Paint the Town

I can generally find my way around Philadelphia pretty easily, but there are times I get turned around and going in the wrong direction. I have never ended up in New Jersey by mistake, but there have been times when my route to a given location is less than ideal. On one of those unintended detours, I looked up as drove down Ridge Avenue and there it was, the mural that started the mural craze in Philadelphia. Dr. J in all his glory standing four-stories tall. It was an amazing site. That was one time I was glad I went the wrong way.

Taking the train downtown to visit a client at 23rd and Chestnut, after exiting at 30th Street Station and crossing a bridge over the Schuylkill, I would come face to face with the first mural that I noticed in Philadelphia. Painted to match the style of the rest of the building was a tribute to Ben Franklin—one of the few people more associated with Philadelphia than Dr. J. It took me a long time looking at the mural to realize that none of it was actual architectural structure—just sleight of hand by a talented artist working on a scale that amazes me.

I love Philadelphia’s murals. They are hidden gems scattered throughout the city. In underpasses. On old walls. In places you would never suspect. One of my favorites was next to a parking lot that I used to patronize when I drove downtown instead of taking the train. The church that stood at that corner is long gone, but a mural was painted showing the shadow of the church and its reflection in faux windows in 1995. I don’t think there was a day that I used that lot that the mural did not take my breath away. It is a subtle, sublime work of art. I loved that even though the church was gone, it still haunted that intersection.

Like any big city, Philadelphia is far from perfect, but when it paints the town, it does it right.