72-73: facts, oldest mark, steepest street, funicular, inspector of steps, more than venice, phipps, cheeses of nazareth, big boot, telephone of the wind, roslyn place, fountain of youth

July 8, 2025 to July 9, 2025

Pittsburgh

Pittsburgh is another place I've been looking forward to visiting. It's rich with firsts and quirk, both of which I particularly enjoy.

Some interesting facts about The Steel City:
* It's within 500 miles of more than half of the population of the U.S.
* For those of you who are American sports fans, the Pittsburgh suburbs were home to many great NFL quarterbacks, including Joe Montana, Dan Marino, Joe Namath, Johnny Unitas, and Jim Kelly.
* Historically, Pittsburgh had more bars per capita than any other city in the country (12 per 10,000 residents). More recently, however, it's been surpassed by New Orleans (56.8 per 10,000), Milwaukee, Buffalo, and Las Vegas.
* A number of famous people grew up here: Zachary Quinto, Jimmy Stewart, Christina Aguilera, Gene Kelly, Andy Warhol, and Mark Cuban, who emigrated with his family from Russia.
* During the 1943-1944 football season (WW2) there weren't enough players, so the Pittsburgh Steelers combined with the Philadelphia Eagles to play as the Steagles.
* Because of the narrow streets and lack of protected left turn signals, a kind of working-class courtesy has evolved called a “Pittsburgh Left.” This is a culturally ingrained, informal, unofficial (and illegal) driving maneuver in which a driver turning left at an intersection goes immediately after the light turns green, before the oncoming traffic proceeds, with the unspoken permission of the first oncoming driver. (There's also a "New York Left" and a "Boston Left," in which the person turning left rapidly makes the turn without the permission of the oncoming car. I believe this surprises exactly no one)
* You may recall the U.S. Board on Geographic Names from my visit to Harpers Ferry. They're the ones who, to the consternation of all grammarians, eliminated the apostrophe on cities' names. They also meddled with Pittsburgh, and from 1891 to 1911, "Pittsburgh" was officially spelled without the “h.” ....."Pittsburg"..... Unlike Harpers Ferry, the fine people of Pittsburgh complained enough so that the Board, acknowledging the city’s historical and cultural preference, restored it in 1911

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There's a lot of potential that some of the items I post could be interesting only to someone who has been locked in a dark room with no access to light, sound, or smell except for the fifteen minutes a day in which they're allowed to read my blog.

For example, most of you have passed through towns which have a "first," a "largest," or an "oldest."

"Thistown - Home of the Oldest Set of Wooden Dentures from a President in the 1800s"

"Thatville - Home of the Smallest Broken Violin in Western Rhode Island"

Every town has something famous. Iowa City, for example, has "The Oldest Living Mark Bingham in Iowa" (probably).

This is what made me think of it, and the only reason I'm including it is as an example. This is the Fort Pitt Block House, a "historic defensive building built in 1764, now THE OLDEST STRUCTURE IN WESTERN PENNSYLVANIA."

Impressive, but how about those dentures? I'm hoping that if I get to the point where I'm posting items like that then someone will call me out, or perhaps lock me in a dark room with no access to light, sound, or smell except for the fifteen minutes a day.

One of the first things I noticed about Pittsburgh is that it's a city of jagged hills. Roads along the river are level but if you venture off them you'll need mountain climbing gear. Houses drape the cliffs like sheets on a clothesline and appear embedded in the mountainside. Rolling along the streets I glance to the left, a mere twenty feet away, and see the roof of a house. A glance to the right and I'm offered 25-30 steps to get to the front porch of the house across the street.

Many, if not most, of the streets are steeper than this.

So, it's not surprising that Pittsburgh has the country's steepest street.

I just happened to hit two of the streets listed on the sign, Hampshire and Boustead, but all of the streets are steep, like rollercoasters. At times, sitting at a stoplight, I couldn't see the road ahead because it simply disappears.

This picture doesn't show it well, but the bricks aren't flush with each other - instead, they're angled so that a wheel will have some grip. The left side of the brick is higher than the lower edge of the one above it.

Pittsburgh is famous for the Duchesne Incline (pronounced do-KEEN). It puts the "fun" in funicular.

At center left is The Point, where Heather and I ended Part 2 of the trip.

This was at the restaurant where we ate, and the quote by Anthony Bourdain is appropriate: "Travel isn't always pretty. It isn't always comfortable. Sometimes it hurts, it even breaks your heart. But that's okay.The journey changes you - it should change you. It leaves marks on your memory, on your consciousness, on your heart, and on your body. You take something with you. Hopefully you leave something good behind."

If you're going to live in a city with jagged hills, you're going to have a lot of steps. Pittsburgh has so many steps that there's even a non-official position called The Inspector of Steps.

