Bruce walks through Northern Liberties Past a Vacant Lot and an Abandoned ‘69 Ford Mustang
Vacant lots tend to lack desprictive features architecturally. In addition, much of Northern Liberties has been raised and rebuilt since filming in 1993. BUT LET’S FIND WHERE BRUCE IS ANYWAY!!
In the distance, two structures stand out among the remaining row homes. Those 2 buildings are Bodine High School for International Affairs and the church spire of the National Shrine to John Neumann.
This places Bruce on N. Hancock St which runs diagonal to 2nd St, opposite a vacant lot which has since been developed into apartments, restaurants, and retail stores: a veritable Live/Work/Play Millennial Village!
2007 and 2018 street view of the formerly vacant lot on N Hancock looking towards 2nd St. Those people are walking on hallowed-Bruce ground!
Bruce Walks A Derelict Street in Northern Liberties, A Sad Scene
What am I doing? This is an excersise in madness! Bruce is shooting in places I figured would have been torn down in the past 27 years.
But nope, this location is ~100 feet south from our first Bruce shot on the same street: N Hancock. That warehouse behind is what you would expect it to be in 2020: lofts named after the items once manufactured there (Carriage Wheel Lofts in this instance) and a sporting goods store.
Who knew that garage would stand the test of time?
Bruce Walks 4th St in South Philly
Children try to mob Bruce, but a fence says otherwise.
Bruce walks South as we look West towards Vare-Washington Elementary in the distance.
On 4th St, the "South Philly Don’t Believe the Pipe" slogan is now a "Sacks" playground mural.
Supposedly, Bruce donated $45,000 for upkeep and maintenance to Sacks after this shoot. This is hearsay. I have no evidence to corroborate.
Bruce Strolls Wallace St in Fairmount
An older couple rakes leaves and tends to a garden under a mural by Dietrich Adonis and Jane Golden. Neighbors have neighborly chats.
Fun Fact: This mural, titled “Tribute to Diego Rivera”, has been altered since 1993. Same layout, but it now depicts Frida Kahlo with basket of produce on head and Diego Rivera breaking bread with a couple of ladies.
The man in the blue sweatshirt sitting next to the fire hydrant in 1993 has since transformed into a coffee cup.
Bruce Walks Through Jefferson Sq in South Philly
Friends, this one was tough. There are so many parks in Philadelphia and Jefferson Sq looks super different today than it did in the early 90’s. A healthy dose of detective work was needed along with assistance from an earlier shot in the music video.
The facades outlined in blue are similar in 2018 to their 30 year younger selves. The ones in yellow match up in our 5th shot of Bruce.
Right across the way from Sacks Playground.
In the shadow of 3 public housing towers (2 of which were demoed a few years prior to this shoot), the park at Jefferson Sq was initially slated for demolition to be replaced with an indoor recreation center. But thanks to community activism, the park was saved and restored by the neighborhood.
On Federal St, many of the row homes are long gone. And while many facades have undergone renovation, a couple still bear the same resemblance to their 30 years ago selves (JUST LIKE BRUCE!).
Bruce Walks A
long the Delaware River in Camden, New Jersey
Back in his home state, The Boss walks the Delaware River waterfront in Camden, NJ as the Benjamin Franklin Bridge looms behind. Eventually the camera settles on the quintessential skyline of Philadelphia.
While the barbed wire fence and homeless trio around a barrel of fire are no longer present, those sheltered benches behind our hero still stand.
A Cadre of Down-On-Their-Luck Fellows Pull Paper Plates from a Trash Can in Northern Liberties
On N. Hancock St in the same location as our second Bruce shot next to the garage that stood the test of time. You can briefly see these three gentleman in that shot.
A Lady Walks Around Some Girls Skippin’ Rope
We already know where this puppy is! The row homes in the back are the same row homes seen in Bruce’s shot at Jefferson Sq.
Night Shot of Rittenhouse Sq
Difficulty: easy. I worked the farmer’s market 100 ft north of this location. Just a shot of the southwest corner of Rittenhouse Sq at dusk, nothin’ to see here.
IMO, a real snoozer of a shot.
Let Us Start with the Classic Philly Locations
City Hall, Boi!! Followed by a couple skyline shots (one from across the Delaware River in NJ) featuring the then tallest buildings in Philadelphia 1 & 2 Liberty Place. And we can’t forget the front of Independence Hall and the Liberty Bell, DOINK!
You don’t need me to tell you where these dinguses are.
Engine 29 at the Corner of 4th and Girard Ave
This one is special to me, folks. It is the first shot that started me down the rabbit hole that resulted in this dinky webpage.
The Philadelphia Bar & Grille is now a bar and music venue called The Fire where the Bar & Grille sign still hangs out front. When I asked the bartender why the sign was there, the response was, “The owner keeps it because it was in that movie, ‘Philadelphia’.”
Below is the tail end of the shot from the movie because it goes on longer than the music video. Look at that tree now! It’s grown and now blocks the Bar & Grille sign, WOWEE!
