Manchester/Mexican War Streets

Emily gets the group psyched up for the first part of the hike through Manchester. We actually start on the edge of the War Streets, in a parking lot the America Postal Workers Union let us use.
Hikers walk through part of Manchester and then actually dip into Chateau, a mostly industrial area along the Ohio River.
Manchester Craftsmen’s Guild is there. It offers a variety of programs to train adults and teens for careers in the arts. It’s a subsidiary of the Manchester Bidwell Corporation. The building is also one of the area’s more popular spots for jazz concerts.
A couple blocks behind Manchester Craftsmen’s Guild is the Ohio River… and a marina.
Elvis lives… in Chateau.
We arrive at the Drew Mathieson Center for Horticultural and Agricultural Technology, which is affiliated with the Manchester Bidwell Corporation. On this day, the Daffodil and Hosta Society of Western Pennsylvania happens to have a show there. The Society’s Chuck Olescyski tells us about it.
Rachel Kudrick shows off the greenhouse’s signature product, the Phalenopsis orchid.
The greenhouse grows other plants as well, including hydroponic tomatoes and annuals that are sold locally.
Walking back through Manchester, many hikers are surprised to see how beautiful and large some of the houses are. There are still some areas that could use a lot of help, but several blocks are filled with houses that have been carefully restored…
…and gardens dutifully tended to.
We stop at Emmanuel Episcopal Church, built in 1886. Don Youse is Vicker there. The church’s original stone design was by H.H. Richardson, who also designed the Allegheny County courthouse. The church’s congregation rejected Richardson’s design because it was too expensive. The church is made out of brick instead. A few years after construction was finished, the church’s walls bowed out. You can notice it especially looking at the inside of the west wall.
The church confirmed a few years ago that these three windows were made by Tiffany.
The hikers walk by the new Brighton-Beech lofts.
The next stop is the Community College of Allegheny County, which is in an area called Millionaire’s Row between around 1890 and 1910. Emily tells us that the millionaires began moving out of these huge homes once Pittsburgh annexed Allegheny City, which included the North Side.
We stop at Gus and Yia Yia’s shaved ice stand in West Park. The stand has been on the North Side since 1934, or, as is painted on the side, “since your dad was a lad.”
Gus shaves the ice right in front of you. They keep the big blocks in a truck parked next to the stand.
On to the Mexican War Streets, which were laid out by General William Robinson in 1848. He had just returned from the war and named the streets after battles and generals in a show of patriotism. Many Victorian homes in this neighborhood have been renovated, and community gardens like this one planted in empty lots.
We find there Glenn Woodard, who likes to call himself the “King of Peas.” He says we should really walk around the corner and talk to Randy Gilson, who started these gardens.
It’s hard to miss Randy’s house. He happens to be having a yard sale this day. Randy is one of the most energetic guys you’ll ever meet. He tells us he took out a loan to buy this home at a sheriff’s sale, and eventually bought two other houses on either side (together they’re known as “Randyland”). He and his partner hope eventually to open a coffee shop on the first floor of this building. It’s not clear whether Randy sleeps.
Next we go to the Mattress Factory, where Curator of Exhibitions Michael Olijnyk talks to us.
The courtyard outside the museum looks like the remnants of a former home, although much of it was added by an artist. And just outside, there’s a peephole to look into the courtyard.
When you look through it, you see the stream flowing through the courtyard.
Just down the street is the home of a Chinese poet who moved to Pittsburgh to escape persecution in his native country.
On our way back to our cars, we stop by a mural created through the Sprout Fund.