Christmas Eve Visit to the Strip, 2025

Like many years in the past, Ann Marie and I visited Pittsburgh’s Strip District on the day before Christmas. Unlike so many of the people rushing around, we had no objectives except to enjoy the atmosphere, watch the people around us and to have a good time.

    After parking our car at one end, we strolled towards Pittsburgh, joining in with the crowds. We weren't the only ones that came down to enjoy the scene. Parents were walking by with their children in tow. Grandchildren were leading their grandparents. Couples strolled down the crowded sidewalks arm in arm and Santa hats could be seen everywhere. Most people were dressed as normal but there were families that were completely decked out in holiday attire and others looked as if they will be going to a formal party or a concert. Red and green were the predominant colors.

    We made a stop at S&D’s Polish Deli just to look at all the ethnic meats and candies. A bit further down, we went into Grandpa Joe’s Candy Shop. Remember those old-time candies you used to love; chances are they have them here! My blood sugar was rising as we walked out the door.

    Passing “our” coffee shop, La Prima Espresso, we saw that there was a crowd around it with people spilling out into the street. Luckily, we weren’t in a hurry for our caffeine fix.

    We continued on to the Enrico Biscotti Company where we got a couple cookies to eat later with our coffee.

    As is usually the case on the day before any holiday or sporting event, Pennsylvania Macaroni was packed. Looking in the windows, we could see that customers were packed 5 deep at the cheese counter. Even though they were squeezed together like sardines, almost all of them were smiling, patiently waiting their turns! 

    The smell of the evergreens piled along the sidewalk gave a Christmas scent to the air. Wreaths hung on the building fronts with red ribbons and holly woven through them. A few blocks further down we crossed the street to walk through Wholey’s. A crowd stretching to the end of the block was patiently waiting to get into the hot food section. Thoughts of crab cakes, smelts and fish sandwiches were running through their heads.

    Since we were just walking through, we could skip the line. The smell of Wholey’s is something to savor; it is a combination of different types of fish, lobsters, clams, and shrimp. It is the smell of potential dinners and banquets. The fish is laid out in nice displays with salespeople waiting on you, ready to wrap whatever you need, fresh or frozen, heads on or off, your choice. Ann Marie and I love their crab cakes!

    Back on the sidewalk we ran into another line waiting to get into the Mancini’s Bread store. We squeezed by and made a quick stop in Penzey’s Spices. There were a couple things in the spice cabinet that needed refilled, and this was the place to do it! Another minor road block came at the food stand outside of the Sambok Korean Grocery where mung bean pancakes and other delicacies were being sold.

    Outside of Sunseri’s, a festively dressed man was selling their bread products. We passed stands on the sidewalk where artisans were selling dog treats, photographs and pirogues. The rich smell of coffee drifted out from inside the Allegheny Coffee and Tea Exchange, raising our desire to get to La Prima! We passed DeLuca’s Diner and went through the tunnel of clothes, toys and “do-dads” in front of Lucy’s Clothing. I made a quick stroll through Reyna’s Foods to see if they had any fresh meat pies, (they didn’t) and then we crossed the street where we saw that the crowd had dissipated in front of La Prima.

     While I joined the crowd inside, Ann Marie snagged a table out on the sidewalk. The line came out the door but as everyone in line knew, the coffee and atmosphere was well worth the wait! The shop smelled like strong coffee and there was a mixture of Italian and English being spoken, intermingled with laughter and greetings being yelled across the crowd. Returning outside with our coffees I sat down with Ann Marie and we settled in, being warmed from the sun shining on us and, the faces of all the people passing by.

    Ann Marie opened the bag from Enrico Biscotti and pulled out an almond cookie and a polenta bar. We nibbled on these as we people watched. Festive costumes were everywhere, we saw children dressed in their “special” Christmas suits and dresses. Sweatshirts and sweaters with wreaths and holiday sayings caused us to stare, trying to read them without being TOO obvious.

    Dogs went by, sometimes stopping to be petted, their owners sometimes dressed up as extravagantly as their pets. We watched as people would come up to the door of the shop and we could see the decisions going on in their minds; do I have enough time to wait for this or not? Most of the times, they did!

