IGX

Anthony Bourdain has a show on the Travel Channel called "The Layover" where it's and equal part history/travel within the particular city he's in and then of course the rest is about the local food. Well last week he was in Philly and after watching it my wife and I both said, well fuck let's go to Philly. Never been so I was wondering, are we idiots for wanting to do this? I think he does a great job with the show. He refuses to discuss the typical tourist type shit...he refused to discuss the Philly cheesesteak while in Philly. He gives the locals a lot of camera time. The episode on Philly showed a definite "attitude" of those from Philly...like I assume the local "drink" of choice is a beer and a shot of Jamison, one of my favorites as well. One person there said something like, "we don't do 400.00 bottle service, here." The places he went and the food he ate all seemed awesome to me. If we do this, any of you local IGx'ers holla and we'll all get tats while we're there.

As long as you're bringing your wife, I will consider it safe to come on down from New York. I have family down there but don't know the city at all. After Christmas I plan on going down for a few days and checking it out.

I live about an hour from Philly and spent a lot of time there when I was younger. Check out South Street and the cheese steak joints, particularly Pat's and Geno's which are across the street from each other not far from South street. A lot of good bars and clubs in center city. Stay out of north and west philly.

The Italian market is great with some good restaurants flanking it. The museums are great.

The people are not so nice.

Le Bec Fin is great for an expensive French meal. Zanzabar Blue is great for jazz.

Find any hole-in-the-wall breakfast joint(not Denny's) and order some authentic Philadelphia scrapple. Nobody makes it like they do in Philly. If you're more adventurous(like I have to say this), order some pan puddin'...ummm good.

A must-see is the new National Museum of Jewish History, http://www.nmajh.org/. If there is an IGX field trip to the museum, I'll be there and I'll pick up Andy from the nursing home and bring him along.

Ryan wrote:I live about an hour from Philly and spent a lot of time there when I was younger. Check out South Street and the cheese steak joints, particularly Pat's and Geno's which are across the street from each other not far from South street. A lot of good bars and clubs in center city. Stay out of north and west philly.

Geno's will likely be overrun with tourists, but it's not an unreasonable wait (although parking sucks in that area). Cuba Libre is a nice place to get a drink in old town (food wouldn't make Bourdain happy), at least it was a few years ago-- solid rum selection. Some decent wineries in the area if you're bringing the wife and you guys are into that. Philly's a pretty good sports town, and the fans live up to their reputatation-- you'll really get the full treatment if you're a Cowboys fan. Stay away from Camden.

I enjoy Philly a lot and get there several times/year.

Location: Center city east, Society Hill, Historic District, Penn's Landing, Rittenhouse Square. If you're doing a short trip, you want to stay in this general area. These areas give you a nice walking experience in the coolest parts of Philly.

Hotels: There's a Holiday Inn on Arch St. that is usually affordable and very short walking distance from all kinds of cool stuff. The Sheraton in Society Hill is excellent. The Radisson Warwick is excellent as well. Go on Hotwire or Priceline and look for a 4 star hotel in the areas I mentioned and you almost certainly won't go wrong. You'll probably be fine with a 3.5 star as well.

Dining: La Bec Fin is world class from what I hear. Cuba Libre is fun and has great Mohitos. Chestnut and Walnut Streets are filled with restaurants. I'm a pub guy and the areas listed above are filled with them. My new favorite is the Black Sheep on 17th St.

Things to do: Art Museum, Independence Hall, Liberty Bell, Constitution Museum, Nutter museum of medical oddities, some old ships at Penn's landing. Outside of center city, Valley Forge.

Some of the outlying burbs are fantastic but too much for a quick trip. I don't find the people to be too awesome but they're no worse than any other big eastern city.

Unless being chased by a horde of zombies avoid Camden, NJ across the river at all costs.

Fuckin phone...

Texas and Pennsylvania have reciprocal concealed carry, Shape. If you label it correctly you can bring handguns in your baggage. Ammo is freely available up here. A small compact 38 special, two in the thorax will do the job nicely. Pressing it into their abdomen will muffle the blast. Toss the piece into a storm drain when you're finished. Trip is over then but it beats leaving your front teeth on a Philly street.

Holy shit Gene, I was just planning to soak up some American culture, eat some good food and mingle amongst the people.

Shapecharge wrote:Holy shit Gene, I was just planning to soak up some American culture, eat some good food and mingle amongst the people.

Seriously - I haven't been to Philly in over thirty years. If you recognize and be cool nobody will bug you. Probably.

I'm told that the Italian Market used to be quite a scene, until the City Fathers tried to tax it, and then it allegedly shut down. I'm hoping that it's still around. Incredible kinds of food could be had there.

born and raised near Philly... spent a lot of time there before I moved to Lawn guy land.

Genos/Pat's/Tony Lukes... Geno's is the best of the Geno's/Pat's corner, touristy, yes, but a must.

