The City of Brotherly Love

[DickZ]

The City of Brotherly Love
Part 1

I’ve spent a little time in Philadelphia, but it wasn’t really enough to become much of an authority on the city. However, there are lots of other things that I’m not an authority on, and that’s never stopped me before. So here goes a brief rundown on Philadelphia, which is another of the many interesting cities that I’ve been lucky enough to visit.

Philadelphia’s City Hall is one of the most beautiful structures of that type that I’ve ever seen – not that I’ve seen them all, by any means. Construction on City Hall began in 1871, and it was finished in 1901, but the basis for the building began long before that. William Penn envisioned his City of Brotherly Love way back in 1682, which was even before the Philadelphia Phillies began breaking the hearts of the locals by coming up short most of the time in the National League.

Here’s what City Hall looks like from a distance – from the front:

http://www.philadelphia-reflections.com/images/philacityhall.jpg

Now don’t worry about that man who appears to be perched precariously at the very top of that central spire. He is William Penn, who lived so long ago that he isn’t living any more and that’s just a statue of him which is firmly affixed to the rest of the structure.

The architecture style of City Hall is referred to as French Second Empire. Those French people sure mastered the art of designing buildings – in my eyes, at least. There is lots of exquisite architecture all over the world that is based on one French style or another. Experts who know a lot more than I do say that Philadelphia’s City Hall is strongly influenced by the Palais des Tuileries and the Louvre back in Paris. I’ve never been to Paris so I’ll just take their word for that.

The following photo often takes a long time to load, and during the loading process it usually gives a pretty good closeup of William Penn up there at the top. But then, sometimes it loads quickly thereby preventing you from getting a closeup of the statue. The natives of Philadelphia actually call him Billy Penn, but since I grew up in Texas, I can’t claim to be a native of Philadelphia. I’ll stick to calling him William Penn.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ed/Philadelphia-CityHall-2006.jpg

Here’s a somewhat better picture of Mister Penn way up there on the top:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8e/Philadelphia_City_Hall-zoom.JPG

And a closer look in the area of the clocks high up on the central spire, just below Mister Penn (and note that these clocks are 26 feet in diameter):

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/150/434305379_9cd81a52c9.jpg

A closer look at the lower parts of the building:

http://www.apartmentsusa.com/pennsylvania/philadelphia11.jpg

And since there weren’t any elevators available when this building first came into being, much use was made of some grand staircases back in the olden days. So far, I haven’t been able to track down any pictures on the internet of these staircases, but I’ll keep trying. In the meanwhile, here’s a shot in the direction of a staircase, even though you can’t see the stairs themselves:

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/42/117591131_9bbb16d5ca.jpg

Here is one of the very few examples of the building’s lovely interior that I was able to find – however I don’t know what the significance of these carvings might be – especially since there are very few elephants running around in Philadelphia:

http://frysingerreunion.org/us/phila123.jpg

During the 1950s, consideration was seriously given to demolishing this building and constructing another City Hall using a more modern architectural style. I can’t really understand what the motivation for such an effort would be, since the modern architectural style would have probably looked not quite as nice as a shoebox. The morons who proposed this nonsense finally figured out that demolition would be just as costly as constructing the original building, so this plan was scrapped. The demolition would have exhausted all the money available for building a new City Hall, leaving no funds for putting up a hideous modern box to take its place.

If you ever studied American history and if you remember some of it, you probably recall that Independence Hall in Philadelphia played a large role in the American Revolution and in the subsequent birth of our nation. It is the only building I know of in the entire world for which a famous Declaration has been named, but I obviously don’t know everything. Our Founding Fathers used to pass lots of time here in Independence Hall doing all the work involved in making us into a nation. Here’s how some of the artists back then showed the place because they didn’t have any cameras.

First the exterior:

http://currierandives.net/images/IndependenceHallPhiladelphia1776.jpg

And here’s how that same exterior looks today, having suffered the ravages of time just like all of us people have to do. The two wings flanking the central building have apparently shrunk quite a bit over the years:

http://www.philadelphia-reflections.com/images/indepencehall.jpg

And here’s what the inside looked like in the Assembly Room when Thomas Jefferson and John Adams and Benjamin Franklin and James Madison and all those other guys who did such wonderful work back then were writing the Declaration of Independence and drafting the Constitution:

http://www.explorepahistory.com/images/ExplorePAHistory-a0a6o9-a_349.jpg

http://media-2.web.britannica.com/eb-media/48/65248-004-9BBBDD71.jpg

And here it is today, now that all those illustrious forefathers have cleared out:

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/35/109945742_8b87261916.jpg

http://www.aviewoncities.com/img/philadelphia/kveus0863s.jpg

Now the Liberty Bell is very important because it has some words from my cousin’s Bar Mitzvah about “proclaim liberty throughout the land, and to all the inhabitants thereof” except that my cousin said them in Hebrew. Before those words appeared on the Liberty Bell, which was cast in 1751, they appeared in Leviticus 25:10. And on the Liberty Bell, the word Pennsylvania is actually spelled as Pensylvania, but that’s how they spelled it back then, and it wasn’t just a typo like I usually make.

This bell is one of the more enduring symbols of the American Revolution. Its most famous ringing was once thought to be on July 8, 1776, when it was used to summon the citizens of Philadelphia to hear the reading of the Declaration of Independence four days after it had been signed. However, lots of people who claim to be experts – which puts them far ahead of me – say that it is highly doubtful that the bell was rung for the Declaration of Independence because the bell was in such a deteriorated state by then. They think it was rung for the First Continental Congress in 1774 and after the Battle of Lexington and Concord in 1775. That later battle is described briefly in my story Weekend in Boston which I hope you’ll take the time to read.

Anyway, the bell is now cracked from the frantic ringing, whenever that might have occurred according to the experts, so it doesn’t ring any more. Here’s what the Liberty Bell looks like these days, sitting out in front of Independence Hall:

http://www.chem.ualberta.ca/~chaslucy/Philly liberty bell.jpg

Here are some websites for Independence Hall and the Liberty Bell, which give more information because they know a lot more than I do:

http://www.ushistory.org/tour/tour_indhall.htm

http://www.ushistory.org/tour/tour_bell.htm

Next up: Benjamin Franklin’s Print Shop, the Betsy Ross House, the Second Bank of the United States, and the houses of Edgar Allan Poe and Walt Whitman.

[DickZ]

The City of Brotherly Love
Part 2

Most of us who grew up in the United States are familiar with Benjamin Franklin. He was very important to our country, and that wasn’t simply because he knew how to fly kites. Most of his activities took place right here in Philadelphia, where he started out as a printer’s apprentice. After being an apprentice for a long time, he eventually became a master printer and started publishing the Pennsylvania Gazette, which was one of the most successful newspapers in the colonies despite the fact that it had no photos and no coverage whatsoever of the Philadelphia Flyers hockey team.

