Robert Pence

It was a good meet. Thanks for showing us your building; that's some beautiful space, with lots of character and some butt-kicking views.

Don't push your luck, young man. You already cancelled out after saying you'd come to the meet, which is next worst thing to being a no-show. :-o Do you know who the hell he is?

Interesting thread!

How can they stand that? No parking lots, and way too crowded on the streets & sidewalks? :wink: Neat stuff; looks like a lively, exciting place.

Not too bad, as small midwestern towns go. They still have a nice street of vintage buildings, and some commerce, too.

There's a need for a lot of education for both motorists and cyclists. Portland is probably more bike-friendly than 90 percent of US cities, but according to the article it still has its dangers. For some drivers, I don't know what it will take to get through to them, short of a smack upside the head, and so far the laws don't permit that. Cyclists, even the more accomplished ones, sometimes have things to learn, too. Experienced cyclists on good road bikes can keep up with traffic speeds in much of the city, and have a lot more maneuverability than car drivers. Unless they have the agility and alertness of bike messengers, though, they can get in trouble doing so. Drivers don't expect them to be moving that fast, and they can pop up out of nowhere before drivers have time to react. Bike riders don't stand out in traffic; in fact, their small mass makes them easily obscured, and even when they see bikers, drivers aren't conditioned to expect them to be moving at traffic speeds. Bikers need to be aware of that, and allow time and space for drivers to make stupid, inconsiderate moves. I've seen riders traveling between the right lane of traffic and parked cars, passing a line that's stopped waiting for a light, and when the light changes as they approach the intersection, get knocked down or at least cut off and get mad as hell because somebody turned right in front of them. It shouldn't have happened, but they set themselves up. Of course, there are the nincompoops who ride against traffic or careen down a busy sidewalk in a pedestrian area, blow through stoplights and stop signs with abandon, and generally show no awareness or consideration for anyone else. They need to be subject to the same laws that apply to drivers. Their bad behavior contributes to a climate of hostility toward all cyclists.

Good shots! It saddens me that when long-time enterprises shut down, so often the last people just turn out the lights and leave. There's no attempt to salvage or liquidate supplies and furniture that would be useful or desirable to someone, and no thought for the future of the property. It's a pretty powerful example of a throwaway society.

Wasn't Piqua once a sort of focal point for gays from the surrounding area and some of the smaller towns, or am I thinking of someplace else? I seem to recall watching a drunk drag queen fall off the stage at a somewhat tacky, rowdy, fun bar called the Water Main, at the corner of Water and Main Streets. That would have been in the mid-to-late seventies.

Another excellent presentation, Jeffrey, as usual. That area looks pretty desolate, like it's just a notch or two away from junk pickup trucks up on blocks, with big dogs chained to them. It's not scary, but I'd find living there depressing.

Sunday (May 13) in Pittsburgh, I topped off at $2.859 before heading home. In this morning's paper I read that prices in Fort Wayne hit $3.40 yesterday. Finally, people are screaming. Sadly, the reaction of most is, "We'll just have to suck it up. There's nothing we can do to reduce our need." A few who have bought motorcycles think they've got a leg up on the situation, but wait until the snow and ice come along. Things haven't yet gotten bad enough to jar local commuters out of their complacency and established habits. Car-pooling is virtually unheard of, even among people who share a workplace and hours and who live within the same subdivision. The ones that I've asked about it say that it's worth the extra money to have their privacy while commuting, or that sometimes they need to come in early or work late. There's little substance to their excuses, just denial. They still drive too fast and too aggressively, with no will to conserve or awareness of how to do it. They may not even be aware that their driving habits have a big effect on their fuel consumption. The signals on arterial streets and roads are nearly all progressively timed, and it's possible to set a speed and drive clear across the city without stopping, although the morons who dash from one stoplight to the next, and then have to stop and wait, do screw up the flow to a considerable extent. The police department needs to implement an Idiot Patrol, made up of big guys who pull over clueless nincompoops and yank them out of their cars through the window and slap them around and yell at them. Nothing less will get through to them. :whip:

Thanks for the info on Banksville. I'll fix my comments in the thread. Also, thanks for the clarification on West Virginia. I've been there and agree with the "Almost Heaven" thing, and now I know what was missing. :wink:

Well, West Virginia isn't that far away. Despite their best efforts, for as long as I can remember, southwestern Pennsylvania has had a lot of undocumented West Virginians. That may be one of the areas where kinfolk provide sanctuary for them. Ink, I that building looks underutilized, but I don't think it's abandoned. It looked like there were a few lights on, and it was secure and untagged and unvandalized. Restored, it would be a beauty.

