Philly gripes, huh? Two things come to mind…5-Star Parking and Lew Blum Towing…that pair needs to rot in hell forever for the racket they have going on. I parked in a 5-star lot, paid the attendant, got my stub and went about my business, came back to find my car towed!!! It cost me $200 for the tow and I’m STILL trying to get that money back from those no-good parking nazis…thank God I didn’t have to leave my keys with them…I would hate to think where my car would be right now.
The last time I was in Philly, two dollars fluttered out of the open sky and landed on my head. Dead serious.
I can’t flame any city that drops free money on me.
Well, for one thing Tom Hanks gave just about the most wooden performance I’ve ever seen out of him, and I’ve been watching him since Bosom Buddies. And Hanks and Banderas had all the sexual chemistry of Statler and Waldorf from the Muppet Show. The only thing this movie had going for it was a hot topic. If it had been made five years later, it would’ve been laughed out of the theaters.
What?
My only real gripe with Philly is some of the schlubs that get into City Hall. How can you elect as Mayor a man who ran a string of unlicensed lunch trucks on Broad Street near Temple U, and showed his class (or lack thereof) by overturning the dais in City Council chambers and attacking another council member.
That aside, the Zoo, the Arts, and a multitude of other things are great about Philly. Before someone else mentions it, the city has lost some great things over the last 20 years, notably WFLN-FM, the only full time classical station. Thanks to Temple, there are classics by day and jazz by night, but it was a loss nontheless. Mergers and banking deregulation have robbed the city of some business icons: PSFS was the oldest savings bank in the nation, and PNB (later Core States) was another sizeable banking presence until swallowed up by First Union. In exchange we have the F U Center in south Philly.
I’ll take Philly over other Northeast cities for many reasons, not the least of which is that I know what neighborhoods to stay out of in Philly-it’s a guess when traveling elsewhere! 
Wasn’t that his brother Milton?
He was askin’ for it.
The unlicenced trucks were Milton’s (how did he become a state senator?), but the City Hall brawl is Street.
And here I was thinking the OP would be “is that it’s full of Philadelphians”.
[/Braveheart]
Just wanna chime in as another Philadelphian. Well…kinda, I live in the NE burbs. Love my eagles. Hate Street with a passion ever since his little racist remark. Not to mention the fact that he won’t deal with the city council. Love the food here. Can’t beat it with a stick. I never understood though why people find it so difficult to make a cheesesteak outside of philly. And for christ’s sake, it’s not just a slab of meat on a roll people! How far from a cheesesteak can you get?
I’ve heard it’s all about the Amoroso’s roll. I’m not sure, but I know it’s real tough to find Amoroso’s outside of Philadelphia, so maybe that’s why it’s also tough to find a good cheesesteak outside of Philadelphia, too.
My main gripe against Phila. is those damn skyscrapers they started putting up in the '80s. When I was growing up (back in the McKinley administration), Phila. still had its distinctive 19th-century skyline, no building taller than Billy Penn atop City Hall. Then they put up the “Jesus H. Chrysler Building,” as I call it, and one after another crappy skyscraper went up, ruining the look of the city. Bastards.
I’m about to commit heresy here but I have found something even better than an Amoroso roll for cheesesteaks :eek:
There’s a place iin South Jersey that does pretty much nothing but bake rolls and most times if you go there you have to be careful you don’t burn your hands getting them they’re so fresh. Only about a buck a dozen too
The Mayors of Philly Suck - Rendel and Street in recent history.
It’s the roll. They’ve made sorry attempts here in California, but the only place that gets it right are a transplanted Philadelphia couple that opened their own grill - and have Amoroso’s imported. 
Esprix
Even further than that.
I went to Huddle House with B to see a friend of hers. Nothing really appetizing on the menu, so I decided to see how their Philly Cheesesteak was.
Little slap of meat on a BUN with a SLICE of cheese on the top. A sesame seed bun. Like the kind hamburgers come in.
Yeah.
I think that just says it all.
My worst experience:
I spent the summer of '99 in Ireland and, at the end of the trip, went to Scotland for a week. At that point, it’d been so long since I’d had Philly food that you can imagine my delight when, at a restaurant in Glasgow, I found on the menu:
Authentic Philly Cheesesteak.
I couldn’t help myself, and ordered it. And what’d they bring me? Me, who’d found an oasis after two months in the desert? The stereotyped slap of meat on a sliced kaiser roll, with a spritz of cheese whiz on top.
Curse the Scots for such an indignity.
I’ve started international incidents over less.
“Ya call this a CheeseSteak riot!?”
I’ll second Eve on the skyline – I grew up here, but was gone from '70 to ‘87, and couldn’t believe my freakin’ eyes when I moved back.
And I refuse to call East River Drive, Kelly Drive.
On politics – I’m a big Rendell fan, but agree that Goode and Rizzo were both pretty appalling. ('87, y’all will recall, was the year they ran against each other – I sat that one out, couldn’t bring myself to vote for either of them.)
Street – not a fan, but I think he suffers particularly from following the charismatic Rendell. A rabid Democrat, I voted for Katz 4 years ago and will vote for him again this year.
:eek: I’ve been away since roughly 1977 - they changed the name of the East River Drive?
[hijack] I found a perfect Philly hoagie in Cheyenne, Wyoming. I found a perfect Philly hoagie in Cheyenne, Wyoming. The guy that owned the little place was from South Philly and when I told him, as all expatriate Philadelphians learn to do, not to foul the thing with mustard or mayonnaise, he looked at me like I was nuts. “I would never put that shit on a hoagie.” I almost wept - a great hoagie and attitude to go with it, way out on the prairie. Yee haw! [/end of hijack]