Yes, this is Philadelphia. Downtown. Urban. Can't you tell?
If this is not the Philadelphia you see on that burning-rowhome, courthouse-drama, traffic-jammed TV news show you're always watching, you might want to get out and see the real city. Sylvan City. Sparkling, bird-call-filled, grass-cut-smell city.
It's here. Waiting for you.
Tuesday morning this is what downtown's Dock Creek looked like. It's not a creek today, of course, but it is the site of the now-dry waterway that once wended its way through this patch near Walnut and 4th Streets. Local artist Winifred Lutz has taken it upon herself, with the help of the American Philosophical Society, to map out where the creek once flowed.
Lutz, you can see, has shown in chalk Dock Creek's path where it is now covered by brick or concrete.
Where the former creek path veers onto what is now lawn, Lutz has marked out the area so the grass within the markings isn't cut. Recent rains have helped the grass grow higher. But chalk gets washed away, so Lutz refreshes her work from time to time.
She's planning something involving bright blue plastic wrap late in the summer. Christo may be invoked.
Here's more about the installation.
