Thanks, Bill Cosby

This is a mural that I found on North Broad Street, near Glenwood Ave., when I first started working for the state...

This is the same location now...

This is why it's gone.

City Hall Courtyard

The compass mural in City Hall Courtyard was recently restored by -- who else? -- the Mural Arts Program after years of being worn down by foot traffic and the elements. These pics really don't do it full justice. If I could get to one of the windows on an upper floor inside City Hall...

More Mural Arts, Plus A Question

I am a big fan of the Mural Arts Program, as you can see if you search through this blog for my prior photos and albums from various murals. I have a few miscellaneous mural pics from 2012. I uploaded them to an album on Flickr which you can see here. But I have a question about two of the photos...





These are from a mural on the wall outside the Fels Planetarium at the Franklin Institute. I am wondering if this mural is a Mural Arts Program work. I don't remember from my visit (it was back in 2012) and I can't find anything about it online. If you have any info about this, please let me know.

UPDATE: Got a tweet from the Mural Arts Program -- it is one of their works, and it was painted by Cesar Viveros Herrera.

Mural Arts Program Bus Tour

I took this tour back in October. The city's wonderful Mural Arts Program has a number of bus/trolley tours, walking tours and even a bike tour. More info can be found here. This particular tour focused on North Philadelphia, and we ended up, among other places, seeing El Centro de Oro and the colorful storefronts on Germantown Avenue. Also, check out my photo blog for another unique self-portrait. (I made a few comments on some of the photos, so you may want to check out the main page...or I think you can click on the pics to see my comments...)

Since Flickr has increased their free space to a Terabyte, I'm using it again for my photo sets. That means, if all works properly, I can embed slideshows again!




By the way, do you think this is supposed to be Michael Jackson?

Monday's Photo Walk

So on Monday, when it was 70 degrees for probably the last time in quite a while, I decided to take the El into town and wander around with my camera. (This whole photo-taking thing is really becoming something serious. I need to do something about this. Maybe lessons or something to learn more about editing, framing shots, and so on.)

I had one specific thing I wanted to get -- a mural from the Mural Arts Program I had seen recently and wanted to discuss. It's actually not one of my favorites. It's called "Wall of Hearts" and, as you can see, features a design from Jane Seymour.

This mural is little more than an advertisement for her jewelry collection. I love looking at murals and I've often expressed my love of the Mural Arts Program on this blog -- but this saddens and kind of offends me a bit.

Anyway, beyond that I got some other pictures, and if you click on this link you'll see them all. (Decided to use Photobucket for this even though I haven't figured out how to embed their slideshow.) Besides these below, there's a preview of Christmas, a famous old theater, street art on a billboard and some other stuff.

Philly Photo Day 2012

For the second year in a row I decided to take some photos for Philly Photo Day. Last year I was working. This year I'm not. So I actually got to hit a couple of areas of the city and take almost 60 pictures. Circumstances prevented me from taking more. Maybe next year. Once again, I can submit a photo (just one) to have exhibited in a show which will take place in December.

Below is a slideshow for you to view. If you have an opinion about which pic I should submit (or if I should crop any of them to improve them) let me know. I have to decide by the 30th which one to put into the show. There's a new twist this year: selected pictures will be on display on buses, trains and even billboards for a month. So I really need to pick a good one.



A few I'm slightly leaning towards:

Some Philly Baseball Photos

Once again I bring you images from my camera. These pictures, taken on various occasions between April and August, have a baseball theme: my first visit to Citizens Bank Park this year (and my first look up close at the new Harry Kalas statue that was dedicated last year), games on back-to-back nights in June (one being a fireworks night), plus my trip to the sites in North Philadelphia where two previous Phillies homes once sat. I also visited the Negro Leagues Memorial (which would mean I saw the locations of three old ballparks). A sample of the pics are below. The full album is here.

Mural Mile Update

Just a quick post because I updated my set of Mural Mile photos. I took them two years ago and wrote about the Mural Mile here. At the time there was one mural, "Garden of Delight," that wasn't completed. It was set to be finished in fall 2010. I'm not sure exactly when it was completed, but it is now. When I walked by and noticed it, I took photos so I could complete the set. As I've said often, I love seeing these murals all over the place and the Mural Mile walking tour is a great sampling of them. My pictures really don't do it justice. Go to the Mural Arts Program website and get the route (and download the podcasts for each mural) and walk it yourself.

My First Shake Shack Experience

It seems lately there's more hype around here every time a new burger place opens than when any other restaurant arrives. Naturally, I tend to pay attention because, well, I like burgers. And you may remember that I waited in a line for 90 minutes in 2010 to try to get a free burger at the newly-opened 500° -- though I only got a buy one, get one free deal instead. And I compared 500° to Five Guys.


Since I wrote that post Five Guys opened a second downtown location, as well as one at Grant Ave. near Roosevelt Blvd, which is a lot closer to my house. So when I get a chance I stop in either one of these locations.


Based on the comments I've seen online from New Yorkers, where the Shake Shack chain originated, I was very excited to hear that Shake Shack was opening here, at 20th and Sansom Sts. This is right next to one of the comic book stores I regularly frequented, which would be great if I hadn't cut back on comics after DC Comics decided to have Superman wear his baby blanket as a cape.


So the other day, after it had been open long enough (almost 2 weeks) that the lines during off-peak hours (such as between lunch and dinner) pretty much dwindled, I visited the Shake Shack. At 3:20 pm, the wait in line was maybe five minutes. And also because of the time, I was able to sit at a table with no problem.


