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Wednesday in Philly
Feb. 24th, 2011 05:18 pmWell, or 4-5 hours in Center City in the afternoon, whatever. It was a lovely day weather-wise so I thought I'd go in and walk around and eat a cheesesteak.
The not-R6 train. I took a train around 1pm, and finding parking was really annoying. I think they have exactly as many spaces as they need for the number of commuters who take it.
I walked from Market East to Jim's Steaks first thing, in order to get lunch. On the way there I stopped by various familiar landmarks, including walking past my dad's apartment building (and I found myself wanting to cry), and of course I had to go past the Old Pine Community Center. Of course, maybe only 2 people who read this will get why, but whatever.
This is the breakfast of champions. I do not care what anyone else says.
(Pizza steak with mushrooms and American cheese. They had the tomato sauce on the burner and the guy was worried it'd get burned but I guess it wasn't yet... man, it was gooooooooood. It evolved into my favorite combination about 15 years ago and hasn't changed.)
South Street is so weird now. Except for a few stores, EVERYTHING has changed from the old days; even walking out of Jim's and seeing the Payless where Philadeli used to be is pretty sad. Just listen to "Punk Rock Girl" sometime, realize that THAT's how South Street was when I was in high school, and... it's all gone, I don't think a single landmark from that song still exists. I mean, I know this, I go back every year, but it's still just as striking to see it evolve further and further away from what I remember.
I walked back up towards the historical stuff. On the way I noticed something that really threw me -- Robbins 8th and Walnut is closed. They had a sign up saying they still have a store in Delaware -- "enjoy the tax-free shopping!" -- but had closed their Pennsylvania stores.
You have to understand, I don't know much about jewelry, but I grew up hearing those "Robbins 8th and Walnut -- our name is our address!!" commercials on TV. My dad lived at 9th and Chestnut, basically a block away from there, it was just that landmark of the neighborhood that had been there FOREVER (almost 60 years, if I understand properly). So... man, I wonder what that's got to say for downtown Philly, if they're closing down their shop. The department stores and such that made downtown Philly what it was a generation or two ago are all gone now, is Jeweler's Row also going to go away? Kind of sad.
This is Independence Hall. It's being remodelled and kinda reminded me of Himeji with the stupid "projection" up in front of it.
I went to the Liberty Bell because I hadn't been there in many years; not sure I'd ever even been into the new place they built for it a few years ago. (You have to understand, if you grow up in Philadelphia, you go to these historical sites for school trips all through your youth.) It was full of tourists, and I thought it was really weird how I am both clearly an out-of-towner who does not live in the city and is doing touristy stuff, and yet I'm also clearly a Philadelphian (I can walk the walk, talk the talk, and for crying out loud I was born 6 blocks from where the Liberty Bell is now). It was weird.
After that I went to the Septa "Transit Museum". I had thought that maybe in the past I'd just gone to the store and not seen the museum, but it turns out that my recollection was correct -- there just isn't much of a museum there. You can go play around in an old PCC trolley (which is what I am doing here), and you can look at some old photos, and that really IS all there is to the museum. Sigh. I've been thinking to try to get to the B&O or Pennsylvania railroad museums someday but I'm not sure they'd be worth it.
On the other hand I was able to buy a new Septa map t-shirt, my old one is gone to the ages somewhere.
After that I walked around a bit more and then headed home. I did buy a Phillies t-shirt at Modell's, I dunno, I kept walking past there and thinking about it and finally figured, what the heck, it's one of those women's fashion ones but it's my style, if that makes any sense, not one of those ridiculous cutesy ones.
At home I hung out with my uncle for the evening, once he finished up making tons of phone calls (he basically works for himself as a carpenter/handyman sort and has TONS of business, which is great, but it's kinda crazy hearing his phone ring every few minutes). We had Italian food from a takeout place near here (another crazy thing -- they just do takeout and catering, no eat-in, and no pizza, either) that was pretty good.
