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Carson Street
If The Strip is all about food, then Carson Street is all about shopping.
Carson Street is across the Monongahela River, a few miles up from the
Station Square area, and runs approximately parallel to the river, along
the foot of Mount Washington. It is almost entirely composed of little
shops, storefronts, and owner run businesses.
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Towards the Eastern end of Carson stands
a line of new construction. This area had formerly been an industrial area
full of factories. More recently this area was largely open fields and
lots, the factories having moved on.
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New construction generally means developers,
and chain businesses. This isn't necessarily a bad thing. Though
I like the variety of specialty shops, made possible by independent ownership,
I also like some of the chain stores.
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A multiplex theater sits at what is now
nearly the eastern end of the shopping section. beyond this are lots,
some commercial structures, and residential areas. The city then begins
to thin out.
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A look to the south shows row upon row of
houses climbing the surrounding hills. Some of these structures are quite
old, having considerable historical value.
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The Carson Street shopping area, proper,
is busy, closely packed, and filled with a variety of small stores, and
specialty shops. This is where you go if you wish to open a little business
of your own, or if you wish to find something that the big stores don't sell,
locate a service that the chains do not offer, or seek an expertise that
the clerks and salespeople in the big stores do not have.
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A look down the side streets, and up at
the surrounding hills shows a large amount of single family housing. The
houses marching up the sides of the hills, make this look like a picture
postcard.
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This is the kind of busy mixed business
and residential areas that make city living colorful, interesting, and
fun. The photo is taken at Carson street, looking down a side street, towards
the surrounding hills.
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These solidly built, old brick houses will
probably stand here for another century, at least. There are numerous structure
here, which date nearly to the foundation of the country. This particular
street is seeing some renovation. Because of the desirability of the housing
here, nothing is allowed to get very run down for very long. Actually, this
seems to be the case throughout the city.
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All of this traffic was generated during
mid afternoon, on a weekday. I would be interested to see what the area
is like on a weekend. The cross street here, is one of several which lead
to bridges over the river.
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Left:
More traffic, more business, and more housing climbing up the hills
above it all.
Below:
It would be insulting to call these brick houses quaint, because they
are still so involved with the pulse of the city, though they are removed
enough to give just a bit of isolation form the activity below. .
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A look down row houses, which which would
not have been out of place fronting the cobblestone streets of over 100
years ago.
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A couple of shots taken through the rental
car window. These types of little shops are everywhere on Carson Street,
mixed in with restaurants, taverns, low rise offices, and the odd chain
store. You could spend the better part of a day, or more, wandering up this
street, and checking all of the little shops.
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We are up at the northern end of Carson street.
The traffic, and storefronts have thinned out by this point. Once
around the bend in the middle of the photo, we begin to hit the Station
Square and downtown areas.
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