After looking over the various menu items, I decided on a single ShackBurger, which is a basic single-patty burger with lettuce, tomato and their own special sauce.  I also got an order of fries, a regular-size soda and a dessert item. They have what they call Concretes -- described on the menu as "dense frozen custard blended at high speed with mix-ins." They have some that are Philly-centric, or you can just pick your own mix-in items. I ordered the "Center City Pretzel," which includes vanilla custard, "Philly-style soft pretzel," caramel sauce, marshmallow sauce and banana. I ordered the regular size instead of the half-size.

It took about ten minutes for my order to be ready. So how was everything?

Mailbox And Mural

Some more random photos I took last month. The first two I took as I was on my way from the Asian/Pacific American Heritage Month Celebration in Franklin Square to the Rittenhouse Row Spring Festival on Walnut Street. Photos from those, as well as the Trenton Avenue Arts Festival/Kensington Kinetic Sculpture Derby, all of which I hit on the same day, will be posted some time before I die. Anyway, I have no idea what this is supposed to mean. I believe this was on 16th Street south of Market Street...

Then, a week later, I took the SEPTA Regional Rail train home instead of my usual El/66 combo. On weekends you can use the regular Transpass on the Regional Rail lines, so it's like a free ride. At my stop, the Torresdale Station, I noticed yet another mural from the city's Mural Arts Program. I love seeing these murals so much...

K&A Mural-ity

One of my options for getting to work, particularly if I'm cutting it close time-wise, is to get off the El at the Allegheny stop and take the route 60 bus. Today I ran out the door and forgot my phone, so I had to run back for it, which made me miss a bus, which meant I'd have to take the 60 to avoid being late for work.

After getting off the El and down the stairs to the street, I was going to walk a block away from the Kensington and Allegheny bus stop because there's usually a lot of people getting on and off there. I began walking east, then changed my mind and turned around, only to see the back wall to the station (facing the Walgreens parking lot) had been visited by the good folks from the Mural Arts Program...

Mural-ity In North Philly

I've written about the Mural Arts Program and the various murals on walls around the city before. In the area near where I work, I was happy to find some more...

This one is on Broad Street, between Indiana and Glenwood Avenues. Amtrak and SEPTA trains run on the tracks above. There's a station nearby.

This is just east of Broad and Glenwood -- the outside of a fire station.

And further south, as you near Broad and Lehigh, is a mural of the legendary Jackie Robinson. At 21st and Lehigh, about 7 blocks to the west, is where Connie Mack Stadium once stood. Robinson, of course, played in Connie Mack Stadium when the Dodgers came to town.

Looking Both Ways In S. Philly

Today I was having lunch with my friend Kurt at the South Philly Bar and Grill (I had a yummy pork sandwich). I had noticed dark clouds moving in before we went inside. While we were there it began to rain, but as it turned out it didn't last long. I took these pictures at the corner of 8th and Wharton Streets at about 3 pm. On the left, the pic looking east. On the right, the pic looking west. I was really struck by the contrast between the skies on each side.

I also took (and posted to Twitter and Facebook) this picture of the South Philadelphia Musicians mural. It features singers Frankie Avalon, Chubby Checker, Al Martino, Bobby Rydell, Fabian and Eddie Fisher, as well as radio legend Jerry Blavat. No idea what the painted clock showing the time as 9:05 refers to. Let me know if you know what it means.

I love running into the murals from the Mural Arts Program, especially if I haven't seen one before. The one below, which I saw the other day on my photo jaunt (which I need to post about as well), I'm not actually sure if it's one of theirs or not. Unfortunately, I can't remember now where this particular one is. It's somewhere in a zone between 23rd Street and JFK Boulevard and 15th and Cherry Streets. Whatever route I took that day between those two points is where this is. Again, if you're familiar with it let me know.

Around Town Yesterday/Boy Bands Saturday

I took a few photos while I was downtown yesterday picking up my comic books. Before I got to the comic book store, I saw something funny. It forced me to declare this man in the Kobe Bryant jersey as the Very Minor Dumbass of the Week. Why?

Well, he walked up to the door of the Borders at Broad and Chestnut and grabbed the door handle, attempting to go inside. He failed. After all, that Borders closed last month.

I guess the fact that it was dark inside and there were no books or anything in the windows was lost on him. On the other hand, it also seems to be lost on Philadelphia Weekly, or at least on its delivery person, who left a bundle of papers sitting by the door. So PW and/or its driver is the Not-So-Very Minor Dumbass of the Week.

So then I met my friend Kurt, got my comic books and

Philly's Mural Mile

During all of the Independence Day weekend festivities, I went downtown on the 2nd of July and actually participated in one of the events. That is, if you consider getting a free hot dog as participation. My actual purpose on this trip was to take the Mural Mile walking tour. We have a great thing here, the Mural Arts Program, through which local artists create murals on the walls of buildings with input from the community. They've now put together a walking tour of 17 of the murals in center city as the Mural Mile. It's actually 2.5 miles if you walk the entire length of the tour, but there's an abridged one-mile version including 12 of the 17 murals.

I downloaded podcasts to my iPod and listened to descriptions of the program, the individual murals, some of the creative processes and commentary from some of the artists and others. It was very interesting, particularly the story of the mural that wraps around Dirty Frank's bar. There's also a LGBT mural called "Pride & Progress."

I took a bunch of photos and have put them into a Flickr set. You can go here to see it. I've added a few photos below as a sample.