Pittsburgh - May 11 & 12, 2007 All Photos Copyright © 2007-2011 by Robert E Pence On Friday, May 11, I drove to Banksville, just down the hill on Potomac from Dormont, and checked into my room at the Comfort Inn & Suites on Banksville Road, in preparation for the Skyscraperpage.com meet on Saturday. The first few photos show the area surrounding the motel. It's not a fancy area, but the motel is affordable, clean and comfortable and a good value. It's barely half a mile to the T (light rail) Potomac stop, but the walk starts out like this and the steepness doesn't diminish much until the last couple of blocks. Last year I walked the round trip twice in one day, and after the second time I found the free park-and-ride lot. This part of Banksville Road is mostly commercial, largely car-care related businesses. I didn't know that the T service to downtown had been interrupted by reconstruction of the Palm Garden bridge. When the trolley reached Fallowfield, I had to detrain and transfer to a bus to continue my trip. I shot this while waiting for the bus. I learned that to ride light rail downtown, I had to board a southbound trolley at Potomac and ride to Overbrook, and then take a short walkway to the Willow Station and catch an inbound trolley on that line. The transfers aren't well-coordinated, and each time I did it, the trolley I wanted departed just as my trolley was arriving. Service only runs every 21 minutes on weekends, so it made some slow trips. Still, I preferred that to the bus transfer; the ride is more comfortable, and the overall time wasn't much different The Allegheny County Courthouse is more than Richardsonian. It was designed by the man, himself -- Henry Hobson Richardson -- and completed in 1886, the year that Richardson died. The courthouse is connected with the jail via the Bridge of Sighs. The courtyard inside the Allegheny County Courthouse Some evening shots downtown -- Pittsburgh has a good mix of contemporary architecture and vintage classics lining canyon streets. Construction of the light rail subway downtown made use of much preexisting railroad infrastructure, and parts of it show through in places. I boarded the T at First Avenue and rode to Station Square, where I caught a 51C bus to South Side Flats, the popular night-life area on Carson Street. As much as I love the neon and the commotion, when it comes to partying, for me this is probably a better idea. Reconstruction of the Palm Garden bridge has interrupted light rail service from Dormont to downtown, so on Saturday morning I had to board a trolley at Potomac and ride south to Overbrook, and then transfer to Willow (just a short walk) and a 47S train to downtown. It makes a long ride, but the day was pleasant and the route is scenic. This is the 44S trolley at Overbrook. A couple of neighborhood shots while waiting for the trolley. Technically it's light rail in contemporary terms, but I heard most riders referring to it as the trolley. I walked around downtown and took photos for a while before going to the meet location atMellon Square. There's something ironic about this. The elegant Granite Building is defaced at street level by an ugly sign over the entrance, identifying a "beauty supply" company This is one of my favorite Pittsburgh street vistas. It's even better on a weekday, when the streetand sidewalks are busy. Mellon Square is a nice public space that could benefit from a sprucing-up. I have yet to see the fountains operating, and it's overrun with pigeons because people feed them. Railroad bridge spanning the Allegheny River and leading to Pennsylvania Station Daniel Burnham's 1903 Pennsylvania Station still serves Amtrak trains. Long in severe disrepair, the building has been restored to provide residential space in the former hotel tower. Federal Reserve Pittsburgh branch Convention Center Megabus provides <a href="http://www.megabus.com/us/">low-cost transportation</a> between major cities in the Midwest Heading into the Strip District 16th Street Bridge The pictures say more than I could about the Strip. I've heard that the best time to go is Saturday morning. Old-school retail The Pennsylvania Railroad Fruit Auction and freight terminal building was built in 1926 and still serves as a produce market on a much-reduced scale. There has been discussion of reviving it as a marketplace to attract more people to the Strip. Heading back downtown

Pretty cute town. Perhaps they started the Ohio counties' trend of sticking incongrous and inappropriate alterations and additions on once-classic courthouses.

Good job and good photos!

I'm comin'

Damn, Chris! Those are gorgeous!

Beautiful photo! In 1962, the day that I arrived at Goodfellow AFB near San Angelo, Texas, I went to a movie at the base theater on my first evening there. When I left the theater it was dark out, and when I saw the night sky it nearly took my breath away. Growing up in the humid and hazy midwest, I had never imagined that one could see so many stars standing out so clearly against such a dark background. I'm sure some folks thought I was weird, just leaning against a railing and staring at the sky; they were right, but not for the reasons they thought.

Cute town, with some neat buildings. Some of those oldies have been subjected to some "interesting" remodeling!

OH, NO! Not Santa! All these years I've been nice, and now I find out it's all for nothing! :cry:

Among the newer stations, I think #20 at W25th and Archwood is one of my favorites. Friends of mine live very near there, and I've admired the station when visiting. I think you're off to a pretty good start. One thing to keep in mind when shooting in bright sunny weather is that the contrast (difference between light and shadow) will always appear greater and shadows will appear darker in the photo than they appeared to your eye when you took the picture. If you have access to photo editing software like Photoshop, you can adjust the contrast in the finished product. Overall pretty decent, though, I think.

For anyone interested in Youngstown's industrial and urban history, I highly recommend the Youngstown Historical Center of Labor and Industry. The building was designed by Michael Graves in 1986. The space is imposing and the exhibits portray the steel and coal and other industries that made Youngstown a powerhouse and the human element that made those industries prosperous. The Center is located at 151 W Wood Street. If I remember correctly, it's very close to the Cathedral (St. Columba's). It's surprising to me that few people seem to know about it; even the cab driver who took me there hadn't heard of it, and had to think a little bit about where the address was. It's not like it's a small, nondescript building.

Pretty neat to see such a diverse crowd at a Latino festival, and the Market Square look like a gem.

Very nice! Youngstown's loss of steel-industry jobs was so sudden and severe that it was more like collapse than decline, but it still has some impressive buildings, excellent cultural amenities like the Butler Museum, and an attractive topography. It looks like it's trying to come back, little by little.

I added some photos from the open-air platform era to my post above.