1. Bottle Bar East
The costume: The Mecca of beer in Fishtown, with 700 varieties of artisanal beer served in Philadelphia’s scruffily trendy neighbourhood.
The art: The bar walls host rows of bottles as well as exhibitions of local art. Alongside murals and permanent pieces, Bottle Bar hosts month-long shows of Philly artists with openings every First Friday of the month.
2. Charles Addams Hall
The costume: Penn’s Fine Arts building, between Frontera and the Bookstore.
The art: The first floor of Addams is an exhibition space showing works of undergrads, MFA students and professional artists. Exhibitions are open to anyone with a Penn ID: we’re all in the Addams Family. “Pervasive Clay” is currently on show until October 28th.
3. 915 Spring Gardens
The costume: A former 75,000 square-foot railway station in the leafy Spring Gardens neighbourhood.
The art: The building’s 5 storeys are resident to nearly 100 artists studios which open their doors to the public on special weekend in October, December and April. The next Open Studio is December 4-5.
4. Philly streets
T he costume: Sidewalks everywhere.
The art: Philly streets are a canvas—Mural Mile in Old City has the highest density of large-scale street art in the country, and our public sculptures range from the iconic “LOVE” statue to Rodin’s “Thinker”. But there’s weird and beautiful art to find closer to home too. West Philly is full of the freakiest home-grown public art projects, like this Jesus Christ made out of vacuum cleaner parts, erected on 45th and Spruce Streets. Amen to that.