    With our cookies and coffee gone, we walked back to our car and returned home. There, we worked on a jig-saw puzzle, played some Scrabble and prepared our Christmas Eve feast.

    It was a beautiful day. The weather co-operated making it pleasurable to walk around the area. We saw smiling faces, heard laughter and holiday greetings. We left the Strip District feeling uplifted and happy!

    My Christmas wish is that every day would be filled with this same kind of spirits, joy and happiness. Our days may not be quite as joyous as this but… we can still keep trying! Keep those smiles on your faces and you’ll be surprised at how many will be returned!

  Merry Christmas!

Book Collecting

 The book club I belong to picked 84 Charing Cross Road for our December read. Not only is it a thin easy to read book giving us all more time for holiday preparations, but it is also a book about books. In my opinion, this is one of the most important things about this book. (I love books on books!) It is also about friendship, caring and compassion. Some readers may even consider it a love story.

    It is the true-life story of the author, Helene Hanff, who was a writer located in New York City. In 1949 she wrote to a London bookshop looking for some books. In those days you couldn’t just tap out a request on your computer. If you couldn’t find what you wanted in a local book store you had to write a letter. Then you would wait until it was answered. Seeing an ad in the back of a magazine, the author contacted The Marks and Company Bookshop, hoping that they could provide some titles that she couldn’t find. Their address is the title of the book.

    Unlike Helene who occasionally writes rather sarcastic letters, the book-seller, Frank, is very dignified and proper until they get to know each other better. Starting with the salesman, the letter writing eventually grows to include other workers in the store and their families. Their correspondence spanned twenty years. Helene is amazed at the quality of the books that are sent to her. They are nothing like the trade books sold in the shops in the States and she is excited to add them to her small collection of English classics.

    There is a good feeling I get whenever I hold or read an old book. I think of all the people who might have also held this book, read its lines and thought about what the author had conveyed in them. In some books there are penciled in notes or slips of paper used as bookmarks, nameplates are pasted in some and in others, an author might have signed his name. I also get a good feeling when I read a well written book, one whose author strikes a chord inside of me, causing me to pause and think about what I just read or that tells a story that makes me want to stay up all night just to find out how it ends. In many of these cases, I’d like to keep the book. I’d like to be able to read it again in the future. With the older books, I’d like to be able to be awed once again when I think of the books past, its history and what it might’ve gone through to get to my hands. Sadly, finances and common sense usually prevent me from buying them. 

    There are many types of book collecting. There is your average collection, books that have been read, enjoyed and saved. On the other side of the coin, a bit higher up the scale is collecting first editions or signed books. Some collectors search for copies of their favorite author’s work, while others collect only certain subject matter. There are some that collect to impress, searching for prestige in their collection. I’ve even heard of people collecting books because they “look good” on their shelves. But in actuality, like me, I’d have to say that most collectors accumulate their books because of their love of the printed word.

    Over the years I’ve developed my own style of collecting. In my office I have a collection of books dealing with Pittsburgh and the surrounding areas. Often used for research, these are both newer volumes and books published in the early 1900’s, and some even further back. There are also sections dealing with maps, machine tool technology and railroads. A shelf holds some poetry near my easy chair and a group of old textbooks sits on a shelf.

    In other rooms I have many newer fiction books, both hardback and paperback. They were read and then kept for eventual re-reading. Many have been read numerous times. Re-reading a book is like re-visiting an old friend. Then again, the way my memory works, it is often like finding a new friend!

    There is a set of shelves where I keep my “books on books”, books filled with information and stories about books, paper, libraries and bookstores.  They are a collection of both new and old, both fiction and non-fiction. I love reading this type of book. Near-by is a cabinet of signed books. While the vast majority of these are local scribes, I have a few books signed by some rather well-known authors. I must say that I value most, the books of authors I’ve met and talked with. Some of these signed books date back into the early 1900’s. I think it is exciting to have a book that is signed by the person who wrote it. It is a bit of history sitting in my hands! These books may not be worth much to a bibliophile, but to me, they are priceless. The value of a book is so often determined by the love of its reader!

