<All words and images: The Reckoner>
My business trip roadshow continued to Philadelphia (through which I actually came back twice -- first, on returning to Washington, D.C., and again, from New York -- more on tat later). While driving up from D.C., with one of my partners, I saw this guy's sign, though I didn't take his photo, out of respect.
I watched him run up and down the traffic island, really working the midafternoon rush hour (slow hour, really, given how choked these streets seem to get). The W.C. Fields quote ("On the whole, I'd rather be in Philadelphia") popped into my head, and then, I pushed it out, just as quickly. Whatever this sign's author is facing, I suspect he'd rather be somewhere else.
As the street sign suggests, we're cruising through Queen Village, on the city's east side. Queen Village itself has had quite a checkered history (see the links), having weathered its share of boom-bust cycles -- notably during the 1960s and '70s, when a disastrous string of urban planning decisions essentially cut off the neighborhood from the city...making an apt backdrop for crime noir writers like David Goodis (1917-1967), whose work has enjoyed a revival here, though he's better known in France, where icons like Francois Truffaut turned them into films.
That said, however, gentrification has made its impact felt, as you'll see a few photos down. Street art is big here, too, as this photo shows. What it represents, I've no idea, but it's a real striking work, nonetheless.
Quite a few punk rock shows took place here, according to my partner, before the city fathers naturally caught wind of them, and shut the proceedings down. The name of this church escapes me, but as you can see, it bears all the hallmarks of an historic structure, though Trump and his white-sheeted base (note the "Black Lives Matter" banner) probably wouldn't feel welcome here.
One of many turn of the century homes that you'll find here in this area that presumably have gotten a workup or two. I snapped it from our car, as we passed by on the way to this establishment...
...which you'll find on 11th Street, I believe, not far from where we came in (past the mural). I highly recommend this place, particularly the Laotian sausage, which is excellent. We continued downtown, stopping off for a meeting or two that might help us make more connections that'll further our writing careers. Time will tell.
This massed parking meter bike seemed distinctive enough to earn a click-click or two from my roving camera. It struck me, in a strange way, as an updated Mod aesthetic -- right away, I thought of those shots in Quadrophenia, where all the Vespas are lined up, ready for some action against those nasty Rockers. A bit of artistic license on my part, but there you go, then.
You'll see this distinctive sidewalk pattern all around Fourth Street, where we stopped off for our evening meetings. It caught my eye, so I snapped it without hesitation.
Here's the front window of the See gallery, complete with reflections from across the street -- the icing on the cake, of course, if you're up for a good art school-type photo. However...
...what this foreboding mime figure from behind the curtain is thinking, I'm not sure I want to know...and not sure that I'd care to ask!
As usual with these photo essays -- or, at least, lately -- we'll try and leave you on a high, which is this mural on the side of a candy store. Proof positive, I'd say, that Sanders's support in his groundbreaking 2016 presidential bid ran more than an inch deep, even if the Democratic National Committee tried mightily to convince us otherwise.
The quote below it ("Without people you're nothing") is actually from Joe Strummer, who left us all too soon in 2002. An apt statement for today's parched times, since people are all too often the equation that's been whitewashed out of our peculiarly American brand of big biz, show biz, "none of your biz" politics...and one of many reasons, I suspect, why Joe, were he alive today, would give this display a rousing thumbs-up. --The Reckoner
Wikipedia Links A Go-Go
David Goodis:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Goodis
Queen Village:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Queen_Village,_Philadelphia
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