But it was a lot easier to write and read the news back then in Franklin’s day, because the reporters and readers didn’t have to worry about things like high gasoline prices or electrical blackouts or bailouts of automobile manufacturers. They didn’t have to worry about luggage being lost on airlines, or brain cancer being caused by talking on cellphones for 20 hours a day, or the mind-numbing effects of watching television 16 hours a day. Those people who read Franklin’s Pennsylvania Gazette just didn’t know how lucky they were not to have all these unbearable hardships of today that make life so difficult for some of us that we just don’t have enough hours in the day to register all our complaints about how bad we have it - compared to how easy everyone before us had it.

Anyway, the folks in Philadelphia have been able to re-establish Benjamin Franklin’s Print Shop, so you can see just what it was like when Ben was still a youngster. It’s in Franklin Court, which has a few other things related to Franklin’s accomplishments. Note that there are two fire hydrants out front, thereby making this a favorite spot for Philadelphia’s dogs:

www.ushistory.org/tour/tour_fcourt.htm

Most of us older folks learned that Betsy Ross was responsible for sewing the first American flag, but that is now disputed by those who took the time to figure out that it must have been someone else. Well, whether Betsy did it or didn’t do it, it is indisputable that she lived in Philadelphia at the right time to do it, and the house where she lived is actually called the Betsy Ross House. And I happen to know that she did the sewing because when I toured the house, I stepped on a needle that went right through my shoe and into my foot. So those people who did all that research to prove she had nothing to do with any flags are never going to change my mind.

Here’s the exterior of the house:

http://www.nationalgeographic.com/walkingtours/images/tour/PT05_betsyross.jpg

And this is an artist’s concept of Betsy and her two daughters presenting the flag to some important folks such as George Washington:

http://www.americanrevolution.com/HistoryoftheFlag.jpg

And here’s a tour of the Betsy Ross House, for those who would like to check it out:

http://www.ushistory.org/Betsy/house/intro.html

Here’s a site where you can read some for yourself about Betsy Ross if you want more information than the little bit that I’ve shown.

http://www.ushistory.org/Betsy/

The Second Bank of the United States was located in Philadelphia and was very important in our nation’s history. This was in an age long before our current bank bailouts, because it was first incorporated in 1816. The building that still stands was completed in 1824, and is one of the best examples of Greek revival architecture in the United States.

http://photos.igougo.com/images/p155506-Philadelphia-Second_Bank_of_the_United_States.jpg

http://frysingerreunion.org/us/phila291.jpg

We won’t get into all the details about how the bank operated back then because you just about have to be an economist to understand all that, and who wants to be an economist – or even to think like one? But it became the center of a bitter controversy between the president of the bank, a Philadelphia man named Nicholas Biddle, and the seventh president of the United States, who was named Andrew Jackson. Amazingly enough, at the time I’m writing this story about touring Philadelphia and the Second Bank of the United States, I’m also reading American Lion by Jon Meacham, which is all about Andrew Jackson’s accomplishments and shenanigans while in the White House.

Anyway, you probably don’t really care what I’m reading right now, so I’ll just proceed and tell you that Jackson vetoed the bill to renew the bank’s charter in 1836. This meant that the place had to stop being a bank despite the fact that it was a beautiful building, and despite the fact that it had the word BANK carved somewhere into its stone face. It was later used as the Philadelphia Customs House, which stayed there until 1935. It’s now an art gallery with paintings and sculptures of Colonial and Federal leaders, military officers, Supreme Court justices, explorers, and scientists.

Here’s the main gallery of the art displays:

http://www.igougo.com/photos/journal_photos/BankGallery.jpg

And a portrait of George Washington:

http://www.sogonow.com/static/FCKeditor/UserFiles/Image/IMG_4271.JPG

Here’s what is called an Historic Philadelphia virtual tour – including Independence Hall, the Liberty Bell, and a whole lot more in the neighborhood of Independence Hall. Just click on the start button in the middle of the Liberty Bell if you want to take this tour. Be advised that it takes eleven minutes, so skip over it if you’re in a hurry and come back later when you have more time:

http://www.ushistory.org/tour/index.html

Edgar Allan Poe lived in lots of places, including Philadelphia, where he spent the period from 1838 to 1844. And in Philadelphia itself, he apparently had three separate residences. It was while he was in Philadelphia that he published The Tell-Tale Heart, The Murders in the Rue Morgue, The Gold Bug, The Fall of the House of Usher, The Purloined Letter, and The Cask of Amontillado.

It is said that he was actually happy while he was in Philadelphia, so I don’t know why he moved away just so he could become depressed and miserable, when he could have stayed here in Philadelphia where he would have been happier and would have lived a much longer life. In that way, he could have written a lot more stories.

Here is the house at the Edgar Allan Poe Historic Site in Philadelphia, his Seventh Street residence which is the only one of his three Philadelphia homes that is still standing – or maybe the other two are just like The Purloined Letter and we simply don’t know where to look for them.

http://z.about.com/d/philadelphia/1/0/U/B/PPG55.jpg

His living room:

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2114/2202139092_7bb9ed70a2.jpg?v=0

Here’s a website maintained by the National Park Service:

http://www.nps.gov/edal/

And another maintained by the U.S. History.org, which specializes in Philadelphia places:

http://www.ushistory.org/tour/tour_poe.htm

I didn’t actually tour this place, either because I wasn’t in Philadelphia long enough to do it, or because I mistakenly arranged my priorities to see other things. But I understand that the floors are intentionally maintained to groan as you walk over them, and that you occasionally hear somewhat eerie rapping and tapping sounds as you proceed through the house. But I can’t vouch for that with first-hand knowledge.

Poe is buried in Baltimore, and they have big celebrations there on his birthday. In fact, January 19, 2009 happens to be the 200th anniversary of his birth, so there will be a bigger bash than usual. However, Philadelphia would like to have Poe’s tomb relocated from Baltimore to Philadelphia, but I don’t know just how receptive the citizens of Baltimore are to that idea since they even named their professional football team the Baltimore Ravens. I seriously doubt that the Baltimore folks will roll over and say “Sure, go ahead and move the tomb to Philadelphia.”

I’m pretty sure that Edgar Allan Poe did not know Walt Whitman, even though both writers would eventually achieve great notoriety. In fact, Whitman didn’t spend much time in Philadelphia until 1873, near the end of his life, almost 30 years after Poe had left Philadelphia and almost 25 years after Poe died. But Whitman did have a Philadelphia connection, nonetheless. He moved to Camden, New Jersey, which was just across the Delaware River from Philadelphia, and he would often visit Philadelphia. Now I would have thought that the river separating Camden from Philadelphia would be either the New Jersey River or the Pennsylvania River, so I don’t know why it’s called the Delaware River. And the bridge which now connects Camden with Philadelphia is actually called the Walt Whitman Bridge in honor of the author of Leaves of Grass and other famous works.

