Philadelphia/Center City West

When Philadelphia was settled by Europeans, the core of the city was on the eastern part of the city, nearby the Delaware River, in what is now Old City. City founder William Penn plotted out the entire grid street structure of Center City from the Delaware to the Schuylkill Rivers so that the city would develop in an organized fashion, and over time the city did extend development westward and beyond.

Because Old City was where the business and market areas were concentrated, much of the western half of Center City became the residential neighborhood. A lot of the housing stock dates from the 1800s, when wealthy businessmen built their homes alongside communities of working-class neighborhoods. In the 1950s, Philadelphia began to expand the business district westward as well, and with the University of Pennsylvania located just across the Schuylkill River, the area has retained its desirability for many residents. In particular, Rittenhouse Square is surrounded by high-rise apartment towers housing the moneyed elite, and the neighboring blocks have long been one of the most desirable residential locations in Philadelphia. Fortunately, the park itself has retained a unique ability to exclude no one, no small feat considering Philadelphia's history of tension between different racial and social classes. On any given day, especially weekends and in the summer, the park will be populated and used by just about anyone and everyone.

Commercial businesses came westward with the planning of Penn Center, a rather unwelcoming business district west of City Hall just north of Market Street. However, this enabled other commercial development to occur in the area, and in 1985 One Liberty Place became the first building to break the unofficial height limit in Philadelphia, which was top of Penn's hat on City Hall. With a ground floor mall at the base of the building, this development helped spur retail development, which in turn contributed to the reversal of urban blight and flight in the early 1990s. Today, the three blocks north of Rittenhouse Square (Walnut, Sansom and Chestnut Streets) and eastward to Broad Street is Center City's upscale shopping district, where fashionable clothing brands have established a presence. In addition, many restaurants, bars and nightlife destinations are located in this particular area as well.

North of the business district is the spectacular Benjamin Franklin Parkway, a grand boulevard that begins at the famous LOVE Park near City Hall and continues northwest, through Logan Circle, and ends at the Philadelphia Art Museum and Fairmount Park. Designed in 1917, the Parkway is one of the city's earliest urban renewal projects and takes many of its cues from similar boulevards in France. Today, the parkway is the spine on which most of the city's museums are located.

• 🌍 Academy of Natural Sciences, 1900 Benjamin Franklin Pkwy (Parking is metered on the street or at a nearby pay lot.), ☏ +1 215-299-1000, visitorservices@ansp.org. M-F 10AM-4:30PM, Sa Su 10AM-5PM. Not just a natural history museum, this institution also has an active research arm and library. Highlights of the museum include a 2-story dinosaur exhibit, a butterfly walk-through area, and a children's nature center with live animals. It is the oldest natural science research institution and museum in the Americas. $17.95 adults (13 & up), $13.95 children, $14.95 seniors/military/students, AAA discount $1. (updated Mar 2016)
• 🌍 Barnes Foundation, 2025 Benjamin Franklin Pkwy (parking is at 2020 Pennsylvania Ave. $12 to 4 hours; $2 each additional hour), ☏ +1 215-278-7200, info@barnesfoundation.org. M 10AM-5PM, Tu closed, W-Su 10AM-5PM. One of the world's most important collections of post-impressionist and modernist art, open in this location since 2012. Advance reservations strongly recommended (weeks in advance for week-end time slots); a limited number of tickets is available for same-day visits. $22–25 (weekends are higher price), children $10, discounts for seniors and students with ID. (updated Mar 2016)
• 🌍 The Comcast Center, 1701 John F Kennedy Blvd. Opened in 2008, at 975 feet tall, the Comcast Center is Philadelphia's tallest skyscraper and the headquareters of the cable provider. The building features a public plaza with a gorgeous fountain display, a dramatic eight-story “Winter Garden” and an energy-saving “glass curtain” that wraps around the Comcast Center, allowing for a 360° view of Philadelphia’s urban landscape. The building has also unveiled a Sony Style Comcast Labs Store, which includes an “Interactive Technology Lab” that is open to the public. The lobby has garnered attention as a tourist attraction. At first glance, the north wall of its lobby appears to be a wood veneer wall, but actually, it's a massive 2,000 square feet high-definition LED screen that's just displaying a picture of a wood veneer wall. Wait a minute, and a dancing figure might appear on the wall, or the entire wall might fade out and be replaced with a photograph or a video show. The computer-generated images are so realistic, you’ll think they’re jumping out of the wall. With a resolution 500% greater than that of an HD television, the Comcast Experience is a remarkable technological and artistic achievement. The video wall, a giant HD video screen that is actually the largest four-millimeter LED screen in the world, is located right in the building’s publicly accessible main lobby, so everyone can enjoy it. Visit during the holidays for special seasonal displays. 

