Every neighborhood needs a place where children can play. Tucked into the hillside, this parklet is undergoing a major renovation. The terrace offers a stunning view of downtown and the Point, and is a favorite site to watch fireworks. It is one of a series of small green spaces on the hillside.
StepTrek Route: Black Route 2024
Black/East Route 2024
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Eleanor St.
Cross Holt and keep left on the sidewalk. Continue up Eleanor to Sierra St. on the right. Above you is Eleanor St. parklet.
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Eleanor St. Steps
Make right. Eleanor is one of the few throughways that ascend from the bottom of the Slopes to the top of the hill. This section of Eleanor is a classic “paper” street: a series of public stairways that are marked as streets on city maps. Very confusing esp. to delivery drivers. Climb 69 steps to Holt St.
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Caesar Way
Climb 44 stairs to a narrow trail that traverses the Slopes to Eleanor St. Steps. Please watch your footing. For over a decade, Caesar way was covered in concrete boulders and construction debris related to condos built on the plot above it. SSSNA members moved the debris, hoed out the path and tamped it down.
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Sterling St. (cont’d.)
Cross Mission. On the corner is Garvey’s, a popular neighborhood pub. Stop in for a cold one if you’re thirsty. Ascend 33 steps to Caesar Way, the first wooden stairs on the left, across from 53 Sterling.
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Sterling St.
Continue up Sterling to Mission St. and the former St. Josaphat Church.
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* St. Josaphat Church
Dedicated in 1916 to serve a Polish parish established in 1901, the Roman Catholic Church was named for St. Josaphat (Josephat Kuntsevych), a bishop and martyr born in Poland in 1580. The building is Romanesque with a Byzantium influence evident in the arches, pillars and bell tower. The main altar held relics of St. Josaphat. In the rear, beneath the choir balcony, hung a picture of the Black Madonna. The church closed permanently after a section of ceiling collapsed about the casket of the last caretaker during his funeral mass. The school was converted into four living units. The church itself is being transformed into a community wellness center. Many Polish descendants continue to inhabit this section of the Slopes. The names of relations and former residents who served in World Wars I & II are seen on the memorial tucked into the hillside across Mission St. from the church.
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Eola Way Steps
Make a left and walk to the stairs built in 1947. As you climb these 96 steps, each 4-ft wide, notice the ruins of stone or brick foundations perched over the hillside on the right. At the top of the steps is Sterling St. and Leticoe.
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Greeley St.
Turn left and continue up Greely 75 yards to Eola Way Steps on the left.
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* Gardens on the Slopes
At the corner of Josephine & Greeley is the first of six gardens maintained by SSSNA members. Part of an effort to put a green face on the Slopes, the garden was first planted in 2002 in conjunction with the Western Penna. Conservancy.