{"id":5401,"date":"2015-06-03T05:00:46","date_gmt":"2015-06-03T09:00:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/?p=5401"},"modified":"2015-06-03T10:53:57","modified_gmt":"2015-06-03T14:53:57","slug":"more-aerial-views-of-old-pittsburgh","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/2015\/06\/03\/more-aerial-views-of-old-pittsburgh\/","title":{"rendered":"More aerial views of old Pittsburgh"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"May <\/a>
May 27, 1932: An aerial view of the parking lot near Penn Station and a train leaving the station. (The Pittsburgh Press) <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"1950s: <\/a>
1950s: An aerial view of Downtown Pittsburgh, the Farmers Bank Building, Market Square, the North Side and Gateway Center construction near the Point. (The Pittsburgh Press) <\/div> <\/div>
\"June <\/a>
June 1950: An aerial view of Pittsburgh’s North Side, later known as the North Shore. Visible areas include what would become the home of Three Rivers Stadium, PNC Park and Heinz Field. Also visible is the Clark Bar Building and West Park. (The Pittsburgh Press) <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"May <\/a>
May 22, 1954: An aerial view of the eastern edge of Downtown’s skyline, Uptown and the Hill District. (The Pittsburgh Press) <\/div> <\/div>
\"1958: <\/a>
1958: Construction in progress of the Pittsburgh Hilton and Fort Pitt Bridge near Point State Park. (Harry Coughanour\/Post-Gazette) <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"October <\/a>
October 1970: An aerial view of Pittsburgh, including the Civic Arena, Uptown and U.S. Steel Tower still under construction. (The Pittsburgh Press) <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"November <\/a>
November 1976: An aerial view in East Liberty of a school to be built there near Bakery Square on Penn Avenue. (The Pittsburgh Press) <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"November <\/a>
November 1984: An aerial view of the remaining South Side industrial areas near the Monongahela River. (The Pittsburgh Press) <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"October <\/a>
October 9, 1991: The airship Shamu, owned by Sea World, hovered at 1,000 feet above Downtown Pittsburgh just before the start of the Pirates’ National League Championship Series game with the Atlanta Braves at Three Rivers Stadium. This photograph was taken from a helicopter. (J. Bruce Baumann\/The Pittsburgh Press) <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>\n

Last year, we found about 300 photos in archive folders labeled “Pittsburgh Airviews and Skylines.” They were segmented by decade and provided era-by-era glimpses from above of the city’s evolution.<\/p>\n

We posted just seven of them here at The Digs<\/a>, and the collection became one of our most popular.<\/p>\n

Let’s take a look at nine more, chosen for the scenes they depict that have changed so drastically in the years since. The 1930s parking lot near Penn Station full of\u00a0the sort of automobiles\u00a0not seen in these parts today except in a wedding or antique car show. The dramatic skeletons of Gateway Center and U.S. Steel Tower going up and changing the Pittsburgh skyline during the 1950s, ’60s and ’70s.<\/p>\n

Then there are those classic sports and recreation areas before there was much recreation happening there. The Hill District in 1954 showed no sign of the Civic Arena soon becoming a dominating force in the Lower Hill. What about the\u00a01950 “North Shore” of the Allegheny River? Few would have guessed \u2014 in the years before even the Fort Duquesne Bridge had a presence there \u2014 that the entire strip of riverfront property would become home in the 21st century to America’s most beautiful baseball park and golden-seated Heinz Field. Back then, it appeared from above to be just a collection of barges<\/a> and industrial yards.<\/p>\n

Can you imagine trying to park now inside Point State Park? And if you floated above the city on an October night in recent years, you were obviously going to see a different stadium illuminated than the circular Three Rivers Stadium.<\/p>\n

Finally, in a nod to Pittsburgh’s new economy, take a look at the areas near Bakery Square and SouthSide Works. In 1976, baking was actually still being done at that area near Penn Avenue, and in 1984 some amount of hot metal was still making its way across the Hot Metal Bridge.<\/p>\n

We learned much about the city’s 20th century development, crash and rebirth in these photos, and we hope to soon share the complete collection with you here.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

These nine photos show parts of Pittsburgh that now look much different.<\/p>\n

Look at the picturesMore aerial views of old Pittsburgh<\/span><\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":5419,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true},"categories":[946],"tags":[975,959,961,963,964,965,971,972,988,1040,1047,1051],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/Pittsburgh-Airviews-1990s-2.jpg?fit=1000%2C673&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":2383,"url":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/2012\/10\/23\/apr-14-1935-pittsburgh-aerial-view-in-1935\/","url_meta":{"origin":5401,"position":0},"title":"Pittsburgh aerial view","date":"October 23, 2012","format":"gallery","excerpt":"In 1935, Pittsburgh was still a city of 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