Le Bec Fin is top notch but its fucking pricey. The service there is unreal, shit it should be for what you pay.

Cuba Libre is awesome.. South Street sucks anymore, when I was a kid it was Zipperheads for boots and music and punks all over the place... now its trendy and shit, fuck that.

The Art Museum has the largest DuChamp exhibit of any museum, who so happens to be my favorite artist of all time.

I am not sure if the Italian Market is still there anymore, I hope so... its cool to see but its filthy as fuck. That whole area is largely Asian now, the Italians have been chased out en masse.

Independence Hall is a must see if you are into our nation's history. Again, touristy but who cares.

Iron Sport Gym is in Glenholden, not too far from Philly, Steve Pulcinella owns it and I am sure he can accommodate you for a workout or two.

Hang out at working man bars, soak up the culture... Philly is a tough town, have a lot of memories there... fights on South Street, passing out in Mako's, eating 5 cheesesteaks at Geno's on a bet, concerts, football, baseball and hockey games... The old Vet was THE place to watch a game, the atmosphere was gold and it was violent as hell. I remember the game that brought the courtroom into the Vet. It was a SF MNF game when someone shot the flare gun off in the stands and there were a reported 150 fights during the game.

I hung out with Bam Margera at a CKY show on South Street many years ago at the TLA. The old days were awesome there.

Enjoy yourself there.

I'm about an hour or so from Philly.

Go to the art museum. Check out the armor room. Then go here: http://www.rembrandts.com/

Order a Lancaster Milk Stout. Then order a Rembrandt burger and a bacon brownie.

You're welcome.

Shape, whats your time line? I have to be there in March for a Jew wedding.

Philadelphia is a great old east coast city. We are there several times a year. My sister lives there and my mother-in-law used to live on Lombard St. in the "Ben Franklin slept here" neighborhood in a 1600's something Brownstone one block from South St.
There is a ton of stuff to do. The museums are great and so is the food. I love the Philadelphia Zoo. I haven't been to South St. in probably 10 years but it was always a blast. Do be careful though. One slightly wrong turn and you end up in Camden. It's a hell hole and tricky to get out of. Philadelphia is an old city. Many streets are one way and are like cow paths. Very similar to Boston. The people are east coast urban, much like NYC and Boston. I wouldn't say they are not nice. They are reserved, a bit jaded and cautious.

It is a very nice place to visit. Especially nice in Spring (April/May).

Shape. Philly is a terrble shitty city. There's absolutely nothing of interest to see. Don't go there.

Vinnie Paz, "Cheesesteaks"
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BsK-OxJQJP8[/youtube]
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TUHn4As2ha4[/youtube]
B-Hop
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kdlEh2HehQI[/youtube]

All I know about Philly, but I've always wanted to check it out.
Have fun.

Reading Terminal

Some good restaurants in Fishtown/Northern Liberties, but it's mostly hipsters. Memphis Taproom in Kensington/Fishtown has the finest collection of beers this side of Atlantic. Ask for Brenden.

I'm going to just throw out a bunch of shit

McGlinchey's bar. Good for cheap beer, a real dive. Awesome jukebox. Dirty Franks...same thing, but not as cheap as McGlincheys.

East Girard Gastropub

Morimoto's

E. Passyunk Ave is becoming the place to go to.

Edgar Allen Poe's house

Melrose Diner - get creamed chipped beef and/or scrapple

Cheesesteaks from anywhere, doesn't really matter. They're all good to me.



Have fun, don't mouth off to people and most likely you'll be fine.

syaigh wrote:The people are not so nice.

nice is overrated.

I haven't been there in years but my understanding is it's much improved over the absolute hell hole it was in the 90's. You will bug out when you see Tun Tavern. You can't go inside, of course, but seeing the birthplace of the brotherhood is pretty cool. That whole area is stacked with American milestones.

I don't know if they still do this, but if you have not visited a US Mint, that tour was a good use of a couple of hours, too.

We are definitely gonna do this sometime in the spring. Thanks for the advices brothers and sisters.

Shapecharge wrote:We are definitely gonna do this sometime in the spring. Thanks for the advices brothers and sisters.

Stay in Texas and cook your own good food in the big green egg. Better to come to Detroit and see what Democrats and rag heads have done here. Philly is no exception. Don't waste your time, Shape. Stay home.

High Velocity Lie-Nap! wrote: You will bug out when you see Tun Tavern. You can't go inside, of course, but seeing the birthplace of the brotherhood is pretty cool.

That's just a marker now. Z still got pretty excited about it though.

Jezzy Bell wrote:

High Velocity Lie-Nap! wrote: You will bug out when you see Tun Tavern. You can't go inside, of course, but seeing the birthplace of the brotherhood is pretty cool.

That's just a marker now. Z still got pretty excited about it though.

Meaning it's been demolished? I'm going to cry just a little bit into the White Russian I'm going to have with breakfast.