Philadelphia grew for first time in nearly 60 years

[lalynch]

Yeah, the Jersey Shore is hard to beat... Ocean City... Wildwood... Cape May... wow.

Yep, Wildwood is cool. Cape May is lovely. My cousins always went to Sea Isle City. My family went to Ocean City when I was a kid living in North Jersey.

I haven't been to the Jersey Shore since 1983 but on that trip I took photos of the Wildwood Diner and other cool buildings there. My cousins wife at the time advised against going to Wildwood because it was 'Honky Tonk' but that 'Honky Tonk' has been cleaned up and developed a great retro theme. Check out the Doo Wop Preservation League's website online. When I have a chance I will post it. It was architect Steven Izennour [[sp?) who suggested to Wildwood that they develop this retro theme due to their already existing building stock.

[lalynch]

ok, now I am getting homesick for Philly . . . gotta go find a Steak Sandwich, Tasty Kake and a Birch Beer! LOL

And maybe some Shoofly Pie for later!

[Fury13]

ok, now I am getting homesick for Philly . . . gotta go find a Steak Sandwich, Tasty Kake and a Birch Beer! LOL

And maybe some Shoofly Pie for later!

I did have a cheesesteak at Pat's and a Tastykake while I was there.

[pffft]

I know I'll be skewered, but ...speaking as a non-native Detroiter, the Wanamaker's building is way more attractive than the Hudson's building was. I know, the nostalgia for Hudson's itself, the store, the experiences people had there, the toy dept., the restaurants...all that is valid. I'm just saying physically, looking at it...to me, department stores should be stone palaces, not brick behemoths...

[lalynch]

I did have a cheesesteak at Pat's and a Tastykake while I was there.

In my family, cheesesteak's were not a family thing because when my Dad grew up in Philadelphia, 1918 - 1941, when he left for WWII the Philly Steak Sandwich was more of a South Philly thing. And my mom grew up in West Norriton, next to Norristown, and the Steak Sandwich wasn't something that she grew up with either. I doubt that my grandparents who lived in West Norriton from 1930 until their deaths in the late 1980's either had a Steak Sandwich. And Pizza my grandmother called 'Pizza Pie.' They were just of another generation.

We would load up on boxes of Tastykake's and Scraple on trips to my grandparents. On the trip back home while at a rest stop for lunch our dog ate the box of Tastykake's.

Genuardi's Supermarket, West Norriton store, was where we'd go shopping. My mom grew up with the Genuardi family who started out in the 1930's with a small grocery store and delivering by wagon to my grandparents. Each of the Genuardi sons had a store. When my grandfather died in 1988 the family sent flowers. I think he would go to the West Norriton store three times a day just for something to do and someone to bug . . .LOL

[Fury13]

I know I'll be skewered, but ...speaking as a non-native Detroiter, the Wanamaker's building is way more attractive than the Hudson's building was. I know, the nostalgia for Hudson's itself, the store, the experiences people had there, the toy dept., the restaurants...all that is valid. I'm just saying physically, looking at it...to me, department stores should be stone palaces, not brick behemoths...

Looking at it objectively, you're probably right. Detroiters remember Hudson's through an emotional filter, though.

[Fury13]

We would load up on boxes of Tastykake's and Scraple...

Scrapple is a real delicacy, and although I love it, I'm told it's an acquired taste. My grandfather was from eastern Pennslyania [[coal country) and he used make scrapple from scratch... an all-day process. From the time I was a little kid, I was the only one in the family who liked the stuff. When I recently went back to PA, I had scrapple twice... and it was simply great. Brought back childhood memories.

[lalynch]

I think that Philadelphian's have an emotional attachment to their old department stores to a certain extent. In addition to Wanamaker's they had Litt Brother's [[a beautiful building), Strawbridge and Clothier and Gimbel's.

I have a set of Russell Wright dishes for 16 that my mom bought in the 1950's at Wanamaker's.
Everytime they'd go on sale she'd buy some and use her store discount.

My dad would always talk about how great Philadelphia was when he was growing up. In fact, it would depress him when we would visit because it had changed so much. He used to describe it as a 'sleepy little city.' My mom & I cleaned out his brother's Frankford apartment one week, summer of 1987, while he read a book in the car all day because he could not deal with the changes of the city. However, he was born in 1918 and what city does not change!

