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JasonParis

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As continued from Phabulous Philly (Part II)...

A distant shot of Cesar Pelli's Cira Centre.
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A typical Philly streetscape. This is along 21st Street.
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This was the neighbourhood where much of The Sixth Sense (a.k.a. "I see dead people") was shot. It's located in south-west Philly.
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Another shot from south-west Philly.
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We then took a walk through Philadelphia's famed "Society Hill" neighbourhood which contains the largest concentration of original 18th and early 19th-century architecture of any place in the U.S. Much like Beacon Hill in Boston, Society Hill is noted for its cobblestone streets bordered by brick rowhouses.
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Society Hill (cont.)
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Not all buildings in Society Hill are originals, but any newer building generally fits the scale of the neighbourhood, if not the style.
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Much like many other inner city American neighbourhoods, Society Hill suffered from crime and depopulation in the 1960s through the 1980s. Some of the "pioneers" who came back into the neighbourhood are noted for their homes with minimal windows (especially on the first floor) and a design that emphasized safety over style.
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Society Hill (cont.)...
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Ironically, Society Hill is also home to a triplet of I.M. Pei skyscrapers known as the "Society Hill Towers."
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Today, the towers are luxury condominiums and create quite the juxtaposition with the rest of Society Hill, but a juxtaposition that I'd argue works fairly well.
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Society Hill is also one of those neighbourhoods where it is almost impossible to even burp without a resident's association on your case.
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Society Hill (cont.)...
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Another example of some "pioneer homes" in the Society Hill neighbourhood.
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We mostly skipped the Independence Mall area this particular day, but we did take a quick walk around the back of Independence Hall and found the Second Bank of the United States.
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We then walked over to the "Old City" neighbourhood of Philadelphia which is a quickly gentrifying nabe located near the Deleware River.
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Old City (cont.)...
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The Benjamin Franklin Bridge (to Camden, NJ) from Philly's Old City neighbourhood.
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Philly's Old City neighbourhood is also home to Elfreth's Alley which is a National Historic Monument as it is the oldest continually inhabited residential street in the USA.
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Elfreth's Alley (cont.)...
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Elfreth's Alley ends at this big wall which on the other side sits Interstate 95. Sadly, I-95 pretty much completely blocks the entire Old City from the Delaware riverfront.
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Half of this building in the Old City is original while the other half is a rebuild. Can you tell which is which?
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A quick picture from the Gaybourhood. Most of the major east-west streets in Philly are named after trees.
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Then it was off to the top floor balcony of the Park Hyatt for some drinks high atop Philly.
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From the top of Philly's Park Hyatt (cont.)...
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The view from the top of Philly's Park Hyatt, including the Liberty Place Buildings (left) and the new Residences of the Ritz-Carlton (right).
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From the top of Philly's Park Hyatt (cont.)
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The Park Hyatt from the ground.
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About a dozen building's along the downtown portion of Broad Street have a permanent lighting installation adorning them nightly.
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Underneath Broad Street is Philadelphia's Transit Concourse which is basically a big underground walkway that connects a variety of subway stations and office buildings.
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It could be thought of as a mini-Toronto-type PATH system, but without the retail component.
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Philadelphia's Transit Concourse (cont.)...
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Philadelphia is famous for its murals and here is one from the Gaybourhood.
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On our third day we headed about an hour up the Deleware River to New Hope, PA.
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While New Hope has sort of slid into a state of being overly touristy, it has a recent history of being a liberal and arts-minded town that has always been popular with the LGBT communities.
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New Hope, PA (cont.)...
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We quickly crossed the Delaware River into Lambertville, NJ in order to get around a traffic jam before heading back into PA.
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Lambertville, NJ
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Finally, we arrived at our destination - The Nevermore Inn. The Inn is an old 1960s motel just outside of New Hope, PA whose clientele is mostly gay men. On weekends in the summer, they have popular gay pool parties such as this one.
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Nevermore Inn in New Hope, PA (cont.)...
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To be continued in Phabulous Philly (Part IV) - Coming soon!
 
Great tour. Thanks. Even the beefcake was well done. Not my thing, though, just sayin.:)
 
Philadelphia-Part 3...

DK416: Another good part of your Philadelphia trip! I am quite famaliar with the City of Philadelphia and I will mention these pics:

