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See PhiladelphiaBy Roz PlotzkerUsually when I think about travel articles, my home doesn’t come to mind, but I wanted to write an article on my city of brotherly love. What could I show people about Philadelphia that went beyond the stereotypical cheesesteak-south-street-liberty-bell rhetoric? Being a student in University City, it would be perfect to expose the wonders of West Philly, to explain that ‘the playground where I spend most of my days’ is called Clark Park… (did anyone get that Fresh Prince reference?)
One morning last week I woke up earlier than planned. My roommate was on her way out to work on a mural that she had gotten involved in through a class the past semester, taught by Mural Arts Program director Jane Golden and muralist Don Gensler. I decided to tag along. After all, a little voluntary manual labor never hurt anyone. We grabbed breakfast at the Green Line Café, the Central Perk of Baltimore Avenue, where among the murmur of conversation emerged, “dissertation… bzzzz… thesis… bzzzz… conference.” A grad student haven. We continued through Penn’s immaculate campus, made one 7- Eleven stop, and continued north on 38th Street. As we approached the 4-blocks-off-campus limit, the neighborhood transitioned to a poorer, non-academic West Philadelphia. In Philadelphia, it is known as ‘the bottom.’ The buildings are shorter farther north, which makes the streets feel wider. It was a warm day, especially with the wide roads absorbing the heat; and for those of you not from the East coast, humidity is our forte. Within 6 blocks we were in the neighborhood that has earned the name “Slum,” and rightfully so. An old man sat at a corner, zoned out staring at a boarded up supermarket across the street; two preteen boys walked by, and I remember ‘isn’t it a school day?’ Every few houses that we pass, one is abandoned with the roof caving in to the left or the right. Physically, it is a pathetic area. The people who are sitting outside are typical retired folk who say adult things to us like “nice weather today.” Meanwhile, I am realizing that to honestly write about West Philadelphia for a tourist magazine would be a catastrophe. If any tourist were to come to this part, they would never come back. But wait! Don’t leave yet!
The opposite wall is encased in scaffolding. Five men are painting it white, i.e. “priming” in the mural arts world. Two are volunteers from the neighborhood, one is another student, then Don Gensler is joined by an assistant who also works for the Mural Arts Program. We joined them in priming. The plans for the opposite wall have an older woman in a chair facing the children. She is making the blanket that they are holding. In between them, the hilly playground is analogous to the quilt that links the children to the woman. By the end of the afternoon I had a ruined a pair of cut off shorts painting, and a week later I still have a patch of paint on the back of my leg that refuses to be washed off. A woman in the neighborhood came by while we worked and asked how ‘Mrs. Jones was coming along’. Mrs. Jones is the older woman who modeled for the second mural. She lives very close to the mural site, and is well known, but by virtue of how long she has been alive, not because of any authority in the community. Community…Ah ha! What makes Philadelphia Philly!! Community. The essence of Philadelphian character that goes beyond the tour books is its sense of community. Not just West Philly, but also South Philly, the gay neighborhood, the Rittenhouse Square neighborhood, Olde City, Northern Liberties, all the residents have some pride in where they live, and who they live with. It’s hard to be a tourist in these types of places, where in order to appreciate the place you have to be welcomed as a fellow dweller. Luckily there are physical symptoms of “communities” all over Philadelphia, courtesy of the Mural Arts Program. It is also the most active public arts program in the country. The result is a 24 hour free city-wide art show, that reflects the values and personality of different areas while beautifying the city.
MAP has been so prolific that it has published a beautiful book of the murals, Philadelphia Murals and the Stories They Tell, that is co-authored by program director Jane Golden. For the Philadelphia tourist, this book is as valuable as any guidebook in my opinion. A self-guided tour is available, the MAP map, for those who wish to walk, bike or drive around Philly. If renting a car and finding murals on your own seems daunting, MAP offers mural tours weekly on Saturdays, and are not to be missed. For more information about the MAP, see their website: www.muralarts.org For more information about the University of Pennsylvania, www.upenn.edu For more information about University City www.ucnet.com Photo Credits |
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The University of Pennsylvania has brought a
tourist-friendly culture to the West of the Schuylkill River– after all, 90%
of undergrad students are not Philadelphia natives, and their parents need
something to do on visiting weekends and graduation. The renovated
Anthropology museum, the Institute of Contemporary Art, shopping areas,
coffee joints, and scattered nice restaurants, are all within walking
distance of campus. But Penn is not what makes Philadelphia Philly, and it
certainly is not what gives West Philadelphia its flavor once you get more
than 4 blocks off campus. So, what’s the secret ingredient? 
We reached our destination, a lot next to a
neighborhood playground. My roommate worked with her class on a mural on one
side of the lot, which is now finished. When I first saw it, I felt as
though I had reached the Mecca of the neighborhood. Against a pink and
flowered patchwork background, three children’s illuminated faces look down
onto a purple blanket that they are holding. It flows and folds down to the
bottom of the mural, and blends into a hilly playground. It’s stunning, and
in this dilapidated community, it is almost miraculous. 
The Mural Arts Program was started in the mid 80’s as a
response to a growing graffiti problem in Philadelphia. To date, it has
completed over 2,300 murals in both Center City and surrounding residential
areas. A major strength of the program, which makes it culturally
sustainable, is that it works with an area in order to design a piece that
reflects the community members, and then the finished product creates a
stronger sense of neighborhood pride. What’s more, the murals have
meaningful themes that range from hope to paying tribute to a local hero,
and from education to the environment.
When
I first came to school here, I had a few favorite murals I knew well because
I saw them often. At 13th and Locust, near one of my favorite coffee shops
is the mural “Philadelphia Muses,” completed 1999 by Meg Seligman. Another
famous Seligman mural is entitled “Common Threads,” and is the tallest mural
in Philadelphia – almost 80 feet tall. Further south, on Broad Street,
a humongous Frank Sinatra looms over passersby, designed my Diane Keller in
1999.