After walking through Avalon and taking pictures with an old iPhone one recent evening, we wondered about the origins of the borough’s name.

So we Googled it.

Avalon is Celtic for “Land of Apples,” according to one old newspaper article we found. Apparently Avalon is the name of a mythical island in the legendary tales of King Arthur. The magical sword Excalibur was made there. Some stories link Avalon island with the Holy Grail — Wikipedia says so, anyway.

During our walk through Avalon borough, we didn’t see any thing magical, not even an apple tree. But we did walk past a pizza shop — the smell made us hungry. And we saw some very cool old houses and a business district alight with color.

Pizza shop on the 500 block of California Avenue at 9:24 p.m.
California Avenue near Division Avenue at 8:45 p.m.
Lights on the 600 block of California Avenue at 9:05 p.m.
Houses on Fisk Avenue near California Avenue at 8:51 p.m.
Steve Mellon

Steve is a photojournalist and writer for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, but he is currently on strike and working as a Union Progress co-editor. Reach him at smellon@unionprogress.com.

Steve Mellon

Steve is a photojournalist and writer for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, but he is currently on strike and working as a Union Progress co-editor. Reach him at smellon@unionprogress.com.