Now if you had read my story A Capital Tour all about Washington, DC, you would already know that Whitman had worked at the Bureau of Indian Affairs in Washington when he was writing Leaves of Grass, and was actually fired from that agency when his supervisor decided that Whitman was spending too much time on his poems during working hours. But if you haven’t read my story, you probably don’t know all that because it isn’t taught in the history books of today.

Now if you want to know a little bit about Walt Whitman House in Camden, New Jersey, you can check out this website:

http://www.state.nj.us/dep/parksandforests/historic/whitman/

Next up: the National Constitution Center, Chinatown (but not the Chinatowns in San Francisco or Washington, DC since those Chinatowns appear in other stories of mine and wouldn’t make too much sense appearing in a story about Philadelphia anyway), the Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul, and the Jewish congregations B’nai Abraham and Rodeph Shalom.

[AuntShecky]

Forgive me for stepping on the continuity of your thread, but
TODAY is Ben Franklin's birthday:

http://www.fi.edu/franklin/birthday/

[DickZ]

Forgive me for stepping on the continuity of your thread, but TODAY is Ben Franklin's birthday:

http://www.fi.edu/franklin/birthday/
It's OK to break the continuity, Auntie, because you always have great contributions to make. Well, Edgar Allan Poe's 200th birthday is in just three days, so maybe we should celebrate all of these guys together.

[Virgil]

I will say one thing about Philly. They have the meanest, toughest sports fans. I've known friends who have gone to a sporting event at one of the Phillly stadiums and if you are not a home fan, your life might be in jeopardy. One of my friends came back with the phrase, "city of brotherly love my a$$." :D

[DickZ]

The City of Brotherly Love
Part 3

The National Constitution Center is now located on Arch Street near Sixth Street, which is interesting to me, because many years ago I knew someone who lived at Arch and Seventh. However, that intersection was the site of such a disgusting incident that I can’t repeat it here so I don’t even know why I brought it up.

Anyway, the National Constitution Center was erected to commemorate the Constitution, which was written here in Philadelphia, but it wasn’t written in the National Constitution Center which wasn’t even built back then when our founding fathers were still doing their thing.

Here’s what the National Constitution Center looks like, so you can tell it wasn’t built back then when the Constitution was being worked on.

http://www.dvideography.com/blog/uploaded_images/NCC-723028.jpg

http://71.216.153.108/National_Constitution_Center.gif

It seems that it is only in the last few years that we have picked up the ability to erect the most hideous structures possible. I understand that this architectural style was actually formulated many years ago, and that lots of footwear manufacturers back then used it as the basis for designing containers to hold their wares. To these folks, functionality is everything, and there aren’t too many things more functional than a shoebox.

This building didn’t exist at the time I was in Philadelphia, so I can’t give any first-hand descriptions of what the National Constitution Center is all about. By researching it on the web, I have learned that it has lots of computer displays and interactive devices to teach the visitors all kinds of useful things about the Constitution. I noticed in a recent visit to the Library of Congress in Washington that some of those interactive computer devices are popping up here also, so this must be the wave of the future. Life is quickly becoming an endless series of video games for lots of us.

The Center has 42 life-sized bronze statues of the men who signed the Constitution. And the entire text of the Constitution, including all amendments, is displayed on the walls.

Here’s a website with additional information on the Center:

http://constitutioncenter.org/ncc_home_Landing.aspx

Like lots of other major cities in the United States and in Europe, Philadelphia has its own Chinatown, which is over 130 years old. Here’s the Friendship Gate you pass under to get into Chinatown, and you have to pass under the same gate to get out – unless you take another route for your exit:

http://jim-frizzell.com/Philadelphia2001/04-23-04/04-23-01_10th_and_arch.jpg

And here’s the same area at night:

http://i.pbase.com/u41/phillytrax/large/33220418.99c_doycent.jpg

I didn’t have a chance to visit Chinatown in Philadelphia, so I never got to find out if they have some restaurants serving Chinese food here, but I’m guessing that they do. Since I don’t know how to use chopsticks, I’m not going to worry about it too much. They probably also have stores where you can buy Chinese clothes and silk scarves, as well as some Chinese games, but I don’t care for shopping.

The Cathedral Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul is the head church of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Philadelphia and the location of the Philadelphia Archdiocesan Administrative Offices. It is the largest brownstone structure and one of the most architecturally eminent structures in the city of Philadelphia. It has a majestic façade, a vaulted dome, an ornate main altar, eight side chapels, and a main sanctuary that comfortably holds 2,000 people. The building was completed in 1864, and represents the Roman-Corinthian style of architecture. It is modeled after the Church of San Carlo al Corso in Rome.

Here’s the main façade, which unfortunately isn’t quite large enough to obscure the ugly hotel behind the Basilica:

http://www.gophila.com/assets/dmt/images/22.CathedralBasil-T.O'KeefG.jpg

Many of the paintings were done by Constantino Brumidi, who also painted the inside of the dome of the Capitol in Washington, DC, as well as several other elements in the Capitol. These are detailed extensively in my story A Capital Tour at http://www.online-literature.com/forums/showthread.php?t=37597

Here are some views of the Basilica’s altar:

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2166/2594503275_5490b42968.jpg?v=1213967780

http://www.stjudeliturgicalarts.com/resources/LiturgicalArts/images/layout/Case1_Images/Case1-Summary_Large.jpg

http://www.stjudeliturgicalarts.com/resources/LiturgicalArts/images/layout/Case1_Images/Case1-Photo2_Large.jpg

The B’nai Abraham Synagogue is a Jewish Orthodox congregation whose present building was completed in 1910. Here’s what it looks like from the outside:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/24996865@N06/3129338887/

And a detail of the main entrance:

http://www.littlereview.com/photos/phila24.jpg

If you would like to see a ‘movie’ of the sanctuary, it’s here:

http://www.phillyshul.com/tour/bnai1.htm

I imagine that there are many Bar Mitzvahs held at this synagogue, but I never went to any of them. I only went to Bar Mitzvahs in nearby Cherry Hill, New Jersey, where my wife’s sister and her family lived a long time ago.

Rodeph Shalom is a Reform Jewish congregation that was founded in 1802, but the current building was completed in 1927. Here is the main façade from a distance:

http://www.izzybarish.com/images/congragation-rodeph-shalom-philadelphia-20041114-2262.jpg

And a detail of the main façade:

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/38/81753462_e4ee5dc298.jpg?v=0

A view of the sanctuary:

http://www.aia.org/aiarchitect/thisweek06/0707/0707aia_pa12rodeph_b.jpg

And a wedding:

http://homepage.mac.com/lauranovak/iblog/C927023990/E20061024144712/Media/JessicaPhillip400.jpg

Next up: the Rodin Museum, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, and the Academy of Music.

