Downtown Lunchbreak: Shrinkwrapped!

One thing I want to do more of in 2012 is use my lunchbreak to explore Downtown Pittsburgh. This will be more difficult to do as the winter months actually take hold (I'm writing this on New Years Day, after a lovely bike ride through 50-degree pleasant weather...), but downtown has galleries, and they are free, and sometimes they allow you to experience the sensation of being shrinkwrapped.

So, it was in the spirit of discovery and pure curiosity that Allie and I went to Wood Street Galleries to check out Parallel Universe. The main draw was the human-sized shrinkwrap machine. When I was in high school, I worked at a Hollywood Video, where one of my favorite tasks was shrinkwrapping the previously viewed VHS tapes for sale. I knew I'd have to experience it for myself, what I had been doing all those years ago.

The video on display kind of freaked us out.

The attendant explained how everything worked and then I stepped inside and he sealed me in. After pressing a button, the air started getting sucked out and I started getting a little claustrophobic. It was definitely a strange feeling, and not one that I was 100% a fan of. After a minute or two of thick plastic sealing itself around my body, I was done and out, and ready to convince Allie to give it a go.

Which she did!

Also on display at Wood Street in the Parallel Universe: this typewriter with little bugs and things crawling on the paper.

And this room, where you sit in a chair, and it's very dark, and you look at your reflection in a mirror right across from you. The mirror starts to vibrate and shake while your reflection starts to make you a little uncomfortable. And then, when you aren't expecting it, the lights flicker and there's NO ONE IN THE CHAIR IN YOUR REFLECTION.

Downtown Lunchbreak: Hidden Baseball, December 2011

As I write this, I am sitting on a couch in Boston apartment located in The Fens. If I crane my neck, I can see Fenway Park. Boston is a baseball town, through and through. Pittsburgh relies more on its football and hockey teams, especially in light of the Pirates' record-breaking 19 consecutive losing seasons. But there was a baseball heyday in Pittsburgh at one point. Bill Mazeroski's walk-off homerun is a moment we're so proud of that every year it is celebrated on the former site of Forbes Field in Oakland.

During lunch one day last week, I scarfed down my lunch so I could go on a walk. It was beautiful out for the first day of December. I didn't have a destination in mind, so I wandered around and tried to take streets that I am not normally on or nearby. I walked down to the Boulevard of the Allies near where it becomes elevated, and noticed that the side of the wall that elevates the road was painted to look like a Forbes Field wall and was covered in ivy.


Walking along the wall a little farther, there was another marker hearkening back to Pittsburgh's baseball past (No. 9 = Bill Mazeroski).



And then, under the Boulevard of the Allies is a mural of Pittsburgh greats called, appropriately, The Legends of Pittsburgh.



It's December. In Pittsburgh. And somehow I managed to do a post about baseball. Go me!

Downtown Lunchbreak: Henry Clay Frick's Buildings, October 2011

A book I cannot recommend highly enough for any person who has lived, does live, or wants to live in Pittsburgh is Franklin Toker's Pittsburgh: A New Portrait. This book lives on my nightstand and I try to take a few pages in every night before I go to bed. I fall asleep thinking about how amazing it must have been to watch this city and its magnificent buildings and neighborhoods rise and transform. I also think about the decay and unfortunate histories that this city has seen, but I know that I'm back for good now, and I'm about to witness some truly inspiring city rejuvenation.

I work downtown, which gives me an opportunity to explore a part of the city that most of my friends only visit for things like gallery crawls or sporting events. Downtown is definitely a unique place, mostly due to the random assortment of people who populate its streets during the business day. But, after reading the Downtown chapter of the Toker book, I'm setting off on a string of mini-adventures on my lunchbreaks to explore some of the buildings and places that are special to Pittsburgh.

The first of these mini-adventures took me to a few buildings commissioned by Henry Clay Frick, who played a great role in the development of Downtown Pittsburgh.

The first building on my checklist is the Union Trust building on Grant Street. Passing by, one might not notice the uniqueness of the building on the outside. Its mansard roof is peppered with little windows, but you wouldn't notice unless you looked up. (So, look up!) Even better than the outside of the Union Trust Building is the inside, which is beyond beautiful. It's almost overwhelming walking into the building and taking in the immensity and beautiful craftmanship of Burnham's design. I was short on time, so I just walked through quickly, but a future mini-adventure will take place where I explore the inside. I'm determined to walk up the floors and take a shot looking down.

Rotunda ceiling in the Union Trust Building: gorgeous.

The exit of the Union Trust Building.

The William Penn Hotel, another of Henry Clay Frick's commissions.

Beautiful chandeliers give the William Penn an ambiance that makes you feel like you've time traveled back to the days when the building had just opened to the public.

This building wasn't commissioned by Frick, but it was designed by Daniel Burnham, and it's where I go to work every day. It's the Henry W. Oliver Building, and the window to my office looks out onto the Trinity Church and a very old cemetery, which will be another future mini-adventure. After a year of working downtown, it's time to hit the streets and take in the buildings and nooks and crannies that make Pittsburgh Pittsburgh. Lunchbreak adventures. Best way to send the one hour of my day when I'm not chained to a desk.