Three Trains and Ten Commandments

09/12/12 230# 34m

Started riding with S. at the Bastille at oh-dark-hundred and rode around the North Side, looking for a few good murals. Saw a train threading through Allegheny Center.

Ye Olde Allegheny Park, Mural by Randy Gilson et al, 1993, Brighton Road at North Taylor Ave, on the site of a former nuisance bar:


Two murals, south side of 1821 Brighton Road at Kirkbride Street in California-Kirkbride neighborhood, which houses the Northside Coalition for Fair Housing:
 

North side of same building, 1821 Brighton Road:


Mural of a bride's homecoming, 1737 McCollough near Brighton Road. An MLK mural. Painted by B. Harris and D. Devine, mosaic panels by V. German and J. Taylor.


Another MLK Mural, 1515 Brighton Place at Mero Way, by KHDesign, Teresa Harris, and George Gist:


Departed the NorthSide, rejoined the trail along the Allegheny River. Quite a bit of mist/fog coming off the water. Oh, to have had a remote-control Loch Ness Monster drone! What fun might have ensued!


Rode out to the 40th Street Bridge, crossed the river to see the mural work in progress. It seems like the boat rack for shells and kayaks is really in the way for viewing the new mural, I hope they're going to reposition it when the mural is complete.

Strip District, Convention Center Trail, Point State Park, Blvd of the Allies to check out a reported new mural which seems to have not been started yet. Jail Trail, Hot Metal Bridge, REI because sometimes you just have to. Took a snack break at the amphitheater.

Rode south to Keystone Metals, saw a freight train, speculated as to when signs of trail building might be seen. Reversed and rode to Thick Bikes, met BikePgh-er sew which was cool. Found out we'd gone to the wrong place, started riding over to OTB, found this mural on the rear of the Phillips School, Southside Pittsburgh:


Continued to OTB for an update on Colin Allbright, back to the trail, north to Station Square. Seems like they're repositioning the road crossing which has been a bit dodgy over the past few weeks due to moving the road and changing the line-of-sight. Saw our third and final train of the ride.

Ft. Pitt and Ft. Duquesne Bridges, and while riding on the Casino Trail we stopped and S. pointed out the block of houses on Rue Grande Vue in Elliott, which are known collectively as "The Ten Commandments". The story is that the owner of the mill that lay below built ten homes, alternating between bosses and workers, to show that they should all get together and dedicated them as "the Ten Commandments" to spur religious reflection when people looked up at them. (Story from a recent Rick Sebak video)