Philadelphia - Rebel City

Philadelphia is known as the meeting place of rebels as they planned to declare their rebellion from the British Empire, though a lot of that pre-Revolutionary spirit is shared with Boston. Pennsylvania in general tended to be more welcoming to non-conformity than Massachusetts, but are there some remnants of that spirit today?

Really, this is my excuse to talk about some places we didn't go.

I did mention Swann Fountain last week in talking about the Calders. What I didn't mention is that one of the things they told us on the tour is that swimming is not allowed in Swann Fountain, and people do it anyway.

That might not have made a lasting impression, except that on the tour Swann Fountain and Love Park were pretty close together (Google Maps says it's an eight minute walk), and Love Park is popular with skateboarders even after the ban. In fact, there is a fairly famous act of civil disobedience associated with it. 

LOVE Park was designed by Edmund Bacon, father of actor Kevin Bacon, yes, but  also pretty cool in his own right, and kind of a firebrand. (See his history of being run out of Flint by big business for supporting strikers and getting federal grants, and his protest of One Liberty Place for more on that.)

LOVE Park has always been popular for skateboarding, and its design lends itself to that well, but skateboarding was banned in 1995, with increased fines and enforcement added in 2001 and discouraging renovations in 2002.

In protest, a 92-year old Edmund Bacon skated in the park.

https://vimeo.com/57981966

Okay, he needed some help, but that's better than a lot of people decades younger can do, and his end quote is awesome.

(Incidentally, they mentioned the protest and his age on the tour, and it made him seem a bit old to be Kevin Bacon's father, but he was 48 when Kevin Bacon was born, so that's how it works out.)

Sadly, the renovations are undergoing another round, with still no allowances being made for skaters, inspiring the hash tag #lastdaysoflove and #phillyhasnolove. While plans for a new skate park are mentioned, skaters feel that it's place cannot be filled.

http://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news/local/Last-Days-of-LOVE-Park-Philly-Remodel-Skateboarders-Squeeze-in-Last-Laps-367730531.html

Will more rebellion follow? Philly has seen worse.