Travel with Terri
Philadelphia: Beyond the Liberty Bell
By Terri Marshall, Photos by Gregory Holder
Spending a weekend in the “City of Brotherly Love” doesn’t have to be all about the Liberty Bell and Philly Cheese Steaks. Philadelphia offers up unique artwork, local watering holes and even a bit of Southern inspired cuisine.
Philadelphia is home to the world’s largest outdoor art gallery which includes over 3,000 murals and works of public art. The Mural Arts Program began in 1984 with an effort to eradicate the graffiti crisis plaguing the city. Then Mayor Wilson Goode hired muralist Jane Golden to reach out to graffiti writers and to redirect their energies from destructive graffiti writing to constructive mural painting. With the refined artistic skills developed through mural painting, the young men and women were empowered to take an active role in the beautification of their own neighborhoods. The transformation was magical – bringing color, beauty and life to an old industrial city.
The Mural Arts Program’s award-winning, free art education programs
annually serve nearly 2,000 youth at sites throughout the city and at-risk teens through the education outreach programs. The Program also serves adult offenders in local prisons and rehabilitation centers, using the restorative power of art to break the cycle of crime and violence. Several guided tours are offered including an Ale Adventure Walk, a Sculpture and Mural Tour, a Bike Tour, Trolley Tours and even a Love Letter Train Tour.
The Love Letter tour starts on the subway in Center City and travels to West Philadelphia. Once the train emerges from underground the show begins. Love Letter consists of 50 rooftop murals. Inspired by a young man’s crush on a girl who road the train each day, the love letter became not only a love letter from a guy to a girl, but also a love letter to the community.
“Meet Me at Fifty Second if only for Fifty Seconds” reads one mural. Another reads “Your Everafter is all I’m After”. Although no one claims to know the fate of the relationship that inspired the letter, there is one mural with the message “We Share Sheets” while another references diaper money. I like to think this love story had a happy ending.
The self guided Mural Mile Tour is a great addition to an escorted tour. All you need is a map from Mural Arts, a cell phone and walking shoes. Stroll around the city, call the phone number provided and punch in the corresponding mural number to hear the story of each mural along the route. http://www.muralarts.org/
The Mural Mile Tour will lead you to a quaint neighborhood at the corner of 13th and Pine Streets. There you will find Dirty Franks – a beloved dive bar with a culture all its own. Dirty Franks’ exterior is Mural #11 featuring an assortment of famous Frank’s including Frank Lloyd Wright, Ben Franklin, Frankenstein, Frank Sinatra, Aretha Franklin, Frank Zappa, Franklin D. Roosevelt and, of course, a frankfurter. The mural tells the story of Dirty Franks – or at least part of the story.
Years ago some of the members of the community wanted the bar closed down but loyal patrons and other residents fought to keep it open. The result was a compromise – the bar could stay but the sign had to come down. In 2001 portrait artist David McShane gave Dirty Franks something better than a sign – a wall filled with Franks.
Dirty Franks’ art doesn’t stop on the walls outside. Inside, the walls of the bar serve as a functioning art gallery displaying the works of local artists with collections rotating every six weeks. Checking out the memorabilia around the bar could keep you busy all afternoon. From the $2 Wall of Shame displaying shamefully cheap alcohol, to a memorial wall dedicated to those patrons who have gone to that great happy hour in the sky.
Philadelphia’s famous South Street is home to the Magic Gardens – a glittering labyrinth of mosaics created by Isaiah Zagar. An award-winning mosaic mural artist whose work can be found on over 100
public walls throughout Philadelphia and around the world, Zagar began working on the Magic Garden in 1994 in a vacant lot near his studio. He spent 14 years excavating tunnels and grottos, sculpting multi-layered walls, and tiling and grouting the 3,000 square foot space.
The Magic Gardens site includes a fully tiled indoor space and a massive outdoor mosaic sculpture garden. It includes folk art statues, bicycle wheels, colorful glass bottles, Zagar’s hand-made tiles and thousands of glittering mirrors. Zagar and his wife, Julia, served with the Peace Corps in Peru for three years. His artistic creations draw from his cultural and personal experiences. http://www.phillymagicgardens.org/
A weekend of strolling through outdoor art should also include art of
the culinary type. Food, like art, is often inspired by personal experiences. This is certainly true at Rex 1516 also located on Philadelphia’s South Street. Here Executive Chef Regis Jansen serves creations drawn from his Southern roots. An Alabama transplant, Chef Jansen creates comfort food with a modern twist. Menu items include Crawfish Pot-Pie, Seitan Meatloaf and Pork Loin stuffed with cornbread and sausage, served with sweet potato mash, collard greens and morel sauce. The restaurant offers a weekend brunch menu with more updated Southern favorites like Shrimp & Grits and Cornmeal Waffles. Be sure to save room for dessert. There is a Sweet Potato Duo – sweet potato cheesecake and fried sweet potato pie – that is truly a work of art. http://rex1516.com/
Terri is a freelance writer with regular columns on travel, chocolate and bar reviews. She is busy each month visiting new places to bring unique travel destinations and events to you. Yes, it is a sacrifice – but she is willing to do that for her readers! You can see more of Terri’s writing at www.examiner.com where she is the National Chocolate Examiner and at www.barzz.net. You can contact Terri at terri.marshall60@gmail.com.