Sunday, October 21, 2012

Philly: Not Just Ben and Cheesesteak Sandwiches



Philadelphia.   
Put your favorite stereotype here: Ben Franklin, Cheesesteak Sandwiches, Liberty Bell, Independence Hall. 

Here are mine: 

Streetcar town. Philly still retains its streetcar neighborhoods and the electric streetcars that go with them.  This is on top of buses, commuter rail, AMTRAK…a person can do very well without needing to own a car in many part of Philly.


Durable brownstones.  Especially in the streetcar neighborhoods, both the streets and the building were built to last.  Even though some of them suffer from lack of care, often as rentals, they spring back to life under the care of owners and thoughtful property owners.  The wood and brick and even the old-fashioned hot water and steam heating systems still deliver the goods for thousands of people, and respond well to judicious fix-up.  Neighborhoods full of these houses are being rejuvenated.






Lots of breweries. Philadelphians point with pride to the high proportion of breweries in town.  For my part, there was one right around the corner, under a bike shop.  In several days I never had the same beer twice.  This is a good sign of civilization!

Gardens in every available inch.  And not just flowers.  Across the street someone was harvesting Tuscan Kale from their front garden, mixed in with the roses, butterfly bushes, and hydrangeas.  Down the street was a forest of tomatoes.  Squash vines snake through the little 10-foot-square front gardens, or pour out of pots they’ve been planted in.  Down the street someone has managed to create a roof garden on one of the old houses.  A kid couldn’t make much money mowing lawns around here: the space is all being gardened.  And did I mention the laying hens across the alley? 

Amazing Amish farmer’s markets with apples, squash, greens etc by the bushel.   For me, the connection between the properly-dressed, fresh-faced Amish farmers and the contrasting styles of the U Penn neighborhood residents, also fresh-faced but with a very different sense of style, perhaps captures the wide range of people that constitute Philadelphia.  These two communities, with almost completely different backgrounds, habits, knowledge bases, you name it…need each other in a very basic way.  They are connected, physically, by food.  Really good food. Every week.


Christmas at IKEA.  No, not in December.  Labor Day weekend, when U Penn commences classes.  After enduring the crush of shoppers for several days, I had occasion, while negotiating with a store associate for a bed frame, to talk to him about the impact of the universities on their store. “This is our Christmas” he said.  All over town, delivery trucks were double parked in front of brownstone rentals, and people were huffing and puffing heavy boxes full of potential furniture up narrow stairways.  I see a middle-aged man at one of the windows, busily washing them. I’m guessing it’s not his place…
 
Food. Diversity means great choices for food. Mediterranean, Ethiopian, local breweries, all on the same street along with the more traditional kinds of places.    

A great place to visit.  See above.  One never runs out of things to see and do.  And if you’re bored?  It’s an hour or so to New York City.  On commuter rail.