#2-Primary Type street sign and #24-with "<ONE WAY<" below and #31
Locust Street with rainbow below-signs of this type have appeared only in the last 15 or so years. Older signs dating from the 70s or earlier 80s have the Street name in full instead of abbreviated - Examples: LOCUST STREET or MARKET STREET or FRANKFORD AVENUE.
#3-Where exactly is this rowhouse block? Note those marble steps-on older rowhouses in Philadelphia and Baltimore for that matter...
#5-American Street sign is a secondary type street sign-older variations of these the same size are black lettering on a white background...
#6 and #9-The Olde City(Note spelling)is ALWAYS neat to explore...
#8-70s style neighborhood dwelling...
#11,12-Society Hill Towers-Mid 60s style City apartment/condominium buildings at 200-210-220 Locust Street respectively...
#16-More early-mid 70s style architecture...
#23-A future restoration project...
#25 to 28 - Elfreth's Alley-A Philadelphia Classic! Did you notice the Philadelphia Fire Museum on 2nd Street nearby?
#29-I recall that when I-95 was constructed in the mid-late 70s this was PennDot's way of making a blocking wall appealing to the neighbors there.
Before the Market-Frankford Rapid Transit line was moved to the center of
I-95(Spring Garden Station opened in 1977) for a short stretch the EL was clearly visible above Front Street at Elfreth's Alley ducking down to make the westward turn to go under Market Street at Front/Market Streets.
#32 to 36-I MUST remember that the Park Hyatt has publicly accessible observation available...
#38-South Broad Street-The Avenue of the Arts!
#39-Recently placed Center City Concourse map-good to see!
#40 to 42-South Broad Street Concourse opened with the Broad Street Subway in 1928 - The S end of the 4-track BSS section is there at the Walnut-Locust Station - that goes N as far as Olney. The 2-track section goes S to Pattison Avenue Station and the Sports Complex. (Citizens Bank Park,Lincoln Financial Field,The Wachovia Center and the Spectrum) One more thought: Imagine a 4-track TTC Subway like this under Yonge Street from Union Station on North...
#44 to #54 - New Hope,PA/Lambertville,NJ - a close-by getaway destination because of its proximity to both New York City and Philadelphia.
I recall first visiting New Hope in the late 70s-it was a haven for progressive and counter-culture types and in the Summer it attracted a large Biker crowd. Since the mid 80s it has gotten much larger eventually spreading over to the much-quieter Lambertville on the NJ side of the Delaware River.
It does not surprise me that it has also become a gay-friendly destination noting its liberal atmosphere but I also noticed that even with a large Biker presence in the Summer months things run smoothly there and with the two towns a busy regional destination that's a good thing...
- Insight and overview by Long Island Mike -
 
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#3-Where exactly is this rowhouse block? Note those marble steps-on older rowhouses in Philadelphia and Baltimore for that matter...
I can't remember the street name exactly, but it is roughly in this area.

#25 to 28 - Elfreth's Alley-A Philadelphia Classic! Did you notice the Philadelphia Fire Museum on 2nd Street nearby?
We did, but never went in.
 
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i will require the assistance of ladies mile before telling you why we should be glad the (say) annex was never constructed to quite this scale.
 
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i will require the assistance of ladies mile before telling you why we should be glad the (say) annex was never constructed to quite this scale.

Because The Annex, not being full of tenements with little interior light, poor air circulation, shoddy construction, overtaxed plumbing, firetrap interior layouts, tacky exterior detailing and paper thin party walls, was not completely abandoned to a nightmare ghetto the way most of "historic" Philadelphia was when the middle class got tired of their "classic" townhouses.

And the above is NOT a typical Philadelphia street. The typical Philadelphia street of rowhouses is in North Philadelphia, a district full of buildings just as good--just as bad--and one I advise you to visit only at high noon and then preferrably in some sort of bullet-proof vehicle.

Glad to be of help.
 
Because The Annex, not being full of tenements with little interior light, poor air circulation, shoddy construction, overtaxed plumbing, firetrap interior layouts, tacky exterior detailing and paper thin party walls, was not completely abandoned to a nightmare ghetto the way most of "historic" Philadelphia was when the middle class got tired of their "classic" townhouses.

While my experience with Philly is limited, they seem very similar in construction to numerous brownstone apartments I've been in inBrooklyn neihgbourhoods like Park Slope, Bed-Stuy and Crown Heights. To argue that Toronto's Bay and Gables are architecturally superior strikes me as odd, but it's an aesthetic judgment and I'll allow it. However, to say that these brownstones are inferior in construction is objectively false. One is a massive stone pile and the other is a delicate wood-frame. Even the most neglected brownstones in Bed-Stuy remain sturdily upright while a fair number of Bay and Gables are tilting precariously.

And the above is NOT a typical Philadelphia street. The typical Philadelphia street of rowhouses is in North Philadelphia, a district full of buildings just as good--just as bad--and one I advise you to visit only at high noon and then preferrably in some sort of bullet-proof vehicle.

It's not a typical Philly street, but there are proportionally more streets like that in Philly than there are streets like, say, Bedford Avenue in Toronto - even in pre-war Toronto.

I won't even comment on your last sentence.
 
the social circumstances that befell the u.s. inner cities are irrelevant, as they befell tenement neighbourhoods and detached neighbourhoods alike. cleveland has severely decayed areas of a toronto-like scale.

again, you come across as perversely determined, but to what end i can't say. is it an attempt to elevate toronto? to take the great cities of the u.s. down a peg?

who can know?

(the other question is, of course, this: if we are to take everything you say as true and accept that pre-war toronto is just head-and-shoulders above its supposed peers -- even those, like new york, that were world capitals at the time, or those - like philadelphia - that were significantly larger and wealthier than toronto -- then how did this happen? are the citizens of toronto just uniquely enlightened? were the local architects just so good that their work stands head-and-shoulders above the genre-forming works of their better-known peers and predecessors? explain the genesis of this secret and underrecognized greatness, because many north americans would really not call the toronto of, say, 1955 an architectural masterpiece.)
 
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Philadelphia map link...

DK416: Thanks for that map link-I must clarify that if the neighborhood in question is E of the Schuykill River that it is considered to be in South Philly
(Gray's Ferry to be exact). SW is considered to be W of the winding Schuykill River in the same geographical vicinity. LI MIKE
 

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