• 🌍 The Franklin Institute Science Museum, 222 N 20th St, ☏ +1 215-448-1200, guestservices@fi.edu. 9:30AM-5PM daily, closed on Christmas Eve & Day, and New Year's Day. This museum attracts some of the top scientific exhibits in the world, including special exhibits that change every few months. Be sure to walk through the giant-sized human heart, a favorite with kids. Also features planetarium and the immense Tuttleman IMAX Theater and its four-story, domed screen with fifty-six speakers. This museum is incredibly popular as a field trip destination for local schools, so mornings and early afternoons on weekdays may be crowded with schoolchildren. Base admission $19.95 for adults, $15.95 for children 4-11 years old and senior citizens. (Special exhibits are extra cost). (updated Mar 2016)
• 🌍 The Mütter Museum, 19 S 22nd St (Metered on-street parking or nearby pay lots), ☏ +1 215-563-3737, info@collegeofphysicians.org. 10AM-5PM daily, closed Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve and Day, and New Year's Day. It used to be open only to medical students, but this collection of medical oddities is quickly becoming one of the city's most popular attractions. Not for the faint of heart, this museum includes lots of items in formaldehyde, lots of skeletons, and one of the only women to ever decompose into soap. $16 adults, $13 seniors/military, $11 youth 6-17/students, children under 5 free. Joint ticket with the Penn Museum available for $26 adults, $16 childrenMatere. (updated Mar 2016)

• 🌍 Philadelphia Museum of Art, 26th St and Benjamin Franklin Pkwy, ☏ +1 215-763-8100, visitorservices@philamuseum.org. Tu Th-Su 10AM-5PM, W F 10AM-8:45PM, M closed. Famous on the outside for the steps seen in the film "Rocky" and famous on the inside for one of the world's largest collections of art, the Philadelphia Museum of Art is home to many rotating collections as well as a standard selection of pieces always on display. The permanent collection is especially strong in Asian and medieval art, impressionist paintings, and furniture. The museum was founded in 1876 in conjunction with the Centennial Exposition of the same year and is now among the largest and most important art museums in the United States. It sits on a hill overlooking the Schuylkill River at the end of The Ben Franklin Parkway, which was modeled after the Champs Elysees in Paris. There's an impressive view back toward City Hall from the top of the "Rocky" steps. In addition, the PMA is opening a new exhibition space in the Perelman Building on Pennsylvania Ave which will display sculpture, costumes, textiles, prints, photographs, and design. $20 adults, $18 seniors, $14 students. First Sunday of the month pay and Wednesdays 5-8:45PM, pay what you wish. 
• 🌍 Rare Book Department of the Free Library of Philadelphia, 1901 Vine Street (Parkway Central branch, 3rd floor). If you're into rare books at all, take the free tour, offered M-F at 11AM, of the Philadelphia Free Library's amazing rare book collection. Besides the Gutenberg Bible, highlights include medieval manuscripts, children's book illustrations, and the stuffed body of Charles Dickens's pet raven Grip, the raven who indirectly inspired Poe's "The Raven." 
• 🌍 Rodin Museum, 2151 Benjamin Franklin Pkwy (Metered street parking or at Museum of Art's garage), ☏ +1 215-763-8100, visitorservices@philamuseum.org. W-M 10AM-5PM. Displays the largest collection of Rodin's work outside of Paris. Suggested donation: $10 adults, seniors $8, 13-18 and students with ID $7. 
• 🌍 Rosenbach Museum and Library, 2008 DeLancey St, ☏ +1 215-732-1600, info@rosenbach.org. Tu noon-5PM, W Th noon-8PM, F noon-5PM, Sa Su noon-6PM. Hourly tours (Tu-F 11AM-4PM) take visitors through this fine old townhouse owned by a pair of rare-book dealers, which has grown into a museum and archive. The Maurice Sendak room, full of his sketches and pages, also contains Herman Melville's own bookcase, which holds the copy of Moby-Dick he inscribed to Hawthorne. A handsome double library on another floor holds Joyce's manuscript for Ulysses. On the top floor, poet Marianne Moore's Greenwich Village living room has been installed, to go along with the Rosenbach's trove of Moore papers. $10 adults, $8 seniors, $5 children/students, free for children under 5. (updated Mar 2016)
• 🌍 Fairmount Water Works. Features information on local watersheds as well as interpretive art. (updated Jun 2017)

• 🌍 The Shops at Liberty Place. On 16th and Chestnut is an elegant shopping center with stores like Nine West, J.Crew, and Express. Many professionals stop by to get a bite to eat at its large food court and some quick shopping during the lunch hour. 
• 🌍 The Shops at the Bellevue. Located in the historic Bellevue at Broad and Walnut Sts., the Shops at the Bellevue offer upscale shopping and a gourmet food court. Shops include Ralph Lauren, Tiffany & Co., Williams-Sonoma, Origins, and Teuscher Chocolates of Switzerland (Oprah Winfrey loves the champagne truffles). Aside from the gourmet food court and upscale shopping, the Bellevue is also home to such upscale eateries as The Palm, Bliss, XIX and J.L. Sullivan's Speakeasy, as well as the Park Hyatt Philadelphia at the Bellevue. 
• Walnut Street from Rittenhouse Square eastward to Broad Street is Philadelphia's upscale shopping district where shoppers will find major chains from Apple to Zara and local favorites such as Joan Shepp and Jacques Ferber.

