Category: History, Mon Valley Miscellany, News || By

For more than a year, photographer Steve Mellon of the Post-Gazette has been making a series of 360-degree "panoramic" images of unique Pittsburgh locations, including several in the Mon-Yough area.

His most recent image captures the midway at Kennywood Park in West Mifflin, but others have included more obscure locations, including the former holding cells at the old Homestead Borough police station and the decaying remains of Fort Pitt Steel Casting Co. in Christy Park, shown above.

For a May entry in the series, called "Pittsburgh Revolution," Mellon created two panoramas at Fort Pitt --- one inside what appears to be the casting house, and another inside an office.

Fort Pitt --- renamed McKeesport Steel Castings Co. --- closed in 1985 after a failed attempt at an employee stock-ownership program.

The abandoned site, located along the Youghiogheny River trail and visible throughout Christy Park, is unsecured and has become a frequent haunt of so-called "urban explorers." (Tube City Online has further information about the history of Fort Pitt Steel Casting Co. in the "Steel Heritage" section.)

Mellon creates his panoramas by taking a quick series of high-resolution still photos and stitching them together digitally.

Viewers who have the latest version of Adobe's Flash software installed on their browser can then explore the images at the Post-Gazette's website, zooming into examine specific details more closely. (The Tribune-Review is doing something similar using Carnegie Mellon's patented GigaPan technology, a high-tech, more automated version of Mellon's work.)

Some of Mellon's images have been taken in unexpected places, including a "behind the scenes" look last month at Gallagher's Pharmacy in Duquesne.

Mellon is no stranger to the Mon Valley. Named Pennsylvania Press Photographer of the Year in 2001 and a runner-up in a national news photography contest, Mellon is also the author of After the Smoke Clears: Struggling to Get By in Rustbelt America, a exploration of the aftermath of the steel industry's collapse in five communities, including Braddock and Homestead.

According to the P-G website, Mellon is taking suggestions from the paper's readers for other locations that can be captured as panoramas. Email him at smellon@post-gazette.com for details.

(Steve Mellon photos in this entry are copyright © 1997-2009 PG Publishing Co., Inc., all rights reserved.)

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In Other News: Also today, Pittsburgh Radio & TV Online's Monday Morning Nostalgia Fix takes a look at your career in radio ... circa 1934.

Mr. Monday Morning Nostalgia Fix even worked in a reference to Johnny Puleo, a frequent 1950s headliner at Mon-Yough area night clubs, including the Twin Coaches in Rostraver Township and Bill Green's Supper Club in Pleasant Hills.

Puleo was a harmonica player and actor --- noted for his short stature --- who also made regular appearances on "The Ed Sullivan Show" and other variety programs.

Check out the entire entry at PBRTV.