Philadelphia is the home of many cool
bars, among them the
Khyber Pass, the
Firenze Cafe, and the
Track and Turf; some cool
defunct bands called
the Electric Love Muffin and the
Dead Milkmen; great record stores called
3rd Street Jazz and Rock (now defunct) and
The Philly Record Exchange; my favorite
used book store,
Book Trader at 5th and
South Streets, and
Reading Terminal Market (which is not "
terminal"
in the medical sense).
There are
numerous other attractions as well, such as
30th Street Station, which is the finest
train station I ever set eyes on; it's the
train station in the movie
Witness (this justifies the movie, not
vice versa).
West Philly is home to
Koch's Deli at 44th and, umm,
Locust or something. Koch's is glorious. Try the
reuben sandwich.
Philadelphia is a much better place than it gets credit for. In
five years there,
I got robbed and my head beat in only once. Maybe it was only
four years.