Ride of Silence and More Murals

09/03/12 238# 16m

Started off with an oh-dark-hundred muster for a Ride of Silence in honor of two Pittsburgh bicyclists killed in separate collisions on Penn Avenue recently. For a 0700 start time on a holiday Monday, I thought it was very well attended:


The ride was short (11 miles) and moderately paced, everybody rode well and I think we behaved well and the bikes and the cars got along. During and after the ride we photographed a few more murals.

This 2004 mural by Kyle Holbrooke tells the story of Wilkinsburg, named after William Wilkins, Secretary of War under President John Tyler.


By Kyle Holbrooke and Chris Savido, on the other side of Penn Avenue:



This mural, called "The 10,000" by Jesse Best and Brian Holderman, is on the side of a PNC Bank on Penn Avenue:



This mural iz on the Hanini Market, at Franklin and Swissvale in Wilkinsburg:



At Penn Ave. and Penn Circle:



These 2009 murals, from a team led by Kyle Holbrooke and Lucas Stock, tell the story of Persephone who ate seeds from a forbidden pomegranate and was forced to spend three or four months every year in Hades:






Auburn Street and Larimer, an MLK project by Kyle Holbrooke:
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This is "Lend Me Your Ears", by Jordan Monahan. On first blush I thought it referred to "friends, romans, countrymen..." (the rhetorical flourish), but the more I think about it I suspect it refers to the Beatles song, "Lend me your ears and I'll sing you a song... I'll get by with a little help from my friends".



There's a new Shadyside-East Liberty (SchLiberty?) pedestrian bridge with a very impressive design, all flowing and curvy with white reflectors embedded in the fence. The railings were salvaged from the 31st Street Bridge prior to the recent rehab, and the reflectors come from Pittsburgh Glass Works. There's a lot of different architectural styles in close proximity.

At one end of the bridge there was an indoor spinning class going on, a bunch of women exercising indoors, it seemed strange to see them while riding a bike outside. Stopped at the Starbucks on the lower level, saw Braddock mayor John Fetterman shopping at Whole Foods with his family.


At Whole Foods in Pittsburgh, "A Worm's Eye View" by Kate Bechak in 2005:

Yesterday when we were at the 40th Street bridge mural, which is currently being painted, we spoke with the artist and he was surprised at the number of pigeons in Pittsburgh murals.

This was the previous mural at this location:



Also at Whole Foods in Pittsburgh:



At the Pittsburgh Glass Center:



This is by Tarish (last name Pipkins, I believe) at 5430 Penn Avenue.

Davu Ayomia is a Pittsburgh 2000 Grand Slam Poetry champion.

Between the Ride of Silence and the mural detour, we rode 16 miles. Not a lot of mileage but we scored several murals on a low-traffic morning, and we got back to our cars before the threat of afternoon rain.