The same year that photo was taken, I went to my five-year high school reunion in Central PA. I got a ride back to Pittsburgh with a friend so I could catch a Greyhound bus to Columbus, Ohio.

The building just above the point where the trolley pole joins the roof of the PCC housed a joint which I think was called "The Sportsman." I made the mistake of wandering in and as soon as I got in the door a really sleazy and not very attractive women propositioned me.

At the time the photo was taken, the portion of Liberty Avenue (not Street) has a reputation of being a sleazy district with porno places and strip joints.

In the background of the photo is Penn Station. Amtrak vacated the main building in 1979 and moved to a "temporary" waiting room in a trailer on the other side of the building. Ten years later, Amtrak moved into a nicer facility at the same level as Liberty Avenue just beneath that main building. The station structure was cleaned up and renovated to the Pennsylvanian condos and apartments.

The Greyhound Terminal is out of view of this photo. It is just to the left of Penn Station. It was recently demolished and replaced with the Grant Street Transportation Center which is a parking garage that happens to have a Greyhound station on the first floor.

July 1985 saw the end of streetcars on Pittsburgh's Downtown streets when the rail transit system was placed into a tunnel. Railfans may lament the loss of the streetcars on Downtown streets, but they go through Downtown much more quickly during rush hours because there is no traffic to delay them.

Liberty Avenue and the parallel street, Penn Avenue, have been cleared of the sleaze and now the comprise Pittsburgh's Cultural District. The buildings behind the PCC have been cleared and replaced by the new August Wilson Center for African American Culture.

With respect to safety, yes Pittsburgh has its crime like many other American cities. But I've been in Downtown Pittsburgh at night many times beginning in the late 1970s and have never had any problems.