Side note: The penny board is a new addition to the list. I used to ride a longboard, one I bought years ago on the Oregon Coast, but it was so big and heavy to carry around, and too bulky to navigate around pedestrians, cars, and storefronts, that I wouldn't take it with me into the city. The bright pink penny board I have now is perfect for maneuvering around things. It's as small as a skateboard, but the deck is plastic, and it has the trucks and wheels of a longboard. The trucks are loose, so if you lean one way, it turns the board. The wheels are big, so it has more ground clearance, allowing me to go over curbs, cracks in the sidewalk, bricks, and lots of other things. It's the perfect way to get around, and it's so much fun to ride. When I don't fall off.... I've hit the pavement a lot since I bought it. Unlike my longboard, it's not as big as a boat and easy to stay on. There is no grip tape, so if it's wet, it's slippery - and it's got less surface area as well. Considerably less. My palms have scabs that keep getting ripped open every time I eat shit again. At 23 years old, and I don't feel very dignified laying on the pavement. But I digress...
So I'll head into the city with all my essentials, including my beloved penny board. I used to always get off at 15th and Locust, the last train stop, and head to Rittenhouse Square to poke around. There's a beautiful park in the square, with benches and concrete fixtures and a fountain. There's also a Barnes and Noble that has a coffee shop on the 2nd floor, with windows looking out onto the square. I like that spot. The building is even named Alison Building, which is neat.
Lately I've been trying to draw architecture, so that has taken me to new places. I have been going to City Hall often, and poking around in the surrounding areas.
City Hall is fabulous, ornate -- breathtaking. It's made all out of stone, and you can walk right through it. It looks the same on all four sides, and the roads go around it, yet it takes up a whole city block.
Once you get to the courtyard of it, there is usually something set up in what they call Dillworth Park, which is essentially the porch stoop of City Hall. Right now they have a small ice rink set up, tents with local vendors' goods, and a Christmas tree. You walk through Dillworth Park and go through a giant, open gate, under a huge arch with lots to look at above you. You're inside the building essentially but it's not indoors. It's like a covered courtyard kind of. There are pillars, stairs, keystones (the concrete heads that are fixed in between an archway), and tons of other huge, amazing things to wonder at.
Once you're through that, you're in a center courtyard. There are statues, plants, and other lovely things. This is where the trains come in, but not the one I ride. You'll see 3 or 4 different entrances, and above them are charming little signs like "Broadway Subway" in lettering that's been there for probably a hundred years or more.
You're in the center courtyard now, and as I said, City Hall has four sides that are all similar, so they all have the walkway that you've just come through. If you go through the others, they are just as breathtaking, but different. I went through one the other day and found a plaque commemorating the cornerstone from when they built the amazing edifice, back in 18 somethin'. I also saw pillars that spoke to me on a deeper level than most concrete things do, lol. At the top of the pillar, when it meets the ceiling, it had sculptures of people that look as if they were holding the ceiling up, but there were different ones of different kinds of people. My favorite was one that had a bunch of Indians (Native Americans, that is) that were holding up the ceiling with arms interlocked. It was beautiful. I hope to go back and try to draw it sometime soon. Maybe I'll post it.
One of the times I was exploring, I came upon a building not far from City Hall, called Belleview. It is not uncommon for buildings to have names here. I am assuming because there is nowhere for things to go except up; that buildings contain lots of businesses and office buildings, and in this case, a hotel as well. I think naming the building is a way to identify the spot, because all the business inside essentially have the same address. So to find it, you'd have to say, "Williams-Sonoma in the Shops at Belleview, 13 Broad Street, Philadelphia, PA", or whatever.
Either way, what drew me in was essentially the Starbucks coffee. I was on the opposite side of the street buying a copy of my favorite newspaper publication from a homeless man. But that's a story for another day...
I went in to the Starbucks, needing to use their wifi to take care of a few things online. When I walked in I was immediately enamored. Marble floors, high ceilings, gold hardware/fixtures, and a few shops is what I could see once I passed through the revolving doors. I grabbed a coffee but didn't stay long. I wanted to walk around, and see what the corners of this building were hiding. I stayed on the ground floor, and after walking by a couple high-end shops and a boutique, I came into the hotel lobby. Then, doubling back, I went down the escalators to find a food court. Tucked away in one of the corners was an escalator that lead upwards, into a hallway with a plaque that boasted of ballrooms and meeting rooms.
There was no one on this floor, that I could see.
I saw a sign outside two impressively large, closed doors, that read State Drawing Room. Upon further inspection, one of the doors was cracked open just a hair. It was too tempting.... I looked around and slipped in. It was dark and my ears were pricked, waiting for any sign of "the authorities" coming to take me away. I wandered into a room with high ceilings, old wallpaper, long curtains, and renaissance paintings. There were long tables on either side of the room, and at the end, an opening into a smaller room, with windows that looked out onto the street. I ventured there. To my left, I saw a closed door... OOOOOoooouuuuu, mysterious. I tried to see out onto the street via the windows, and I could - a little bit - but mainly I saw the flags that they had fixed to the side of the building, and a very small balcony. I came back to the center of the room and looked up to see a painting on the ceiling, but what it depicted I can't remember because I also noticed four small surveillance cameras, and quickly made my way out of the State Drawing Room, stopping at the door to peer through the sheer curtains for several seconds, making damn sure that the hallway was empty when I slipped back into it.
I then followed my whims into a lobby-type room, with elevators at the rear, a desk on the left with a beautiful stained glass accent wall behind it, meeting room entrances on the right, and directly ahead, a beautiful spiral staircase that lead both upwards and downwards from where I was at. I wish I could explain with enough detail to repaint the picture. The banisters were gold-colored, the stairs were marble, the wall-sconces were tastefully decorated. It was lovely. I ventured up first, discovered an empty ballroom, and then ventured downward to find the same hotel lobby I came upon from the first floor. Thus, I thought my exploration of the Belleview had come to an end.
I went for a coffee refill at Starbucks. On my way out, I was headed for the doors to go back out into the cold when I saw a gentleman come out of the elevator. My eyes were drawn to the plaque next to it, which stated floor numbers and the various things they contained. My curiosity was peaked when I read, Floor 12 Conservatory.
So I hopped in, and hit the little round 12 on the inside of the elevator. When I got there, I was pleased. I had come upon a very large, open room, with incredibly high ceilings made out of skylights. It was dark out, so it was dark in.
Again, I was the only one in the room. There was a fountain in the middle, and plush chairs and round tables scattered here and there.
What I found interesting was that the room was surrounded by other rooms, on all sides. Hotel rooms. Most had their curtains drawn; in fact, I didn't realize they were hotel rooms until I noticed that one in particular did not have the curtains drawn, and I saw into an empty room with a bed on the right with white sheets, and a small couch and tv. I was surprised... And still am very interested to go back when I can sit for a time.
This concluded my exploration for the time being. I look forward to spending more hours wandering around Philadelphia, poking around in rooms I'm not supposed to be in and finding new things.
Cheers!
A Sharpie drawing of city hall I may never finish
A rough sketch of the foyer at Belleview Hotel
