Another Walk Westward

 We're back! Sorry for not posting the past couple weeks, I was kinda drowning in finals week work but we should be good to go now. And don't worry- as I have nothing more productive to be doing over my exceptionally long Christmas break I will be cranking out those two extra posts in addition to my usual Sunday posts to keep us on schedule. 

Today we're going to be mostly looking around West Philly today, but mainly in the much safer University City neighborhood. After that, we'll be taking a quick look around a couple other places outside the city.

Rite Aid, Logan Square

This rather small Rite Aid opened in 2016 on the ground level of a new apartment building. It's one of the only new non-replacement stores the city has gotten post-Eckerd merger. They've got the market pretty well saturated around here so there's not too many other places they could cram one- in fact, they've already got another store in Logan Square that they doubled in size the same time they opened this, so this one kinda came out of the blue. 

The building it sits in has a small footprint, which is why this place is about half the size of a normal Rite Aid. Here, we're seeing about half depth of the store.

Making a 180 degree turn, here's the front end. Sorry this one came out blurry. I'd estimate the store was only about 2/3 as wide as it was deep. One thing I really liked about this place was how all the exterior walls were glass, it's one of the better lit stores in town.

3675 Market, University City

This tower opened in 2018 on the site of a smaller circa-1990 office building and parking garage. It's mostly targeted towards science and technology labs, but Drexel and UPenn both lease significant parts of the building for class space.

First Snow of the Year!

It's fitting this came up in this post- here's the first snow of 2017, and just last week we got our first snow of 2020. Nothing stuck last Wednesday, but now forecasts are calling for 2 feet this Wednesday. 

Side note: Words can not express how much I despise the tall building in this picture. It was taken from my freshman dorm window, which the year before would have had a totally unobstructed view of the Center City skyline. This student apartment building opened the year I moved in, and blocked all of the skyline except for the PECO building. It's called Vue 32, but I took to calling it "Block my Vue".

Gino's/Boston Market, University City

This originally opened as a Gino's in the 60's, and was converted to Boston Market after they went under in the 80's. They've remodeled it a few times over the years- most recently in 2015 which got rid of the awnings and added stone facing. It scored some major points with me during the weeks leading up to the Eagles-Patriots Super Bowl, where they covered up the "Boston" part of their sign with a "Philly" tarp.

Despite the many remodels this place has endured, a neon sign with the logo (and name!) Boston Market would have opened here with is still shining proudly in the vestibule.

"Upgrades"

Up until recently, this block had 5 1870's duplex buildings identical to the one on the right. Two came down for the gray apartments seen on the left in 2016 and 2017 in a race for permits against the historical commission. Things were looking up for the three surviving old houses when they got put on the historic register later in 2017, though one has since lost the designation due to a technicality the developer called. It stands for now. For as many complaints as I have about the new buildings, I do have to applaud them for efficient use of space. They managed to windows in every apartment despite the building taking up 100% of the lot.

Survivor

There's still a few Bell-turned-Verizon payphones scattered throughout the city.  They all have "Yes! This Payphone Still Works" stickers on them, though on a number of them that's a lie. This one still looks operable though.

Sunray, Spruce Hill

Sunray started out as part of the Rexall co-op in 1929, but split off and began operating independently. At their peak, they were the largest pharmacy chain in the city and had 150 stores in four states. They fell on hard times and shrunk down to just one location in 2003. Fortunately, they've bounced back. Currently, there are 10 proper Sunrays (9 in Philly and one in Camden), alongside several other independent pharmacies affiliated with them. This location opened in 2011.

PLCB, Spruce Hill

This store opened up in 2013 in a former check cashing and porno store... yeah this neighborhood's definitely gentrified in the past few years. I suspect it's only a matter of time before this center comes down for a larger development like the church next door did.

