EMPTY AMERICA: Philadelphia

The ride north out of DC continued the trend of thinking “Are they even shut down?”


On the freeway, I got stuck in traffic. Traffic! Literally standstill. People were weaving, honking, in a rush. It felt like the pandemic had already swept through here and gone west. Who were all of these people and why were they going north with me?


This traffic continued up through Maryland and into Philadelphia. It was odd to see so many cars on the road and, nope, didn’t miss it at all. Give me the open roads of the south!


I circled around Baltimore (sorry city, I know you have some nice spots, but it was getting late and, well, Baltimore, at night, during a pandemic.... Wasn’t tempting to push that in the least. No offense). However, I did stop into Maryland House (their greeting center) for gas and a bathroom break. It’s still shocking to see chair and tables chained up, one fast food counter open amongst 10 dark ones, just the lack of humanity and buzz is still unnerving.


Luckily there’s Philadelphia. I decided not to hit the well-known tourist spots (Independence Hall, Liberty Bell) because I knew they’d be empty, devoid of tourists and definitely lacking locals, as I’m sure they do most days.


However, the “Rocky Steps” (aka The Philadelphia Museum of Art) I thought would be a sight to behold. I know it’s usually populated with both tourists and probably some locals jogging or hanging out in the grass in front.


Well, there was plenty of parking, but man those steps were full. Ok, not as full as a normal, functioning day of the week, and it did seem like most people were kind of keeping a solid 6 foot social distance here and there, but even looking around the area it just seemed under-populated. Not empty. Not one of the more crowded cities in the US, but like a nice central gathering place in a small town. There was the noise of traffic, conversation, phone calls, a police siren. Everybody seemed...OK.


Here’s the thing: I don’t know if that’s a good thing or not. Is it the resiliency of the Philadelphia persona, the ability to laugh in the face of adversity and continue about their lives, or is it blocking it out, ignoring it, or not caring? I guess you could answer that depending on how you feel about Philadelphia locals. I was definitely confused.


I drove around and the bars and restaurants were closed, no one Fishtown, Passyunk or Old City. I mean, there were people there, walking, but nobody cavorting. So the bulk of the businesses were closed and they the streets were marginally full of pedestrians and the lanes had a fair number of drivers.


If I hadn’t been here before, was plopped down, completely naive, I would think this was a normally I operating city, just that maybe there was a health scare that shut down the food industry (which it is, yes, but the coronavirus isn’t food-borne). But nobody seemed worried, no masks, gloves or Hazmat suits.


Maybe that’s the right attitude? The happy medium? Maybe there’s the lesson: Don’t gather, close the doors of social hangouts, but don’t lose your attitude or your smile in it all