Related Recs

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HERE'S SOME IDEAS

Books: Lot 49 Museums: Philadelphia Museum of Art of course, Barnes (near PMA), Mutter Museum (really unique), Institute of Contemporary Art is cool and free but small, Fabric Workshop and Museum is also free and small and the exhibit going on right now is cool Food: Triangle Tavern, El Chingon, Han Dynasty (Old City location is in a gorgeous building), Machine Shop (in Bok, for pastries), walk around Chinatown, Pizza Plus for takeout pizza, Ember and Ash, Tabachoy, The Tasty for vegan brunch, Pietramala or Vedge for a fancy dinner if you can get a res

@DAVEW

Mar 1, 2024

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ABRIDGED Philly guide By neighborhood

CENTER CITY EAST Shane’s Confectionery & Franklin Fountain An ice cream and candy shop that are a portal back in time. Walk through Society Hill Amble up and down the streets between S. 2nd to S.6th and Walnut and Lombard. Redding Terminal Where the Amish have brought their goods to be sold for over a century, but now a market of all types. Touristy but worth it. Locust Bar Sunday night karaoke is the best time to go. Once saw a man with a walker and an IV drip wheel himself in from Jefferson Hospital across the street and sing “My Way”. CENTER CITY WEST Goldies Falafel sandwich is great but the dairy free tahini shake is game changing. Metropolitan Bakery Can’t go wrong with anything from here, though I’m partial to the millet muffin, the chocolate cherry bread, fennel pretzel and I HIGHLY recommend getting a lemon Pequea Yogurt. Mutter Museum If you’re feeling up for it and you can stomach this after all the food this is one of the greatest museums in America. It’s a medical oddities museum. Grace Tavern Grace has my favorite burger in town. It’s messy and the blackened green beans are great too. Curtis Institute of Music One of the most esteemed music schools in the nation where you can catch free performances by students and visiting musicians. WEST PHILLY Fischer Fine Arts Library A Frank Furness building on UPenn’s campus and is normally open to the public. Queen of Sheba An old haunt of mine. Part dive bar, part Ethiopian restaurant. Great place to watch daytime TV over injera. NORTH PHILLY Pizza Brain Metal head pizza shop. Wagner Free Institute of Science Like no place on earth. A free natural history museum that’s frozen in time. Once went to a lecture on botched taxidermy here. PS - if you’re driving I highly suggest a stop in Lambertville, NJ just for the Boat House (bar) and the vampire room at the Antique Center.

@tateako

Mar 2, 2024

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Fun stuff

- khyber pass for beer and po boys in old city - Philly aids thrift off south street - double knot for a swanky dinner - book haven in Fairmount is such a charming book store and short walk to eastern state penitentiary - clay studio gallery - reanimator coffee ☕️ - crime and punishment in brewerytown - moon + arrow for pretty things

@lndsy

Mar 3, 2024

Top Recs from @nadiyaelyse

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You are only mundane to yourself because you are so familiar— to everyone else you are new

Firstly, I’m so sorry you’re feeling that way— that’s really crummy, and I’m sure that once you feel that way everything feels like confirmation of being unspecial. But in a very very real way, you might be bored with yourself because you know yourself so well— other people don’t know you. You could walk into a bar or a cafe or an event and you would be new to at least one person there. If you feel like you aren’t interesting conversationally, are you a good listener? In a very honest way, the people I’ve found hottest and most intriguing are always good listeners, and people who are quiet and incisive. It’s okay if you don’t talk on and on; a lot of “interesting” people are just filling space with noise. Noise is always briefly exciting or interesting, but that doesn’t mean it has substance or adds value. Trust me on this, I’m a performer and frankly so many nights I’m just making noise. So first piece of advice is, approach yourself as if you were a stranger— look at everything about you like you’ve never ever seen it before, and start to notice what you like. Then build on those things. Like, it’s okay if you hate your clothes, but do you have one jacket/shirt/earring that you love? Wear that so much, and slowly look out for pieces that make you feel like the thing you love— it’s okay if it takes time, the outfits that make me feel dynamic are all cobbled together from stuff I found over years. Then look at other people, what do you find interesting about them? I am a knockoff of every woman I ever thought was cool— my summer camp counselor, my gender studies TA from my first year of college, my mom, and literally everyone else. That’s okay though, mimicking what you like is a way of developing your taste, and you will put yourself together in a way that’s a little different and totally your own. It’s okay if it takes time— sometimes we have seasons where we don’t like ourselves a ton, but they do pass, and who you will be in a year is a brand new person— you haven’t met them yet, and you might love them. Tiny practical advice? Go for walks; it’s good for your body, it releases endorphins, and it gives you a chance to people watch/observe nature. Read something small; it can be a single poem, or an essay, or a children’s book— I love Howl’s Moving Castle and if I’m feeling stuck in a rut I read that, even though it’s a children’s book. If reading isn’t your thing watch a movie or a TV episode, but whatever you consume, watch it and take notes, like you‘re a secret critic— note what you liked, whether it’s costumes or language or the vibe, and what you didn’t, and then you can find more things like it— that’s how you develop your own taste, and it’s a good way to develop language around art and media. All critics and essayists and everyone whose job is to write interestingly about art started with shit they liked in middle school, and built on that to find their own language— you can do that too. Sorry for the hugely long post, but I promise that you are more interesting than you give yourself credit for, and there are people in the world who will see that.

@nadiyaelyse

Feb 19, 2024

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transparency is not the same as intimacy

This was really impactful for me; the analogy is, your life/your heart is a room (or an apartment, a space, etc) and relationships are all about inviting people into that room. Intimacy is letting them into the room and knowing that they might touch stuff, move furniture around, or change the way you’ve laid the room out. Transparency is letting people see the room, but keeping a glass between them and the space— they can see, but not touch. I think relationally we all have impulses toward transparency instead of intimacy, and it’s easy to say “I let you look at my room, that was intimacy,” while maintaining the glass that separates people from the room. Be intimate! Let people pick up the tchotchkes in your heart and move the furniture.

@nadiyaelyse

May 28, 2024

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Let it die

I like to let my phone die— I often don’t charge it overnight, and try not to plug it in during the day. If you’re able to access work/school through only your laptop, let your phone die, or leave it on the plug in another room. I also delete most apps from my phone for periods of weeks, and minimally use social media— if this works for you, it can feel very liberating, and makes me feel much less constantly accessible (which I think is a good thing). Something that helps me is thinking about the flattening of correspondence; before social media, if you wanted to communicate to a friend, it was one-on-one— you might write a letter, or call, or email, but what you were doing was conversational and relational. When we use social media, we flatten a lot of individual relationships into one relationship between us and our “audience.” Instead of sharing a thought or comment intended for one person, and designed for them to reply and continue the correspondence, we put out press releases on our own lives: “this is what I had for breakfast,” “this is a meme about my mental health,” and we become part of a passive audience in our friend’s lives. We end up feeling like we’ve just seen our friends, because we’re “viewing” their lives, but actually apps leave us feeling very isolated and anti-social. Try deleting your most used social media apps, and also schedule a walk/movie night/coffee with a friend. Outside of radical deletion, pick an audio book to listen to, and pair it with a hands on/tactile activity: you could load the dishwasher, or draw, or try embroidery.

@nadiyaelyse

Jul 29, 2024