My dad would always talk about how wonderful the dinners were at the Horn & Hardart's automat in Philly.

[DetroitPlanner]

ok, now I am getting homesick for Philly . . . gotta go find a Steak Sandwich, Tasty Kake and a Birch Beer! LOL

And maybe some Shoofly Pie for later!

Go to Joey's you can get all that and a bag of Herr's Chips.

To those who want to compare Wanamakers to Hudsons? No Comparison. Hudson's was enourmous, it takes the cake when it comes to square feet by far. Wanamakers however is a beautiful store. Probably one of the nicest ever built. Hudson's as a building had quantity, yes it had nice features but it was built over a dozen or so expansions, so it had oddities like shifts in floors where you would have to go up or down a few feet to continue shopping its not as nicely designed as Wanamakers. The closest thing to Hudson's I found was the old Carson's in Chicago, partially designed by Louis Sullivan, but lots of odd things about its layout.

[English]

No disclaimer needed. Completely understandable. Great architecture is supposed to "stir men's [[and women's) souls"... just ask Daniel Burnham.

Thanks Fury. I'll be back in Philly for another conference around Christmastime, so if people want me to take pictures of Wanamaker's/Macy's, I'll try to do so and bump this thread back up.

I think that Detroit can use some of its grand old buildings to make a department store -- there was an attempt to do so earlier this decade [[can't remember the name). Although it didn't succeed, it was a beautiful place... not quite as beautiful as Macy's in Philly, but still a very nice shopping experience. I'd love to see a more tenacious group try it again.

[pffft]

Wanamakers had a big beautiful [[stone?) eagle. I wonder what happened to it...people would meet under the eagle. The restaurant on the top floor was called the Crystal Room, wasn't it?
You're right English, it's because Hudson's was built in fits and starts, that it had that sort of awkward appearance ...

Lit [[Litt?) Brothers was sort of the dowdier, grandmother's store. Nothing wrong with that...

Detroit had many department stores too though, beyond Hudson's, Crowley's, etc.

[Onthe405]

IMO, Hudson's was most comparable to its closest rival--Macy's Herald Square in both size & design. I believe this had to do with the fact that they were both continually being expanded expeditiously in functional phases, rather than designed as a cohesive aesthetically resplendent cathedral of commerce like Marshall Field, Wanamaker's, or Bullocks Wilshire.

The legacy of Macy's HS is based on the store's size, certainly not its glamour. This is compounded by the reality that both the building and the brand have devolved dramatically in the past 20-25 years. The store is poorly maintained to the point of looking shabby [[the Union Square & former MF State St flagships are following close behind), and the merchandise is basically overpriced Wal-Mart cr*p.

IMO, Bullocks Wilshire [[pic 1) & Marshall Field's [[pics 2 & 3) were more comparable to Wanamaker's in that they were very elegant & ornate buildings. As mentioned earlier, much of the nostalgia surrounding Hudson’s is based on how classy & creative the merchandising was, combined with how civil and considerate the service was back in the day, rather than the architectural artistry of the building itself. Sadly, if JLH downtown existed today, the store & merchandise would be Macy-fied. Just like the former Field’s & Wanamaker’s stores---downsized & downscaled. Probably more appealing than the standard suburban mall store---but just a shell of its original glory

[English]

Wanamakers had a big beautiful [[stone?) eagle. I wonder what happened to it...people would meet under the eagle. The restaurant on the top floor was called the Crystal Room, wasn't it?

The famous eagle is still there. I took a picture next to it.

The Crystal Room is closed down. The salesgirl told me that food was no longer available anywhere in the store.

[pffft]

Glad the eagle is still there. Now that I think of it, it was brass colored...metal.

[krapug1]

The famous eagle is still there. I took a picture next to it.

The Crystal Room is closed down. The salesgirl told me that food was no longer available anywhere in the store.

The Crystal Room is NOT closed, it is a private catering club.

You can see some photos of the grand room here:

http://www.weddings-delval.com/crystaltearoom/


Macy's closed the in-store restaurant that was kown as "Terrace on The Court", and later "The American Cafe" shortly after they opened in the
Wanamaker building. A large Starbucks has set up shop on the first floor, and the Chesnut and 13th Street corner.

Ken