Results tagged “fairmountpark”

This week, I will do the obvious and write about Rittenhouse Square. Everyone who has spent more than ten seconds in our fair city has heard of Rittenhouse, right? Heck, Robert Downey even made a documentary about the park, so you needn't have even been here to have heard about and gotten some sense of the experience in the park. But, still, it's unfair of me to ignore a park because it's popular or because I have some unspoken agenda to introduce you all to the smaller, more neighborhoody parks that abound in Philly. I cannot be a park snob. So, Rittenhouse: this week is your week.

Studio 34, home of a recently featured Mom and Baby yoga mention, is starting a fantastic new class for kids (ages 18 months to 4 years) and they want you to try it out for free. Today, October 15th, check out the kids' ZoomDance series at 10:30 a.m. What is ZoomDance? I didn't know, either, but Studio 34 was kind enough to explain it to me. A high-energy class of dance, music, story-telling, and imagination which promotes literacy and creative expression. In other words, it's kinda a perfect class. Each week the group will read a different book and then act it out, inventing characters, exploring the space, and showing off—everything kids love to do. A seven week course, the whole session will run you $70, however if you sign up before the 15th, they'll knock off ten. Pre-register and get all your questions answered here or, feel free to give Studio 34 a call at 610-937-2032.

Well, this past weekend was an exciting one up in Fairmount park. On Forbidden Drive, there was apple cider pressing, and there were open houses over at both the Pennypack and Wissahickon Environmental Centers. I managed to catch the last few minutes of the apple pressing, which was enough time for me to crank two apples through the cider press, sample some cider, and see a ten year old make apple butter and then watch in dismay as the apple butter came exploding out of the poorly sealed squirt bottle. So much for that.

These week we venture up to Mount Airy to Allens Lane, which is part of the Fairmount Park system. Allens Lane has some sentimental value to me, as I've worked on some shows at the theater there. "What? There's a theater in the park?" you ask. Yes, there is, which is one thing I love about writing this column and exploring the parks in this city: I never knew Allens Lane "counted" as a park until I started poking around. Also, I love the fact that our parks are multi-faceted, not just places for running around outdoors and picnicking, but also for getting a nice dose of arts and culture.

I've been spending a lot of time in Marconi Plaza at Broad St and Oregon Avenue. It's a big plaza that spans both sides of Broad Street. It boasts two playgrounds (one on each side, each featuring rarely-seen-these-days geodesic dome jungle gyms), two baseball fields and a bocce court on the eastern side. Like its sister park, FDR, Marconi Plaza was designed by the Olmsted Brothers between 1914 and 1916 and served as the entry point for the Sesquicentennial Exposition in 1926. Originally, there were two reflecting pools on each side of the Plaza, but these were later filled in and now statues of Christopher Columbus and Guglielmo Marconi stand in their place, staring at each other across Broad Street. You probably know what Columbus' contribution to the world is, but may be unfamiliar with Marconi. I was, until I saw a little plaque on one of the walls along the plaza. He was a scientist who invented/developed a wireless telegraphy system, so information could be transmitted across the Atlantic. He won a Nobel Prize for his work.

We know it's Labor Day weekend and all, but man, there's some bad juju going around the Philadelphia area today. Our Asshole of the Week was just the tip of the iceberg.

Belmont Plateau is the last section of our Fairmount Park mini-series. The Plateau (located at Belmont and Montgomery Avenues) is mentioned in the song "Summertime" by a certain Will Smith, which I will spare you the quote from, and Philadelphia Weekly ran an article on it a few months ago, wondering if it is still "the place" to be. The article cites litter and people's excessively carefree attitudes about drinking out of doors as two major reasons why the Plateau is losing its appeal for some.

Our Fairmount Park series continues this week with a look at the Japanese House and Gardens, also known as Shofuso or the Pine Breeze Villa. The House and garden are located in Western Fairmount Park on the Horticulture Center grounds, just off Lansdowne Avenue. The Villa is only open from April through September. In order to tour the garden and house, you do have to pay an admission fee, but compared to other museums and such in this city, it is relatively cheap: $6 for adults, $3 for students/seniors, and free for members. And the price of admission is totally worth it.

It probably goes without saying that Fairmount Park is a huge park. So, over the next few weeks Parking will focus on one section or part of Fairmount each week. And even then, we still won't get through the entire park, just a tiny bit over on the western side.