    In this group I have the signature of President Carter and the signatures of some authors I’ve always admired such as Bradbury, Creighton and Gaimen and a few others. Sitting among these books is a worn paperback. Though it is beat up, the cover cracked and it’s unsigned, I treasure it.  The paperback contains a letter from the author, Cliff Stoll. I had written to him about his book, The Cuckoo’s Egg. There were a couple things in his book that I agreed with and I wanted to share my thoughts with him. I was so impressed that he took the time out of his busy day to write me back. I slipped the letter into the book and have kept them both safe and protected.  While I really enjoyed the book, that simple reply made it even more valuable to me. 

    There are a few “nice” books sitting on another shelf. Some of these were my father’s books. It was him that taught me to appreciate books! They are books with slip cases and nice bindings, books such as Gulliver’s Travels and The Turn of the Screw. I have added a couple volumes to this section over the years including two different printings of Robert Louis Stevenson’s book, Travels with a Donkey in the Cevennes. Both are in very nice shape, and both reside in slip cases. I’ve read this book many times, always enjoying the author’s efforts while taking a 12-day journey with a stubborn donkey named Modestine. A little further down the shelf sits my modest collection of Baedeker Guides; more non-fiction history. My collection of books might not look classy, but they please me and that is what I think is most important to any collection!

    While re-reading Helene Hanff’s book I once again have gotten the urge to go visit my local bookshops to search for another book for my collection. I want a book that is more than just your standard paperback novel. I’m thinking about one with a nice pebbled cover and gold imprinting. Or maybe one that is a limited edition or perhaps with an inscription from the author, the possibilities are endless but it has to be one I’ll enjoy reading! I love to dream about what I could get but then reality returns. Every so often a “special” book pops up in my travels, but until then I’ll continue to visit the library and my favorite bookstores, always on the lookout for that “special” book!

New York Memories

This morning while sitting ensconced in my warm, soft swivel chair, I was reading about a favorite author, Lee Child. He was telling about his career and life while writing his “Reacher” books. In one chapter he tells the readers about his apartment in Manhattan where he did some of his writing. Looking out his window, he could see the Chrysler and Empire State Buildings. He explains how the view tended to be rather non-productive, continually pulling him away from his writing.

    Reading these paragraphs made me think of my own visits to New York City. Looking back I have been there seven times. I have to say that each of the times I was there had been pleasurable and if given the chance, I’d do it again in a heartbeat.

    I’ve always thought of New York as a great place to visit. Figuring out when it became a destination in my mind would be hard to narrow down. I’ve read so many books that use the city as their background and there are countless movies and TV shows that have been based there. Even though most of them were fictional, in my mind they have come to represent the town. I came to feel as if knew the place. I’ve always thought it would be great to explore and a wonderful town to photograph. All those buildings clustered together are extremely artistic, just begging to be photographed. It has an edge to it, it’s a bit risqué. There are some places that could be dangerous, crime isn’t unknown but it also has so much culture and so many sights, so many places that I’d want to see.

    My first visit was just a drive-through. In the late 70’s I had a job to drive some packages from Pittsburgh up to Hyannis Port. I brought my friend Ed along for company and we did some sight-seeing on the way up. One of the places we stopped was in York, PA where we took a tour through the Harley Davidson plant. We sat in their parking lot for an hour waiting so that we could get on the first tour of the day. After being overwhelmed by seeing so many H-D motorcycles, all brand new and un-ridden, we headed towards NYC.

    We had no plans to stop in the city, we only wanted to see if it was as big and exciting as we had heard. We arrived in the afternoon and it was amazing! Traffic was bumper to bumper and most of the cars on the streets seemed to be Yellow Cabs. Horns were honking, people were overflowing off the sidewalks, there was too much to see. We didn’t know which way to look, all the while; I had to watch the road since I was driving. The size of the town was phenomenal; it just kept on going and going.

    I’ve lived my whole life in the outskirts of northern Pittsburgh. I have always thought of Pittsburgh as a BIG city, after all, it is the second largest in the state. I was shocked at how small my city was as compared to New York. I was enamored by the wide streets and sidewalks, the heights of the buildings, the combinations of the old and the new; even the alleys and the trash in the streets grabbed my eye. It was unbelievable and I wanted to go back. It took me a few years before I did.

