From a distance, I've never fully understood the attraction, the allutre of the Fairmount neighborhood. The neighborhood has one thing going for it - it's proximity to the Ben Franklin Parkway - which also serves as a detriment during events season (Memorial Day through Labor Day). Parking is tough to find and while the neighborhood is walkable to the Market Street business district, I'd prefer the walk in a comfortable spring or fall day not heading to the office in June. If you live in this area you are going to need to learn bus schedules. Fairmount Avenue and Spring Garden Street are the neighborhoods to main East\West thoroughfares, the former hosting a handful of restaurants, along with the areas most defining feature, the Eastern State Penitentiary.
Beyond the major commercial avenues the neighborhood has restaurants, like The Belgian Cafe, and coffee shops like Brown Street Coffee and The Lucky Goat that blend seamlessly with surrounding residential area. Any neighborhood would want to have places like these down the corner from their house. I think the best way to "see" Fairmount is to wander the streets to and from these establishments, rather than up and down Fairmount Avenue. On a closer inspection, I understand that Fairmount is a nice neighborhood with large, well maintained row homes, but I still don't get the neighborhood's attraction. Why not live in Logan Circle or Fitler Square which have similar feels and are truly walkable to Center City? The accommodations all have similar prices, yet Fairmount lacks the convenience. The more I visit, the more the mystery deepens.
Beyond the major commercial avenues the neighborhood has restaurants, like The Belgian Cafe, and coffee shops like Brown Street Coffee and The Lucky Goat that blend seamlessly with surrounding residential area. Any neighborhood would want to have places like these down the corner from their house. I think the best way to "see" Fairmount is to wander the streets to and from these establishments, rather than up and down Fairmount Avenue. On a closer inspection, I understand that Fairmount is a nice neighborhood with large, well maintained row homes, but I still don't get the neighborhood's attraction. Why not live in Logan Circle or Fitler Square which have similar feels and are truly walkable to Center City? The accommodations all have similar prices, yet Fairmount lacks the convenience. The more I visit, the more the mystery deepens.
|
|
EASTERN STATE PENITENTIARY
The hulking Eastern State Penitentiary (ESP) dominates the Fairmount neighborhood. I always found it a little odd when I saw ESP listed in guidebooks, thinking who would want to visit a prison? What’s the attraction? Well, it turns out that tourists have been visiting ESP since the 1840s when none other than a Mr. Charles Dickens visited (he didn’t give the attraction a glowing review) because ESP along with the Fairmount Water Works were the second and third ranked U.S. tourist attractions behind Niagara Falls.
So, what made ESP such a highly ranked tourist attraction? It was the first jail. It was the first time where criminals could be sentenced to confinement in a jail cell to think about their sins and…repent. Over the years ESP held a wide range of criminals including Al Capone at one point. When I visited a temporary display discussed and illustrated the U.S. incarceration rate which leads the first world—our only competition is a few literal police states.
At Halloween ESP is turned into a haunted house. The place is creepy enough in broad daylight that I’ve never felt the desire to return at Halloween.
The hulking Eastern State Penitentiary (ESP) dominates the Fairmount neighborhood. I always found it a little odd when I saw ESP listed in guidebooks, thinking who would want to visit a prison? What’s the attraction? Well, it turns out that tourists have been visiting ESP since the 1840s when none other than a Mr. Charles Dickens visited (he didn’t give the attraction a glowing review) because ESP along with the Fairmount Water Works were the second and third ranked U.S. tourist attractions behind Niagara Falls.
So, what made ESP such a highly ranked tourist attraction? It was the first jail. It was the first time where criminals could be sentenced to confinement in a jail cell to think about their sins and…repent. Over the years ESP held a wide range of criminals including Al Capone at one point. When I visited a temporary display discussed and illustrated the U.S. incarceration rate which leads the first world—our only competition is a few literal police states.
At Halloween ESP is turned into a haunted house. The place is creepy enough in broad daylight that I’ve never felt the desire to return at Halloween.
|
|
|
|
North of Fairmount Avenue is a network of small blocks and worth connecting a few coffee shops for a self guided neighborhood tour.
|
|
|