Post-Riot Philly

I've been stuck back home for the last three months thanks to quarantine, but yesterday I had to go downtown to pick up something from school. I took the opportunity to loop through Center City and West Philly and see what all has changed since last weekend's riots. I know the news reports made it look like every store in Center City was destroyed, but I'm pleased to report that is not the case. I'd estimate a little under half the storefronts were boarded-up, and several of those were still open. This photo set for the most part only shows the damage, but rest assured there is still plenty of life.
I also brought my nicer camera this time, so most of these photos should be a slightly better quality than I usually provide you with. I think this is the first time any of its photos have made it on this site- I never use it for retail shots since it's so conspicuous, but walking around Philly I'll bring it with me sometimes.

Rite Aid's 23rd and Walnut location got damaged pretty badly, but remains open. The doors themselves are still functional, only the broken glass on them has been boarded up. I believe the bags in back of the truck by the door are left over from cleaning this up.

Diagonal from Rite Aid is Rosy's Taco Bar, which is a little pricy but one of the more casual Mexican restaurants in Center City. It looks like they only lost one window to the looting, and in spite of the coronavirus lockdown they were offering take-out at one of the side doors where the patio seating usually is. We were still in the takeout-only red zone yesterday but as of today we're yellow, meaning outdoor seating is allowed.

Like Rite Aid, and most of the "essential" stores that were broken into but not totally destroyed, Sunoco at 22nd and Walnut is open.

I'm not sure if this tree came down in the riots or if it fell during the violent derecho we had on Wednesday (from which most suburban areas still don't have power; we're fortunate enough to own a generator. PECO says they will have service restored by Sunday). Philly just can't catch a break this week year.

It looks like this window's the only damage Townsend sustained. It looks like all the tables inside have been cleared away, so I'm not confident they'll be reopening. That decision was more likely due to the virus than one busted window.

Walnut Street isn't known for having stores like this, but probably as a result of a very lenient landlord happens to have these three counterculture stores in a row. I'm inclined to believe these were boarded up when the lockdown started and not as a result of the looting, but these are the kinds of places that would get looted first- particularly Wonderland, which sells drug paraphernalia.

I liked how this restaurant decorated their boards. It's owned by quasi-celebrity chef Greg Vernick and won a James Beard award in 2017. Since they weren't offering takeout, these boards were probably put up for the lockdown.

Shake Shack, on the other hand, was open for takeout up until the riots, and from what I've read got totally destroyed inside. Their other downtown location, on Drexel's campus, remains open for takeout and undamaged.

Barney's New York was permanently closed beforehand, since chain went under. Barnes & Noble was closed for lockdown (had it not been for the looting, they would be able to reopen today). The space in between the two is the lobby for an apartment building behind this, which has to be open since people live there/

The remains of either H&M or Loft's door is sitting out on the curb. The city made a huge effort to clean up the morning after the riot, so most of the carnage has been shoveled away and graffiti scrubbed off at this point. I only saw three piles of looting remains and a couple buildings that had yet to clean the graffiti off.

This entire row of stores was already closed for lockdown and should have reopened today, but every one of them got severely damaged.

This row of buildings dates back to the 1860's and was the site of one of two major building fires in Center City. The fire was set in the Vans store (to the left of Dr. Marten's), but spread rapidly as a result of these buildings predating most fire codes. Dr. Marten's was damaged the worst, but Wells Fargo and McDonald's both were affected as well. All 4 buildings were declared "Imminently Dangerous" by the city's Licenses & Inspections Department, which is not something to be taken lightly- the city doesn't cite many buildings for that, but when they do, the owners are given thirty days to secure a permit to either repair or demolish the building. Just guessing by how they look from the outside, I'm predicting Wells Fargo, Vans, and McDonald's will be saved but Marten's will not.
In case you were wondering, the people who looted Vans looked exactly like you'd expect them to. I'm willing to bet at least one of them has a Tumblr page.

Wells Fargo's façade was redone to its current look in the early 90's when a Coconuts Record Store moved into the building. Dr. Marten's was a Gap store in the 80's/90's, but I can't find an opening or closing date. After Gap, it was a furniture store until Marten's opened in 2011. The Vans building has been home to Jacques Ferber Furs since 1927. Ferber has an interesting history- it was originally based in Paris, and opened a second location Philadelphia when the founder's son moved here. Eventually, the Paris location closed and operations were consolidated here- they have since expanded to two other Philly-area locations and in 2014 downsized this one to just the second floor. That's when Vans moved into the ground floor. I don't have much on the early history of the McDonald's, but I can tell you it's been here since 1989 and since the Broad & Arch one closed last winter has been the only McDonald's left in Center City. It's a corporate-owned location that hadn't been remodeled yet, but was actually gearing up for one this summer. They actually own the entire building, so they've got some incentive to reopen. At over 150 years old, it's also gotta be one of the oldest buildings in McDonalds' portfolio.

Urban Outfitters' flagship store got looted badly and was almost burned. As one of the pictures the Inquirer got from that night shows, a passerby pushed a cart full of burning boxes out of the store, saving the building. If you look closely, you can see the windows just above the boards are cracked.
This building was built in 1956 as a Penn Federal Savings & Loan. Because of its midcentury-modern architecture, it is on the Philadelphia Preservation Alliance's list of buildings they're trying to get on the historic register.
I've been in here once before and am pretty sure I snapped a few pictures at the time; they'll show up on here eventually.

