Visiting Philly, likely late summer-early fall (Philadelphia, Reading: city hall, hotel, houses)

[MoItaly]

My wife and I will spend a week in Philly, a city we had meant to visit in the past but somehow never got there.

I would like to get a few insider tips from the locals. years ago we did the same before going to Chicago and it made our experience so much better, there are stuff you just need to hear from the people living in the place.

We are of course going to the main attraction but quickly., We love to discover a city, walk around, use public transportation, even just sit on a bench or outside a bar and watch live unfolding.

being the first time in Philly, I guess we will be staying in the downtown areas. Any tips on:

- other neighborhood areas worth visiting, walking around.
- food: any fav restaurant to suggest (no chains)? We also love ethnic food (any kind) if it's authentic and good.
- live music: is there a a particular area for that? How about jazz?

And just anything else that might come to mind, excluding the typical top 10 attractions which I will get online.

Thank you in advance, people!

Moe

Oh, shoot! My wife's going to kill me! Is there any nice shopping district that one can walk around, outside of malls that I find pretty much the same in every city?

[kyb01]

Originally Posted by MoItaly

My wife and I will spend a week in Philly, a city we had meant to visit in the past but somehow never got there.

I would like to get a few insider tips from the locals. years ago we did the same before going to Chicago and it made our experience so much better, there are stuff you just need to hear from the people living in the place.

We are of course going to the main attraction but quickly., We love to discover a city, walk around, use public transportation, even just sit on a bench or outside a bar and watch live unfolding.

being the first time in Philly, I guess we will be staying in the downtown areas. Any tips on:

- other neighborhood areas worth visiting, walking around.
- food: any fav restaurant to suggest (no chains)? We also love ethnic food (any kind) if it's authentic and good.
- live music: is there a a particular area for that? How about jazz?

And just anything else that might come to mind, excluding the typical top 10 attractions which I will get online.

Thank you in advance, people!

Moe

Oh, shoot! My wife's going to kill me! Is there any nice shopping district that one can walk around, outside of malls that I find pretty much the same in every city?

First question. Can you tell us where more exactly you will be staying? Address ? Center City or somewhere else? Center City is a combination central business district, shopping and residential area. If you tell us we can offer some suggestions. Center City is also pretty much what was the original boundaries of the city. It contains the most historic colonial sections for example.

[Pilot1]

Must see:

Elfreth's Alley
Independence Mall
Penn's Landing
Reading Terminal Market
Phila. Museum of Art
Valley Forge (outside city, you can also hit the King of Prussia Mall for shopping)
Italian Market/South Philly/East Passyunk
Brandywine River Museum/Chadds Ford/Brandywine Battlefield

[MarketStEl]

You want some specific recommendations?

Food: Way more than cheesesteaks and soft pretzels, both ubiquitous, but for the former, John's Roast Pork down at Snyder and Weccacoe avenues near the Delaware riverfront in South Philly. The roast pork Italian IMO really deserves to be this city's signature sandwich, however. John's also excels there, but DiNic's in the Reading Terminal Market is likely to be more convenient to wherever it is you are staying.

Other restaurants to check out include the ones Michael Solomonov runs: Zahav in the Society Hill Towers shopping plaza, Federal Donuts (also great fried chicken) at several locations, including 4th Street at Federal (the original), the 1600 block of Sansom Street and 5th and Fairmount in Northern Liberties, Dizengoff and Abe Fisher next door to each other on the 1600 block of Sansom (across from Federal Donuts), Goldie and Rooster Soup Co., the former atop the latter in the 1500 block of Sansom. Rooster Soup serves food with a social purpose: profits from that restaurant go to support the Broad Street Ministry's hospitality program, which serves family-style meals to the homeless (those with homes welcome to participate too). Save for FedNuts and Rooster Soup, Solomonov's restaurants specialize in Middle Eastern/Israeli/Jewish fare. Zahav in particular is considered one of the best restaurants in Philadelphia, period.

But I could devote probably two entire posts to food and dining recommendations. You might do well to just take a stroll along Sansom Street west of Broad and see what strikes your fancy. Or take your pick from my colleague Alex Tewfik's latest edition of the "50 Best Restaurants" list, which is updated quarterly.

The Reading Terminal Market is one of those top 10 tourist destinations.

As for jazz, the restaurants run (or co-run, in one case) by the Bynum brothers are the city's best jazz venues. At the top of the list is South, at 640 North Broad Street. Paris Bistro in Chestnut Hill (a shopping district at the city's northwestern tip, worth a side trip), which they co-own with the restaurant's eponymous chef, Al Paris, is another of their excellent venues. There's also one place not run by the Bynums that you should check out: Chris' Jazz Cafe in the 1400 block of Sansom. It's on the pricey side food- and drink-wise, though, and the food there isn't as good as it is at any of the Bynum (or Bynum/Paris) establishments. (The Bynums' two other places are Relish in West Oak Lane and Warmdaddy's on the Delaware riverfront, where blues is the order of the day save for its Sunday smooth jazz brunch.)

