So I've returned from my Christmas vacation in Philly. (Franklin: city hall, how much)

[K 22]

So I'm back home from my Christmas weekend stay. I didn't realize how much I missed Philly (I went to Temple, btw) until I walked around town for a bit.

Got out of 30th Street, walked straight down JFK to the hotel: Le Meridien on 15th and Arch. Hotel's pretty nice, pretty quiet and uh... pretty pricey. Since it was Christmas time and many of my favorite eating spots were closed - I was forced to get room service a couple of times and... ouch.

I also visited some spots around the city over the weekend and I have a few thoughts.

- Pattison Station now being "AT&T Station" saddens me greatly. It just seems so wrong.

- Center City is much nicer now than I remember it a few years back but looks like there's a lot more homeless around - especially inside the City Hall/15th Street station complex. Meanwhile, 2nd, 5th, 8th, 11th and 13th - clean as a sheet.

- One of my favorite things to do was go to the Art Museum and watch some of the goofball tourists do their bright-eyed Rocky impression running up to the top the steps and hop around victoriously with their fists up in the air. Still happening and it's still funny.

- Franklin Mills is still Franklin Mills. And the #20 bus still sucks - I'm guessing that's why the #50 bus exists on that route now?

- In my last year at college, I lived near the Boulevard and Cottman so I went up. Noticed a lot of the stations around the Market/Frankford El have been cleaned up and renovated - especially Berks, Church and the shiny, new Frankford Transportation Center (as opposed to the grimy, grungy, worn-out Bridge-Pratt station it used to be). Anyhow, I got out - walked up Bustleton to the Boulevard (crossing Roosevelt Blvd is still no fun) and walked up the Blvd to Cottman. I couldn't help but notice how much more diverse it is now. Is this the case in most of NE Philly or it's just happening to the west of the Blvd?

- I noticed the Federal Transit Commission's edict to have lower-case lettering in the street signs has hit Philly too and that makes me sad. It doesn't look right.

All in all, great trip. Hopefully, I'll be coming back in the spring.

[PeeAye Native]

I went walking around the Parkway yesterday, the 26th. The warm weather must have brought out the Rocky crowd, 'cause the Art Museum steps were full of them, and the Rocky statue had a long line for the requisite picture.

[Lenses & Lights.]

AT&T Staaaationnn???? Whyyyyy???? How could they?? Who's the guilty party?

[Boompa]

Originally Posted by K 22

So I'm back home from my Christmas weekend stay. I didn't realize how much I missed Philly (I went to Temple, btw) until I walked around town for a bit.

Got out of 30th Street, walked straight down JFK to the hotel: Le Meridien on 15th and Arch. Hotel's pretty nice, pretty quiet and uh... pretty pricey. Since it was Christmas time and many of my favorite eating spots were closed - I was forced to get room service a couple of times and... ouch.

I also visited some spots around the city over the weekend and I have a few thoughts.

- Pattison Station now being "AT&T Station" saddens me greatly. It just seems so wrong.

- Center City is much nicer now than I remember it a few years back but looks like there's a lot more homeless around - especially inside the City Hall/15th Street station complex. Meanwhile, 2nd, 5th, 8th, 11th and 13th - clean as a sheet.

- One of my favorite things to do was go to the Art Museum and watch some of the goofball tourists do their bright-eyed Rocky impression running up to the top the steps and hop around victoriously with their fists up in the air. Still happening and it's still funny.

- Franklin Mills is still Franklin Mills. And the #20 bus still sucks - I'm guessing that's why the #50 bus exists on that route now?

- In my last year at college, I lived near the Boulevard and Cottman so I went up. Noticed a lot of the stations around the Market/Frankford El have been cleaned up and renovated - especially Berks, Church and the shiny, new Frankford Transportation Center (as opposed to the grimy, grungy, worn-out Bridge-Pratt station it used to be). Anyhow, I got out - walked up Bustleton to the Boulevard (crossing Roosevelt Blvd is still no fun) and walked up the Blvd to Cottman. I couldn't help but notice how much more diverse it is now. Is this the case in most of NE Philly or it's just happening to the west of the Blvd?

- I noticed the Federal Transit Commission's edict to have lower-case lettering in the street signs has hit Philly too and that makes me sad. It doesn't look right.

All in all, great trip. Hopefully, I'll be coming back in the spring.

That's great I need to go back there soon, your critique makes me feel better about that

[hubba1]

Originally Posted by BillyJacc

AT&T Staaaationnn???? Whyyyyy???? How could they?? Who's the guilty party?

Been this way a few years now... Septa needed the cash!

And for the OP, I think the street signs thing JUST happened, I don't even think they are all changed yet, I just noticed it recently (I live in South Philly) Not sure why\when they decided to do this.

[mancat100]

I hate the new street signs. They just look...wrong. Also they're not any easier to read so what's the point? AT&T Station is cringeworthy. To be fair, though, I still refuse to call Delaware Avenue Columbus Boulevard even though that change happened over a decade ago. So maybe I just hate change. Also I will never call Broad Street the Avenue of the Arts either.

[Marius Pontmercy]

Originally Posted by mancat100

I hate the new street signs. They just look...wrong. Also they're not any easier to read so what's the point? AT&T Station is cringeworthy. To be fair, though, I still refuse to call Delaware Avenue Columbus Boulevard even though that change happened over a decade ago. So maybe I just hate change. Also I will never call Broad Street the Avenue of the Arts either.

Nobody calls Broad Street the Avenue of the Arts, because it's still technically Broad Street. I refuse to call Pattison Station AT&T as well. It just feels... wrong.

[couldntthinkofaclevername]

What exactly is the point of requiring lower-case letters on street signs? Seems pretty stupid to me.

[JHG722]

Originally Posted by K 22

So I'm back home from my Christmas weekend stay. I didn't realize how much I missed Philly (I went to Temple, btw)

Go Owls! Did you make it back to campus? It's unbelievable how nice it is now, even compared to my freshman year a few years ago. If you went, you'd see all of the construction going on--$1.2B+ to renovate campus through 2020. It's going to look even more amazing in the coming years.

[LibraGirl123]

Originally Posted by couldntthinkofaclevername

What exactly is the point of requiring lower-case letters on street signs? Seems pretty stupid to me.

Google is your friend.

The recommendations calling for the new signs were in the most recent edition of the “Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices,” a book of national road sign standards published by the Federal Highway Administration that is to street planners what Strunk and White is to writers or Hoyle’s is to gamblers. If its strictures are sometimes mocked as picayune and procrustean — “When a mixed-case legend is used, the height of the lower-case letters shall be 3/4 of the height of the initial upper-case letter” — they are designed to make driving safer by helping aging drivers read traffic signs more easily, especially at night.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/30/us/30cuts.html

The Obama administration on Tuesday announced that it intends to eliminate dozens of regulations requiring bigger and brighter road signs, saying the rules were burdensome to cash-strapped state and local governments.


The federal mandate, which was imposed during the Bush administration as a safety measure, actually traces back to a 1993 appropriations bill that required the transportation department to develop standards for retroreflectivity -- the ability of a sign to reflect light back to its source.

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Read more: U.S. drops plans for new road signs


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