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On a 1200-foot span of retaining wall on the east bank of the Schuylkill River, just beyond three high sculptures of angels dancing above, stretches a long mysterious set of words. Written in letters that only become clear as you approach, and fade quickly as you pass, it’s sort of Philly’s Middle Earth; winged creatures and disappearing poetry along the water. “The fact that mystery is connected to all art is a connection that should be respected,” says Tom Chimes, one of the two men responsible for this piece, a poem by Stephen Berg titled “Sleeping Woman.”

Chimes painted the poem on the wall in 1991. The letters are written in multiple coats of polyurethane. They’re clear, and some parts are missing altogether. When sections of the wall collapsed during a flood, both artists insisted that the lost sections of poem not be replaced, that their piece was meant to exist within natural circumstance. The allowance for decay only loans credence to the wonderful fantasy aspects of this area, and you can easily imagine Tolkien stopping to rest here if he jogged the loop!

Here’s a video about “Sleeping Woman” I found on the Fairmount Park Art Association’s site

In my younger and wilier days, I accepted as an obligation, the need to explore all the “secret” areas of West Philly that I could find. One day while creeping through Fairmount Park, just north of Memorial Hall, I climbed stealthily into an intriguing fenced-off area. Following a path through the trees, I came out onto a stunning pavilion, relaxing thirty feet above a valley floor. Surely, I thought, I had discovered someone’s awesome private spot in the treetops! Later, I would learn that the fenced-off area was actually the Horticultural Center, and that there was no need to jump the fence; I was welcome to come in through the entrance.

The “Pavilion in the Trees” is an environmental sculpture by Martin Puryear, and it’s the closest thing most of us grown-ups will find to chilling out in a massive treehouse. The big canopied platform is accessible from the back trail off North Horticultural Drive, near the Japanese House. Here’s a video I found about it on the Fairmount Park Association’s website.

In this installment of “Things I Found in the Wissahickon,” I visit The Fingerspan. Just south of the Livezey Dam is a long, winding stone staircase with a big brown finger crossing the gorge at the top! The Fingerspan is a site-specific sculpture by environmental artist, Jody Pinto, who was once a student at PAFA and graduated from Philadelphia College of Art in the 70′s. It was installed by helicopter in 1987 to replace deteriorating stairs as a part of the Fairmount Park Art Association’s “Form and Function” project.

Form and Function, because this isn’t just a giant steel appendage laying along the riverbank; it’s a bridge! The interior is half-tunnel, half- terrifying catwalk. The exterior of the span is comparable to beefed-up chicken wire, which means that you can see and stick your fingers through the whole thing, even the bottom. Walking through is a lot like being in a big cage suspended 40 feet in the air, making it a heart-thumping addition to your next hike or good place to hide from the Wailer!

So, among the reasons why this town is seriously awesome, is our citizenry’s ability to take care of ourselves. We are seriously a city of go-getters! To make driving a car in the city cheaper and more sustainable, someone developed Philly Car Share. To make bikes more affordable and easier to maintain, we came up with Bike Church. And now, with so many of us uninsured, Paul Glover is taking some serious initiative to get us covered with his new program, PhilaHealthia.

Personally, I haven’t worked a job with benefits in more than five years, and as an avid cyclist, I’ve been hit by cars six times! Call it luck or call it great skill in falling, but I’ve emerged from each accident relatively unscathed. Just the same, I’m surely not invincible, and constantly aware that the next crash might land me drowning in debt in a hospital bed. But thanks to PhilaHealthia, I may soon have affordable coverage through a local co-op model that’s already succeeded elsewhere. My list of reasons to live here just continues to grow!

Read more at: http://www.healthdemocracy.org/philahealthia.html

The Pedal Co-Op (pedalcoop.org) is a newer Philly business trying to fill in a few gaps they see in other recycling programs. As of now, they are a nine-member group with bikes and home-made trailers who cart off recyclables and compostables from area businesses that would otherwise feel forced to just throw it all away. Their human-powered services are available for a very small fee and keep thousands of bottles and paper cups from getting tossed by West Philly bars and coffee shops who would otherwise have limited resources for their refuse.

The Co-Op is hosting a benefit show this Saturday night at Fiume (a Pedal Co-Op customer, located at 45th and Locust!). Donations will go to expanding their bike-trailer fleet and obtaining non-profit status. The lineup is stacked with many of our best local low-fi finger-pickers and twangy bummer-folk singers: PK, Treesongs, Noble Lake, Kurt Vile, Mike Yanchuck and Andrew Butler, and Cherokee (Brooklyn). It’s an opportunity to support local business, music, and making this town ever cleaner all in one night!

