O Foggy Night

 Apologies for the late post, between being buried in school work and the general hecticness of life I didn't have any time to work on it. But you're seeing it now which means I've gotten everything under control (and by that I mean found other things to push off for later), so let's see some photos!

30th Street Station, University City

This first group of photos today comes from an evening when my roommate was out trying to get some photos for his photography class and I tagged along. This station was at the other end of the block from the apartment we were living in at the time, and looks pretty picturesque. It opened as the central station and headquarters for the Pennsylvania Railroad in 1930. It was taken over by Amtrak and SEPTA in 1976. While Amtrak is technically based in Washington DC since it's a government agency, the old PRR offices in here are actually their center of operations.

Amtrak's platforms are under the station, and SEPTA's are on the northern end. The southern area is a food court. They are currently preparing for a massive remodel here that will totally rearrange the area, which is slated to begin later this year. In recent months, about half of the food court tenants have gotten the boot. Neon Dunkin is hanging on for now, though.

This dining area has been closed off as well, but I don't anticipate much changing on this end. Most of the work is going to be rearranging the walkways between here and the main hall.

Taco Bell/Pizza Hut is gone now, too. Its loss was greatly mourned by the nearby colleges. Currently, Pizza Hut has 5 locations left in the city, three of which are Expresses in Targets.

Slainté/Market Tavern, University City

This building was originally home to a butchering facility when it was built in the early 1900's. By the 50's, it had been converted to office use by A&P, who used it as their regional headquarters. In recent years, the building was mostly used as a technical school with an Irish bar on the corner. A quick remodel was done to the building's exterior when it sold in mid-2018, during which Slainté changed its name to the Market Tavern (most likely because nobody knew how to pronounce slan-che). The new name didn't last long. They lost their lease earlier this year, and currently the entire building is being gutted out to become offices for Spark Therapeutics. This appears to only be a shorter-term lease though, as the site is included in the Schuylkill Yards redevelopment plan which calls for its demolition for a high-rise.

Philadelphia National/Sovereign/Santander, University City

PNB opened here in 1952 as part of the Bulletin headquarters. Sovereign had taken over by the end of the 80's, and rebranded to Santander in 2013. They closed at the end of 2019 in preparation for another part of Schuylkill Yards, which will likely begin construction by the end of the year. Currently it sits vacant, though the parking lot has become part of the pay-to-park garage behind it for the time being.

AJ Drexel Statue, University City

Mr. Drexel's facial expression here has long haunted students at his school. The running joke is that he's looking at us like that because he knows our GPA's. 

Drexel University, University City

The quad might be r/liminalspace material this time of night.

The jury's still out on whether it's cool or cringy to have a dragon named Mario as a school mascot. Regardless of their opinions, just about everybody here has a picture taken with his statue at some point in their school careers.

One Riverside, Fitler Square

Despite walking down this trail with some frequency, I never noticed this building until the day I got this picture. It just kinda blends in. This tower went up in 2016 on a former parking lot. Despite being right next to a freight rail track, they're incredibly expensive.

Kmart, West Chester, PA

I made another trip to the West Chester Kmart, and as obliged, got more pictures. Here's the electronics island, which I believe was added in the 2008 remodel. This was and remains the only Kmart I've ever seen with any amount of neon in it.

I noticed stock was looking a little bare, but despite that this store survived a while post-bankruptcy.

Clothing racks were also a little more spaced out than they usually are, which is never a good sign.

I say this every time I post pictures of this place, but by Kmart standards this place was stellar. No mismatched or broken floor tiles, no stained ceiling tiles, and none of the expected general grossness!

The shelving in here also looked pretty new. I figure it must have all been replaced in the 2008 remodel.

It's a massive store. The shopping center's going to have a hard time finding something to fill it. Currently, it still sits empty with the signage up over a year after shutting its doors.

Kmart kept Grandway's lighting layout, even though it didn't exactly match up with theirs. The longer strips of light presumably went over the central aisle in the old days. Kmart's central aisle is where I'm standing in the picture now.

39th and Spring Garden, West Powelton

There aren't too many completely intact sets of rowhomes around here. Usually they've got at least one that's been torn down, rebuilt, or renovated beyond recognition. Aside from slapping some Formstone up on the corner unit, it's basically the way it would have looked in 1900.

Conversely, there's not much at all left of this row nearby. 

