Scharwath Carwash

On my first full day in NYC this past week, I woke up at 6:30am and boarded a train for Philladelphia. Yes, the City of Brotherly Love.

It was an overcast and slightly cold day but I felt welcome here nevertheless.

West Philly is not the nicest neighborhood but if you know where to look you can find love between the buildings.

You’ll find it in abundance if you head to Market Street, where an elevated SEPTA train runs above for about 30 blocks.

This past summer and into the fall Stephen Powers, also known as ESPO painted murals along the whole stretch.

In the film Beautiful Losers Steve can be quoted as saying “Anything you spend 16 hours a day doing is bound to lead you somewhere.”

The murals, when taken together, are a love story that you can watch play out from the windows of the train. The project is called A Love Letter For You.

It’s a point of pride in the neighborhood and new construction seems to be cropping up all over the place.

More than one person approached me on the street. When I told them what I was doing I literally got high fives.

This project achieves a number of things. It inspires the people of Philadelphia in a way that is personal to them, it improves the neighborhood’s visual landscape and it encourages the use of public transportation. Also, most importantly, it puts West Philly on the global cultural map.

As I was leaving on the train, I spotted the man himself, in plaid, working on another mural. I waved a lot and kinda yelled “Steve!” but ultimately I decided to leave him to his work.

Visit A Love Letter For You to learn more.

Check out the rest of the photos from my day on Market St. here.

Beautiful Losers comes out on DVD today! Go pick up a copy for more Steve-wisdom.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, December 8th, 2009 at 5:25 pm and is filed under Inspirations, Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.