Found on the Ground

Puzzle Piece

This is a skirt, I think.

Found 7/4/06, Benjamin Franklin Parkway

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3 Words No Woman Can Resist

 

Or should that be, "The symbol, numeral, and word no woman can resist"?

This is Ten Dollar Bag Man, my new buddy.  Phil-aliens: Give him some love.  Go visit him at Market and 19th for fabulous tendollabags.

Found 7/1/06, 19th and Market

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Pink Plastic Flower Jewel

Yet another item found during 4th of July weekend.

Found 7/4/06, 19th and Green

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Teriyaki Boy

Oh Teriyaki Boy, we hardly knew ye.  It's not at 1900 Market anymore, unfortunately.

The first time I went there, I had some delicious tamago egg sushi, which I ordered from a blackboard behind the counter.  I ordered some tamago to go, and asked for a few menus to take with me.

I paged through one of them while waiting for my order.

As I turned to go, the woman behind the counter said, "Oh no, wait! That menu is not right!" -and she handed me some "corrected" menus. 

What corrections were made?  There was a black-and-white list stapled to the front of the new menus, explaining that there was a different lunch special every day.  That's all.

Found Autumn 2005, 19th and Market

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Found on the Ground Goes to City Hall

In order to get a better shot of a mural that is painted on the ground at City Hall, Found on the Ground took a trip on her lunch hour to take the "City Hall Tower Tour".  Because we all know how much she loooooves heights!

Well, instead of being one of those eensy weeny little towers that overlooks the mural, this was an elevator straight up to the observation deck right beneath the feet of the Billy Penn Statue.  That's 44 floors.  500-some-odd feet.  To those not in the know before hand, there was nothing to signify this until we were on the elevator, which was, I kid you not, only big enough for 4 people who are practically hugging each other.  It just kept going up, up, up, up, up...

I got some wonderful pictures, but alas, no sweeping views of the mural.  I'll post them a few at a time tonight. 

Here's what you'd see if you were some gum on the soles of Billy Penn's big 'ol shoes.  Or if you were Rick Mariano.

 

7/28/06, Philadelphia City Hall Tower

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Mr. Zip

This was stuck to the front of a very old mail slot in City Hall.  It's Mr. Zip, the Please-Remember-To-Use-A-Zipcode Mascot! Note the date on the sticker: May 1963. 

Found 7/28/06, Philadelphia City Hall

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The Doorknob of Justice

After finding Mr. Zip, I wanted to explore a little more. Nobody stopped me, so I wandered around until I stumbled upon the Police Evidence Room.  Which from the looks of it is apparently a portal to the early 1900's:

I mean... Seriously.  Doesn't it look more at home like this? :

Much better.

Plus, it has the Doorknob of Justice!!:

Take that, evil-doers.

Found 7/28/06, Philadelphia City Hall

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Wooden Phone Switchboard

What's this?  A polygraph machine?  An e-meter?

I didn't know until a friendly City Hall cop saw me taking pictures.

"I bet you think that's an antique or somethin', right?"

"It's not?"

"Nope," he said with a grin, "Up until last week, that's how we were answering the phones here at City Hall."

Found 7/28/06, Philadelphia City Hall

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Zodiac Mural

I wasn't able to get a from-the-top view of this mural in the central courtyard of City Hall, but it's one of my favorite features of the city.  It is a compass, zodiac, and map of the city including rivers!  The white squares are city parks.

You can see an overhead shot of it here, although for some reason, it doesn't appear to have the map on it at all.

7/28/06, Philadelphia City Hall Courtyard

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Toynbee Tiles at Market and City Hall

Found 3 Toynbee Tiles in one crosswalk on the way to City Hall! Two of them feature vague threats to other Toynbee Tile makers... Such is the life of a "hellion", I suppose.

Most tiles I've seen or heard of do include something like "Movie" and "2001" pretty regularly, so when I first moved here I thought they were a viral ad campaign for a re-make of "2001: A Space Odyssey".

This one was at the start of the crosswalk, nearest Market Street.

TOYNBEE IDEA

MOVIE 2001

RAISE DEAD

PLANET JUPITER

LAY TILE ALONE [AS?] HELLIONS

UP [EN?] [M?] [Y?]

AND GIVE YOU [ASS?]

BEATING[S?]

This one was in the middle of the crosswalk, as you can see from the lines painted over it.  I'm sure by this time you can fill in the blanks mostly:

IN [?]

RESURRECT

ON PLANET

And finally, at the end of the crosswalk, nearest City Hall.

TOYNBEE IDEA

MOVIE 2001

RAISE DEAD [?]

PLANET [?]

YOU MUST LAY TILE ALONE AS HELLIONS

AND FED[?]

IN [FILM?]

Found 7/28/06, in crosswalk from Market Street East to City Hall.

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