What do we know about Philadelphia

The city, not the cream cheese.  If nothing else goes wrong in the week I’m dragging the wife to Philly for Radwood.  I’d like to go a couple extra days because I haven’t been there since I was about 10 and she’s never been. The problem is she still isn’t walking and i don’t know how far I feel like pushing everyday. If we wanted to go to some of the historical sights like the Historical District is there parking where I can just pull up and wheel her around or do i need to leave the car at the hotel and take taxis or buses around?  Does anyone know if the sights themselves are fairly accessible?

I'll have a white 93 escort GT at Radwood. Deke's BBQ, Tony Luc's for the pork sandwich and or course cheese steak. Most of my knowledge of where to go in various cities extends to where to eat and what beers to enjoy...

Get a cheese wit. 

You can do plenty with a wheel chair. Independence hall is nearly across the street from the liberty bell museum thing.   You can park near there and wheel a couple blocks should be good. 

I think their newest resident tells you everything you need to know about the city.

Seriously. They did this.

In reply to 02Pilot :

I was trying to overlook that they are the city that booed Santa Claus because the wife is looking forward to going somewhere besides a doctor office but good God that’s quite a beast. Oh well, everything else looks promising so if she’s up to the car ride we’ll probably take a trip down.

Plenty of Philly folks here.  I'm in Atlanta now, but spent well over 4 decades in and around Philly, it's my home.  Yes, much of the historic stuff downtown is within short walking distance, I used to live less than a mile from it.  Liberty Bell and Independence Hall are across the street from each other.  Right nearby is the mint, which is cool, as well as Betsy Ross house.  There's some parking within a few block radius, but if want to use a cab that works too.

For good food, if you don't mind walking/pushing about .5 miles or so, the best cheesesteaks in town are at Jims'.  That's at the corner of 4th and South St., which is about 5 blocks south of Independence Hall.  If you'd rather have a great deli sandwich, and I mean awesome (fresh turkey piled so high you can't get your mouth around it) just one block south of Jims' is a place called Famous' Deli....corner of 4th and Bainbridge. 

Plenty of other sights around Philly to see, but you'd need a car or a cab.

Oh, and the booing Santa thing was over 50 years ago, and the facts aren't as legend has it.  But it makes for good folklore...

Go to the Simeone Foundation Museum. All racecars from 19xx to the 60s, most as raced and unrestored and in running condition. If you go on a Saturday see if they are running a demo day where they drive a selection of cars. 

https://www.simeonemuseum.org

I echo what Klayfish said all around.  Once you are at independence mall the accessibility is great and everything is close.  

I’ll also be at Radwood, bringing the NSX. 

Stay off the Schuylkill Expressway. Seriously.

I hear its always sunny there. 

If you like weird science stuff, the Mutter museum is worth a day trip.

Klayfish said:

For good food, if you don't mind walking/pushing about .5 miles or so, the best cheesesteaks in town are at Jims'.

THANK YOU.  Tony Luke is a poser in the extreme.  The whole Pat's-vs-Gino's thing is a play for the tourists.  Jim's is where it's at.  Make mine whiz-whit, hots and sweets on the side.

If you have limited time, I also suggest doing the whole Independence Hall / Liberty Bell / Betsy Ross / etc thing.  That's the real deal, where the revolution happened and a bunch of pissed off farmers became a country.  It's also within a relatively small radius.

The neighborhood Jim's is in, South Street, is pretty cool to amble along, though it may be a little jiggly for a chair.  And someone used to the cool bits of Manhattan will probably be unimpressed.  Besides, Zipperhead isn't there any more:

Half of what you need to know about Philadelphia is in this link

The Simeone is really cool, indeed, but it is outside the city to the south.

Normally I would say that it is a city in New Jersey, but they beat the cheater Patriots in the SuperBowl so I will proudly say that they are a part of Pennsylvania!  Compared to Pittsburgh, the bad areas are much worse and the nice areas are much nicer.  The food out there is pretty damn awesome, not just cheesesteaks either, there are some killer restaurants from 5-star on down. 