[DickZ]

The City of Brotherly Love
Part 4

In 1923, a Philadelphia motion picture theater tycoon by the name of Jules Mastbaum started collecting various works of a French sculptor by the name of Auguste Rodin. Mr. Mastbaum started this collection with the aim of putting it into a museum some day, and he amassed a collection of Rodin artwork second only to what was held in Paris, which was Rodin’s home. Philadelphia’s Rodin Museum was completed in 1929. As is often the case in situations like this, Mr. Mastbaum died three years before the museum opened its doors.

Here’s what the Philadelphia museum’s entry court looks like, when viewed from the Benjamin Franklin Parkway – note that it has a copy of Rodin’s most recognized statue sitting outside to welcome those coming to visit the museum:

http://www.thebrandywine.com/photoop/Rodin/rodin_01.jpg

The Thinker is the statue that greets you when you approach from this direction – this is one of more than twenty copies scattered throughout the museums of the world. Here are a couple of views a little closer than the one above:

http://z.about.com/d/philadelphia/1/0/L/b/parkway14.jpg

http://www.gptmc.org/assets/dmt/images/8.TheThinker-B.KristG.jpg

And here is the main museum itself, and don’t forget to note the cherry blossoms in the garden:

http://i.pbase.com/g3/42/208742/2/58158129.RodinMuseum2.jpg

Just as a side note, here’s the much larger Rodin Museum in Paris, which offers the great combination of a beautiful building and a well-tended lawn:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c8/Rodin_Museum.JPG

The Philadelphia Rodin Museum has 124 sculptures. Besides The Thinker, which rivals Michelangelo’s David as the most famous sculpture in the world, some of the others include The Burghers of Calais, his most heroic and moving historical tribute; Eternal Springtime, one of the most powerful works dealing with human love; powerful monuments to leading French intellectuals such as Apotheosis of Victor Hugo; and the culminating creation of his career, The Gates of Hell, on which the artist worked from 1880 until his death in 1917.

While doing the research to write this travelogue, I learned that Rodin was a big fan of Dante and The Divine Comedy. The Gates of Hell, mentioned in the paragraph above, is an artwork intended to represent the entrance to the underworld as described in Dante’s The Inferno. And The Kiss, one of Rodin’s statues that isn’t duplicated at the Philadelphia Rodin Museum, represents Francesca da Rimini and her lover, who happened to also be the brother of her husband. Well, Francesca and her brother-in-law Paolo Malatesta are immortalized in The Inferno, representing the sin of Lust. The original of The Kiss is located at the Tate Museum in London, which rivals only Madrid’s Prado in the minds of crossword puzzlers.

Here’s the museum’s website if you want to check out this in more depth, and see more items in the collection:

http://www.rodinmuseum.org/

The Philadelphia Museum of Art is one of the largest museums in the United States. If you remember your American history, you will recall that we celebrated the nation’s Centennial in 1876, in Philadelphia, and it’s not just a coincidence that the Museum started at that identical time. As an aside, my story called A Capital Tour has some pictures of the Philadelphia Centennial displays because they were put out again for the Bicentennial Celebration in 1976 at the Smithsonian Arts and Industries Building in Washington, DC. I was lucky enough to see that, but all that wonderful stuff is back in warehouses now so you can’t see it at the present time – although I have some example pictures included in that story.

Here’s a quick peek at the museum complex exterior:

http://phillylindylove.com/media/museum.jpg

It used to be said that you could tell a true aficionado of classical music by the way he could listen to Rossini’s William Tell Overture and NOT think of the Lone Ranger. That’s probably not said very frequently anymore because there are so many people now who don’t even know who the Lone Ranger is, or what the connection between the Ranger and the Overture might be. Well, by the same reasoning today, you can tell a true art connoisseur to be one who can look at the picture above and NOT think of the movie Rocky.

Here are a few more exterior shots, because there are several beautiful classical buildings in the museum complex.

http://www.mexicolore.co.uk/uploadimages/288_00_2.jpg

http://mediaroom.visitpa.com/files/0145_006.jpg

http://blog.aia.org/mt-static/plugins/Ajaxify/tinymce/jscripts/tiny_mce/plugins/imagemanager/images/favorite_architecture_images/24_philadelphia_art_museum_two_lg.jpg

While the museum itself started in conjunction with the Centennial celebration, the current building complex was started in 1919, and wasn’t completed until the late 1920s.

Here are two samples of what’s on display, from one of my personal favorite areas – antique furniture:

http://www.philamuseum.org/collections/permanent/138866.html?mulR=32332

http://www.philamuseum.org/collections/permanent/188146.html?mulR=23831

Here’s the museum’s website if you would like to see if any collections or exhibitions are up your unique alley. I see that there’s a Matisse exhibit going on now, and a Cézanne exhibit that’s coming soon:

http://www.philamuseum.org/

The Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia has been operating since 1812 and is the oldest natural sciences museum in the United States. You can dig for dinosaur fossils, or just examine the skeletons that someone else already dug out of the earth. You can walk around among live butterflies, and you can even learn lots of things that I never knew before.

Here’s what the museum looks like from the outside – note that this building was completed in 1876:

http://www.amazonvoyage.org/assets/photos/philadelphia/lg/IMG_4892.jpg

And here’s a closeup of the door you use to enter the building:

http://img.groundspeak.com/waymarking/display/c5d9fb48-4f55-4656-a62e-68f86b708006.jpg

And here’s a painting called The Lions, by Daniel Giraud Elliot. This painting is a favorite of my cat Eleanor:

http://www.oppenheimereditions.com/IMAGES/CATALOG/ELL/OFEL2_001_01.jpg

Here is a peek at Dinosaur Hall, which I find much too scary to visit myself but you might enjoy it if you are more courageous than I am – and notice that there are lots of different species of dinosaurs that you can examine in detail if you want:

http://www.ansp.org/museum/dinohall/index.php

Another example is Thomas Jefferson’s Fossil Collection. I didn’t even realize that Jefferson had a fossil collection until I went to this museum, so it’s a good thing I went or I could have gone for the rest of my life without knowing:

http://www.ansp.org/museum/jefferson/index.php

You can even look at a few books discussing American natural science in the first half of the nineteenth century (just as an example – there are other topics as well), without getting up from your computer:

http://www.ansp.org/library/digital_library/grant_imls_listings.php

Here is the academy’s website, if you wish to explore more deeply on your own:

http://www.ansp.org/

Philadelphia’s Academy of Music opened in 1857 as a grand opera house, and it’s still used as such. That makes it the only opera house in the country that was built before both the Civil War and World War I. It is also the oldest grand opera house in the USA still used for its original purpose. The Opera Company of Philadelphia, the Pennsylvania Ballet, and the Philadelphia Pops use the building. The Philadelphia Orchestra once called this place home, but it has now moved to the new Kimmel Center for Performing Arts.