Man in a bar: "Interesting you should ask. I'm an Inspector of Steps."
Woman: "So... you... watch people walk??"
Man: "No, that's the Minister of Walks, who is next door to the Minister of Strange Walks. My job is, like, inspecting stairs."
Woman: "Wow, that's... interesting. Hey, I'm sorry, it was nice meeting you but I need to go iron my cat."

There are more than 800 sets of steps here, more than in any other city, with a total of more than 45,000 individual steps. This is why another of Pittsburgh's nicknames is The City of Steps. The steps are legally classified as public streets in many cases, and therefore appear on maps and are (supposedly) maintained by the city.

Perhaps Pittsburgh should be called The City of Nicknames, because another one of its monikers is The City of Bridges.

Venice, in Italy, is known as the "Floating City" because it's built on a group of 118 islands, each one separated by canals and linked by bridges, yet PITTSBURGH HAS MORE BRIDGES THAN VENICE.

There are 446 bridges within the city limits.

I made a quick stop at the Phipps Botanical Gardens,

where I found this unusual-looking tree trunk,

and this flower, with its friendly visitor.

I probably shouldn't include this picture because it's from when I was in Pittsburgh more than a decade ago, but I think it's funny so I thought I'd share it with you. Unfortunately, the restaurant closed or I would have gone back for some Cheeses of Nazareth.

NOT the world's largest boot, so it only gets one picture

In 2010 Itaru Sasaki, a garden designer, set up an old-fashioned rotary phone booth in his garden and used it to "talk" to his recently-deceased cousin. It was symbolic, unconnected to any network, and he named it the “Telephone of the Wind.”

After the 2011 earthquake and tsunami that devastated Tōhoku, killing 15,000 people, the unconnected phone became a pilgrimage site for grieving people, and thousands of family members and friends trekked to Otsuchi to speak into the phone. There have since been documentaries written about it (NPR, BBC, NHK) and a novel (The Phone Booth at the Edge of the World), and it has influenced public art, grief therapy, and private memorials. There are now replicas in Oakland, Olympia, Dublin, Ontario, England, New Zealand…. and Pittsburgh.

It was a bit hard to find, but I was determined not to leave without visiting. You can't get there from the street address, and have to go around back to the alley.

This young woman was there, and appeared to be doing some writing.

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this was a couple of blocks away from The Telephone of the Wind

Roslyn Place is a 250-foot long residential, tree-lined street in the Shadyside neighborhood.

What makes it unusual is that the street, constructed in 1914 by Thomas Rodd, was built using around 26,000 wooden blocks, and is the last wooden street in Pittsburgh (and one of only a handful left in the world).

At the time, wood blocks were thought to help deaden the cacophony from the horse and wagon traffic. This road has endured not only horse and buggies, but cars and trucks as well, and is now over 100 years old.

It was deemed a historical landmark in 2017 and residents of the 18 houses are justifiably proud of the place. They even keep wooden blocks on hand for spot repairs. As I was walking down the street, one of the residents who got in his car gave me a huge knowing smile and a wave.

Some are obviously more worn than others.

I'm going to fess up.... This entire bicycle tour has simply been an excuse to get to this point. All of the fantastic places I’ve been, the amazing people I’ve met, the wonderful variety of foods I’ve eaten…. all just trying to distract you from my true intentions: The Fountain of Youth.

While everyone, including old Ponce, thought it was in Florida (as do, apparently 120 million octogenarians), it’s actually in Pittsburgh. Through tedious research, I’ve uncovered the true location. And you, because you’re fortunate enough to have stumbled upon this blog, will get to see it, too.

out in the middle of nowhere - my first glimpse

This is exciting.... if this works, my life is about to change, and for the better.

As I approached, I could see some kind of silver lining, probably a metaphor.

Although you can't see it very well in the picture, it continues much farther. The arch in the center of the picture is a hole which goes gradually down.

I collected the precious liquid from the spring and wondered, "Should I use my water filter? Will that take away the magical properties?" No, I decided, because no water filter in the world can prevent it from working its miracle.

After carrying it back to Cherpumple Mike's and BlogMother Jen's place, I held it for a moment in my hands, contemplating whether I should continue.

When I realized that I'd be able to ride farther, faster, stronger, I made up my mind and brought it to my lips...

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Nancy GrahamSo many interesting things and facts about Pittsburgh!!! Very interesting… but wooden streets, uneven brick streets, steepest hills in the US, and very hidden wind phone do make for what seems to be very unfriendly bike riding in this city. The bridges look great though, and all you other photos add a lot of interest. Good for you to find the ‘real’ Fountain of Youth.
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2 weeks ago

Mark M.It's like Alice in Wonderland with the eat me/ drink me episode. I do hope you find something to reverse the effects of time travel. Otherwise, someone's going to expect you back at work in fifteen years.
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1 week ago