As for history, you might also want to pay a visit to Germantown's historic sites when you take your side trip up to Chestnut Hill. Germantown is where the only Revolutionary War battle to take place inside the present-day city limits was fought; the main action took place on the grounds of Cliveden, at Johnson Street and Germantown Avenue (just inside Mt. Airy, the neighborhood between Germantown and Chestnut Hill). The Johnson House, a stop on the Underground Railroad, is one block south of Cliveden, and there's a string of historic houses stretching south from it along Germantown Avenue through the heart of Germantown.

The Woodmere Art Museum in Chestnut Hill specializes in the art and artists of the Philadelphia region. Unfortunately, you will probably miss a great special exhibition currently on display there: the paintings and murals of Violet Oakley, an underrated and boundary-breaking woman who worked in the first half of the 20th century. (Her female lover was the head of the Woodmere Art Museum from the 1930s through the early 1960s.) Her most prominent work graces the Pennsylvania Senate chamber in Harrisburg.

[MarketStEl]

Since you mentioned public transit, Philadelphia's system is extensive and gets you just about everywhere you might want to go save the Brandywine area:

Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA)

Two Regional Rail lines and a bus route serve the Chestnut Hill shopping district and Germantown historic attractions in the northwest part of the city. Two other bus routes pass close by. The bus routes all feed the Broad Street Subway, the city's north-south rapid transit line.

[kyb01]

Originally Posted by Pilot1

Must see:

Elfreth's Alley
Independence Mall
Penn's Landing
Reading Terminal Market
Phila. Museum of Art
Valley Forge (outside city, you can also hit the King of Prussia Mall for shopping)
Italian Market/South Philly/East Passyunk
Brandywine River Museum/Chadds Ford/Brandywine Battlefield

Add ons: Barnes, Museum of the American Revolution, Eastern State Pen Museum. Additional neighborhoods: Northern Liberties, Fishtown, Fairmount.

[kyb01]

In Center City(downtown) shopping:

OP, by the time you arrive the new, Fashion District, shopping complex may be completed as well as East Market. Both of these will offer, what I would call, mid-range shopping. There's also supposed to be a movie theater inside the Fashion District. You can easily see what both of these will look like online. Nearby to these, at 13th and Market, is a branch of Macy's ( 3 floors) inside the historic Wanamaker Bldg. Inside of it is the largest pipe organ in the world, the Wanamaker organ.

The other main shopping streets in CC are Chestnut and Walnut Sts roughly between 20th and Broad St. Also The Shops of Liberty Place, at 16th and Chestnut.

Additional shopping: someone mention King of Prussia. King of Prussia, the location, is actually named for King Frederick the Great of Prussia. The mall, of the same name, is the 2nd largest in the country. It contains lots of exclusive shops. Since you are staying a week, you may have time to go there. You can get there directly from CC on pub trans.


Food:

I'm like you: I generally hate chains. And you will never need to go to one while visiting Philly.

If you hit the Macy's dept store, I mentioned, slightly adjacent on S. 13th, is a stretch of shops and locally owned, restaurants
with various cuisines. It's a lot more lively at night.

Others will probably post their favorites.



Accomodations:

If you would like to stay in the heart of rapidly gentrifying, but still "real" Philadelphia, neighborhood check out the
Mulherin Hotel. It's in Fishtown.

Also in Fishtown is one of my absolute favorite coffee shops, although it's turned into a bit of a tourist trap, La
Colombe on Frankford Ave.


Some random things:

Spruce Harbor Park, Dilworth Park, and Love Park (may be finished by the time you arrive). The first phase of the Rail Park may be finished as well. The Rail Park, will mimic(sort of) the High Line in NYC.

Wrt to pub trans, go to the Septa website. Septa is implementing the final stages of the retirement of metal tokens. There have been refillable tap cards for about a year, btw.

[kyb01]

Beer gardens/ halls :

Independence Beer Garden. Open air beer garden and restaurant across 6th St from Independence Hall.
Yards beer hall, 5th and Spring Garden St


Walking around:

Stroll Independence Historic Park and Washington Sq. Stroll various streets in Old City and Society Hill, 2nd to 7th, Walnut to Lombard St.

Benjamin Franklin Parkway, 16th to 23rd Sts.

Clark Park and Cedar Park. Take the rt 34 trolley(you can get it in Center City) to 43rd and Baltimore Ave. Stroll, westward on Baltimore Ave to 50th St. This area is part of University City.

[rowhomecity]

For shopping 100% go to Old City. 3rd street and 2nd street have TONS of independent shops, boutiques and art galleries it is quite lovely.

Walnut Street from Broad to 20th will have your more typical stores you would find in a mall; ranging from a small Barney's to Banana Republic to Barbour and Warby Parker.

[VTinPhilly]

*Wannamaker pipe organ---28,000 pipes--world's largest. (Inside Macy's). Free concerts twice a day

*City Hall--largest and most expensive city hall in U.S. & world's tallest masonry-supported building. Interior tour includes trip to observation deck 500' above sidewalk

*USS Olympia--Admiral Dewey's flagship from the Spanish-American War. World's oldest steel warship

*United States Mint (America's first). Free self-guided tour features coinage operations

*The Academy of Music--the oldest (1857) and (arguably) most beautiful opera house in America

*Penn Museum--world-class archeological and anthropological collections

*Independence Visitor's Center--go here first for info and tickets to historical attractions

*Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts--America's first art school and art museum. Outstanding collection of American art....

...I could go on and on and on. Philadelphia really is the best kept secret on the East Coast