Hey They just opened up the New Black Panther Party Headquarters at 6th and Allegheny about 3 blocks from my house. I was thinking about welcoming my new neighbors to the area with a bundt cake.

Also, let's not forget, where the only city in the country who's mayor ordered a bomb dropped on their own city.

God I love it here.

it is the city of brotherly love, that's the beauty of sarcasm, contrast, ambiguity... why do you think there are so many floating bodies in the schuylkill river?

At this moment, Philadelphia is definitely one of the coolest cities on the planet.

And Hasselhoff is right - just MYOB on the subway platforms and you'll be fine.

God I miss Philly.

Its BROTHERLY love for a reason. cause brothers show their love for each other by fighting, hoarsing around, insulting, teasing, and generally beating the crap out of each other, but if someone else messes with us they had better watch out. Cause only family can do that.

Also, this city suffers from a major inferiority complex. i mean come on, we're losing the population war to phoenix arizona!

I'm happy to leave it.
I spent friday night in a police station to testify that a man got run over while banging on the hood of an suv that was driving with him on top. he later said it was an accident and we rode back home on the hard bench in the back of the police car.

Nice try Quixotica haha. I don't think that's what the Greeks meant when they made the word Philos (or whatever the root is). "In yonder future, a group of men wearing puffy jackets will call all others wearing puffy jackets 'brother.' They will use such strange projectile weapons to defend their 'brothers' against others who wear puffy jackets of another color. Someone named Ben Franklin will also know of this prophecy and there after nameth his city Philadelphia."

haha at least its not the city of oedipal love. Yeah Philly cops suck, just had my car towed last week cause apparently my license has been suspended for 2 years. Who knew huh? turns out it was all a big mistake but i still had to pay 200 bucks to get my car back and now have to go to court to fight the tickets and prove my license wasnt really suspended.

But i dont know why, i just love it here. Call it East coast pride or whatever, but the city is just so facsinating. I have lived near K&A for about 2 years now, and despite what everyone says about the area, i love it, i enjoy the 20,000 kids that scream all night long on my streets, and the neighbors that, while it took them a while to get used to me, have made me feel very comftorable there. I have never once felt in danger or uncomftorable. I mean we have the best anti theft devices in the city. Pay a crak head 5 dollars to watch your car while your gone and promise him another 5 when you get back and he will not move for days!, better than the club anyday.

I've never really felt in danger, but I've definately felt uncomfortable. The homeless are so aggressive here. Not just sitting with a cup, they ask for like $9 (yeah a guy followed me the other day asking for $9). And if you don't give them anything, they curse and shout. There are a lot of crazy people here too. Just sitting on the side walk laughing and screaming (not undergrads).

I'm indifferent to moderately negative. I don't plan on staying much after graduation. I grew up about an hour from Philly and never really had a desire to visit, and in two years it still hasn't grown on me. I loved Boston while I was living there. Might go back. Might try Seattle. Maybe somewhere in Japan for a year or two. I know there is the 'vibrant art community' or what have you, but this place is depressing to me. Maybe I've been tainted by school, I dunno. I'll be glad to leave though.

Yeah unfortunatly all of the crazies are mostly from when they closed down Byberry all those years ago. up until a few years ago there were still reports of patients that had been kicked out onto the street once the hospital closed that would wander back onto the byberry grounds because they thought they still lived there. Your right in that in cases like that it is very depressing, seeing what happened to these people, and how no one seems to care, but maybe its cause I'm naive or just cause im in architecture but i feel like i can change it you know? i mean what philadelphia really needs is a mockbeeesque "urban studio"

Hasselhoff, when do you finish school?

Now I know where you live...

Is that true about the crazy people in Philadelphia coming from a closed-down psychiatric hospital? I've definitely noticed them everytime I've been in Philly. I've lived in Pittsburgh and New York, and have visited a lot of places, all with their fair share of homeless people. But I have to say Philly beats all when it comes to crazy homeless people.

I thought maybe that's where Giuliani sent all of New York's crazy homeless people that mysteriously disappeared during his administration.

