In my copy of Dickens's "American Notes" the section on Pittsburgh is titled "Hell with the Lid off." I suppose an editor must have liked Mr. Parton's phrase enough to borrow it. This would account for a false attribution. I'll need to consult my edition but IIRC, the editor also added the "h" to Pittsburgh.

That quote is often attributed to Charles Dickens (he visited Pittsburg, no "h" yet, in 1842), but it actually came from Boston area biographer James Parton in 1868.

"Hell with the Lid Off" is also the title of a book about the intense rivalry between the Steelers and the Oakland Raiders in the 1970s.

It is interesting that in photos like these and in so many others from even earlier times, things look old and worn - the buildings, the walls. It's almost like they were built old, that they were never new or nice.

Do NOT miss that sharp, sudden right hand turn at the bottom. Today, we would spin that as an "infinity street".

Charles Dickens recorded his impression of Pittsburgh in his "American Notes" as "Hell with the lid off".

In an industrial city, smoke was a sign of prosperity and therefore good; but even in olden times, smoke could be too much of a good thing.

I don't see a handrail. Wood wouldn't last three winters and a metal one would be rendered useless in the freezing cold. Tough place to eke out life.

[Au contraire. - Dave]

Could you imagine walking up that hill every day? I'll bet she's got calves you could bust concrete on! And she probably has asthma to boot, because of all that smog!

In what looks like an otherwise dreary, polluted, hardscrable existence.
Kudos to the hard-working people who lived and toiled in Company and Factory Towns.