The Pittsburgh weather was kind to us today and I took full advantage of the warmth and sun. I hiked up to Polish Hill for some breakfast at Lili’s Coffeehouse, then went to one of my favorite look-out points – Melwood Avenue where it slips quietly underneath the Bloomfield Bridge.
The bridge leaps over the deep Bloomfield Ravine (also called Skunk Hollow, lovely!) and although Melwood Ave. runs beneath one end, the view from this spot is high up and all of Bloomfield and Friendship/Garfield can be seen spread out below. I was shown this spot in March and have revisited it frequently, watching the city move through the seasons, and checking out the new tags on this part of the bridge:
Today my eye was caught by graffiti on the left side of this, and I crossed the road to take a picture (of that dragon-face that looks like the dragon in Jeff Smith’s Bone.)
I was pulled on around the corner by more interesting graffiti, and found myself in a veritable gallery of urban artwork – layers and layers of the stuff!
The Revolt “room”:
(Above) Looking down (the backside of the “Polish Hill” wall)
A detail on the “Revolt” wall.
Looking up.
Floor to ceiling…
Going up deeper under the bridge, there was another “room”, this one featuring ramps for a whole other art form.
I gingerly trekked up and down these steep slopes, careful not to slip on glass or cement crumbs or flakes of graffiti.
The bridge hummed above me as traffic moved back and forth, and the inevitable hawk soared by, chased by a starling.
I reveled in my discovery, loving the secret art gallery – another element of a fantastic bridge. When I first moved here and started exploring the bridges, I found the Bloomfield Bridge to be boring. Walking over it was a long, tiring endeavor (with the slight upward slant to it), and it wasn’t visually exciting like so many other Pittsburgh bridges. Now though, it is my answer to the question (posed by people humoring my obsession) “Which is your favorite?”
Like so many things about Pittsburgh, this has come as a surprise to me – but it is one that I am happy to embrace with all my heart. (Just like the weather today!)
On Thursday I’ll have a lot to be thankful for, and the graffiti gallery beneath the Bloomfield Bridge will be on the list. Happy Thanksgiving folks!
what we have here is a failure to communicate 
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