No its true, Byberry, which, lets face it, was a horribly run psychiatric institute to begin with. I'm talking beatings, negligence, death etc ad naseum was closed in 1990 and the patients were literally given a weeks worth of medication and turned out on the street. The hope was that in a weeks time these patients could secure housing and jobs while under their medicated "normalcy" before anyone realized that they needed help. I did a fourth year semester long project on byberry and what could be done now for those patients that are still out there.

I was really curious when I saw the thread topic and so far we talked about the crazy homeless and the violence problem in Philadelphia... Sure there are A LOT of problems here, but also there are a lot of positive things going on here and there are many people and organizations trying to change the existing problems. I've noticed though that the people that are indifferent and moderately negative about Philadelphia generally haven't taken the time to get to know what this city is about and judge it on some newspaper headlines.

I agree Philarch, i mean this city is filled with so much cultural and historical influence, you cannot find another city like Philadelphia. (frankly i think we need another historical monument or museum like we need a hole in our head but thats just me) Philadelphia definatly has a lot to offer and in all seriousness, its a shame that people like hasselhoff are so anxious to leave once they get out of school, because it seems like we cant keep anyone in this city. no offense to you Hasselhoff.

Philly started loving me back about 3 years into my 10-year residence there. For those who don't know that's the city's slogan: Philly: The Place That Loves You Back. A joke rejected slogan for the city was "We got your Liberty Bell right here, pal" and I think those two staements pretty well sum up the dichotomy of Philly: Philadelphians will love you right up to when you start bad-talking them, then they'll turn on you like an injured badger, with pride. Then five minutes alter they'll love you again.

It's an amazing city in that there is super-cute history (Elfreth's Alley - oldest residential street in America still occupied by homeowning-residents not just tourists) right next to bleeding-edge urban art (Spector, 1026, InLiquid, many more since I moved away a year ago) right next to awe-inspiring historical places (the room where the friggin' Declaration of Independence was signed, I mean it's closer to sublime there than is anything OMA has produced) right next to screaming homeless people. Yes the bad can get you down but the place is also so fertile with possibility.

It's possibly an even more walkable city than Portland Oregon and believe me THAT is saying something!

Philly just takes some time to get to know, unlike Indianapolis, which I adored when I first moved here and have slowly grown to dislike the more I see of it.

Oh and for comparison's sake my favorite joke rejected city slogan for Indianapolis is "Fast Cars, Slow Metabolisms". Too true, sigh.

Lending some architectural significance to this thread, what do you guys think of the new PNC building?
Personally, I hate it. with the lights and its relative proximity to the peco building I feel like one day those lights are going to shape into some sort of animated emoticon and it will be a smiley face sticking its tounge out at the PECO building all like "pff, scrolling words, is that all you got bitch?"

I like it. it's silly, but philly is so proper and it makes a nice contrast.
silly philly, hey, how's that for a slogan.

better than washington state's new slogan: say WA?

ha, e, that is hilarious!!

It's weird. I just haven't gotten into Philly. It just doesn't do anything for me. I came in thinking it was going to be pretty cool. But since being here, I completely feel like I'm just passing through. Lately I've been exploring a lot, and I'm just not feeling it. When I first moved to Boston, I really wanted to leave too. But then after about a month, I just loved it. I didn't know anyone, spent a lot of time alone, but LOVED it. As far as the headline, I don't judge Philly only by headlines, it was just the first thing I heard when I woke up today. It's just funny how many times I've gone on CNN.com and you see this grissly headline only for it to be from Philly. There were murders on the T and sexual assults on Cambridge Common.

I was thinking about it and I think one huge problem is the disconnect between West Philly and Center City. It's like you have the whole WP vibe going on, then you hit 40th and from about 40th to the river is just this weird dead zone of Penn and Drexel which just messes up the flow. THen on the other side, you have like 29th-Rittenhouse that is weird mix of housing, gas stations and office buildings. Then you have that down town shopping and then Old City/Society Hill and South Street (bleh).

You're right about people leaving. Apparently they are having a really hard time keeping students from Temple, Penn, Drexel etc in Philly after graduation. I know a lot of people are planning on leaving after school, some hate, I mean HATE this place. Like, counting down the days until they can leave. People looking for summer jobs in other states, not to work for hot firms, but to get out of Philly.