Pedal Co-Op
www.pedalcoop.org

Fiume
45th and Locust St, Philadelphia, PA 19139

Recently a good friend of mine introduced me to yet another surprise hiding among the spiderweb of trails that criss-cross the Wissahickon Valley when she began her employment at Monastery Stables. “It’s been there since the 1700′s and it’s right off of Forbidden Drive,” she assured me, but I’d traveled the park for years on both foot and bicycle and never come across it, despite being passed by many equestrians throughout. With a newfound destination to seek, I went out past Valley Green a few weeks ago to track the place down and with a little luck (actually I just followed a guy on a horse), I did find the place.

The grounds are serene, surrounded on all sides by green and forest, and the structures have an air of weathered peaceful endurance. Built originally in 1747, the stable has adequate space for up to 26 horses and is the current base for the Philadelphia Saddle Club (PhiliSC.com). People who want to can join the club and travel the park on horseback. I haven’t had the chance yet (there is a waiting list, and also the horses make my dog uneasy for some reason), but I’m looking forward to being the envy of every hiker on my first ride.

Monastery Stables
www.monasterystables.org

The climate is finally just right for some relaxing autumnal explorations around the city. Thousands of Philadelphians will jog the MLK/Kelly Drive loop with their eyes fixed straight ahead and their iPods bumping in their earbuds, and as the sun sets each day, many will not even notice the mysterious alternate path that diverges from the Drive. But this fall, I will be standing there, just past the Strawberry Mansion Bridge, waving my arms and pointing my finger across the street, encouraging everyone to bravely cross the traffic and ascend these secret stairs!

This magnificent stone flight abruptly emerges directly onto the pavement from the weeds and trees on Kelly’s east edge. They are steep and moist and twisting and with each step you take beneath the foliage, you’ll feel yourself going back a little closer to the late 1700′s when this was one of the wealthiest neighborhoods in town. When you finally reach the end (hopefully not panting, like I was) you’ll be just outside the front doors of Summerville, the actual Strawberry Mansion. For a few dollars you can wander around inside or take the tour, the highlight of which is a mildly creepy collection of 48 12-inch dolls that live in the building’s enormous attic. Or, you can keep jogging around up there and hopefully find another set of unmarked steps that I haven’t spotted yet!

Strawberry Mansion Secret Stairs
Just off Strawberry Mansion Bridge, Philadelphia, PA

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I’ve been out of town and out of touch for almost two months now. I got back to Philly on Sunday and learned that the hometeam was about to break a nearly 15-year curse. As Anthony mentioned earlier, our Phillies have finally clinched a position in the playoffs. When I heard that on sunday evening, I had just gotten home and had a lot on my mind already. I didn’t really think too much about it. But the next afternoon I was riding my bike downtown, running errands when a mighty roar came bellowing west down Market Street! I delayed my entrance to the bank to investigate.

Arriving at City Hall, I saw thousands of red hats and hands spinning towels in the air, cheering madly while the Phanatic riled everyone up, dancing to live music on stage. The enormous mob was so noisy and excited, it was impossible not to get swept up. A smile grew large on my face and my heart-rate increased dramatically for the rest of the day. The rally was definitely a success. I got Phillies Fever and it’s been just about all I’ve thought about since!

Val Shively has collected and sold records for decades. He is a world-famous music afficianado, and people make appointments from all over the globe to get a look into his back room vinyl vault! His name is a landmark among record snobs, and for more than 40 years his legendary collection of 45s has been the topic of nerdy gossip worldwide.

And for damn good reason. Shively’s store boasts a phenomenal collection of an unbelievable four MILLION 45s. As can well be imagined, he has pretty much everything in there somewhere. And what’s even more incredible, is that he doesn’t have a computer. His overwhelming catalog is stored only in his own head. He has virtually every hit, and more importantly, every “miss” ever put on wax. Ask him for a particularly obscure title, and not only can he tell you if he has it, but he knows exactly where it is within his towering library.

But don’t just show up hoping to flip through all those records. Val much prefers that you arrive with an idea of what you’re looking for in hand already. And calling ahead may not be such a bad idea either…

Val’s Records
49 Garrett Road, Upper Darby, PA 19082
(610) 352-2320

You may be familiar with the Foodery at 10th and Pine. They famously stock over 600 designer beers, hidden behind the facade of a generic looking corner store. About a year ago, the owners opened a second location, behind a much larger and much less misleading storefront in Northern Liberties. Because the Fooderies specialize in rare-breeds of booze, their prices are sometimes understandably high, and that has the unfortunate side-effect of keeping me from going in as often as I’d really like to.

