Friday, October 5, 2018

Philadelphia's Magic Gardens

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  Isaiah and Julia Zagar opened a folk art store Philadelphia in 1968 and, as way of attracting attention to it, Isaiah covered the front wall with a mosaic of mirrors and broken pieces of glazed tile and pottery. The next building that they bought in 1991 was adjacent to two abandoned lots which Isaiah cleaned up and fenced off. After covering the building walls with mosaics, he started creating a mosaic garden. Eleven years later the absentee owner of the land discovered the artwork and threatened to sell the property. Fortunately, with community support, the artwork was saved. The site now includes tunnels and grottos, all covered with colorful mosaics. There’s a fee to go inside the gate but you can see a lot from outside. The mosaics extend around the two sides of the building that face Alder and Kater Streets. There are dozens of murals on other buildings in the area – Map. We didn’t know about the map so we missed most of them.

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  The Magic Gardens have narrow passageways and many steps so they are not accessible but it’s possible to see a lot of artwork from the streets.

  The streets are narrow and parking is hard to find. A parking garage across the street has a 6’6” height limit. We parked along Dock Street which is about a mile east. Dock Street is much wider than most of the other streets and we could always find an open parking space. The spaces are not marked so a ticket from the kiosk – payable by cash, credit card or phone app - is good for any size vehicle. Parking is limited to 3 hours however we were informed by a friendly local man that a disabled placard would get us an extra hour for free. This was confirmed later by a parking officer. The terrain is fairly level but some of the sidewalks and curb cuts are in bad condition.  Gardens  39.94283, -75.15941

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