Murry's, West Powelton

Murry's was a small Maryland-based supermarket with an emphasis on frozen steaks. At one point, they had at least 5 stores in the Philly. They have scaled back considerably within the past decade, closing all their stores (with the exception of one using the name under license by somebody else). The last regular Murry's supermarket (their Germantown, Phila location) closed in 2018. This one went a little earlier, in 2014. It's remained vacant ever since, and is now planned to be replaced with apartments. Murry's still exists as a frozen food manufacturer/distributor, but exclusively makes French Toast Sticks now. 

Friendly Money Loan, West Powelton

This place kinda tells you everything you need to know about this neighborhood. "Bad part of town" staples loans, check cashing, and a pawn shop are all rolled into one. The upper floors have been abandoned for several years, although the store was still open until relatively recently.

Phone Store, West Powelton

It's sign said "Buy-Sell-Trade All Phones," but didn't give an actual name. Evidently they were playing with fire or something in there, as it burned out in 2016 and has sat like this ever since. The Instagram handles on the graffiti would indicate it was sanctioned as a mural. I guess it's better than a blank riot gate, but it still doesn't give me good neighborhood vibes.

Kresge/Villa, West Powelton

Kresge opened this location sometime in the 30's as a replacement for a smaller store a few doors down. After they closed, it operated as an independent sneaker store for a few decades before Villa opened in 2009. Kresge's interior was still intact last I saw. I promise you I had every intention of going in and taking pictures, but the store got absolutely destroyed during the riots earlier this year. They haven't reopened yet, but I'm hoping they do and that Kresge's interior survived.

MLK Statue, West Powelton

This statue memorializes a speech Martin Luther King made at this intersection in 1968. Honestly I didn't know he did anything in Philly prior to finding this.

Old Bank, West Powelton

There's not much history on this one. Most likely it was independent originally, though it wouldn't surprise me if it was a PNB or PSFS. For most of recent history, it's been home to an evangelical church.

West Philadelphia Title & Trust, West Powelton

This was WPT&T's original branch and headquarters. It opened its doors in the early 1900's, and grew pretty rapidly. In 1922, they moved their headquarters down to Walnut Street, though presumably kept this open as a bank branch. It's now divided between a hoagie shop and a closed loan office.

Looking West

I had lab in the evening at the top of one of campus's taller buildings this term. It really had a great view.

Frankford Chocolate Co, Graduate Hospital

Sad story time. I've definitely talked about this place before but this is the first I've posted it here. This huge old factory was originally built in 1860 as a wallpaper factory, then became a canning facility, and following that a warehouse for Wanamaker's department store. In the 1970's, Frankford Chocolate Company moved in, relocating from its namesake Frankford. Their bread and butter is chocolate Easter rabbits, though you would probably know them best for making the gummy Krabby Patties. They moved to a new facility in Northeast Philly in 2006, leaving this one vacant. An ambitious plan to make this into a community center for the local Vietnamese population was on the table for a while, but was cancelled after the owner died. Things were looking up in 2017. The structure was listed on the national historical register and a plan to convert it into apartments was revealed. Sadly, the building sold to someone else who immediately began demolition. The original plan involved them keeping about 1/3 of the original structure, which was left standing. Plans changed again the following year, and the remainder was demolished too. 

Hoa Binh Plaza, Graduate Hospital

Like Frankford, Hoa Binh was also the subject of a huge development scandal. I'm less upset about this one though, it's a 50-year-old cinderblock warehouse. In the early 90's, the Washington Ave corridor saw a huge influx of Vietnamese immigrants. One of the first businesses they set up was the Hoa Binh Plaza, which converted this old warehouse into a supermarket-anchored mini mall. Flash forward a few years, and the owner decides to sell the property to a developer. The community was outraged. Even if it's architecturally not much, it held quite a bit of cultural value. He could not get a demolition permit approved as a result, so then he evicted all the tenants in the hopes that the vacant structure would be easier to take down. Currently, it's vacant but still standing. The new development is expected to start later this year.

Dunkin Donuts, Graduate Hospital

Dunkin opened here in the early 2000's alongside a building supply warehouse. It's an interesting combination, but I think I follow the logic. Construction workers would come here most often in the morning, and could take advantage of the coffee while they're here.

For this week's song, let's go with some Tommy James.