    When I was married, Barb and I decided on a whim, to take a trip to Washington DC and New York City. We thought we could spend a night or two in both places. Unfortunately we didn’t plan as well as we should have. We figured by using our AAA card and directory we could find a place to stay when we got there. What we didn’t take into consideration was, that these were “tourist towns”, there were no rooms to be had without reservations. After being turned away at a couple places in Washington DC, we went to the AAA office and begged for help. So, while we went sightseeing, the Automobile Club managed to find accommodations for us.

    While in New York, we did what most tourists do, visited all the regular sights. We did the Empire State Building and we sat in on the filming of the TV show, Kate and Allie, starring Jane Curtin. We went to Times Square. We meandered around the town, enjoying everything we saw.

    On this trip I found a wonderful travel bookshop. Located only a block or two from the Empire State Building, it was filled with guides to other cities and countries. In the back room was a wall of Baedeker travel guides. All those red covers with gold lettering, sitting side by side, they looked so classy and aristocratic. 

    The Baedeker Guides were first published in the 1830’s. Their distinctive red covers weren’t produced until the 1850’s. Published in Germany, they were known for their accuracy. The guides not only gave the basic information about the cities, they included history, the transportation, currency, customs and even how to tip. They included detailed maps to help the visitors find their way around the towns. The guides were a nice size, easily stored in a coat or pants pocket. In time, these volumes became time capsules into the past.

    Their red covers were eventually faded out and while the guides are still produced today, their pages and covers are glossy paper, looking much like any other guide.

    It was in this bookshop when I first thought about collecting these books. I could picture a shelf in my house with a collection like this. Sadly, I didn’t have the funds to purchase one of them and the next time I visited the city, the store had gone out of business. I have since collected a small group of Baedeker Guides and have them in a place of honor on my shelves. My collection is rather shabby looking as compared to the nice crisp and clean books I saw in that store!

    A few years later, I took a trip to the city with Tia, Barb’s aunt. She took me to see Phantom of the Opera. We flew into New York and spent some time roaming around and then after dinner, we went to see the play and then returned home. Wow, we stuffed so much into that one day. A favorite memory was the two of us sitting on a wall or bench and Tia commenting on the odd smell coming from some guys sitting near-by. I explained to her that it was marijuana. To this day I can’t imagine that she didn’t know that.

    My daughter Chelsey and I took two trips to New York City, one in 2009 and the other in 2011. During one of the trips we had an unfortunate incident with a pigeon that I will never forget! Some say that having “this” happen to you is good luck but neither of us thought we were very lucky when it happened! We took a walk down to Canal Street so Chelsey could find a “knock-off” purse. We visited a couple storefronts and were escorted behind the displays to see their “goods”. I felt as if I was seeing the underworld of the city.  

    We called the 2011 trip our Diabetes Tour. Chelsey had recently been diagnosed as being a diabetic. So, the two diabetics of the family headed into the city to visit, among other things, The Donut Factory and a macaroon store. Sweets and diabetics are sadly, often drawn together! 

    During the day we compared our sugar readings and were usually with-in a few numbers of each other! We walked a lot that day, visiting tourist spots such as Times Square and the Grand Central Station. We did a couple geocaches and walked across the Brooklyn Bridge. We walked through the famous New York Library and we found a weird little store that sold odd things such as medical instruments and old doctor’s charts and displays, things you’d never imagine seeing in a store, let alone want to buy! There might have even been a skull or two in it. You never know what you might find when you’re roaming around this city.

    After Chelsey and Jaime were married, we went to a wedding reception held in Queens. While this wasn’t in Manhattan, it is still a part of New York City. We drove in following Jaime and Chelsey’s car on a rainy evening. It was spectacular driving across the huge bridges and seeing all the views of the city across the water. I didn’t take any pictures of the city; it was a night for celebration, not sightseeing. We spent a wonderful evening with Chelsey and her new relatives, another trip to New York I’ll never forget!

    My last trip was after my grandson Mateo’s second birthday, in 2021. On a Monday morning, Ann Marie and I drove to a parking lot across the river from the city and then took a bus through the tunnels and into town. This visit was recently after the Covid Pandemic and the majority of the people we saw were wearing masks. The streets weren’t as crowded as I remembered, the sidewalks seemed almost empty. The town definitely wasn’t closed but it sure differed from my other trips. This was Ann Marie’s first time in the city so we (I) had lots of things on our to-do list.