• Scary headline of the day: "Multiple States on Verge of Collapse," according to the Huffington Post. While the related article is a little less dramatic, it is noted that in Pennsylvania "state workers will receive only partial pay on July 17 and July 24, after which paychecks will be withheld entirely until the impasse is solved." Awesome.
• In other state-related news, earthquakes happen in Delaware? Who knew?
• A man was found dead this morning in Fairmount Park. He had been shot several times.

Good Morning, Philadelphia. Can you feel that humidity? Get used to it because it's going to be sticky all day, followed by evening rain and thunderstorms! Color us surprised.
• Earlier this year, five firefighters settled claims of discrimination against them to the tune of $275,000. The men believed that they did not get promotions because they were white and the subjectivity of the oral portion of the exam led to frivilous deductions in points. The city refuses to eliminate the oral exam Will we be seeing a lot more of these types of cases?
• The latest in the Piazza murders: Police are suspecting that the shooters are from out of town because the men didn't even bother to cover their faces from the complex's numerous cameras. Maybe they're not from around here or maybe they're just incompetent criminals?
• To all Google lovers, SEPTA lovers, and those in in the middle of the Venn Diagram: Google Transit is in town! Head over to SEPTA.org to see for yourself.

It smells wonderful in the Azalea Garden. Located just behind the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the garden is chockablock with azalea bushes, rhododendrons, lilacs, different kinds of trees, and various other plants I can't identify. Azaleas are early and quick bloomers—they peak in May and by now, their blooms have, for the most part, faded away. However, the rest of the garden is still going strong, attracting many people for a picnic or a tour on a Segway. Thanks to the Segway tour that rolled through the garden last time I was relaxing there with a book, I learned that the tree I was sitting under was a "weeping willow on the top and a cherry tree on the bottom." Also thanks to the Segway tour, I had the strange feeling that I was about to battle robo-humans.

Welcome back to another tasty serving of local tweets. We try to find some interesting Philly-area Twitter users and give them a shout once a day or so.

The Inquirer reports today that legislation (Bill #090380) has been introduced in City Council that would amend uses permitted in Recreational Districts (parks, for instance), thereby opening the park up to private development and construction of such things as catering facilities and single family homes on park grounds.

Some of you may have noticed a bit of a stir in Philadelphia a few weeks ago. We're talking giant equipment cases blocking the sidewalk, your local pub taken hostage by a monkey masked man and a camera crew, or perhaps screaming in the woods. That's because 48 teams took to the streets of Philadelphia for a fun-filled weekend of guerilla filmmaking at its finest. There were teams from Philly, New Jersey, Delaware, and even New York. There was a one man team (who has notably completed 19 films in 9 different cities); a four man team; a team made up of 35+ current Rowan University students; a team led by a 15 year old high schooler who had to have his teacher turn in his film for lack of a drivers license; a team who made their film into the 18th episode of a their TV series; a team who managed to cast local alt porn actress Stoya; a team from local staple Sweetbread Studios; a team made up of the crew from Center City Film and Video; and a team competing for their 8th year in a row.

Budget Travel recently published a piece called 25 Reasons We Love Philadelphia. Of course, they include the mandatory cheesesteak reference. But they do us justice in their mention of that most magnificent of creepy-ass ruins, Eastern State Penitentiary, the homegrown fashions of Vagabond Boutique, and the (literally) artful hotel The Independent. There's bound to be something on the list you didn't know about (like the Kensington Kinetic Sculpture Derby), or maybe just never took advantage of, like the 9,200 acres (!) that make up Fairmount Park.

We always manage to miss the Sakura Cherry Blossom Festival—maybe because it's only held one weekend, as opposed to D.C.'s festival, which lasts a month. Inevitably, after the festival, somebody will post videos like this one that make us swear that next year, we really will make it. Really.

We're with Isaiah: tell us about some young white Christian kids moving in Kensington and we get twitchy. But turns out they're really the real deal.

Improv drummer + YouTube = World domination. Kinda.

Amy Freeman joins our staff today with a weekly column on Philadelphia's many parks. A native of the Philadelphia area, Amy thinks soft pretzels take the cake in the battle of Philadelphia delicacies and travels the city with the strength of her own two legs—by foot or by bike. Welcome, Amy!

While the only birds most Philadelphians care about is their Eagles, this time of year is great for birdwatching. To some folks, bundling up and going out in the cold to count birds this time of year is as common as lighting the menorah or decorating a tree.

The new face of HIV may surprise you.