When I was looking at where to stay in Philadelphia, one of the areas I thought about was South Street. While I ended up staying in a different neighborhood, I still wanted to check the neighborhood out. 

South Street represents the layers of Philadelphia’s history. The historic red brick houses and narrow lanes speak to the time when it was the original southern boundary to the city. Over time, the neighborhood has been home to immigrants as well as a vibrant African-American community.

South Street runs for several blocks and is stocked with funky stores. The vibe of the over 300 shops ranges from bohemian to grunge, from vintage to exotica, from gamer to artsy.  Public art also adds character to the street. Almost every wall is covered with either business murals, local artist paintings, or mosaics. 

I was visiting the area with a friend who lives in Philadelphia, so one of the things that he made sure that we did here was revisit his favorite Philly Cheesesteak place. I know that there are always debates about which place is the best in the city, but I will just have to take my friend’s word on his choice.  The casual art deco diner vibe of Jim’s South St. felt right. With half the menu being cheesesteaks, it was easy to see that this place knows what the fans want. We grabbed our subs and headed upstairs to look out over the street while we diner – just an FYI that this is a cash only establishment.  During the rebuilding from the 2022 fire that devastated this block, Jim’s expanded their building and found some of famous local artist Isaiah Zagar’s earliest mosaics embedded in their walls.

If you walk anywhere along South St, you’re bound to come across some of Zagar’s pieces.  Zagar and his wife moved to the area in the 1960s, and they dedicated themselves to revitalizing the area. In the process of buying and renovating run down buildings, Zagar began to add some colorful touches to them through the use of mosaics.  Over the years he added his artistic touch to the alleyways, walls, floors, and any other surface you can think of. 

Starting in 1994, Isaiah Zagar began transforming a vacant lot into what is now the heart of his masterpiece – Philadelphia’s Magic Gardens.  Here, he not only covered the existing walls with mosaics, but created a maze of tunnels, towers, and small rooms. From afar, the reflected light from the mirrors and the brightness of the colors blind you to the intricacies of the pieces. With closer inspection there are some unusual motifs in his work.  The space even offers a scavenger hunt to encourage people to stop and take a closer look. 

After experiencing the city vibes of South Street, I wanted to spend some time in the parks, so we made our way over to Fairmount Park.  Every city has their iconic greenspace, and Fairmount Park is Philadelphia’s.  I was here on the first beautiful day of the spring; the day that everyone comes out of their winter cocoons to embrace nature, so the place was busy. We parked within the hilly section of East Fairmount Park and made our way down to the river. The Schuylkill Recreation path that extends for 30 miles along the Schuylkill River.

We walked a small section of the path to the Ellen Phillips Samuel Memorial.  Made up of three terraces, the seventeen sculptures (built between 1933-61) in this memorial represent the creation of the United States. From Western Expansion and the building of a democratic nation to the inner energies of the country, the sculptures were set to honor the philanthropic legacy of Ellen Phillips Samuel. 

Fairmount Park was not as spacious as I expected, but I think a large part of this feeling was seeing and hearing the cars along the busy Kelly Drive. The busy road made the river portion of the park feel cramped and isolated from the rest of the area. However, from looking at the map and other websites, it looks like the western part of the park is more spacious and wild.  I would love to check out some of the trails away from the crowds and cars on my next visit. 

Nearby is the iconic Boathouse row. Designated a National Historic Landmark in 1987, the fifteen unique 19th century Victorian boat houses have been home to private and public rowing clubs for over a century.  

At the northern end of Boathouse row, Lloyd Hall Recreation Center offers rentals, a small cafe, beverages and live music. We sat with a drink and enjoyed the music and people-watching for a little bit before moving on.

We took a quick walk down to the river’s edge on the other side of the Water Works building to see the sculptures and informational plaques that talk about the history of water transportation and power in the area.

Set up on the hill above the river, is the dominating Philadelphia Art Museum. While I didn’t have time to check out the inside of the music, I enjoyed walking the grounds. One of the largest art museums in the country, the 1928 building is composed of three linked Greek temples. Designer Julian Abele was inspired by his travels to Greece.

People travel to the front of the Philadelphia Art Museum not just for the art, but live their own movie scene.  The 72 steps leading up to the museum were the backdrop to an iconic scene in the 1976 movie Rocky.  A gift shop and statue commemorating the movie are available at the bottom of the stairs. For me the draw of these stairs is the lovely view they provide of the rest of the city. 

Philadelphia has so many breweries that it would be impossible to visit all of them in one trip. While other cities have just jumped into the brewing industry, for Philadelphia, brewing is part of its history – before Prohibition the city had nearly 700 breweries.  One of the neighborhoods adjacent to Fairmount Park is even called Brewerytown. While my bike ride home didn’t take me through the Brewerytown neighborhood, I did want to check out one of the local breweries. The large industrial space of Love City Brewing is welcoming and atmospheric. It’s such a large space that they have room to have a food truck inside of it. Having a local beer and some snacks here was the perfect end to my day of exploring the new history of the city.