Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Never have I been so conflicted about a city as I've been about Philadelphia. I heard automatic weapons firing for the first time in Philly. I met the friendliest people in Philly. The architecture in Philly is stunning. The place was literally falling apart. My van was hit by a chunk of cement bridge. There were debris nets under many of the railroad viaducts, and some parts of the city around Temple University looked like they'd been bombed. The verdict? Philly was just ugly enough to love.
This photo was taken along one of the main East/West arterials as I was leaving downtown. 5 miles down the road was where I was staying.
Naturally downtown was beautiful. Apparently, the city had cleaned up its act a year or so before I came to
town. There wasn't much shopping to speak of in the core city, but the buildings looked pretty new and busy.
This building was the center point in downtown.
