O.riginal P.hilly P.hotos
Here you will find a (growing) collection of pictures of the City of Brotherly Love, aka the Illadelph, aka Philadelphia, PA. I moved here in January of 2000 and have fallen hardcore in love with its history, energy and landscape. These photos can be found nowhere else...
I took the following melange of photographs at two very different times - January of 2007 (with Steph, Tristan and my folks) and July 2004 (with Desiree): Both times I went up into the City Hall tower just below the statue of William Penn, and both times we ended up in Thomas Paine Plaza with the game pieces ("Your Move"). I got some great shots both times, some similar and some different.
I really love that Billy Penn statue - can you tell? (He weighs 27 tons). Photos of the approach...
There's Mom, Dad, Tristan & Steph (L-R).
Once you get there, you take an elevator up to the very top of the building, and you come out under Willie's feet...
[July '04]
[January '07]
The entire thing is enclosed in glass (you can see the observation deck that cirlces underneath the statue in the previous photos) but there was one hatch open directly underneath Mr. Penn. So these shots were taken sans barrier. Here's another one [1/07] with slightly more light coming into the shutter...
The entire rest of the 'tower shots' were taken through plexiglass...
You can see my camera in the middle of the building on the far right. I actually didn't even notice that until several months after I took it. The tallest three buildings in town. Two Liberty Place, One Liberty Place and the Mellon Bank building. July '04.
The exact same shot (I tried) in January 2007. You can still see my camera!
Only this time, there's a new kid in town...
It's the new Comcast Tower, planned to be taller than all the rest. In progress.
Here's the top half of the Franklin Parkway from the Art Museum (top) to Logan Circle (bottom). Lovely. The ZooBalloon makes a cameo.
Deja vu, January '07.
Closer, January '07.
Ah, the entire Parkway from the museum down to Love Park. Dig the fountain. That big building that gets cut off is the 4th tallest building in the city, the Bell Atlantic tower.
Deja vu again, 1/07. The fountain's not on.
This is (so they tell me) the longest straight street in the country. Broad Street north. I don't know how long. Sorry.
Here are surrounding views from the top of City Hall. The first two pictures are Broad Street south/north.
Broad Street south again, January '07.
You can see in the background, the TV antennae of Roxborough. Steph's old apartment was mere feet away from them, and even when I lived a few miles away, I was still picking up radio stations and CB traffic on my computer speakers. Ahh, the old neighborhood.
I'm surprised that I didn't take this specific picture the first time, but I got on the re-do. It's the Ben Franklin Bridge, January '07.
After leaving City Hall, you are immediately drawn directly to the north...
There's a plaza across the street, north of City Hall called Thoman Paine Plaza near the Municipal Services Building. I call it Gamepiece Plaza - there are Sorry gameboard pieces, Monopoly pieces, chess pieces, bingo markers & dominoes. They're huge. And awesome. I believe collectively they're called "Your Move" and were put there in '96. The artists credited are Daniel Martinez, Renee Petropoulis and Roger White.
I adore this picture, and it's all the game pieces in Thomas Paine Plaza as seen from Billy Penn. January '07.
Just to the north of City Hall (and across from Gamepiece Plaza) is the humongous Philadelphia Masonic Temple. It's a crooked picture. My bad. This gorgeous building was built in 1873. You can see lots of photos of the inside of this building over here
Just west of City Hall, JFK Plaza is more well known as Love Park due to this original sculpture (yes, the stamp you all know and love is a Philly original) being located there.
Just up the Parkway from Love Park is Logan Circle, which is Logan Square (one of the original five Philadelphia squares), only rounded by a street. Here it is from the front and back.
Just up the Parkway from Logan Circle is our beloved Art Museum, made famous by many famous artists... and Rocky Balboa. Run up the steps. You know you want to.
On our way back to the car, Desiree and I happened to pass the office of the Women's International Leauge For Peace And Freedom. No joke.
These are zoo landscape shots from February 2005:
I like snowy scenes. This is the main path between Elephants and Reptiles.
Bird valley...
Bird valley, again.
The upper duck pond.
A big tree behind Reptiles.
The following pictures by Erin Price, June 2002:
Two vantage points on the Ben Franklin Parkway near Logan Circle of Billy Penn on top of City Hall.
The beloved Art Museum where Rocky made his fateful run, again taken from the Parkway. The white tent in front is temporary, placed there for the FirstUnion USPro Cyclist race.
A sculpture of The Thinker in front of the Rodin Museum on the Parkway at 22nd St.
Elephant and calf, sculpture at the Philadelphia Zoo. This is one solid piece of stone.
The following pictures by Chris Oberlin, March 2003:
Stan The Man at the Liberty Bell. You can see *through* the crack. Cool.
An up-closer shot of William Penn atop City Hall, taken from what I call "Game Piece Plaza" but which is actually Thomas Paine Plaza.
This is the Philadelphia Masonic Temple - right next to
City Hall in Center City.
Notice my film photos aren't so sharp. All hail Erin Price, master photographer.
