{"id":2035,"date":"2013-02-20T11:01:22","date_gmt":"2013-02-20T11:01:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/?p=2035"},"modified":"2015-01-08T17:39:27","modified_gmt":"2015-01-08T22:39:27","slug":"oakland-as-viewed-from-the-post-gazette-helicopter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/2013\/02\/20\/oakland-as-viewed-from-the-post-gazette-helicopter\/","title":{"rendered":"Oakland as viewed from the Post-Gazette helicopter"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\" <\/a> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Oakland, <\/a>
Oakland, circa 1925. <\/div> <\/div>
\"Oakland, <\/a>
Oakland, circa 1930. <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>\n

April 30, 1949:\u00a0<\/strong>Our first reaction upon seeing this image was one of awe. It\u2019s certainly a stunning picture. Then we chuckled as we read the caption: \u201cThis unusual view of the Oakland district landmarks was taken from the Post-Gazette helicopter.\u201d<\/p>\n

The<\/em> Post-Gazette helicopter?<\/em>\u00a0Hmmm.\u00a0Earlier generations of photographers had all the fun.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s our good fortune the PG took flight on occasion, if only to provide us with this document of life in Oakland in the late 1940s.\u00a0Automobiles are parked sardine-like in what is now Schenley Plaza, \u00a0streetcars mix with automobiles along Forbes Avenue, baseball fans pack Forbes Field and the J&L steel mill roils in the distance. We can\u2019t see the mill because of the smoke, which of course betrays the mill\u2019s presence.<\/p>\n

Our files contain several aerial pictures of Oakland. We\u2019re posting three. What struck us about these images is the dramatic change brought about by construction of the 42-story Cathedral of Learning.<\/p>\n

In the earliest image, which we suspect was made shortly before Cathedral construction began in 1926, Oakland appears as a collection of stately university buildings encroaching on an area that had only a short time before been mostly rural. The Cathedral would be built on the irregular tract of land in the foreground. In the top left portion of the image, we detect evidence of the construction of Pitt Stadium.<\/p>\n

The third image dates from the late 1920s or early \u201930s. The Cathedral is incomplete, but we can begin to see how it will soon come to dominate and define the area. In the distance puff the furnaces of the J&L mill, which straddles the Monongahela River. By 1949, the Cathedral towered in all its gothic glory. Today we view this bold structure as an essential part of our city, but its original design met with great resistance within the community. Many felt it was simply too tall.<\/p>\n

Oakland has experienced quite a bit of change since \u201849. Gone are Forbes Field and the mill. The parking lot is a park. Our hope is to some day show you these changes. We\u2019ve requested that the editors of the PG establish a helicopter acquisition fund. We\u2019re awaiting a response.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Post-Gazette helicopter? Hmmm. Earlier generations of photographers had all the fun.<\/p>\n

Look at the picturesOakland as viewed from the Post-Gazette helicopter<\/span><\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":2038,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"gallery","meta":{"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true},"categories":[945],"tags":[975,959,960,1197,1110,977,989,1250,1046,1050],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/tumblr_mih59bY2Hj1rr5swxo2_1280.jpg?fit=1280%2C898&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":132,"url":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/2014\/10\/27\/where-did-richie-hebner-eat-his-breakfast\/","url_meta":{"origin":2035,"position":0},"title":"Where did Richie Hebner eat his breakfast?","date":"October 27, 2014","format":"gallery","excerpt":"Some of the best story ideas have come to \u201cThe Digs\u201d from our readers and followers.","rel":"","context":"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/tumblr_ne39i81EMs1rr5swxo3_1280.jpg?fit=740%2C597&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1320,"url":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/2013\/10\/09\/dreaming-of-the-world-series-too-soon-you-say\/","url_meta":{"origin":2035,"position":1},"title":"Dreaming of the World Series\u2026 Too soon, you say?","date":"October 9, 2013","format":"gallery","excerpt":"It\u2019s not done yet. 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We wanted\u2026","rel":"","context":"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/LunaParkThen.jpg?fit=1200%2C489&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1669,"url":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/2013\/06\/21\/the-bank-tower-in-pittsburgh\/","url_meta":{"origin":2035,"position":4},"title":"The Bank Tower in Pittsburgh","date":"June 21, 2013","format":"gallery","excerpt":"As developers invest in historic buildings or build new office towers, Downtown Pittsburgh grows more vibrant.","rel":"","context":"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/tumblr_mopk80CMUM1rr5swxo5_1280.jpg?fit=806%2C1008&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":542,"url":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/2014\/06\/20\/boyhood-memories-at-forbes-field\/","url_meta":{"origin":2035,"position":5},"title":"Boyhood memories at Forbes Field","date":"June 20, 2014","format":"gallery","excerpt":"Two boys, two hot dogs and a magical season at Forbes Field.","rel":"","context":"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/tumblr_n7dmswA6VE1rr5swxo1_1280.jpg?fit=1200%2C882&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2035"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2035"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2035\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4378,"href":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2035\/revisions\/4378"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2038"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2035"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2035"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2035"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}