    We checked off a few of them, we visited Times Square and took the elevator up to the observation deck on the Empire State Building. We had to stop at the library; it is something we both deemed important. We squeezed in a visit to a book store and had lunch and a beer in an Irish pub. By then the walking was starting to get to us and we took a cab back to the bus station and then left the city behind. I discovered that my tolerance for long distance walking just wasn’t the same as my last visit.

    I know the city has returned to its previous fever pitch and I’d like to be able to experience it at least one more time. If I had the chance, and I still might, I wouldn’t hesitate to go back. Much as I hate to admit it, my days of continuous walking are in my past, maybe I’ll do some research on how Uber works. The idea for a visit is lodged in my head once again; perhaps with some more planning I might be able to do it. I’m going to have to pull a couple of those travel guides off my shelves…

Decisions, Decisions

 Watching the steam coming off my freshly brewed coffee and looking at the yellow and brown leaves outside of the window makes me want to stay right where I am. I have no gumption this morning to get up and do my morning dishes. I don’t want to collect the trash from my wastepaper baskets. I don’t want to go to the store to get needed items. Today, I am quite happy to sit here and watch the rain bounce off the leaves. The coffee smells too good to leave it before it cools.

    There are lots of chores I could do with Thanksgiving just a day or two away. But the view through the window keeps calling me back. It has been lightly raining for most of the night. The sounds of it helped me achieve another good night’s sleep. It would’ve been better if the windows had been open but those days have passed, the furnace is on now. As my father used to say, “We aren’t paying to heat Glenshaw!” It also might have been better if there had been a thunder storm, but I’m happy this morning, beggars can’t be choosers. Some say that the excessive amounts of negative ions caused by rain and storms help us to relax and to sleep better. I’ve always belived that, rain always helps me sleep.

    For the time being, the smell of the coffee and the relaxing view of the dancing leaves is enough to keep me relaxed. Occasionally a dark leaf will fall making me think that a bird has flown by. But the birds are elsewhere this morning. The rain is keeping them hidden from me, but they’ll be back once the bird feeders are hung up. That’s another chore for another day.

    The puddles in the yard reflect the tree limbs above them, these perfect images are disturbed as the rings from the rain drops distort the picture. Most of my views are straight out the window, 20 feet off the ground. The puddles are mostly unseen.

    The rain helps quiet the sounds of the morning. It blocks engine noises and horns. The morning trash pick-ups at the business’s below my home aren’t quite as noticeable, if heard at all. The sky is dark; there was no colorful brightening along the horizon this morning. The leaves continue doing their dance and I take another sip of my coffee and contemplate. Should I pick up a book and get lost in it or strike another chore off my list?

    Maybe I’ll just refresh my cup and think about it for awhile!

Then and Now

 One of the constants of our world is change. Whether it is the price of eggs or the hardly discernible changes in the depth of the Grand Canyon, hardly anything stays the same. The height of the trees in our yards and the richness of the paint on our houses, over time it all changes, often in ways we don’t notice.

    When seeing things day after day we tend to overlook the changes if we notice them at all. They become the “new” normal. This is the way they have always looked, or so we think!

    Photography shows us the changes. Pictures show us the ways things used to be, they are a great memory aid! Looking at pictures from the past show us the changes in clothing styles, the cars that used to be driving down our streets and the buildings that used to sit in the empty lot at the end of the block.

    Looking through a pile of old pictures takes us back in time. We remember the events we were at, the family gatherings, both the good ones and the sad ones. Seeing the people that have passed on keeps them present in our minds. Hopefully the dates and details were written on the backsides!

    When I became involved in black and white film photography, I was rather anal about saving my negatives and the proof sheets. During the past year I have been digitally copying these negatives and saving them to a hard drive. I have been reliving the adventures and trips I had taken 30 or 40 years ago. I have been recently attempting to retake some of the pictures I had taken back in the 80’s and 90’s, to show the differences. Some of the reshoots have been taken with a digital camera and some of them, with a film camera. Of course, I enjoyed taking the film shots more than the digital, even though there was a little more time and effort involved with them.

