For your amusement. The obligatory supermarket photos are here, by the way.

Downtown Pittsburgh from Troy Hill.

I thought San Francisco had left me too bitter to ever truly love another urban area again. But maybe not.

Pittsburgh really is sort of an amazing place, as I’ve mentioned before: urban without being pretentious, distinctly affordable, and possessed of a surprisingly stable population of working families. As I become more familiar with  the city, I find that there are very few neighborhoods that make me nervous as I drive through them (yes, there are still a few). And there really is some new little bit of wonderfulness around every corner. Of course, your definition of wonderfulness may vary.

And after a (very) few initial moments of skepticism, I’ve come to love my neighborhood, Lawrenceville, as well. It’s nice to be able to walk to the supermarket and pick up something I’m out of while cooking dinner, or to a really good diner for breakfast. And Lawrenceville has urban texture like almost no other place I’ve ever seen. It ranges from the beautiful to the butt-ugly, just like a real urban neighborhood should. And I think I would actually be a little surprised to find my car window broken here, unlike South of Market, where I sort of expected it.

In fact, it has been suggested that part of my problem with San Francisco stemmed from the neighborhood I lived in, and there may be some slight validity to that. That said, in San Francisco, mere mortals can’t just pick and choose their neighborhoods, either. Nor can they afford whole houses in them.

Anyway, I don’t live here full-time now, and it’s not really likely that I’ll be doing so anytime soon. I hope my fascination doesn’t wear off. I don’t think it will.

I have lots of thoughts and little attention span. Thus, here are some more pictures. Pictures are easy.

South Side.

Carson Street, South Side.

Strip District from Troy Hill.

Downtown Pittsburgh from South Side Slopes.

So I’m a little obsessed with the panoramic feature on my new digital camera. I know everyone else was probably bored with it three years ago, but it’s pretty cool for those of us whose favorite things to shoot are streetscapes (and who don’t mind a slightly surreal perspective). The “stitching” is obviously not perfect, but still…

Out my front door:

Tate Street near UNCG:

Greene Street and Carolina Theatre, downtown Greensboro:

Miscellany for a Friday morning:

• I really hope this project turns into a big website some day.
• This lead amuses me: “The advertising world is all atwitter about Twitter. A majority of the public at large, by contrast, hasn’t even gotten sufficiently interested in Twitter to have a disparaging opinion about it.”
• I’ve been reading this site lately for its take on the questionable practice of cites demolishing their ways out of urban decay.
• Happily, I realize that I don’t know my classic rock very well at all, thanks.

Randomly Friday:

• Farewell to archiectural photographer Julius Shulman, who is responsibile for much of the way we think of Los Angeles.
• Speaking of architecture, here’s an intersting post on Greensboro and brutalism.  I’ve never really thought that adding doodads after the fact was a particularly effective way of repurposing unfashionable buildings or of giving  a nod to historic preservation, but that’s just me.
• Speaking of Greensboro, if you don’t vote for him, this guy will cut you. While I’m at it, why do all gangs (and, ironically, the Klan) have such stupid fucking names for their subgroups and leaders? North Carolina Almighty Latin King and Queen Nation? Please. Who’s in charge? The grand exalted cyclops or the kleagle?