I have friends that won't move into Philly because they don't want to pay the 4% school tax because the schools are so bad. From what I understand they are some of the worst public schools in the country. Incredibly bad test scores, high drop out rates and massive student failure rates. Unfortunately, it really shows in everyday interaction with people. That's what's depressing.

And , as far as the historical stuff. Yeah, it is pretty kick ass to see the place where our nation was basically created, but it's also just a building. WHOA, coming from a future architect?! I guess to me, the idea of democracy is more important than bricks and mortar. I mean, how much do I really interact with it? I went there in like 3rd grade, I walk past it going to my friends' place. Maybe I'm down grading its importance or something, I dunno.

Quix: I finish school on May 17, 2007 (my countdown is just because I want out of school). I've already asked about how I end my lease in June instead of August.

Northen Liberties is getting pretty cool, and I do like the Society Hill area (my friends live there). But in the end I simply cannot imagine growing roots here. I really just don't feel any connection or obligation to this place. I'm not trying to convince people to not like Philly, this is just why I don't like it. And, I'm just totally sick of Pennsylvania. I've lived in this state for 24 of my 26 years.

me neither. I'm done here.
It's nice and walkable but when I go to washington square park I think of all the poor people burried underneath. I'm uneasy around history.

uneasy around history.

"oh god is that history over there?"
"yeah avert your eyes you know how he likes to talk all about the past"
"I know! doesn't he ever shut up? - oh shit he sees us! he's coming over!"
". . .Hey history! hows it going man?"
"Oh its allright, except you know, YOUR STANDING ON THE BURIED REMAINS OF SLAVE CHILDREN!"
"Oh geez is that the time? I gotta go."

Very very funny quixotica!!!!

Actually isn't Washington Square a burial ground for Civil War soldiers? My son's daycare was right across the street, in the Curtis Center, and I loooved the fact that he was playing on such historic grass/ground when they came outside in nice weather.

Also the first manned flight in a balloon took place from Washington Square, I don't remember the year.

Doesn't that stuff make you feel more connected to humanity?

And yes, Hasselhoff, if you don't feel that connection there's no need to force it. Remember, to quote Jim Jarmusch, cities are our lovers. Some lovers you connect with deeply, some you don't, and you either mourn their loss or are grateful to not spend time around them any more! Spending 24 of 26 years in the Philly area? Yeah, you need to experience some more lovers ;)

Quixotica - hahaha, thats great. Although if you're referring to ckl's comment about Washington Square, wasn't it (the most number of) Revolutionary War Soldiers that were buried there?
Also to your comment about the new PNC building - I've never heard it referred as the PNC building, but you're talking about the Cira Center behind 30th Street station? The lights are a bit silly but it does bring some vibrancy to the area. The concept of the building is nice, but the proportions are.....a bit off.

Hasselhoff - I understand that not everyone likes Philly, and thats fine. But I do have some problems with what you were saying, especially the part about history and bricks and mortar. Thats similar to saying that the Declaration of Independence is just ink on paper and so it is not a big deal. Bricks and mortar are just as much a part of history as any ink on paper. You can see the physical embodiment of democracy in the buildings and the planning of the city itself. Do you think the city hall being completely open to the public N,E,S,W is just a big mass of stone?

I guess LB got to it before I did. I think this marks the day when archinect is no longer distracting me from work, but work is distracting me from archinect.

Liberty I love the history. a friend of mine is a struggling actress and she just landed the role of playing ben franklins daughter during the tours of old city for the summer. i cant wait to mess with her while they try to pretend that cars arent whipping by them all day.

Yeah Philarch the cira center, i couldnt remember the name and when i googled PNC building thats what popped up so it must have an alias.
I guess what i really dont like about it is that it dwarfs 30th street station so much. 30th street is in my mind one of the most magnificent buildings, at least as far as the interior is concerned, in the city. i mean you go inside and the inside seriously feels bigger than the outside. but now the cira center is all up in its grill like the new kid in town with a bad attitude. I also dont like that it spreads our skyline out so much, our skyline used to be so succint and concentrated, but now, i dunno. But architecturally, this is a HUGE period for the city, there has never been this much new construction going on at once in the citys history, and unfortunatly alot of it is condos that only the super rich can afford. Plus, the new comcast building, which will be the tallest leed certified green building in (the country? the world?) something.

