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Old 05-31-2019, 07:30 PM
 
Location: Mid-Atlantic east coast
7,127 posts, read 12,670,656 times
Reputation: 16132

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City of my birth, birth place of our Nation...

Just back after 11 days with you. Not been in Old City or downtown in something like 50 years. Left at 18. My, how you have changed! Bright gleaming high rises reach for the sky, the City hums and sparkles and everywhere, people smiled, were kind, helped us find our way, sent us to places to find amazing food.

Your art! Your parks and squares! Your sweet neighborhoods, filled with stately or quirky townhouses with granite and marble steps and flowers smiling from window boxes. And your rainbow people of every color and language, all living together in harmony....made our hearts glad to be among you.

Public transportation to be proud of, sparkling clean with friendly drivers and riders...

And the Walnut Street Theatre with its long, proud history gave us its magic with a lovely and lively and upbeat performance of Legally Blonde and we were entranced and I wore a huge grin the whole performance...

Savored the old line Italian eatery down the stairs with the amazing murals and the best swordfish of my life, Sicilian-style, perfectly cooked, and the charming waiter, Alfredo, brought us an on-the-house extra dessert because it was my birthday and everything was just right...

And the great free Library was still great and free and just as I remembered it from high school when I went to research term papers and was awed by this palace of words and pages and gorgeous architecture.

And little Elfreth's Alley, still as magical as ever...

City of my birth, you make me proud to be a daughter of this city...you sure did love me back..and I am grateful.

Sad to ride Amtrak 600 miles Southward, but I will return. The train runs both ways...

Thank you, Philadelphia.
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Old 06-01-2019, 03:01 AM
 
2,041 posts, read 1,523,721 times
Reputation: 1420
Reading your post is like ASMR for my eyes. Reads like a poem. Although I must say the transportation was probably better 50 years ago when you left. Nothing much has really been built. It's good to hear this city is such a special part of your heart and soul.
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Old 06-01-2019, 04:42 AM
 
Location: Germantown, Philadelphia
14,180 posts, read 9,075,142 times
Reputation: 10526
Quote:
Public transportation to be proud of, sparkling clean with friendly drivers and riders...
A lot of people I know will read this sentence and wonder what city's public transit system you got confused with Philadelphia's.

But I'm glad to see someone throwing SEPTA some love. The agency could be better than it is now, but even with leadership I consider inferior to the team that immediately preceded it, it's still better now than many around here crack it down to be.

I too loved your lyrical paean to your forever hometown. Wish I could write as beautifully about my own. (I'm not a native, though I've lived here 37 years. Kansas City plays the role in my life Philadelphia does in yours.)
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Old 06-01-2019, 08:30 PM
 
10,787 posts, read 8,759,762 times
Reputation: 3984
Quote:
Originally Posted by KoNgFooCj View Post
Reading your post is like ASMR for my eyes. Reads like a poem. Although I must say the transportation was probably better 50 years ago when you left. Nothing much has really been built. It's good to hear this city is such a special part of your heart and soul.
No, Phila. pub trans was not better 50 years ago. I know because I rode it back then. Try riding it without AC for instance which was the norm 50 years ago.
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Old 06-02-2019, 07:19 AM
 
Location: Mid-Atlantic
32,940 posts, read 36,369,350 times
Reputation: 43784
Quote:
Originally Posted by kyb01 View Post
No, Phila. pub trans was not better 50 years ago. I know because I rode it back then. Try riding it without AC for instance which was the norm 50 years ago.
Air conditioning? You had to go a department store, theater, or nice restaurant to get that.
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Old 06-02-2019, 09:33 AM
 
10,787 posts, read 8,759,762 times
Reputation: 3984
Quote:
Originally Posted by Gerania View Post
Air conditioning? You had to go a department store, theater, or nice restaurant to get that.
Yep! Also super markets.
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Old 06-02-2019, 03:16 PM
 
Location: Mid-Atlantic east coast
7,127 posts, read 12,670,656 times
Reputation: 16132
I was so happy to learn that the former eagle at Wannamker's eagle is still in residence at Macy's...how many of us met people "under the eagle"???

But I do miss Horn & Hardhardt's Automat...as a kid I found that place so magical...

And the Mutter Museum is still as interesting & creepy as ever. When we did a field trip there in grade school, that place haunted my dreams--all those things floating in jars...

The walk-through heart at the science museum was much more my speed...(shades of Poe's The Tell-Tale Heart"??
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Old 06-02-2019, 03:27 PM
 
3,145 posts, read 1,601,500 times
Reputation: 8361
Quote:
Originally Posted by kyb01 View Post
No, Phila. pub trans was not better 50 years ago. I know because I rode it back then. Try riding it without AC for instance which was the norm 50 years ago.
Try riding it (standing room only) eight months pregnant in July before a/c. Regional Rail trains with open windows blowing in hot air.
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Old 06-02-2019, 03:31 PM
 
Location: Morrison, CO
34,231 posts, read 18,579,444 times
Reputation: 25802
Quote:
Originally Posted by Maddie104 View Post
Try riding it (standing room only) eight months pregnant in July before a/c. Regional Rail trains with open windows blowing in hot air.

I remember riding the old Red Arrow trolleys like that as a kid. They even had cow catchers on the front of them!
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Old 06-02-2019, 05:34 PM
 
Location: Mid-Atlantic east coast
7,127 posts, read 12,670,656 times
Reputation: 16132
Yep. What was it, the El or the trolleys that had seats that looked lie woven tan wicker? Gosh, I'm old to remember this...

My first paid job, other than baby-sitting, was selling soft pretzels @ the 69th St. terminal in my pre-senior year summer. Talk about hot, being cooped up in that little booth with the pretzels baking...

Think my pay was like 90 cents/hour...
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