Behind the Art Museum is the newly restored Fairmount Water Works,
some quaint cafes, a place to rent bikes so you can pedal down "East River
Drive" (now called Kelly Drive) to the Strawberry Mansion Bridge and back.
Along this route you'll see some more sculpture, boat house row and
the Strawberry Mansion green painted iron bridge that crosses Girard Ave.
The Philadelphia Zoo is on the other side of that Bridge, but you shouldn't
try to get there now. This information is just for your orientation.
Now Let's Get Back to Center City:
Most
people who visit Philadelphia seek out the 18th century historical
sites. The Liberty
Bell, Independence Hall, Betsy Ross's House are just a few places to
visit. Don't be disappointed to learn that Davey Crockett really didn't
"fix up the crack" in the Liberty Bell like the song said. Neither
welding, epoxy or Crazy Glue was available.
The US Mint is located at 5th and Arch Sts. where they make shinny copper
pennies up the gazoo around the clock. Bring a bottle cap from a bottle
of Elliott's Amazing Juices and ask then to stamp it with Lincoln's Head
and you'll have a one of a kind souvenir.
If you travel towards City Hall you'll find the African
American Museum at 7th and Arch and the National
Museum of American Jewish History at 55 N. 5th Street.
There's not much to see across the street at Old Christ's Church's Grave
Yard except graves. Hey..maybe that's your thing and if it is you should
get a life. There are several Colonial and Victorian era cemeteries you
can also visit.
But let's move it along down Arch Street to the firehouse which has
a hugh bust of Franklin made from half melted pennies donated by school
children and not far down Arch street between 3rd and 2nd is the
Betsy
Ross House where she worked on sewing "Old Glory". I think
they took down the "Washington Slept Here" sign a few years ago but with
the new dirt on Thomas Jefferson and William Jefferson Clinton coming to
light, who knows if it true or not about Washington. He wasn't always an
old fart with wooden teeth that you see in paintings and he has his picture
on every dollar bill!
Keep walking towards the Delaware River and you'll run into the restaurant
equipment dealers where you can walk in and a browse for professional cooking
gear. On 2nd Street there's the Fire Department's museum if you're into
old fire trucks and apparatus. This is Old City and 2nd street has a bunch
of cafes, restaurants, boutiques and shops. Christ Church is close by and
Market Street has lots of interesting shopping including "Pants Corner,
Shirt Corner and Tie Corner". There's a authentic hobby shop, an umbrella
store, Ambrosia Health Food Store (you can buy some fruit
and nut mixes, some Elliott's Amazing juice or some energy bars), Snow
White (for delicious, cheap roast beef sandwiches sliced before your
eyes)
You can walk across a bridge and see the river front attractions. The
sites include the Maritime Museum,
a W.W.I Sub-The Becuna, and The USS
Olympia, which was Admiral's Dewey's flag ship during the Spanish American
War.. It was on this ship that those famous orders "You may fire when ready,
Gridley" were given. (This was the war that made Spanish Rice popular in
America and why we ate so much of it at Pi Lam
at Penn State as well as a reminder to order Christmas presents from L.L.Bean
located in Maine) On the other side of the river is the Camden
Aquarium. There are several clever ways to get to the other side of
the river and everyone is an adventure.
Or you could save the river tour for later and head back over
Market Street west towards City Hall where you'll find "Franklin
Court" tucked in between 4th and 5th which feature interactive displays
about Ben Franklin-the man and his time. This brings you back to
5th and Market and Independence Mall. There's extensive exhibits at the
the newly opened Liberty Center.
-If you want to stay on the same side of Broad Street continue South
"Society Hill" is the section east of Broad Street and between Chestnut
St. and Pine St. It's mostly residential with old restored houses
and brick sidewalks and piles of horse pookey from all the carriages. However,
there are many antique dealers located on Pine Street between 8th and 12th
in a section called guess..."antique row"!
Located on Sansom Street between 7th and 8th and between Chestnut and
Market is "Jeweler's Row" which was established in the mid 1800's. If you're
into wedding rings, check out very very large selection at Harry Sable-the
King of Wedding Rings. Safian
and Rudolph is one of the more reputable jewelry firms in the area
and you should ask for my friend, Hy Goldberg, whom I have known since
the 6th grade. Again, flash a bottle cap from Elliott's Amazing Juice and
get "special" treatment.
Diagonally across the street is the Curtis Building where in
the lobby you'll find a huge mural made in Tiffany stain glass of
Maxwell Parrish's illustration of "The Dream Garden". Much more impressive
than the usual lamp shades you've seen. The Curtis
Building
(7th and Chestnut) was home of the "Saturday Evening
Post" magazine which featured many illustrations of Norman Rockwell. These
illustrations are memorized on china plates in your great aunt's china
closet or laid out on tables at garage sales across America. But you can
see the Norman Rockwell collection now at the Atwater
Kent Museum ,15 So 7th Street, which also houses floors of exhibits
about the early industrial/manufacturing days of Philadelphia and
the late 1800's to post World War II (The BIG one).