#antoniobanderas
In West Philly, Some School Kids Wave While Walking Past a Mural
This mural is titled ‘Boy With Raised Arms’ by Sidney Goodman, painted in 1990. Interesting tidbit: the mural includes a line from Walt Whitman’s poem Song of Myself, 51: “I am large, I contain multitudes.” However, you will notice that this shot from ‘Philadelphia’ does not yet include that quote. It must have been added sometime after its 1990 completion date and the ‘92/93 film shoot. BUT WHEN?
The mural was obscured by construction in the early 2000’s and eventually demolished. It’s location proved unfindable via my tried and true Google map combing technique. But luckily for me, the MuralArtsPhilly website puts this mural at Powell Ave and 40th St.
School Gals Leaving School in Franklintown
Class is over at John W Hallahan Catholic Girls High School at the corner of Wood St and 19th St.
There they are, that’s it.
A Lovely Skyline Shot from West Philly
The Skyline has changed, my friends! That cute old 19th century gothic church in the bottom right fell into disrepair around 2004 after a storm toppled its massive steeple. It was demolished ~2018 to make way for a 278 unit apartment complex.
You can read more about the plight of the 131 year old Christ Memorial Reformed Episcopal Church here, here and here.
Meditation Park Under Construction, Glenwood
This formerly vacant lot was transformed as part of an art park building project by Lily Yeh called “The Village”,
From Bare Foot Artists: Inspired by African architecture, Chinese gardens, and Islamic courtyards, Lily Yeh designed the Meditation Park to provide a place for people to relax, reflect, reconnect, and re-center. The focal point of the park is the tiled mural “The Tree of Life,” which was designed by Lily Yeh and mosaicked by James (Big Man) Maxton. The Village construction team, comprised of neighborhood adults, constructed the inlaid floor and the sculptural walls.
I’m fairly certain that the woman with long black hair on the right side of the group is Lily Yeh. I cannot confirm this, but it looks like her early 90’s haircut.
Kids Keep Court at Fulton Elementary in Germantown
We got a doozy, friends! First, some history…
Irwin Thornton Catharine, born 1883, was the chief architect of Philadelphia public schools from 1920 until his retirement in 1937 and is responsible for 90+ school buildings during that time. Most are listed on the US National Register of Historic Places.
Perusing this gargantuan list of schools, I noticed Catharine used similar architectural styles on a number of his designs (mostly on the sides and the rear, never on the facade). Locating the location of this particular location is most certainly a fools errand. But I am a fool and I found it.
It is the backside of The Robert Fulton School (now known as Fulton Elementary) named for the 18th century inventor, Robert Fulton. It is listed on the US National Register of Historic Places. It was one of 23 public schools closed by the School Reform Commission in 2013 and currently sits abandoned. :(
Just for comparison…
These are 4 different examples of the architectural cut-and-paste employed by Irwin T. Catharine. I did not track them all down.
Double door with art deco verticals, and a 5 window arrangement to one side.
A Crew of Cool Kids Congregate Atop A Statue of Three Bears at Three Bears Park
A hot tip came in this morning (Thanks, Sequoia M) to tell me to check out Delancey Park on Delancey St. And what do you know?! A statue of three bears in a park!
To quote The Cultural Landscape Foundation: “in Philadelphia’s Society Hill neighborhood, this pocket park was created in 1965. Transforming a vacant lot, landscape architect John Collins designed the park as one of several such spaces associated with the Washington Square East Urban Renewal Project led by Edmund Bacon between 1957 and 1977.
The cast concrete sculpture of three bears by Joseph Winter was added in 1966. Turns out the sculpture is actually called Family of Bears.
It’s Double Dutch Time at McCall Elementary and Middle School
Most of these kids are sporting some shade of red in their outfits. They all look really good.
I’m taking an educated guess that this is a school yard of some kind (or perhaps a parking lot next to a school), most likely a middle or high school. BOLD MOVE, I know. It was originally included on my “I don’t know where this is” list when I had to abandon my initial process of combing through every single middle or high school in the Philadelphia area. Even though it worked previously for Fulton Elementary, the method just wasn’t cuttin’ the mustard. So, I went to the original opening credits of ‘Philadelphia’ to see if the shot was a little longer. It was not.
BUT! A pattern has emerged! All the shots in the opening appear to be locally clustered. Our shot here is sandwiched between two in the vicinity of Independence Hall. Might our school possibly be in the area? Yes, yes it might.
Located a measly half mile south of Independence Hall, the McCall School was named after Philly native, Civil War POW, and Brigadier General George A. McCall. This school is spittin’ distance from Three Bears Park.
The front door was painted blue circa 2015, an unanticipated curveball.
The Macready & Shilts Legal Services second floor offices are now vacant as the current occupants, Helm Rittenhouse, closed prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. Time to reclaim the space and recreate Denzel’s corner office!