The Academy is at the corner of Broad and Locust Streets, so it’s called the Old Lady of Broad Street. But sometimes people mistakenly call it the Old Broad of Lady Street. That’s the kind of mistake that I usually make, so I’m glad to know I’m not the only one.

Here’s what it looks like from the outside during the daytime:

http://img442.imageshack.us/img442/6941/img2531pjh5.jpg

And here you can see it looks pretty much the same at nighttime except that it’s a lot darker:

http://jamesmuspratt.com/images/159.jpg

And this is what it looks like on the inside:

http://pictopia.com/perl/get_image?provider_id=45&size=550x550_mb&ptp_photo_id=752361

This very same hall hosted the 1872 Republican National Convention, where incumbent President Ulysses S. Grant was nominated for a second term, which he went on to win. It’s important to note also that Tchaikovsky, Caruso, and Pavarotti all performed here live, but not at the same time.

Here’s the Academy’s website, for those who might want to look for additional information:

http://www.academyofmusic.org/home.php

Next up: The Bellvue-Stratford Hotel, Wanamaker's Department Store, the University of Pennsylvania, and the Franklin Institute.

[DickZ]

The City of Brotherly Love
Part 5

The Bellvue-Stratford Hotel has been one of the better-known hotels in the country for over a century now. It no longer officially uses the name Bellvue-Stratford, and has been through several other names. Right now, it’s known as the Park Hyatt at The Bellvue, but lots of people continue to use its original name. I’ll do that as well.

Here’s what it looks like from a distance, so you can see the entire building:

http://www.fi.edu/learn/case-files/bell/full/bellevue.jpg

And a modern close-up of the front entrance:

http://www.geocities.com/mike_zimmy/BellevueStratfordFront.jpg

Here’s the beautiful lobby:

http://www.geocities.com/mike_zimmy/BellevueStratfordLobby.jpg

My experience with this glorious building is confined to a single weekend in January of 1986, when I participated in a fantastic square dance festival there. Now if any of you think square dancing is some kind of childish activity like it was when you were forced to do it for a few days during your schooldays, you are dead wrong. Square dancing today is very sophisticated and it’s taken very seriously by lots of serious folks, and there several levels of proficiency to which you can climb. You don’t climb very far unless you’re a pretty good dancer, and there are lots of incredible dancers who are devoted to square dancing.

The Bellvue-Stratford had several magnificent ballrooms, but I don’t know if they have been kept in the current hotel. I think that the following picture of a dining room which I found on the web, might have been one of the better ballrooms back when I was there. It really added to the joy of the weekend to be dancing in something like this ballroom. Note the observation gallery up above, with a rail to keep the observers from falling and landing on the dancers below.

http://www.geocities.com/mike_zimmy/BellevueStratfordFormerBallroom.jpg

Here’s a close-up of that rail around the observation gallery, as well as a chandelier:

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1052/1172562072_9b86eac514.jpg?v=0

The hotel was completed in 1904, and was considered the most luxurious hotel in the nation at that time. It had well over 1,000 guest rooms, the grandest ballroom in the country, and lighting fixtures designed by Thomas Edison himself.

Unfortunately, the hotel gained lots of negative publicity in July, 1976, when it hosted a statewide convention of the American Legion. A pneumonia-like disease killed 34 people attending the convention. The problem was traced to bacteria that spread through the hotel’s air conditioning system. The hotel had to shut down in November of that very same year – 1976.

It has been owned by several different firms since, with various uses including as a hotel and as an office complex, with nice shops at the street level. When I was there in 1986, it was still a hotel, but there were signs in the lobby showing plans to convert the building to condominiums very soon. That conversion apparently never happened.

Wanamaker’s Department Store had modest beginnings in 1861, when John Wanamaker opened a men’s clothing store. In 1876, with Philadelphia hosting the nation’s Centennial celebrations, Wanamaker expanded by purchasing an abandoned railroad station, and he added lots of new lines to sell in addition to men’s clothes. Wanamaker was the first to institute many features eventually used by other department stores, such as electric lights, telephones, and pneumatic tubes for transmitting cash and sales documents. Whole books have been written about how department stores evolved, so we won’t get into that kind of detail for this discussion. You might try some of those books, though, because they’re really good.

The building that is still used today was completed in 1910. The architect was Daniel Burnham, who had designed most of the structures for the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago, as well as Union Station in Washington, DC. And President Taft was even there for the grand opening. Here’s what it looked like back in its early days, with 12 floors of goodies for the budding shopaholics who had never seen anything like this before:

http://history.sandiego.edu/GEN/USPics45/1903wanamaker.jpg

This building included the pipe organ from the St. Louis World’s Fair of 1904. This is the World's Fair which was showcased in the great Judy Garland movie called Meet Me in St. Louis. If you haven’t seen that movie yet, you should stop reading this little story right now and see the movie instead. It’s available on DVD, and it’s much better than this travelogue. Here’s what the pipe organ looks like, in what’s come to be known as the Grand Court:

http://blog.aia.org/mt-static/plugins/Ajaxify/tinymce/jscripts/tiny_mce/plugins/imagemanager/images/favorite_architecture_images/32_wanamakers_lg.jpg

I understand the organ is the world’s largest playable instrument, but I don’t know what even larger instruments might be out there that don’t fall into the category of playable. The organ was expanded several times over the years, and now has 28,000 pipes. Organ concerts were broadcast on the radio starting in 1922, right from this very spot.

Here is another interior view of the store, which is now operated by Macy’s.

http://static.panoramio.com/photos/original/9989061.jpg

And finally, the residence of John Wanamaker after he hit it big with his stores:

http://www.brynmawr.edu/iconog/ajnls/ksub12.jpg

Just two miles from downtown Philadelphia, you can find the University of Pennsylvania, which is a member of the much-fabled Ivy League. Penn says it is the first university in America (as opposed to college), and it claims to be the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the country. However, it must be noted that Princeton makes that same claim of fourth-oldest institution, and I’m not going to get involved in that dispute. I can’t even tell which are the older schools, but I’m guessing Harvard and Yale are two of the three.

One fact that is apparently not in dispute is that Penn spends more money each year than any of its Ivy League sisters, which is probably pretty difficult to do since there are some pretty big spenders in that group.

