62: Strip District, Polish Hill and a teeny tiny part of Lower Lawrenceville

Unique Streets: 31

Miles Walked: 6.6

Street Names: William Penn Place, Liberty Avenue, Grant Street, 11th Street, 14th Street, Penn Avenue, Mulberry Way, 15th Street, Smallman Street, 16th Street, Spring Way, 17th Street, 18th Street, 19th Street, 20th Street, 21st Street, 22nd Street, 23rd Street, 24th Street, 25th Street, 26th Street, 27th Street, 28th Street, Brereton Street, Haran Street, Kenney Way, Stockholm Street, 30th Street, Pulawski Way, Harmar Street, Wiggins Street, Dobson Street, Herron Avenue, Ligonier Street, 34th Street, Haskell Way, 33rd Street, 32nd Street, 31st Street, Railroad Street, 29 1/2 Street, 29th Street, 13th Street, 12th Street, 10th Street

Today my friend Amy came with me on a walk in the Strip District and in an attempt to cover a few streets I’d missed in Polish Hill. My plan was to get up to the Hill District to walk some streets and then come down Herron Avenue into Polish Hill and then hit all of the streets in the Strip District. That plan went out the window when we couldn’t find a pedestrian way to get from downtown up to Bedford Avenue near the PPG Paints Arena. We had to run on Liberty Avenue under 579 because there was no sidewalk! After we survived we realized the sidewalk was on the other side of the street. 🙄

For the first mile and a half of our walk I was uncharacteristically on the phone with my husband trying to figure out what to do about my 13-year-old cat who hasn’t been feeling well. We called a mobile vet and they were going to meet me at my house to look at Apollo. Amy was the sole photographer for this portion.

Finally off the phone and paying attention, I startled Amy with a scream when I saw this in a garage on 26th Street belonging to the Pittsburgh City Office:

Since this project has started, I am constantly on the lookout for these blue signs. Even if I’m in the car, I look and see if I’ve walked each one already. I had to get a picture with this collection.

Around the block on Penn, we saw the city seal etched in stone:

Amy stopped in the Choppin’ Block for some water and I noticed this Lion King inspired mural on the side:

We made our way towards the 28th Street Bridge into Polish Hill. At the end of the bridge, we went right because four of the streets I’d missed were there and essentially cut off from the rest of the neighborhood. I was hoping there would be a way to get from these streets to Bigelow Boulevard. We couldn’t get there from here.

After walking the streets we needed to add to my collection, we entered the woods. We found the “trail” to be muddy and surrounded by poison ivy. We also found a Pet Sematery (I’m hoping) with one grave for a pet named Honey:

Feeling a little creeped out, we kept going further into the woods.

We found a run down halfpipe and a basketball court filled with Japanese Knotweed.

Then we found something in the middle of the court that I still can’t explain. Cryptozoologists will want to pay attention. We smelled it before we saw IT:

It has raccoon feet but what looks like a duck bill. Playtpuses aren’t found on this continent (except for the zoo) and they have webbed feet. The creature appears to have been destroyed from the waist down. It almost looks like it dragged itself away from danger to this spot. It smelled AWFUL and the bugs crawling inside were nausea-inducing. We got out of there pretty fast and we both fell down the mud trail in our haste.

After the foreboding basketball court, we walked across the muddy athletic field towards the West Penn Community Recreation Center. We noticed signs of last week’s May Day Parade that happened in Polish Hill.

At the entrance to the park, we saw another PITTSBURGH PROTRACTOR!

The Immaculate Heart of Mary looked beautiful as ever.

PSA:

I finally got to walk on Wiggins Street and see the Community Garden at the end of it.

We were both thirsty at this point and decided to stop in the Rock Room for a pint.

After an ale (Southern Tier NuJuice for me and Magic Hat No. 9 for Amy) we headed down Herron and back into the Strip via Lower Lawrenceville.

We made sure to hit the few streets in the Strip we’d missed: Eazor Square, Railroad Street, Haskell Way (only a half block long) and 29 1/2 Street. Finally, we made it to our destination: Andy’s Sushi Bar inside Wholey’s. Our friend Kristin used to tell me about how great it was and how often she got lunch there when she worked in the Strip.

Wholey’s is worth a trip to the Strip and if you go, bring your kids to see the train and all of the fish!

After lunch, we rushed back to my house to meet the vet. Her prognosis was not good. Apollo had heart disease and had suffered a saddle thrombosis. I made the hard decision to put him down and he passed peacefully in my arms. RIP Apollo Creed 8/22/06-5/6/19.

Check out all of the photos we took on Facebook or Google Photos.