Kollar and Brezinski 2010, Geology, Landscape, and John Kane’s Landscape Paintings.

Junction Hollow Landscape:

Kane’s Cathedral of Learning (1930) is an idealized green space of Junction Hollow, the Wilmot Street Bridge in the foreground (1907) now replaced with the Charles Anderson Bridge (1940), and Carnegie Tech’s (now Carnegie Mellon University’s) Hamerschlag Hall or Machinery Hall (1912), built by Henry Hornbostel, a Pittsburgh architect. Hornbostel designed a circular Roman temple wrapped about a tall yellow brick smokestack (Fig. 4A). The design is based on the Roman temple of Vesta in Tivoli, Italy, dating to the early 1st century BC. Hornbostel’s overall campus design focused on connection between art and science, with Junction Hollow representing the geological sciences. The architect Philip Johnston, who built Pittsburgh’s postmodern PPG Place (circa 1984), once contrasted the Bellefield Boiler Plant smokestack as “the ugliest in the world to Machinery Hall’s smokestack as the most beautiful.” In novelist Michael Chabon’s debut novel, The Mysteries of Pittsburgh, (1988) the Bellefield Boiler Plant, termed “the cloud factory” by the narrator, is the setting for a pivotal scene.

Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh (Main):

Fig. 5

The separate institutions we now know as Carnegie Museum of Natural History and Carnegie Museum of Art can track their origins to exhibits and galleries within space now fully occupied by Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh. An image of the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh in 1902 from the Bellefield Bridge, a structure now buried under the Mary Schenley Memorial Fountain (1918), reveals eclecticism in architectural features (Fig. 5). The west facing frontage doorways and portico of the library features, CARNEGIE LIBRARY, FREE TO THE PEOPLE, and 24 carved writer names. Missing from the names is Carnegie’s favorite poet, Robert Burns, whose statue was dedicated in 1914 on the grounds of Phipps Conservancy. Three separate entrances are served by granite steps of Permian age from Vermont, one for the science museum, one for the Department of Fine Arts, and the third, with distinctive Romanesque round doorways, brass doors with intricate features, and keystone scrolling, for the Library. This entrance was designed by Harlow, who was the draftsman on the McKim, Mead, and White team responsible for the Beaux-Arts Boston Public Library (1895). When the Carnegie Institute Extension was constructed in 1907, the science museum and fine arts museum collections were moved into the new space. The former spaces in the library became the Children’s Room, Pennsylvania Room, and Music Library.

Fig. 6

Fig. 7

A challenge at this point in the tour involves discussing features that are not visible up close. The Longfellow, Alden, and Harlow’s Italian Renaissance and Beaux-Arts H-shaped parallelogram winning design featured a copula (Fig. 6) on top of the red tile roof that was never built.  Eclecticism features include a double apse, a smaller shaped semi-circular extension of the library’s wall on the southside of the building, and larger apse on the north or Forbes Avenue side of the building, with the semicircular Music Hall auditorium, designed by Longfellow. The music hall exterior was structurally changed by the 1907 construction (Fig. 7).  

The exterior Berea Sandstone reveals rustication masonry techniques with the cut blocks on the exterior first floor level distinguished by ashlar pillow horizontal border stone, and smooth masonry from the second floor to the cornice below the roof line.  The second floor late Gothic style windows are divided by a vertical element called a mullion that helps with rigid support of the window arch and divides the window panels. Two symmetrical Campanile towers that Carnegie called “those donkey ears” were modeled after the San Marco Bell Tower in Venice, Italy. The towers served as an architectural offset to the semicircular exterior walls of the music auditorium and were removed in 1902 for the construction of the Carnegie Institute Extension. The installation of the towers can be interpreted as a tribute to Henry Hobson Richardson’s Allegheny County Courthouse twin towers (1888).

Architects choice of light grey sandstone and red tile roof:

The library’s red tile roof incorporated multiple glass roofs over the library, fine arts galleries, and science museum (all shaded from exterior sunlight today) which typified the Beau-Arts style. Keep in mind, the library did not have electric light. Light was provided by gas lighting and natural sunlight.  Longfellow, Alden, and Harlow wrote that “the choice of a red tile roof and grey Ohio (Berea) Sandstone was intentional to contrast with Pittsburgh’s grey skies and the changing seasonal colors of the foliage in Schenley Park.”  

The Beaux-Arts Architecture of the Carnegie Institute Extension 1907:

Fig. 8

Fig. 9

After Longfellow returned to his Boston practice in 1896, Alden and Harlow received the commission to build the Carnegie Institute Extension (1907) (Fig. 8). Their efforts created one of the great Beaux-Arts building in the United States. As Cynthia Field, Smithsonian Architecture Historian, stated in 1985, “the building itself is the greatest object of the entire museum collection.” Formal recognition of the building’s architectural importance exists in two historic landmark plagues placed outside of the Carnegie Library entrance and the Museums’ Carriage Drive entrance (Fig. 9).

New exterior features of the 1907 extension work included the replacement of the red tile roof with copper, the addition of an armillary sphere,  the construction, with a colonnade of solid Corinthian fluted columns of Berea Sandstone, four portico porches over the main entrances to the library, music hall, natural history and art museum, and eastside of building (now removed), and the creation, along Forbes Avenue, of a main Carriage Drive entrance with direct access to the galleries. The carved names of authors, artists, musicians, and scientists in the buildings’ entablature, a Victorian era practice, extends around the building from the library’s southeast corner to the music hall entrance, and natural history and the fine arts entrances.

Also notable along Forbes Avenue are John Massey Rhind’s noble quartet statues that guard the Music Hall and Natural History and Art entrances. The four male figures all seated in classic Greek chairs are Michelangelo (art), Shakespeare (literature), Bach (music), and Galileo (science).  Standing three stories above the quartet on the edge of the roof, four groups of female allegorical figures represent literature, music, art, and science as well. The bronze figures were casted in Naples, Italy in 1907 (Fig 8).

Inside the 1907 Architecture and Building Stones:

The architects created 13 new interior spaces where three grand spaces stand out for specific architecture styles such as, the Beaux-Arts Grand Staircase (voted in 2018 as the 8th best museum staircase in the world), the Neoclassical Hall of Sculpture, and neo-Baroque Music Hall Foyer. The extension used 32 varieties of marbles and fossil limestones, many from antiquity, quarried and imported from Algeria, Croatia, France, Greece, Ireland, Italy, and the United States.  

Since 2004, the collaboration between the CMP Travel Program and the Section of Invertebrate Paleontology has been highly successful reaching out to our members and patrons. This summer’s tours generated some particularly appreciative comments:

The Carnegie's resident scientists are a defining characteristic of this noble institution. Might be an anachronism in an era when museums are focused on providing 'destination' entertainment and hosting special events for swells, but while treasures like Dr. Kollar are still on staff, it’s a splendid idea to facilitate interaction between them and museum visitors. Congratulations on a most enjoyable program. -Ron Sommer

Albert was very informative and interesting. I found it most valuable learning the history of the area. -Janet Seifert

I can't stress enough how unusual and interesting it was to have a geologist give us the tour. It had never occurred to me before that there's so much one can learn about building materials from a geologist. -Neepa Majumdar

Albert D. Kollar is Collection Manager and Carnegie’s Historian of the Carnegie’s Building Stones. Barbara Tucker is Director of Carnegie Travel Program.

[pittsburghisbeautiful]

Coke bottle in the woods in Schenley Park in Oakland.