Benjamin Franklin is considered to be the founder of the school, and many of us remember him from our own schooldays. To remind the students of this fact, there are several statues of Ben scattered around the grounds. Here’s a statue of him sitting on one of the campus benches, but there are also some more traditional looking statues of Ben, on pedestals:

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/89/274810051_953ed958b5.jpg

Here is the main university complex:

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/33/50545683_e4e70b546e.jpg

Here is the Fisher Fine Arts Library, one of the nicer buildings on the campus. There is a rumor going around that this is the only Victorian building that the noted architect Frank Lloyd Wright didn’t hate:

http://media-2.web.britannica.com/eb-media/83/116683-004-0A94B0F1.jpg

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/8/8864902_af4a0d9304.jpg?v=0

The library’s main reading room:

http://www.studentsreview.com/univ_pics/1209_g_1127717247.jpg

Penn’s Wharton School of Business produces lots of MBAs. Now I don’t know how many Wharton MBAs are currently leading companies that are badly floundering in today’s difficult economy, but I hope those leaders all come from some other schools. Wharton is called by many the finest business school in the world, and I’m sure they would like to keep their title.

http://english.china.com/zh_cn/education/news/11020786/20070523/images/14115292_2007052313470330438600.jpg

http://lh6.ggpht.com/_2_BV-ISaSUU/RhfjE8ITCNI/AAAAAAAAAMk/KGBIfrTNnV0/IMG_0200.JPG

Here’s Wharton’s attractive Admissions Office:

http://images.businessweek.com/ss/06/04/BSwharton/image/admissionsoffice1.jpg

And here are some very nice Victorian homes on or near the university’s grounds:

http://www.concierge.com/images/destinations/destinationguide/usa+canada/usa/pennslyvania/philadelphia/philadelphia/philadelphia_013p.jpg

The Franklin Institute is a museum, and one of the oldest centers of science education and development in the country. It dates back to 1824, and stayed in its original quarters for 100 years. Here’s what its current home, completed in 1934, looks like from the outside.

http://mccammon.ucsd.edu/~dminh/nyphilly/images/nyp-19.jpg

http://71.216.153.108/Franklin-Inst-K.gif

As you have undoubtedly guessed, the Institute is named for Benjamin Franklin, and here’s the old guy himself welcoming visitors to the building:

http://www.flyawaycafe.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/08/ben-franklin-at-franklin-institute.jpg

Here’s a Franklin Institute exhibit by the Weston Electrical Instrument Company back in 1884:

http://weston.ftldesign.com/1884FranklinInst.jpg

The Institute has a permanent display of a Baldwin 60000 steam locomotive which dates back to 1926:

http://www.dself.dsl.pipex.com/MUSEUM/LOCOLOCO/USAhp/60000_1a.jpg

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/171/382485166_ab1a2c5ac4.jpg?v=0

There are three main centers to the institute: The Science Center, the Franklin Center, and the Center for Innovation in Science Learning. If you want to get into the details of each of these centers, you can do so when we visit the Institute’s main website below. Many of the displays are hands-on, which greatly facilitates learning.

The Institute also houses the Benjamin Franklin National Memoiral.

Here’s the institute’s website – and I encourage you to explore it on your own. It’s quite interesting, and a lot of fun.

http://www2.fi.edu/

For example, here is an advance notice of the Galileo traveling exhibit that will come to the Institute in April, and will feature one of Galileo’s two remaining telescopes. This will be the first time the telescope has ever left its home in Florence.

http://www2.fi.edu/exhibits/traveling/galileo/

Next up: The Union League, 30th Street Station, and the Philadelphia Public Library.

[DickZ]

The City of Brotherly Love
Part 6

The Union League was founded in 1862, to support the Union for which the Civil War was being waged at the time, and to support the policies of President Abraham Lincoln. There are several cities which are members besides Philadelphia, but right now we’re only concentrating on Philadelphia.

The League’s club in Philadelphia is a beautiful French Renaissance-styled building, with a brick and brownstone façade and dramatic twin circular staircases leading to the main entrance on Broad Street, and it dates back to 1865. It was enlarged in 1910. The building is just a few doors down Broad Street from the Bellvue-Stratford Hotel that we discussed in Part 5. I tried to get in for a visit to the Union League during my January 1986 visit, but apparently they don’t let the hoi polloi in - at least not when they’re wearing square dance clothes.

http://static.panoramio.com/photos/original/10714042.jpg

Some nice interior scenes:

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3026/2569427768_dfe4201ce8.jpg?v=1213151109

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3113/2569416906_207ee0d07d.jpg?v=1213149332

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3282/2724838899_f761ed41f1.jpg?v=0

And a stained glass window in the club:

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/131/319094427_a4dbe7c7cb.jpg?v=0

Here’s the league’s website – even non-members can see some of it.

http://www.unionleague.org/

Philadelphia’s 30th Street Station was already pretty famous even before the 2009 Presidential Inauguration, but it gained even more notariety when the incoming President rode the train starting out from this very station. He rode from Philadelphia’s 30th Street Station to Washington, DC’s Union Station. You might have seen some of Washington’s Union Station in another story on this site, one called A Capital Tour, so maybe you’re already familiar with all its unique features.

Here’s 30th Street Station:

http://www.geocities.com/mike_zimmy/20thststationphilly.jpg

http://philipives.files.wordpress.com/2008/09/30thstreet.jpg

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1093/528583372_8a1b42d99e.jpg

And the Main Waiting Room:

http://www.gophila.com/assets/dmt/images/9.30thStStation-G.WidmanG.jpg

At the far end of the Waiting Room in the shot above, you could barely make out the War Memorial in the station:

http://rolandallen.com/archives/30th Street Station War Memorial.jpg

Here’s the train and some of its esteemed passengers just before leaving 30th Street Station on their recent historic ride to Washington:

http://cache.daylife.com/imageserve/0fXmdqMbyA4DJ/610x.jpg

http://cache.daylife.com/imageserve/0gzp1rM25mbKe/610x.jpg

The last car of the Presidential train is called the Georgia 300, a heavyweight observation car built by the Pullman Company in 1930. Here’s what the Georgia 300 looked like in 2009 during its famous run from Philadelphia to Washington:

http://www.geocities.com/mike_zimmy/GeorgiaTrain.jpg

Here’s the whole train, and you can see the Georgia 300 at the rear:

http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/pictures%5C28478%5C08 04-19 23.JPG

I would have guessed that Benjamin Franklin would have had something to do with the Philadelphia Public Library, but I was wrong about that. To be technical, it’s actually called the Free Library of Philadelphia, and it was chartered in 1891. Its current home was completed in 1927, and looks like this:

http://lh3.ggpht.com/_72LnLKSXh88/RxPiGr8Rm_I/AAAAAAAAEFY/hyFYE1KcfE0/1013071139a.jpg

http://www.library.calligraphy-mvk.ru/images/stories/librarybuilding/philadelphia.jpg

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/202/442361520_05cfc35488.jpg?v=0

Here’s a closeup of the entrance:

http://bit-player.org/wp-content/FreePublicLibrary3020.jpg

And out front, there’s a memorial commemorating some guy named Shakespeare – I guess he’s some celebrity from Philadelphia:

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/202/442361520_05cfc35488.jpg?v=0

And an interior view of the library:

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_7kwIiNndOcg/SK-KK1DPS-I/AAAAAAAAE6A/qWHeJEeM4H0/s400/2473046322_b31f26dc86.jpg

While Benjamin Franklin had nothing to do with what became the Public Library, he did start something called the Library Company, which was pretty much the same idea. Back in 1731, before Franklin gained his fame, he and some others started a book club. Now this wasn’t the Book-of-the-Month Club, or the History Book Club, or the Mystery Book Club, or anything like that. Members pooled their funds, and purchased books that they could then all use. Back in those days, very few people could afford books, so this made it possible to see more books than what you might see if you were working alone. The Library Company eventually became the first lending libary in Philadelphia.