• 🌍 Village Whiskey, 118 S 20th St (at Sansom), ☏ +1 215-665-1088. Su M 11:30AM-11PM, Tu-Th 11:30AM-midnight, F Sa 11:30AM-1AM. A beautifully decorated Victorian-era bar and restaurant by local restaurateur Jose Garces, which serves some of the best and juiciest burgers in Philadelphia. It's not the cheapest, and fries cost extra, but it's definitely worth it. $10-30. 
• 🌍 XIX (Nineteen), 200 S Broad St (19th floor of the Bellevue building at the corner of Broad and Walnut), ☏ +1 215-790-1919. Actually a hotel bar and restaurant named for the floor it's on in a historic 1904 Beaux Arts building, it just might be the highest dining spot in the city with a giant outdoor balcony with a view of downtown. $30-50. 
• 🌍 Parc Restaurant, 227 S 18th St (at Rittenhouse Square), ☏ +1 215-545-2262. M-Th 7:30AM-11PM, F 7:30AM-midnight, Sa 10AM-midnight, Su 10AM-10PM. One of Stephen Starr's many Philadelphia restaurants, located across from Rittenhouse Square and mimics the Parisian cafe scene in food, decor, and ample sidewalk seating. It's open for breakfast, lunch and dinner, and is always busy, even on weekdays—don't any of these people have to work? Ah, just like Paris. $10-30. 
• 🌍 Continental Mid-town, 1801 Chestnut St (at 18th St), ☏ +1 215-567-1800. Another Stephen Starr restaurant, located north of Rittenhouse Square. Fusion food in a brightly decorated, almost-but-not-quite retro diner. $8-20. 
• 🌍 Erawan, 123 S 23rd St (at Sansom), ☏ +1 215-567-2542. M-F 11:30AM-10PM, Sa 12:30-10PM, Su 4:30-10PM. Some of the best Thai food in Center City. They'll also deliver. $8-16. 

Center City West has an active nightlife scene around the Rittenhouse Square area. As it's also one of the wealthiest neighborhoods, crowds here can be young, hip, and beautiful—or at least pretending to be—which leads some other people to gripe about how it's all turning too "tacky" and "Manhattan-esque." Depending on how you look at it, this is either changing Philadelphia for the worse, or this is the kind of scene Philadelphia needs to keep people from leaving for the actual Manhattan. Either way, this clash of cultures results in a larger range of options this side of Broad, from the dark, blue-collar dives to the super-ritzy cocktail lounges.

If you're in Center City during the summer months, be sure to take advantage of Center City Sips, a downtown-wide Happy Hour every Wednesday from 5-7PM where many bars and restaurants all participate in drink specials: $2 beers, $3 wines and $4 cocktails, and usually some selection of food specials. As it's right after the hump of the office work week, you'll see a lot of young professionals in business casual, and some places will get really crowded, but the prices are definitely right.

• 🌍 Monk's, 264 S 16th St (between Latimer and Spruce), ☏ +1 215-545-7005. One of two of the best places to drink beer in Center City (the other one is Eulogy Tavern in Old City). Monk's has one of the largest beer varieties in the area, especially Belgian beer, with the right food to go with it (the burgers and mussels are standouts). Check their website to see the newest featured beer. 
• 🌍 McGlinchy's, 259 S 15th St (between Latimer and Manning), ☏ +1 215-735-1259. One of the few true dive bars in Center City. It's dirtier then you can imagine, and since the lighting is dim enough to be almost completely turned off, it's also dirtier then you can see. Right away, the staff genuinely doesn't like you. You will be a smoker as soon as you walk in, whether you smoke or not; McGlinchy's is one of the few bars that is exempt from the smoking ban and it's obvious from the door. The bathrooms are tiny and completely foul. You're better off not washing your hands, just to avoid touching as few things in there as possible. Fights are not uncommon, but the staff is always quick to pounce and drag it outside; McGlinchy's does not suffer fools. But the beer is ridiculously cheap, and the staff will warm up to you if you aren't an idiot, don't waste their time thinking about what you want to drink, and tip well. The crowd is often a mix of old barflys, blue collar after-workers and plenty of cute art school students. This is hands-down one of the best bars in Philly if you leave pretension at the door and roll with the vibe. 
• 🌍 Raven Lounge, 1718 Sansom St (between 17th and 18th Sts), ☏ +1 215-840-3577. A small bar just around the corner from Rittenhouse Square that's a lot of fun. Board games on the tables, affordable drinks, and a DJ mixing it up—once the night gets going, girls get on the bar itself because that's the only place left to dance! Other nights there will be live music or a live comedy show as well.