But Philarch you are right of course - Washington Square is a Revolutionary War burial ground, not Civil War duh. I'm an idiot when I've got my mind caught up in plumbing fixtures as I do today.

I left before Cira was completed but I liked what I saw of it - halfway clad, top half still structure, and I actually liked that it is this exclamation point across the river from the main downtown skyline.

more lovers indeed lb. i grew up in washington dc. didn't really love it. the relationship was not working for me. moved to san francisco and was smitten. after six years, confined by rent control, and not wanting to give all my money away in rent, i found a new love: seattle. 5.5 years strong now and i'm still in love. it will be 80 and sunny with no humidity today. a day just like yesterday, and my garden is exploding right now.

oh, and i love philly too. my brother is a radio personality in that city, and i have visited many times. it's a great place.

Good story, e. Sadly I have to say after a brief infatuation, Indy is not satisfying me right now. Portland and Philly are my long lost loves - and I have a huge crush on Seatlle too that I know will never come to fruition.

I was very close to not coming to Penn because it was in Philly. I didn't want to come back to PA again. I wanted to go to Penn, but wished it was in another state.

don't give up hope lb. i never thought i would find myself here, and here i am. i've always said that if seattle breaks my heart, i might have to hook up with portland. beautiful place down there.

Hey e whos your brother? theres not many good radio stations left in this city.

ah, hmmm. not sure i can say. it's more an issue of his privacy as he has a radio name. i agree that there probably aren't many good radio stations in philly. there is only one decent one in seattle. kexp

PS In honor of this thread, this morning in my car I listened to Time Life's Solid Gold Soul 1974 Collection - TSOP man! (Umm that's The Sound of Philadelphia, not the Society for Organic Petrology)

WXPN is still good, I think?

a lil taste of philly

Ha! Ten years in Philly and I never ate at Pat's Steks, or Genos. Best cheesesteak in the city, IMO, is at Gooey Louie's, down near Snyder on Moyamensing.

Funny, I think this is about the fourth or fifth archinect thread regarding just what a cool city Philly is (including some detractors) - I've been active in all of them, how many other cities have we had such discussions about? It's a place people feel passionate about, I guess.

yeah, it's funny the things you never do when you live in a city. when in san francisco, it had been 5 years before i finally went to alcatraz, and i only went because my mom was in town.

i tell you that is one happy boy above though.

In no city, anywhere, ever, has there ever been anyone like Rita Novel.

Or else she has always been everywhere, I'm not sure which.


That is definitely one happy boy above. A good 15 block walk back up to Center City will then work off half the calories you consumed there, too. I'd kill or die for a good cheesesteak right now.

Actaully I just got an email from my cool hippie client in Philly, doing a cafe at 36/Lancaster, telling me she misses me and wants to know if I can come for a visit to make some final decisions re: lighting, tile, etc. I should say I'm no longer officially working for this woman as she ran out of money to pay me a long time ago, but I love her and continue to advise as I can. Maybe I'll go visit her soon, I could use a dose of "real" city.

thanks for the compliment superImpose. i wish seattle had a rita novel. the place would be so much richer for it.

ha! "Mushroom wiz wit" and dont even get me STARTED on genos. Pats is true blue. for all eternity and then some.

Yeah liberty XPN is still good, in fact i still maintain that XPN's funky friday is the greatest thing to happen to radio in a long time. Drexels radio station is really good too and depending on where you are in the city you can pick up princetons as well

quixotica, those are actually peppers on top. the boy needs a little spice.

I was wondering when this conversation would turn to cheesesteak.

I always preferred Lee's.

WXPN _is_ great!

I love Lee's I grew up near there. mmm man now im hungry for lunch.

Hehe e i know, i was just commenting on MY usual order. once again my mind turns to my own thoughts of food.

honestly I'm surprised no ones brought up sports yet. or at least the fans. I mean we throw snow balls at santa claus for cryin out loud.

ha, mushrooms do sound good though. why didn't i do that?