After being limited to the second floor of the State House for many years, the company got its own building in 1773, but it would be only temporary. In 1790 they moved into Library Hall, which would serve until 1935. Here’s what it looked like back in those colonial days:

http://www.ushistory.org/carpentershall/history/images/pancoast2.jpg

That building was later torn down, but it was reconstructed in 1954 and now looks like this:

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3104/2318739819_3b9e089945.jpg?v=0

Here’s a detail of the Franklin statue above the entrance:

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3143/2555215005_ecd11ac0e3.jpg?v=0

The Library Company is still in operation as a center for historical research, and is now at 1314 Locust Street. It has the original journals of the Lewis and Clark expedition, a copy of the Declaration of Independence in Jefferson’s own handwriting, and many important first edition books.

Next up: the Philadelphia Zoo, Carpenter’s Hall, Society Hill, Memorial Hall, and the Masonic Temple.

[DickZ]

The City of Brotherly Love
Part 7

The Philadelphia Zoo was the first zoo built in the United States. It was first chartered in 1859, but the Civil War delayed its opening until 1874. It claims to be one of the best zoos in the world for breeding animals that are difficult to breed in captivity. The zoo features several buildings that represent Victorian architecture, but as the zoo continues to modernize, hideous new buildings are added every now and then.

Here’s the zoo’s entrance:

http://z.about.com/d/philadelphia/1/0/F/Y/4/zoo_balloon_08.jpg

Some of the unique features of this zoo include:


a primate exhibit featuring ten species such as orangutans, gorillas, lemurs, and gibbons


http://philadelphia.about.com/library/graphics/Primate5.jpg

http://www2.philadelphiazoo.org/getfile/c77c3352-7183-4bdb-bcbf-b30323ee082a/03032008.aspx

http://www2.philadelphiazoo.org/getfile/32119e16-e9ba-4b03-aca2-bf550f278f2b/1217POTW.aspx


an exhibit for big cats, called Big Cat Falls, which is a favorite of my little cat named Eleanor, but she just looks at these animals on the zoo’s website because the zoo doesn’t allow housecats to come on the premises, despite the fact that bulletproof glass separates the visitors from the residents:


http://www2.philadelphiazoo.org/getfile/679764bb-459f-41cb-b51b-6a0b0ceadb0c/Merlin-Kay.aspx

http://pictopia.com/perl/get_image?provider_id=45&size=550x550_mb&ptp_photo_id=374358

http://www.gptmc.org/assets/dmt/images/43.PhiladelphiaZoo-0-lrG.jpg

There have been several births of cats over the past couple of years, including three Snow Leopard cubs, one of which is shown here:

http://nimg.sulekha.com/Entertainment/original700/40d5abab03664bf598f3b5b75e6c2dd9-31d824e3266c470d8c9fdb31e9f89910-2.jpg

And some Puma cubs, one of which is shown here:

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/17/92300376_abf1620402.jpg?v=0

Here’s the zoo’s website:

http://www2.philadelphiazoo.org/

Carpenters’ Hall was the place where the First Continental Congress was held, way back in 1774. At one time, it was also the home of Ben Franklin’s Library Company (which was discussed briefly in Part 6). The Hall has been continuously owned and operated by The Carpenters’ Company of Philadelphia, which is said to be the oldest trade guild in the United States as it has operated since 1770.

http://www.ushistory.org/carpentershall/edu/images/facade.jpg

The official website has additional information for those who might want it:

http://www.ushistory.org/carpentershall/

Society Hill in Philadelphia contains the largest concentration of original 18th and early 19th century architecture in the entire United States, including North Dakota. It is said to be a lot like Beacon Hill in Boston, except that Society Hill is in Philadelphia and not Boston. It has cobblestone streets to go along with the old architecture that lines the streets. Cobblestone streets are very charming as long as you don’t have to drive on them because when you drive on them their charm pretty much vanishes into thin air.

Here are some sights in Society Hill:

http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k50/bryson662001/SocietyHill2-1.jpg

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/d/db/Philly_Street.jpg

http://lh6.ggpht.com/_kZmQSnOLHp4/Ru5bKj45IkI/AAAAAAAAA9k/tqqTgiJFkEo/DSC_00172007-09-16_11-34-42_edited-3.jpg

http://k53.pbase.com/g6/34/399134/2/73889640.Oa4GFtac.jpg

The Merchants’ Exchange Building is near Society Hill, and once served as the Philadelphia Stock Exchange but that was a long time before our current economic crisis so don’t blame this building for the crisis:

http://www.swarthmore.edu/SocSci/jcaskey1/PHLX/MerchantsExchange.jpg

Memorial Hall was built for the Centennial Exposition which was held in Philadelphia back in 1876. At the Centennial Exposition, there were all kinds of displays showing the technology of the day. If you want to see some of them, check out my story A Capital Tour, which shows a few items displayed at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC, during the Bicentennial Celebration in 1976, which were items originally displayed at the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia back in 1876.

Here’s what Memorial Hall, built in the Beaux Arts style of architecture, looks like:

http://www.philadelphia-reflections.com/images/MemorialHall.jpg

Many cities have Masonic Temples, which are always grand buildings that are wonderful for hosting special events. Freemasonry is a fraternal organization that has been around since the late 16th century. I think the origins had something to do with buildings, hence the masonry part of the name, and King Solomon’s Temple is somewhere in the background. I think it’s a pretty secretive organization, but whatever it’s all about, there are some incredibly beautiful buildings serving as masonic temples all over the world. Well, Philadelphia’s Masonic Temple is even grander than most of the others.

The magnificent exterior:

http://jim-frizzell.com/Philadelphia2001/04-23-04/04-23-01masonic_hall_philadelphia.jpg

The Banquet Hall:

http://frysingerreunion.org/us/phila152.jpg

And some interior shots:

http://images.artnet.com/artwork_images_139120_458568_candida-hofer.jpg

http://www.geocities.com/mike_zimmy/MasonicTemplePhila.jpg

http://frysingerreunion.org/us/mer040.jpg

Here’s the Masonic Temple’s website, where you can have an on-line guided tour:

http://www.pagrandlodge.org/tour/mtemple.html

Next up: Forrest Theater, Christ Church, Elfreth’s Alley, Penn’s Landing and Waterfront, Boat Houses on the Schuylkill River, and the Witherspoon Building.

