Found on the Ground

Masonic Secret Symbol

Ok, so this is probably not a Masonic secret symbol.  But I've had no luck figuring it out, and it seems like the sort of thing they would make.

I noticed this rosy marble slab back in October, while walking home from Quizzo.  It's the doorstep of a place called "Grace Hall", but not the crew (rowing) Grace Hall on the Schuylkill River. 

Since it's cryptic and made of stone, let's just say it's the Masons and leave it at that. 

Found 10/06, in the area of Locust and 16th, Phila. PA

[Click photo for larger view]

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

[Double-click photos for full view]

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.

[Double-click photos for full view]

Subway Exit

And finally, this charming sign in the ground, which I think is quite beautiful.

Tomorrow, back to crazy stuff inadvertantly dropped by other people.   

Found 7/28/06, Philadelphia City Hall Courtyard

[Double-click photos for full view]

Clock at Daffy's

Yes, this is a clock, in the ground outside of Daffy's department store in Center City.

So far, I haven't found out why.

Found 7/2/06, 17th and Chestnut

Space Within These Lines Not Dedicated

These can be found all over the place in Philadelphia.  What does it mean?   

"Benny" over at the Penn Current says:

"They’re there to protect the property owner’s rights...the plaques are placed along the property line. The space within the plaques is “not dedicated” to the public. In other words, even though the property owner has allowed the public to access the space freely, it’s still private property."

Here's a more detailed explanation from the Philadelphia Weekly.

Found 7/15/06, 17th and Chestnut

[Double-click photo for full view]

Toynbee Tile

For the next couple of days, Found on the Ground will feature the wonderful things that are permanent fixtures on the ground of Philadelphia.

I was procrastinating about posting Toynbee Tiles.  But since Matt O'Donnell over at Ch. 6 scooped me earlier this week, I might as well just do it.

They are a mild form of culture jamming, which I don't usually include here.  Thrill of discovery is simply not present for me in sticker art, graffitti or adbusting/subvertising, although many beautiful examples of all of these flourish in Philadelphia. 

I think this tile says:

TOYNBEE [text illegible]

MOVIE 2001 [text illegible]

RAISE DEAD [text illegible]

PLANET JUPITER

I'M ONLY AN [text illegible]

WHEN [text illegible]

DISEASE [text illegible] GN

ITS FAGS AND [text illegible] IED A

ALL HELLIONS- HAD

PISS ORGIES OF JOY OVER ITS DEATH

Wikipedia's explaination is a very good place to start:

"The "toynbee" referred to in the text is almost certainly Arnold J. Toynbee, a famous historian. "Kubrick's 2001" certainly refers to filmmaker Stanley Kubrick, co-writer and director of 2001: A Space Odyssey.

A possible interpretation is that the Toynbee reference comes from the science fiction writer Ray Bradbury's short story "The Toynbee Convector", which alludes to Toynbee's idea that in order to survive, humankind must always rush to meet the future, i.e. believe in a better world, and must always aim far beyond what is practically possible, in order to reach something barely within reach. Thus the message might be that humanity ought to strive to colonize Jupiter — as in Kubrick's work — or something greater, to survive."

Culture jamming is advertising as shrill as any.  But to me, Toynbee Tiles are different.  You learn to screen out "BUSH" stickers slapped at the bottom of stop signs, and Che's face spray-stenciled onto newspaper boxes, but most people will walk right over a Toynbee and truly never see it. 

The plastic tiles are carved with the message, covered with tar paper, and adhered to the street when no one is watching.  The heat and pressure of the cars driving over slowly wears away the tar paper to reveal the message, which means almost nothing.  The cars sink the tiles deep into the pavement.  In this way, they become part of the city's body, while other culture jams are like a temporary tattoo.

Found 7/12/06, 15th and Locust

[Double-click photo for full view]