Merit/Hess/Speedway, Walnut Hill

This station first opened in the 70's as a Merit, as evidenced by it's unusually thick canopy. Hess bought them out in the 90's, and they were bought by Speedway in 2016. Now that 7-Eleven is poised to take over Speedway, I'm curious to see what will happen to this location as it has no convenience store.

Rite Aid, Walnut Hill

Rite Aid opened this store in the late 90's on the site of an old Buick dealership. It was remodeled to the Wellness look in 2016, and received the new logo and paint job last month.

West Philadelphia High School, Walnut Hill

I posted a picture of this place years ago when it was still abandoned, but have no clue where that went now. Over the past few years, work has been underway turning the old school into apartments. They look like they're starting to get close to completion. It should look pretty good once they're done.

Fidelity Bank?/Manakeesh, Spruce Hill

There's not much left on this building indicating its history, but the shape of the sign frame indicates it might have been an old Fidelity Bank. I'd assume it made it to the First Union and Wachovia days, but it was long vacant by the time upper-end Lebanese restaurant Manakeesh opened in 2011.

St Andrew's/AISC Islamic Center, Spruce Hill

This church opened in 1907 as St. Andrew's Methodist Church, which closed its doors in the 1980's. In 1991, the building was taken over by a mosque whose full name is so long I'm not even going to try to spell out. Unfortunately, there aren't any pre-conversion photos out there, but I think it's safe to assume the mosque made some major renovations. The domed roof was likely put on by them, and I think there's a good chance the Lebanese-influenced window was also done by them. It's one of the more interesting buildings in the neighborhood.

Thriftway Sign

I cut behind the Supremo Foodmarket (featured on here a few weeks ago) on my walk, and noticed this sign. It's unusual, not just because Thriftway's gone, but because this never was a Thriftway. Prior to the IGA merger, this store operated under the banner of Thriftway's sister chain Shop-N-Bag.

Rite Aid/Bravo Health/City Life, Spruce Hill

This building was built as a Rite Aid in the mid-90's, and closed in 2007 in favor of the newer and larger Eckerd on Market Street. In 2011, the building was turned into a Bravo Health clinic, which was bought by Cigna not long after and rebranded to City Life. The clinic closed last year and the building is vacant. Given the size of the parking lot, I'm expecting this to come down for an apartment building before long.

Old Storefronts, University City

The stores along the ground floor of this building have been empty for over a decade now, except for the one on the corner which was a leasing office for a nearby apartment complex until 2014. The building was converted into a hotel earlier this year, with a Chase Bank on the ground floor.

Print Shop, University City

It's hard to say exactly when this place was built, and it probably breaks down to how you define it. There was a rowhome here built in the later half of the 1800's with the same footprint as this place, but sometime around 1960 it became a print shop, the upper floors were removed, and the façade replaced. It's hardly the same building it was before that. The print shop closed sometime prior to 2009. The building was torn down as part of the hotel project next door/in the previous photo.

PECO Building, University City

This building was built in 1876 by locally famous Victorian architect Frank Furness as a trade school. It later became a dance school and public library, and in 1927 was bought by PECO. At that point in time, they were more than just a utility service, they actually sold appliances and electronics in stores like what this became. PECO lasted until the 70's, at which point this building became The Consortium, a Medicaid-funded mental health center. The Consortium covered the entire building in brown metal paneling. They closed in 2017, and work quickly began peeling away the panels to restore the original building. It's currently being converted into a restaurant, nightclub, and offices.

Heidi Ho Cafe, University City

This building here actually started out as three separate rowhomes in the late 1800's. Around 1930, they were all combined and the upper floors were removed from each. Presumably there were either apartments or offices on the second floor, while the ground level was split between a luncheonette and a beer store. In more recent years, the luncheonette became a discount store and later the Heidi Ho Cafe, while the beer store became a beauty supply store. They both closed in 2018 after the building was sold. It was slowly demolished over the next few months and currently sits a vacant lot. Interestingly, they didn't cut the building's power during demolition- even with half the place gone there were still lights on inside. Plans call for the two buildings adjacent to it on the Market Street side to come down too in order for a larger building to be built. Those might have longer-term leases, hence the holdup.