[DickZ]

The City of Brotherly Love
Part 8

Philadelphia’s Forrest Theater is kind of like those theaters on Broadway, except that it’s not on Broadway. It’s on Walnut, and was built in 1927. I once spent an entire day looking for Broadway in Philadelphia but I could only find Broad Street – not Broadway. I guess Broadway, which is supposed to be very famous, is in some other city.

There have been wonderful performances put on here in the theater since 1928. Many were tried out here before proceeding to that Broadway in some other city, including The Music Man (1957), Funny Girl (1963) starring Barbra Streisand, The Wiz (1970), and Bob Fosse's Chicago (1975) starring Chita Rivera and Gwen Verdon.

Here are a couple of exterior views of the theater:

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2118/2225898832_235e467594.jpg?v=0

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/128/322707476_1f08aeae9f.jpg?v=0

And here are some interior views:

http://www.shubertorganization.com/images/theatres/forrest_theatre_philly/theatre_1.jpg

http://www.shubertorganization.com/images/theatres/forrest_theatre_philly/theatre_5.jpg

The architect must have had lots of foresight, because he built it with wide seats to handle the increased obesity that would eventually come to most American cities, even though there weren’t so many fat people in 1927. And there was a single smoking room for both men and women, so the other theater-goers wouldn’t have to be subjected to their smoke. And all this was way before smokers were banished to places where they wouldn’t subject the non-smokers to all of those irritants.

Philadelphia’s Christ Church is an Episcopal church dating back to 1695. Their current building was completed in 1744, so it has now been around for more than 100 years! It’s an example of Georgian architecture, which comes from the fact that the series of British King Georges (George I through George IV) had some sort of influence on the style of buildings, despite the fact that none of them was actually an architect.

The baptism font in which William Penn was baptized was eventually sent to this church from London, where Penn was born. The font is still used for baptisms at Christ Church. Fifteen signers of the Declaration of Independence were members of the congregation. And there were other members of the congregation, who were important despite the fact that they did not sign the Declaration of Independence, such as George Washington and Betsy Ross.

Here are some exterior views:

http://freepages.history.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~wcarr1/Lossing1/34-01.gif

http://www.playle.com/KDL/00015.jpg

And this should give you a feel as to what it’s like on the inside:

http://www.american-architecture.info/USA/USA-Northeast/029g.JPG

When I heard that Elfreth’s Alley was the next stop on my tour, I was all excited because I’m really into bowling – well, I was really into bowling about fifty years ago. But when I got to Philadelphia’s Elfreth’s Alley, I couldn’t even see where the bowling part was. There’s just a bunch of old houses there with a narrow passage between them – and it’s that narrow passage which is called the alley. If I knew then what I know now, I probably would never have gone there in the first place. The unfortunate part of that absurd philosophy is that we never knew then what we know now.

And there was some guy proclaiming that it is one of the oldest continuously inhabited residential streets in the whole country because it dates back to the early 1700s. It turns out that there was a blacksmith named Jeremiah Elfreth living back then, and somehow they named the whole alley for him, even though he didn’t really know much about bowling. There were lots of other people living as Mr. Elfreth’s neighbors, but I don’t know what they did wrong (so as not to have the place named for them) or what Mr. Elfreth did right. Anyway, there were shipwrights, silversmiths, furniture makers, and glassblowers. I always enjoyed watching glassblowers, but I couldn’t find any here.

The houses are Georgian and Federal in their architecture – here are a couple of views:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4f/Elfreth's_Alley.JPG

http://www.sogonow.com/static/FCKeditor/UserFiles/Image/IMG_4432.JPG

The alley even has its own website, if you want to pick up a few more facts about the place. I don’t know of any other alleys that have their own website (except for bowling alleys and we’ve already established that this isn’t a bowling alley), so maybe you should check this one out:

http://www.elfrethsalley.org/

Penn’s Landing and Waterfront is in Center City, which is what they call the part of the city that’s the core of municipal activity. The founder of Pennsylvania, William Penn, landed here in 1682, long before Center City existed. After landing here, he thought it would be a good idea to call this place Penn’s Landing, so that’s just what he did.

There are several old ships moored here, with USS Olympia of Spanish-American War fame being the centerpiece. It was on the deck of this very ship that Admiral Dewey said “You may fire when ready, Gridley” and people have been saying that same thing ever since. There is also a floating restaurant that I think was copied from the floating restaurants in Aberdeen, which is a part of Hong Kong, and isn’t anywhere near Philadelphia. I’m thinking about writing a travelogue of the Orient and would include Aberdeen in that one, but I haven’t done it yet, so you’ll just have to settle for the floating restaurants in Philadelphia.

Here’s what the Olympia looked like back in her fighting days, followed by what she looks like today now that she doesn’t fight that much any more:

http://www.militarymuseum.org/Resources/Olympia.jpg

http://www.associated.com/images/portfolio/uss_olympia_003.jpg

Here is the barque Moshulu, which is now a floating restaurant:

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3185/3082395755_6bd2ac6a35.jpg

I was pleasantly surprised to learn that Philadelphia is known for their boathouses on the Schuylkill River, because I once tried rowing crew but found out I wasn’t good enough to keep doing it. There are ten schools which maintain boathouses for their rowing crews on this river, and these houses are beautiful. Some of them date back as far as the Civil War.

Here’s what they look like during the daylight hours:

http://pro.corbis.com/images/DW001812.jpg?size=67&uid=%7B27D93F3D-E9DC-49D7-84F0-431EBFFEEE5D%7D

But regardless of how great they look during the day, they look almost as good at night, despite the fact that it’s a lot darker out:

http://pro.corbis.com/images/DW001204.jpg?size=67&uid=%7B847B5A84-13EE-4C9D-961C-B59D33BA366F%7D

http://cache.daylife.com/imageserve/05bd8gxezoeSP/610x.jpg

The Witherspoon Building was built in 1897 by the Presbyterian Church, and is located at Walnut and Juniper Streets. This building was Philadelphia's first skyscraper, but it certainly wasn’t the last. I-beams perfected by Andrew Carnegie were used in its construction. You may remember Carnegie as the guy who made steel much better and much cheaper than it was ever made before. It turns out that John Witherspoon, for whom the building was named, was the only active clergyman who signed the Declaration of Independence. The building was used for Presbyterian Church offices and a library until the 1960s, when these functions were moved to a new building. The original structure was sold in 1973.

Here’s a shot that shows the whole building:

http://www.geocities.com/mike_zimmy/WitherspoonBuildingPhiladelphia.jpg

A closeup of the main entrance:

http://img139.imageshack.us/img139/1851/img2525pnx3.jpg

And a closeup of a detail high in the 11-story building:

http://www.geocities.com/mike_zimmy/WitherspoonBuildingDetail.jpg

Well, that just about wraps up everything I know about this wonderful city. Thanks for reading along.

THE END

[AuntShecky]

An excellent guide, written with style and wit.