# Philadelphia High Culture - Recommendations?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/philadelphia-high-culture-recommendations/516129>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [November 3, 2009, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/philadelphia-high-culture-recommendations/516129 "2009-11-03T02:51:11Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![The\_Bith\_Shuffle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ce73a5/32.png) [@The\_Bith\_Shuffle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Bith_Shuffle)\
**Post date:** [November 3, 2009, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/philadelphia-high-culture-recommendations/516129/1 "2009-11-03T02:51:11Z")

</div>

I’m really pretentious. Oh baby, pretentious. I love my fine art, my fine wine, my live music.

I’m going to Philly in April. What should I do there? I want visual art and food at the very least; anything else that will impress the boho-chic girls when I come back to Seattle helps, though.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Musky\_Moon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/90db22/32.png) [@Musky\_Moon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musky_Moon)\
**Post date:** [November 3, 2009, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/philadelphia-high-culture-recommendations/516129/2 "2009-11-03T03:05:07Z")

</div>

Philly Museum of Art, obviously.  
Rodin Museum right across the street.  
I doubt the new Barnes Museum will be open by then but you can try it’s original location in the suburbs.

My favorite restaurant is Swanky Bubbles…an ecclectic fusion place.

Scads of historical sites, but that won’t impress the girls.

I’ll come back with more, because right now the World Series is calling.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\
**Post date:** [November 3, 2009, 4:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/philadelphia-high-culture-recommendations/516129/3 "2009-11-03T04:07:25Z")

</div>

Context travel does walking tours of Philly that are guided by history profs. They don’t even call them tours, they call them seminars. [www.contexttravel.com](http://www.contexttravel.com)

I really like their tours.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\
**Post date:** [November 3, 2009, 12:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/philadelphia-high-culture-recommendations/516129/4 "2009-11-03T12:58:26Z")

</div>

For classical music, etc., check out the [Kimmel Center](http://www.kimmelcenter.org/) (home of the orchestra, ballet, a modern dance company, and opera, plus various other events throughout the year, including jazz, b’way shows, world music, etc.). Lots of good dance and music at the [Annenberg Center](http://www.annenbergcenter.org/tickets/) out at Penn (OMFG, Habib Koite is going to be there in March **buys tickets** ). Alternative music scene is centered at [World Cafe Live](http://www.worldcafelive.com/). All of these are modern facilities that are wonderful places to see & hear. There are, of course, a couple of hundred smaller venues all over the city.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![JeffB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jeffb/32/188_2.png) [@JeffB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JeffB)\
**Post date:** [November 3, 2009, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/philadelphia-high-culture-recommendations/516129/5 "2009-11-03T14:27:41Z")

</div>

In addition to the [Philadelphia Art Museum](http://www.philamuseum.org/), the [Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts](http://www.pafa.org/) has a nice museum and incredible architecture.