I recently made a visit to the 2nd street location and let me tell you, the new Foodery don’t sell no junk! My pupils dilated at the endless wall of brewed delicacies and it took me a solid 40 minutes to select 6 bottles to throw into a mixed-six. For that reason, I advocate ordering a hoagie from their in-store deli at the start of your quest. When I finally settled on my ales, I had a sandwich waiting! Everything came with me to their cozy dining and drinking area where I was supplied with an appropriate beer-glass and was able to sit and enjoy a tasty rueben and a palate-expanding glass of Saint Feuillien Triple.

I highly recommend stopping by this place for an hour, even if Northern Liberties happens to be a bit out of the way.

The Foodery
837 N. 2nd St. Philadelphia PA 19123
(215) 238-6077

The Du Pont building stands at 3500 Grays Ferry Avenue. Inside, chemical and physical research is done on paint for further Du Pont product development. Outside, in a grassy field surrounded by chain link fence, resides one of Philadelphia’s great unexplainable legends. Behind the barbed-wire, Marshall Laboratory poses a question as timeless as the Riddle of the Sphinx and the 30th Street Donut Smell Mystery: Why are those seven fake dogs there?

I’ve been trying to find the answer.

I used to assume that the decoy canines were there as scarecrows, to keep geese from landing in the green field. But, sitting at the light at Grey’s Ferry Ave. and University Ave., I occasionally notice a gaggle of grub-eating geese and ganders walking right past the silhouette mutts. Of course! Geese flying overhead wouldn’t even be able to see these two-dimensional dogs! So I gave up on that idea. Further research (i.e. asking long-time Philly natives what they thought) yielded a new theory.

Many people who have lived here long enough to know, propose that the dogs were put there under the direction of John Du Pont, our local eccentric millionaire villain! The Du Pont’s are a camera-shy family with holdings in everything from chemicals to banking to timber and horse-breeding. They owned the Phillies for a while, and one of them was even governor of Delaware! The heir to this elusive family’s suburban estate, John Du Pont, is well known for strange activity and several locals submit that the 2-D hounds are silhouettes of some his childhood pets. That might explain why there are cutouts of several different breeds.

Mystery solved? Well, I haven’t heard anything more convincing yet…

The Fake Dogs
3500 Grays Ferry Avenue, Philadelphia PA 19146

I am buying a house in the Grey’s Ferry section of Philadelphia, and as a result of this tremendous financial investment, I have become extremely nervous about money and have been working obsessively for the last few weeks. This weekend, I took a much a needed break from bustin’ my chops. Although, I did work Friday night, selling records for Beautiful World Syndicate at the Rocky Votolato show. I don’t really feel that much like I have a job when I work at those shows because I really just watch bands, drink coffee and talk to people the whole time. After the show, I went to Amber’s house in Point Breeze because we had plans in the morning!

We set the alarm to get up at 9:30am. We were going to eat some breakfast and then drive to North Philly for the Big Tioga Indoor Flea Market. But one of us hit the wrong button in our effort to utilize the glorious SNOOZE feature on the clock, and we accidentally slept until noon. Oh well. I checked the internet to verify that the flea market was still open and to google map the directions. We arrived at where we expected to find the Big T, but I guess I screwed that up too and we just ended up driving around Port Richmond for an hour. It was cool though, because I finally got to see Jomar, the fabric warehouse that Amber swears by, and Centro Nueva where she used to teach.

Without ever asking anyone for directions, we just gave up on the flea market and drove out to Rosetree Park in Upper Providence township. We sat in the sun for several hours there, just reading and relaxing in the gigantic rolling green meadows. Then we headed back into town because Amber had a dance practice for something she’s performing at Fringe Fest this fall. She dropped me off and left, and I immediately realized that I’d left my keys in her car. It turned out to be no big deal, because my housemates were lounging on the porch when I walked up, and I partied with them at home all night.

Sunday morning I got up around noon again, only mildly hungover, and biked along the closed MLK Drive out to the Wissahickon Park. I locked my bike up at the entrance to Forbidden Drive and walked down to the creek where I spent the next five hours fishing and pleasantly wading in the water. I wrapped that up in time to wheel on over to Main Street and meet a bunch of friends at the Manayunk Brewery for drinks and to try to quench my insatiable appetite for sushi. Afterwards, a few people from my party headed to Fiume, but I was pretty beat and opted to come back to the comforts of home to watch a movie and get a good night’s rest before another intense work week.