    Here are a few of the pictures from the 80's, the older picture first and then the current shot afterward. Hopefully you will recognize some of the places I visited around the Pittsburgh area! Sadly, not all of the negatives were dated…

East Ohio Street on the North Side, June 1988 & September 2025 

!0^th Street and Exchange Way, January 1984 & July 2025

Liberty Ave. September 1988 and October 2025

 

Rt. 28 bridges from Sharpsburg 1984 & September 2025

16^th Street Bridge & Progress St. 1986 & September 2025 (digital)

Under the Veterans Bridge 1984 & September 2025 (digital)

Chestnut Street, North Side August 1986 & July 2025 

Gas station on Mt. Royal Blvd. April 1986 & September 2025 (digital)

    As you can see, change happens. Sometimes it is for the better and other times... well, you know. All I can say is, remember to date your pictures so you’ll be able to tell when and where they were taken. Our memories aren’t as good as we’d like to think they are! It’s amazing how much can change in 30 or 40 years, memories included!

Imagination

There is a smell to fog that I like. It’s damp and I can’t help but think that it smells fertile. Perhaps it is the water, water that helps things grow, helps keep us fed, and encourages the grass and trees to grow. The fertility of fog works with my imagination also. I can’t help but imagine on foggy mornings. I drive and walk on familiar streets but they all look different, they transform into places I’ve never been to before and the buildings into places I’ve never seen. Reality fades and I wonder what could I be missing.

    Some say that a writer shouldn’t start a story with “the weather.” Yet I find that almost everything I do has been determined by the weather. Should I wear a jacket or take an umbrella? Do I need anything more than a t-shirt?

    Sunny during the afternoon, I might be raking the leaves, trimming the hedges or cutting the grass. Raining outside, I might decide to settle in with a good book. Clear at night and I could be watching the stars or waiting for a satellite to pass overhead. Foggy in the morning, chances are that I’ll be out looking for pictures. Weather determines quite a lot!

    Waking up this morning and looking out of my bedroom window, all I could see was white. Even the trees closest to the house were nothing more than slightly darker shapes in the clouds. I was expecting it, when I went to bed I could see the fog gathering in the valley below the house. I set my camera gear in the hallway.

    I washed up and brushed my teeth and quickly got dressed. I was behind the wheel of the car by 6:30 and driving through the mists.

    The fog dissipated a bit as I drove down into the valley. Crossing the 62^nd Street Bridge (The One-minute Bridge) I was once again driving through a white out. Nearing Pittsburgh, driving through Lawrenceville it started to clear up a little more. The day was brightening and I was able to see a bit further now.

    In the Strip District, the city stood out in the morning sunshine, no signs of fog lingered near-by. I parked and took my camera gear up to the railroad tracks. It was a little after 7 and the Amtrak Pennsylvanian would be leaving the station at 7:30. I originally thought it would be nice to get a picture of it coming through the fog but that was not to be this morning. Still, since I was here, I may as well take another picture of it leaving the city.

    I started setting up, choosing my position, f stop and exposure. I heard a short blast of the train whistle and could see the light of the engine getting brighter. I glanced at my watch and saw that it was only 7:15, it was leaving early?

    As the train neared me, I could see that it wasn’t the engine I was expecting. I saw that there were two engines and a lot more cars behind it than normal. This wasn’t the train I had been waiting for! I later found out it was the Amtrak Floridian which normally stops in Pittsburgh around 5AM. It must’ve been running late today. I watched it as it continued on its way to Florida.

    I walked down the road beside the tracks, trying to see into the station’s train shed, attempting to see if the Pennsylvanian was still at the station. I could just see it; “my train” was still sitting there. I heard another toot and the light brightened; it was leaving the station. Looking at my watch, it was 7:30, right on time. This time it was the engine I was expecting. The Pennsylvanian was starting its trip to Harrisburg and New York City.

    After it passed, I walked back to the car. The Strip District was getting ready for another Saturday morning. Retailers were setting up their tables to display their wares. Trucks were unloading produce and merchandise to be sold to the weekend visitors. I returned home, curious to see how my pictures looked. As I drove back into the suburbs, the fog thickened again.

    I stopped and took a couple final pictures and then headed up the hill to my home. My coffee machine was patiently waiting for me to fill it with coffee grinds and water and then, I could return from my imaginary world, back to reality and get on with the rest of the day.