29 September 2010
Philadelphia
'Again?' comes the puzzled response.
No one ever says that when I mention I'm off to Hong Kong or China, both of which I visit almost every year and sometimes twice a year. What do people have against Philadelphia?
This will be my third visit. The first was about three years ago on a group press trip with a number of Canadian and US journalists, intended to promote the just-opening Tutankhamun exhibition. While I tend to avoid these groups trips, this one was well organised, and privileged access to the exhibition before it opened, and to assorted experts involved in putting it together (including the entertainingly fatuous and tirelessly self-promoting Zahi Hawass) made it possible to put together an workmanlike piece. There were glimpses of other aspects of Philadelphia on the side, and a little time for us to pick and choose what else we'd like to see.
I returned last year to do a piece on BYOB restaurants there (some of them excellent and very good value for money) and another on the marvellous historic Penitentiary, and conversion of part of it into a giant haunted house around Hallowe'en. This is a major money-spinner for the site, and helps to ensure its upkeep. As a snooty European I usually have little good to say about the USA's rather jejune historic sites, but the Penitentiary by day is a labyrinth of oddly elegant architecture, heroic decay, and a hotch-potch of add-ons, well labelled and explained in a way that has much to say about the human condition, and with a superb audio tour full of interesting facts, narrated appropriately by Hollywood arch-creep, Steve Buscemi (Mr. Pink in 'Reservoir Dogs'). This is worth travelling to Philadelphia to see in its own right.
I loathe fairground sideshows, haunted houses, and the North American Hallowe'en in general, but I had no choice but to take a 30-minute-plus meander through an elborately constructed maze of ghouls and scares of many kinds, frequently being made to shriek and jump out of my skin in a way I thoroughly dislike (but was clearly very entertaining for many visitors). There were memorable moments of comedy, such as an apparently un-dead figure at one pause in the route asking the party in front of me how many members it had.
'Eight,' was the reply.
'Not for long,' intoned the ghoul.
The director was an entertaining interview, and I got to go back stage and into the hidden passages traversed by the very hard-working staff, and see how they managed to seem to pop up from nowhere and to disappear again. I even got to yell from behind a gauze panel in one wall and make people jump myself. That was fun, although a couple of glasses of wine with a few board members at a party for sponsors later were still welcome.
And why am I going yet again?
Simply because the editor of a glossy magazine with a set of photographs he wants to use asked if I happened to know anything about the city. I was able to tell him I'd been twice, but once I saw the photos I thought I needed to go back and fill in some gaps in my knowledge, as well as refresh various experiences. Compared to much of the travelling I do, Philadelphia, reachable in about ten or eleven hours altogether, is an easy trip: one day to get there, two days of work, and one day to get back. The overall level of support in Philadelphia is pretty good, so costs are kept down, and there's reasonable profit. Philadelphia wants to reach the markets this magazine offers, so is happy to bring me back.
The morals of this story are:
I don't get to go where I please for the most part, but only to destinations about which editors would like material.
If I already know about a place, I'm more likely to end up covering it again. This business is more repetitive than most imagine. I actually like this, as it tends to make for better-informed pieces.
It isn't necessarily the most exotic destinations that provide the best material.
I'll be staying at the Ritz-Carlton, which is an excellent conversion of a very grand former bank with a vast stone dome over what was the banking hall and is now the hotel lobby, and a find example of some of the stately and dignified architecture of the downtown core.
I'm quite looking forward to the trip back.
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