(Now if you like this stuff, you'll love the four floors of exhibits
of pre industrial manufacturing anc crafts at the Mercer
Museum in Doylestown. Drive 30 miles straight up Broad St.)
Across the street from the Curtis Building is Washington
Square with a monument and/or tomb of the Unknown Revolutionary
War Soldier.
There are some other historical churches and schuls and a few shops
and restaurants, but most of the action in on the "hippest street in town"-South
Street...
"South Street" (where are the hippies meet) is interesting and the closest
thing we have to Greenwich Village, Haight-Ashbury or Fisherman's Wharf.
Lots of interesting one of a kind shops and eateries (although the chains
are creeping in). Dave Auspitz, the grandson of the founder of Famous
Deli at 4th and Bainbridge will fix you up with a corned beef special
and some of his hugh chocolate chip cookies hot out of the oven.
If you're looking to get pierced or tattooed, you have a wide choice of
places. As well as a store that specializes in toy ray guns!
South of South Street is Washington Ave. and not quite to Broad
Street is 9th Street. Now you're in the heart of the Italian Market, Yo!
If you didn't fill up your belly on South Street, you can munch your heart
out or shop for either munches to take back to your hotel or real food
including whole dressed pigs to take home and cook. Fante's is a
very complete gourmet food and cook's paradise located at 1006 S. 9th.
Make sure you go to Termini's Bakery for a cannoli, bread or "butter
cake" and you'll get the best cheese at DiBruno's. Both sides of
the street are lined with produce vendors offering bargains at every table.
There's a big Vietnamese section moving in the area so you might be confused
as the cuisine gets mingled.
Where Passyunk Ave. crosses 9th Street (south of Washington) is Geno's
and Pat's and some wanna-be's where you can get a genuine Philly
Cheese Steak or Hoagie.
-Going West on Market Street towards City Hall, you'll find the "Gallery"
with lots of eateries and shops and also the Reading
Terminal Market which is interesting with it's fresh food markets
and specialty eateries. Towards the end of the week, a group of Amish
open up their shops where you can get "Pennsylvania Dutch" specialties
such a Shoe Fly Pie, Funny Cake, Home Made noodles, baked goods and
preserves. I like the lunch stand where you have to stand for a chance
to grab a stool to eat a BBQ sandwich with other people breathing down
your neck, but it's worth it!. There's also a little lunch stand called
"Spatola's" that's been there for a million years that make big,
good, basic sandwiches and sells them very inexpensively. Behind the Reading
Terminal is the Pennsylvania Convention Center and to the East is
the Gallery which is not unlike every other shopping center in the world.
But there is a store that sells a billion strange coffee mugs. And "Adams
Apple", a fruit stand is a very loyal Elliott's customer for many years.
If you're in the mood for Chinese, China
town runs on both sides of Race Street (behind the Reading Terminal
Market) from about 12th Street to 9th Street. Vietnamese, Japanese and
other "eses" are intermingled. I haven't been in China town for years and
can't make any recommendations, but you might take a peak in a chinese
cookie factory on 11th St. north of Race. Don't worry, all the prisoners
have escaped on their own, so ignore any messages you might find in your
cookie.
That's the end of the tour for now. I'm pooped!
Next time we'll cover west of City Hall and south of Market as well
as University City, home of Quakers at UofPenn, Drexel and Phila
College of Science. TheUoP Museum
of Archeology and Anthropology is always a favorite place to bring
your mummy.
Other favorite tourist places are the The
Philadelphia Zoo, The Japanese Tea
House in Fairmount Park, The Mann which has semi outdoor concerts,
With the opening of the Kimmel Center on Broad St. there will be plenty
of entertainment and the new Liberty
Center near Independence Hall both opening in December 2001 will
give you more to do. We have sports galore-both Pro and College and Atlantic
City is only 60 miles away and is accessible by car, bus, or train from
30th Street.
If local bars and pubs are your thing, here's a very complete
listing of Philly night life.
There are other "showcase" areas you hosts will drag you to including"
Manyunk (trendy restaurants, clubs and bars), Chestnut Hill (Waspy oppulence)and
maybe Franklin Mills
(just another big mall). But Philadelphia is made up of many neighborhoods
each with it's own flavor and when you throw in the surrounding counties
and the counties in Southern New Jersey, the eight county Metro area is
about 5 million people
Welcome and enjoy your visit or welcome neighbor if you're settling
down here.
On top of the building is a 30 foot statue of William Penn designed by the sculptor Alexander Calder. Actually, Calder designed the brocade on Penn's Coat to work with the light coming from a particular direction, but he pissed off the riggers who then mounted Penn facing the wrong way. He was supposed to be "surveying his domain" but now is looking the other way.
West of City Hall near 15th and Market is a large sculpture of a "Clothes Pin" by Claes Oldenburg which tries to make a point because the top of the clothes pin doesn't close so it's not functional. And across the street near the Visitor's and Convention Center is the ever famous stacked letter "LOVE" sculpture.
It's all you need.