This Modell's began liquidation shortly before lockdown. Most of the rest of the chain hasn't started having sales yet because they announced the entire company was closing after lockdown started. Given how badly it was looted, I doubt they will be finishing the sale here.

One of the windows wasn't boarded up, giving me a glance inside. It's been left in its post-looting state.

Fogo De Chão was boarded up, but I was surprised to see they were open. They usually operate as an all-you-can-eat steakhouse with a pretty expensive cover charge, so I'm not sure how they're dealing with to-go.

AC Moore was closing their flagship store here, alongside the rest of the chain. Interestingly, Michael's was not interested in buying this despite it only being three years old and by far the largest in the chain. Michael's doesn't even have a store nearby- the closest one is in Bala Cynwyd.
That's the second time that window's been broken since AC Moore moved in. Shortly after they opened, Philly had a much more festive riot to celebrate the Eagles' first Super Bowl victory, during which a traffic light pole was thrown through this window.

The inside's a mess but I think that has more to do with the closing than people breaking in.

The other major building fire in Center City was the City Hall Starbucks, which had been open for only one year. When I was working my internship across the street from this last summer, I would get coffee here at least once a week (basically whenever La Colombe's line was too long). It looks like the fire gutted out the inside, but from any side except the front you wouldn't be able to tell. The café on the other end of the park also got badly damaged, so the entire park is now closed and heavily patrolled.

Another Starbucks a block away at 16th and Market lost its windows, but is still open.

Wawa's test small-format store, which I documented the grand opening of back in January, got looted and is temporarily closed. Every other Wawa I saw here today was in the same situation- that means at least three others in Center City got looted.

The Children's Place, formerly home to a Rite Aid, got looted. It's still listed on their store locator, but the tarp over their sign sure isn't a good indication. If they did pull the plug, I'm curious whether it was due to lockdown, the riots, or a factor of the two.

The Shops at Liberty Place is boarded up; most likely due to lockdown but it certainly would have been a target for looters. Either way, it can't be open now as malls aren't allowed to reopen until the city is moved to the Green Zone.

The side facing Chestnut Street is a solid wall of plywood, with the exception of one emergency exit for the hotel above the southwest corner.

Somehow, the 17th and Chestnut Rite Aid made it without too much damage. This area was the epicenter of the riots.

Second Federal Savings Bank, which opened in 1947, had some damage done. It doesn't look like looters were able to get inside.

South Moon Under lost a window though.

Mac Mart is an insanely popular macaroni restaurant, who despite losing their windows, is open for takeout.

Midtown III's my favorite diner. I was terrified when I saw the windows boarded up, but relieved to see the owner standing in the doorway talking to some pedestrians. They've been here since the mid-70's and are the only surviving Midtown location.

This was one of the two Targets in town that got badly looted. They're temporarily closed while they rebuild. The part of the building on the corner was recycled when this was built in 2016 because of its history- it was built in the 1930's as the first black-owned law office in the city. The fact that a building with this history was broken into and looted says a lot about the looters.

El Rey is one of the city's more upscale Mexican restaurants. The owner, Stephen Starr, has a great appreciation for midcentury architecture. His restaurants, of which Philly has several, usually have many vintage elements to their design. In keeping with this, minimal changes were made to this building when he took it over. It was formerly home to Midtown IV, the last to open and the second to close of the Midtown family. He basically just kept the diner look but made it classy.

El Merkury is another Mexican restaurant, but less formal. They specialize in street food and are a great place for lunch.

Wrap Shack had neither windows nor electricity (that light you see is from a work light set on the counter), but they were open for takeout somehow. Apparently they can sell takeout cocktails through a window, which sounds like it would violate just about every one of PA's liquor laws.

Some more destruction, unrelated to the riots. The old Snellenburg's Department Store Garage and Annex is being torn down for two new towers. It was built in 1942, and closed with Snellenburg's main store in the early 60's. The garage part became a public lot, the ground level split between several smaller stores, and the upper levels became offices.

This Target, unlike the other that is still closed, is on the company's official list of temporary closures.

Another closed Wawa, which opened last year in what was the longtime home of I. Goldberg Army & Navy. Somehow the 7-Eleven nearby was able to open already despite having been cleared out in the looting. I guess Wawa wants to take their time.

I drove through West Philly on my way home and snapped a few pictures along the way. The Sunoco at 52nd and Lancaster was closed and still graffitied. This isn't a nice neighborhood, so the damage out this way wasn't as surprising to see.

The Parkside shopping center opened in 2008 on an old SEPTA yard (Septa still owns all the property except for the Lowe's, which is company-owned). It was by far the hardest-hit center in the city. Currently, everything except the McDonald's is boarded up. Jeff Brown, owner of the Shoprite franchise, had two of his stores badly damaged. At his insistence, since his stores were the only supermarkets in the neighborhoods they serve, the PA National Guard was brought in to defend the centers. They're standing guard at every driveway and entrance to the buildings, which was a surreal sight to see.

Same scene, from a different angle. Lowe's shopping carts are still all around the neighborhood after being used to cart away plundered goods. Brown reopened the less damaged Shoprite today, and is hoping to get this one open by next week.

After this, y'all could probably appreciate a nice peace-and-love type of song. Here's one that was recorded right here in Philly.