before there was email, alleycats, and messenger chic, there was this guy:
R.I.P. Triangle
anyone recognize him?
on a related sidenote, i was listening to the john joseph autobiography on tape this past weekend (the evolution of a cro-magnon) while driving to philly with eric and amidst the massive amounts of shit talking against harley flanagan, the dude talks about messengering quite extensively.
this, too, would be circa 1985.
but highly recommended listening for anyone traveling across the state. 6 plus hours of some crazy, fucked up shit.
i'm guessing he was in NYC?
i like how fifth ave is still under construction.
can anyone tell what intersection that is? i can't tell if it's wood or market
i'm checking google street view and i'm havig a hard time telling
looks to be market. note the city deli off in the right, there.
is that still there?
when looking at 5th and market on google street view, none of the buildings are the same, however the two manhole covers are. unless the whole exterior of the buildings was redone later on, it's a different intersection
hmmmm. good eye. there are some manhole covers on wood as well, but they don't match up like those do. if that is market, that means he's going the wrong way on a one way street. ha!
it definitely isn't market then, as there's be no use for the no turn on red sign if it was one way.
City Deli
507 Market St
Pittsburgh, PA 15222
City Deli & Catering
436 7th Ave
Pittsburgh, PA 15219
i'm confused is city deli still there? on the google there is no city deli.
google maps of that intersection is all kinds of messed up. presumably because of the construction.
that is to say: i have absolutely no idea if city deli is still there, but since there was was clearly a location on the 500 block of market, that is still my guess.
This is guess.
Messenger is heading from Liberty to Market Sq.
The straight and left arrows refer to the intersection with Liberty.
I think he is riding the wrong way against traffic on what was to be used for right turns only onto liberty (hence no right turn arrow)
There used to be a bunch of buildings, like caddy corner from where Parkvale is now.
I think that city deli turned into "the chinese food
window" or whatever eventually.
Was it a one way street back then?
I mean, like really. A bike messenger going the wrong way on a one way street? You want me to believe that?
Mick
I don't think it's that far back (1985). The city replaced every street sign around 1987. They used to be black on white. That one in the photo is the newer kind.
I think the road work is from the 1994-1998 reconstruction of several streets, from sidewalk to sidewalk, Fifth being one of them.
I'm also pretty sure that that's Market St. The diagonal-fronted building was later a shoe store, which lasted until they tore the place down just a year or so ago.
you may be right stu, but i got the 1985 from the source where i found it, the historic pittsburgh website
also, the mid 90s is when pagers were huge. don't know about the mid 80s. i guess there could have been something called paging, but i was too young to remember
http://digital.library.pitt.edu/pittsburgh/
I am now certain that the photo was taken from the center of the Fifth/Market intersection, looking mainly down Market toward Liberty, which the cyclist is coming from. A Radio Shack would have been on the pointy corner of Fifth/Liberty, to the left of the pager shop, just out of view. A flower shop was the next business to the right of City Deli, with its storefront on both Market and Liberty. A Payless Shoes would have been out of view to the right, across Market. That whole area was leveled about two years ago for PNC's new building. I'm sticking with 1995 +/- 2 years. And yes, Market was one-way, moving from Fifth to Liberty, so the cyclist is going the wrong way.