Growing up in the suburbs, I never cared much for any of the steaks the South Philly places make, even if those are considered "real" ones. It just depends on what you get used to.  I grew up on little mom & pop pizza & steak shops. 

The Franklin Institute. Museum of Art. Science Museum  - all have been modernized to be accessible.  The first is probably the most unique to Philly compared to other museums in NYC.  

And yeah... they boo'ed Santa because the guy was a crappy Santa and deserved it.  

My knowledge about Philly is a bit dated, but South Street was pretty cool.  It's to Philly what the Village is to NYC.  Kinda.

Check out a play at the Walnut Street Theatre?  They're currently running a kick-ass Irving Berlin musical.

Philly is the city of brotherly love.  Don't forget to carry mace.  Or a taser.

I'm heading down there with my wife and two boys in the Delica for Radwood as well.  We're planning to leave sometime in the afternoon on Friday the 12th, roll in around midnight or later as the Delica is so gawd awful slow. I bought tickets for teh Flyers matinee game on Saturday against the Vegas Golden Knights, and then Radwood the next day.

NickD said:

I hear its always sunny there. 

Beat me to it.

While the story about Santa is an overblown legend, more recently they killed the hitchhiking robot. He was Canadian, how much more harmless could he have been?

In reply to Duke :

For me, it's not that Pat's and Gino's are tourist traps, though they are of course the most famous ones.  They're not "bad", but they're not as good as Jims'.  Not even close.  Back "in the day", I lived at 10th and South.  So I was a very frequent visitor to Jims'.

ddavidv said:

Stay off the Schuylkill Expressway. Seriously.

I used to commute on it every day for two years.. It's not as bad as seattle...   actually it's not that bad.. 

Fueled by Caffeine said:

ddavidv said:

Stay off the Schuylkill Expressway. Seriously.

I used to commute on it every day for two years.. It's not as bad as seattle...   actually it's not that bad.. 

The SureKill Expressway sucks, no doubt.  However, it's honestly not any worse or better than any major artery in a major city.  People say Atlanta traffic is "the worst".  Having now driven in it for 4 years, I don't find it much different than Philly.  The only difference is some of the highways here in ATL are 6-7 lanes wide instead of 2-3 like the SureKill.  Either way, it can still take 45 minutes to go 10 miles.  Though I will say they just opened toll express lanes on one of the major highways here that I use a few weeks ago, and it's made a tremendous difference so far.  I love it.

We'll be driving down from MA on Friday evening. Whet is our best route in a slow moving(read 60 in the right lane) nearly 30 year old Japanese diesel minivan? Hotel is in the Navy Yard area.

The hipsters found Fishtown and are ruining it.  My favorite place for a cheesesteak is Central Pizza on Girard Ave; double provolone and grilled onions is my favorite way to have one made.  

I always like going up to Washington's Crossing and just kind of take it in, as it were.  Some really cute little towns up along the Delaware River north of the city.

pres589 said:

The hipsters found Fishtown and are ruining it.  My favorite place for a cheesesteak is Central Pizza on Girard Ave; double provolone and grilled onions is my favorite way to have one made.  

I always like going up to Washington's Crossing and just kind of take it in, as it were.  Some really cute little towns up along the Delaware River north of the city.

Now you're bringing back all kinds of memories.  I was initially born and raised in Bucks County, am a Yardley native.  Spent tons of time in Washingtons' Crossing as a youth. 

When I first moved into the city itself, this is going back to around 1991, I lived at 5th and Girard.  There used to be a Pizza Hut on E. Girard Ave, right near the entrance to I-95.  I worked there, so I used to walk back and forth down Girard pretty much every day.  It really wasn't a great neighborhood back then.  I remember going to the Amaco gas station around the corner late at night to get snacks for all night study sessions and you had to tell the employee what to get because they were behind bullet proof glass.

Fast forward to after I got married and my wife and I lived in Montgomery County.  At the time, we owned an FFR Cobra and started a local Philly area club.  We would put on an annual car show in Washingtons' Crossing, which would draw about 45-50 cars every year.