I swear coming to Philly isn't ONLY about eating, but it's sure good to get in these various local foods while I'm here! But I'm going to look like CRAP when I get back to Seattle...
The not-R6 train. I took a train around 1pm, and finding parking was really annoying. I think they have exactly as many spaces as they need for the number of commuters who take it.
I walked from Market East to Jim's Steaks first thing, in order to get lunch. On the way there I stopped by various familiar landmarks, including walking past my dad's apartment building (and I found myself wanting to cry), and of course I had to go past the Old Pine Community Center. Of course, maybe only 2 people who read this will get why, but whatever.
This is the breakfast of champions. I do not care what anyone else says.
(Pizza steak with mushrooms and American cheese. They had the tomato sauce on the burner and the guy was worried it'd get burned but I guess it wasn't yet... man, it was gooooooooood. It evolved into my favorite combination about 15 years ago and hasn't changed.)
South Street is so weird now. Except for a few stores, EVERYTHING has changed from the old days; even walking out of Jim's and seeing the Payless where Philadeli used to be is pretty sad. Just listen to "Punk Rock Girl" sometime, realize that THAT's how South Street was when I was in high school, and... it's all gone, I don't think a single landmark from that song still exists. I mean, I know this, I go back every year, but it's still just as striking to see it evolve further and further away from what I remember.
I walked back up towards the historical stuff. On the way I noticed something that really threw me -- Robbins 8th and Walnut is closed. They had a sign up saying they still have a store in Delaware -- "enjoy the tax-free shopping!" -- but had closed their Pennsylvania stores.
You have to understand, I don't know much about jewelry, but I grew up hearing those "Robbins 8th and Walnut -- our name is our address!!" commercials on TV. My dad lived at 9th and Chestnut, basically a block away from there, it was just that landmark of the neighborhood that had been there FOREVER (almost 60 years, if I understand properly). So... man, I wonder what that's got to say for downtown Philly, if they're closing down their shop. The department stores and such that made downtown Philly what it was a generation or two ago are all gone now, is Jeweler's Row also going to go away? Kind of sad.
This is Independence Hall. It's being remodelled and kinda reminded me of Himeji with the stupid "projection" up in front of it.
I went to the Liberty Bell because I hadn't been there in many years; not sure I'd ever even been into the new place they built for it a few years ago. (You have to understand, if you grow up in Philadelphia, you go to these historical sites for school trips all through your youth.) It was full of tourists, and I thought it was really weird how I am both clearly an out-of-towner who does not live in the city and is doing touristy stuff, and yet I'm also clearly a Philadelphian (I can walk the walk, talk the talk, and for crying out loud I was born 6 blocks from where the Liberty Bell is now). It was weird.
After that I went to the Septa "Transit Museum". I had thought that maybe in the past I'd just gone to the store and not seen the museum, but it turns out that my recollection was correct -- there just isn't much of a museum there. You can go play around in an old PCC trolley (which is what I am doing here), and you can look at some old photos, and that really IS all there is to the museum. Sigh. I've been thinking to try to get to the B&O or Pennsylvania railroad museums someday but I'm not sure they'd be worth it.
On the other hand I was able to buy a new Septa map t-shirt, my old one is gone to the ages somewhere.
After that I walked around a bit more and then headed home. I did buy a Phillies t-shirt at Modell's, I dunno, I kept walking past there and thinking about it and finally figured, what the heck, it's one of those women's fashion ones but it's my style, if that makes any sense, not one of those ridiculous cutesy ones.
At home I hung out with my uncle for the evening, once he finished up making tons of phone calls (he basically works for himself as a carpenter/handyman sort and has TONS of business, which is great, but it's kinda crazy hearing his phone ring every few minutes). We had Italian food from a takeout place near here (another crazy thing -- they just do takeout and catering, no eat-in, and no pizza, either) that was pretty good.
I swear coming to Philly isn't ONLY about eating, but it's sure good to get in these various local foods while I'm here! But I'm going to look like CRAP when I get back to Seattle...
