City Hopping Pt 2: Philadelphia

[simms3_redux]

Took a personal trip in July to visit friends and sightsee in 4 different US cities. Started in Chicago, then went to Philadelphia, New York, and Boston. Was not out to get really quality/artistic shots, just to photo when I had an opportunity each city. Was also out to enjoy each city’s gay scene (no photos).

My second stop was in Philly (I know VZ just posted a great thread as well, sorry!). Great city, it had been a while. Definitely a grungier city. Very small gay scene centered around Locust and 12th/13th right in Center City (Washington Square West), with a mixed-crowd and an after hours that everyone goes to after 2.

Candidly I spent no time in the South/North/West neighborhoods. Got a good view of the northern side of the city on the way out (Acela), and it looks very very blown out! Very much like the South Side of Chicago, though it looks even worse (with lots of potential, of course). Center City is very lively. What’s different about Philly as opposed to SF, Chicago, New York, and Boston is that Center City/"downtown" serves both as the CBD and the best place to live in the city (arguably). Philadelphia just isn’t a very wealthy city at all, though much of it is concentrated around Center City and Rittenhouse. It’s definitely a city that makes it “cool” to be downtown, and in fact, downtown is where you really want to be in order to be close to many of the best bars/restaurants/entertainment options in the city. The gay scene is also downtown (as opposed to East Lakeview in Chicago, Castro in SF, South End/Dorchester in Boston, and HK/Chelsea in New York).

I just have to comment, though, that as encompassing as downtown is, much of it is entirely pedestrian unfriendly. The south half where Rittenhouse Square is situated and the older neighborhoods are is fine. With narrow streets, crosswalks, grid, etc. The area with many of the office towers, the area around Comcast Center, and the boulevard where the museums, and library are is totally pedestrian unfriendly. The city will have to do something about it. Also, for all of the talk that U City is an extension of Center City, in my opinion it really is not. U City is quite far away, separated by a river and not a very pedestrian friendly walk at all. The buildings in U City are also spread apart, so it’s not really like much of Center City at all, maybe like a shorter version of the northern half of Center City.

Other threads from trip:

Chicago
New York / Boston

1. Journey starts and ends at 30th Street Station, which brings together Acela/Amtrak, SEPTA regional, and SEPTA rapid transit. It is not in the heart of the city and requires a ride either on the subway or a cab. Because of the distance, I personally would not want to office at Cira Center or FMC, or live in Evo. Beautiful and very user friendly station, though (hopefully SF takes a cue to this and the stations in Chicago and Boston).

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2. Narrow Center City streets

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3. Lots of buildings are kind of run down

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5. Walnut Street, the city’s main shopping street

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6. Looking south on Broad from Walnut

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13. Rittenhouse Square

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30. These single access driveways serve several homes and are common both in Philly and in England.

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39. The old Wanamaker’s, now a Macy’s on only the first 2 floors
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45. The Free Library and some other building

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46. The Franklin Institute

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48. Here you can see the new Mormon Temple under construction

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49. The Philadelphia Museum of Art. They need to keep the Rocky Steps, that ironically seemed like one of the biggest attractions in the city, maybe even bigger than the museum itself. Kind of lame, but something that definitely is unique and appeals to people as a very American thing.

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51. University City – the building center right is probably my favorite new building in the city.

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61. Graffiti Bar

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[KevinFromTexas]

Nice pics. Looks good to me.

[Danny]

I´ve liked your photo tour along Philadelphia. Thanks for sharing.

Congrats and greetings from Madrid, Spain.

[Flyers2001]

Thanks for sharing, hope you enjoyed your visit.

The building you call possibly your new favorite in Ucity, is a drexel Dorm tower. Funny as new as that picture is the view is totally different today. Lancaster Sq. another Drexel dorm tower would domiate that picture. It really is a massive building for the location. The amount of 300ft buildings going up in Ucity is amazing as it will have its own skyline which might be more impressive than some of the smaller cities.

[Capsule F]

Great pictures, stupid statements. Easy to tell you are from SF.

30th street station is 1.5 miles to city hall, and no more than 1 mile from the bustling parts of center city.

It has the 4th highest walkscore in the country, and unequivocally the most narrow streets, I dunno how that is not pedestrian friendly.

The Macy's in center city is 3 floors, with talk of converting the 4th and 157,000 square feet.

There are a fair amount of run down buildings, not really all that much in center city. North is a disaster, most of South is good. And yes you have missed out on 9/10 gentrifying neighborhoods by staying in center city. Let me guess when you visit NYC you son't go to Brooklyn, too run-down maybe?

Seriously great pics though.

[PHL10]

^^ I read the OP's comments somewhat differently. The parkway and the surrounding area is not pedestrian friendly – true. The City of Philadelphia lacks the wealth of its peer cities; Boston and SF for example – true. 30th Street Station is not located in the downtown - true.

I actually thought the comments were astute. The only time I get disappointed with feedback is when the person only ventures into one small part of Center City and then assesses the entire downtown based on that small area. Based on the pictures, this wasn’t the case.

[Insoluble]

Originally Posted by PHL10

^^ I read the OP's comments somewhat differently. The parkway and the surrounding area is not pedestrian friendly – true.

But this is a very different statement from:

that as encompassing as downtown is, much of it is entirely pedestrian unfriendly.

Which is just plain ignorant. If you find much of downtown Philly to be pedestrian unfriendly, then I can't imagine any city in this country that you would deem pedestrian friendly. Philly has plenty of problems, but pedestrian unfriendliness is not one of them.

[PHL10]

Originally Posted by Insoluble

But this is a very different statement from:



Which is just plain ignorant. If you find much of downtown Philly to be pedestrian unfriendly, then I can't imagine any city in this country that you would deem pedestrian friendly. Philly has plenty of problems, but pedestrian unfriendliness is not one of them.

But here's the full quote, which is different than pulling out a single sentence:

I just have to comment, though, that as encompassing as downtown is, much of it is entirely pedestrian unfriendly. The south half where Rittenhouse Square is situated and the older neighborhoods are is fine. With narrow streets, crosswalks, grid, etc. The area with many of the office towers, the area around Comcast Center, and the boulevard where the museums, and library are is totally pedestrian unfriendly.

I suppose using the word "some" instead of "much" may be more accurate but whatever.

[Philly-Drew]

Absolutely awesome pics! Thanks for the photo tour! Nice to see some familiar places through the lens of an outsider.

Not sure what you meant by "a small gay scene". One thing I really enjoy about living in downtown Philadelphia is that gay people are pretty much spread through the fabric of many neighborhoods and are not "collected" into a specific area, or specific neighborhood as much as in other American cities. Of course we still have a gayborhood, which is probably what you are referring to. Here though I feel like gay people are much more integrated than most other places and many restaraunts and bars are considered "gay-straight". I guess what I'm trying to say is that many "straight" people visit "gay" bars and very many "straight" bars are probably 35% gay.

I'm very proud that we are pretty well integrated here.

[Boffo]

Philly is the best! Thanx for sharing.

[NYbyWAYofGA]

Great pics of one of my favorite cities.

[gatt]

beautiful!Philly have very nice architecture.