Category: Uncategorized

Farewell, SS United States

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As the storied SS United States was towed down the Delaware River toward the Atlantic (2/19/25), two or three hundred people lined the riverfront greenway at the Navy Yard in South Philadelphia to bid it farewell. The ship disappeared around a bend and the audience left. A few minutes later the ship reappeared in the distance as the tugs kept to the channel, and from maybe a mile away the behemoth, already a pale and rusted shell of its former grand self, appeared even more ghostlike and faded. Its trip to Mobile, Alabama, is expected to take two to three weeks. The plan is for it to be rendered environmentally safe (detoxified) before becoming an artificial reef in the Gulf of Mexico off Destin/Fort Walton Beach, Florida. Fair seas!

Mummers 2024

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Parading on South Broad Street below City Hall.
Explorer Cadets took to the street for a group shot with the deputy police commissioner; opportunistic Mummers seized the moment for an exquisite photo bomb.
Members of the Satin Slipper brigade on Broad Street. Their theme was Powwow: A Ritual of the Spirit. Their leader described the routine as celebrating the rich history of the Native American culture, paying tribute to the great American tribes.

Lucy lookin’ good

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Lucy the Elephant stands her ground in Margate, N.J., where an expensive refurbishment put her into prime shape at the end of 2022. She was built in 1881 as a real-estate attraction, prospective property owners were taken to the cupola, about six stories high, so they could survey the landscape. She is about four miles from Atlantic City, which about then was emerging as a resort destination.