Norristown, KOP, and the 2017 NFL Draft

Happy (belated) Memorial Day everybody! I meant to post this Monday but I have a tendency to procrastinate. :)

Mobil/Getty/Gulf, Norristown, PA
In 2017, most of the remaining Getty stations in the area switched to Gulf. Over the following months, most of them were redone to Gulf's standards. There are still a few with Gulf banners slapped over the Getty signs. This one was neither. Instead, they began a massive remodel. The pumps were replaced, a canopy was built, and the garage turned into a convenience store. Progress is moving along very slowly, and I don't think they've reopened yet.

Sunoco/Exxon/Liberty, Norristown, PA
I believe this was still open as a Sunoco through the 90's. Exxon wasn't here for very long; it rebranded again to Liberty in the 2000's.

A&P/Thriftway/IGA, Norristown, PA
This opened as an A&P in the 50's. I believe the entrance here was originally the side, since the gable roof above it extends across the length of the store, and the part of the building between it and the road appears to be a more recent addition. Up until IGA merged with them, this store was branded as both Thriftway and Shop N Bag (one logo on each side of the sign, now both replaced with IGA's oval). The exterior of the building looks deceptively nice, it's rather dumpy inside.

Costco, KOP
This was the first Costco to set up shop in the Philadelphia area. It opened October 9, 1997. I'm not sure if they built the store new or recycled an existing building, since there was another building with a similar footprint on the site before this. I'm also not super familiar with Costco's older stores, but the ceiling in here's a lot higher than at most of the other location's I've been in (40 feet according to this article).

Costco's décor hasn't changed at all in the past couple decades. Not that there's really much to change.

One thing I thought was interesting about the store was that the bathrooms were on the second floor. The balcony would have been a great place to get a photo of the store but mine didn't come out, and I'd already left by the time I realized it. :P

The departments around the rest of the store were basically the exact same as any other Costco.

I forget what this little room in back was, but it seemed kinda creepy.

I also didn't realize I didn't have an exterior shot until I was already in the car, so you'll have to settle with this for now.

Back of the KOP Expansion

Here's the less frequently photographed back side of KOP's most recent expansion. Mall space is on the top level, with parking underneath

Gimbels/JCPenney, KOP

JCPenney's last stand at King of Prussia. This was shortly after its closure was announced. I believe this was also the mall's last original tenant. There aren't any definite plans for the space yet, but there's been talk about tearing it down and adding an apartment complex to the mall.

30th St Station, Philly (University City)

There's a large room in the station that I don't know the purpose of. There's not much in it except for this neat statue. If I remember correctly, this was salvaged from the Furness-designed Broad Street Station when it was demolished in the 50's.

Looking across the river from the train platform. There's now two 38-story towers going up just to the right of that angled building.

Abandoned platforms. The upper levels of the station are now used only for SEPTA regional rail (Amtrak long distance is in the basement). Years ago, the lines switched from long trains to shorter but more frequent ones, eliminating the need for these platforms.

They wisely chose to keep the covered parts of the platform open as opposed to the parts seen previously.

Decorative Gulf
Last Spring I reported they were clearing this lot for parking. Evidently, they chose to keep the old Gulf around since it took up hardly any space. The Avis rental center behind this was cleared instead.

All That's Left
Most of the old Please Touch Museum had come down at this point, leaving just the left side wall. The yellow brick next to it is the remainder of the building that used to be the left. I'm not sure what the purpose of leaving this up was, but it was finally removed at some point.

Oddly enough, the foundations for the townhomes replacing it have been set, sorta working around the existing wall.

Peddler Coffee, Philadelphia (Logan Square)
This coffee shop opened up fairly recently, it used to be a different café. This block's been seeing a lot of redevelopment lately (The old PTM's right behind this, and the building to the right has since been torn down and rebuilt), so I wouldn't be surprised if they replace this building at some point.

The 2017 NFL Draft

Not saying correlation equals causation but the Eagles have won the Super Bowl every time the NFL Draft's been held in Philly (Which is once but who's keeping track). This was either the first or second time they made a big event of the draft, in previous years it was a more private setting.

I actually wound up here totally by accident. This was before I was living in Philly for school and I'd taken the train in to watch my sister at the Penn Relays. After those were over, I had some free time before we were able to meet up for dinner so I wandered around a bit and wound up here. I'd say things worked out well.

There were a lot of places giving out free food. Here they were giving out tastes of soup, which was a little weird but free food is free food.

Tostitos truck, which if I remember correctly gave out paper trays full of Hint of Lime chips and hot salsa. There weren't any beverages to be found here so my mouth had to suffer a little bit.

Callowhill Cut, Philadelphia (Logan Square)
I've written about this before but this is an abandoned Reading Railroad cut and tunnel that used to connect the tracks along the Schuylkill to Reading Terminal. Currently, there are plans to build a hotel on this spot, and turn the tunnel into some sort of underground park (which sounds like a good place to get murdered) and connect it to the Rail Park.

CVS, Philadelphia (Logan Square)
This CVS opened as part of the complex in early 2017. This was the first time I'd seen the new logo on the outside of a non-Target store.

Whole Foods, Philadelphia (Logan Square)
After months of anticipation, the new Whole Foods is finally open. Unfortunately I didn't manage to photograph the interior yet but I'm sure I'll get there before too long.

Gulf, Philadelphia (Spring Garden)

This has been a Gulf since it was built. It was renovated to this look around 2012. I was going to say current look, but it looks like I missed that by a little bit.

SkyGarten, Philadelphia (Logan Square)

Located at the top of one of the city's highest buildings, SkyGarten claim's to be the world's highest beer garden. This building was originally the headquarters for Bell Atlantic, which moved out when they merged to form Verizon. This area was originally the employee cafeteria and conference rooms, which when not in use as SkyGaren are now used as event space. They haven't been altered significantly since the Bell days. The rest of the building is offices. The elevators have an interesting mix of people in them on Fridays.

A view from SkyGarten's balcony, looking towards the Mellon Bank Center.

Looking East, with New Jersey in the distance.

Looking North. I got lucky with the weather that day, it's hard to find a day clear enough to see this far.

Former Fresh Fields/Whole Foods, which relocated to the one pictured a little while back. It's now home to Target, who has done surprisingly little to the interior.

Eastern State Penitentiary, the city's most famous former prison. It's open to tours most of the year, but is turned into a haunted house around Halloween. It was opened to the public after years of being abandoned, and they are working to keep it looking exactly as it did when they reopened.

Logan Circle Fountain

This is my favorite fountain in the city. I think it might also be the second largest, after the Zoo fountain.

The draft itself starting up. Honestly the events surrounding it were more exciting than the actual draft. In addition to what was pictured, they had the Lombardi trophy on display, some mini NFL museums, and a place where you could get pictures taken with cheerleaders (for which they had 2 sets, one for the Eagles that was there all day, and another for different teams that rotated every few hours).

Center City at Night
I was particularly happy with how this picture came out. This is from the 44th floor of the same building as SkyGarten, looking towards City Hall (the clock tower).

 There are a couple versions of today's song. The Bonnie Pointer version is by far the more famous one, but I prefer the original. Regardless, they're both good.