The Market, University City

This looks like it might have begun life as a mini-mall of some sort, though now it is mostly occupied by offices. It's got a very misleading name.

PRR Offices/Food Fair Headquarters/University Crossings, University City

I've posted about this place before, but wanted to share that from a certain angle you can still see a bit of the Food Fair labelscar on the granite. The entrance on this side of the building was last redone by them. Drexel didn't do too much to it other than add their own name. The original Pennsylvania Railroad entryway on the other side of the building was restored when the upper floors became student apartments in 2003.

Midtown III, Rittenhouse Square

This picture was from my first time eating at what became my favorite diner. What really drew me in was the remarkably well-preserved 70's architecture, but I kept coming back for the food and service. They had all the classic diner dishes at very reasonable prices for this part of town, and all the waitresses fit the downtown Greek-owned diner cliché to a T.

Firestone, University City

It took Drexel a few years to finally paint over all the labelscars, but now that they have it looks much less trashy. Earlier this year, they turned the parking lot here into an outdoor seating area for food trucks and it's actually looking pretty nice now. 

Malvern Federal/Chase, Exton, PA

This house dates back to the 1820's and had been home to a Malvern Federal since the 1960's. The 2-story porch looks like ti was always a part of the building, but was actually added on when they opened. After this location closed in 2017, Chase bought the building and attempted to demolish it. Thankfully, there was enough pushback that they ultimately revised their plans and only tore down/rebuilt some of the later additions (but not the porch, which, if you couldn't tell, I really like). This part of the building was kept completely intact when Chase opened. It's got a thousand times more character than any of their other branches in the area do.

Philadelphia Premium Outlets, Limerick, PA

I always try to snap a few pictures every time I come here. Normally this one wouldn't have made the cut for posting, but I figured since Wilsons Leather is gone now I might as well throw it in.

The former Neiman Marcus Last Call store got split! The right half became Old Navy, and the left became a relocated Under Armour. Under Armour's old digs became a relocated Adidas store, and the old Adidas and Reebok spaces were combined to make an H&M. It was a confusing couple months here when that happened.

I heard that Coach was going to close all brick-and-mortar stores, so I made a point of getting a picture here. Turns out that was a false alarm, but I still have a picture so I might as well post it. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Pier 1/TGI Friday's/Chop House, Exton, PA

This store first opened in 1992, and relocated to the Main Street center in 2002 where it closed in their first bankruptcy round this year. It wasn't vacant for long before Friday's opened up. They closed in 2017. It became an upscale meatery (yes I just made that word up) called the Chop House last year.

Phar-Mor/Petco, Exton, PA

Petco made no changes to the outside when they moved in, so I was hopeful they would have left something inside too. It would appear they gutted it.

Lincolnwood, IL

Here's another state I can check off the list, even if I was only here for about an hour waiting on a layover. We're flying over a northern suburb of Chicago in this picture. Lake Michigan's in the background, and the relatively small Lincolnwood Town Center can be seen under the wing. The mall opened in 1990 and was anchored by Kohl's and a now-closed Carson-Pirie-Scott, which has since been subdivided.

Home Depot, Chicago, IL

Flying a little further south, we've crossed into Chicago proper. The Home Depot here dates back to the early 2000's and is one of their larger model stores.

Kennedy Expressway, Chicago, IL

In landing, the plane went across a bridge over the highway. Said highway had a railway running through it. As an engineering student and general geek for this kind of stuff, this got me more excited than it probably should have.

So, at that I'll be leaving you until my next post on Sunday to figure out where I'm headed. (Hint: It's nowhere new; I've posted pictures from there several times in the past)

Also shoutout Reba for having one of the two songs from this millennium that made my top 50 most listened this year.