5 Things to do in Philadelphia

A look at five things you've gotta check out if visiting Philadelphia.

Can you guess what they are?

Philadelphia - A Video Tour

Take a look at this historic city.

Mob Scene, Mousie gets out of the trap

Reputed Mafia underboss Joseph “Mousie” Massimino wins early release fron New Jersey prison after serving more than five years of a 10-year sentence for racketeering.

Mob Scene, Crime Family Tree

Who is who in the local Cosa Nostra? Law enforcement investigators outline what they say is the current leadership of the Philly mob.

Mob Scene, Pagans Pinched

The Gorilla hit. And local Pagans pinched in new indictment.

Head of the Schuylkill Regatta - Oct. 24 and 25

Rowing in Philadelphia has a colorful history, made famous by Thomas Eakins and his extraordinary paintings of oarsmen on the Schuylkill River. Legends of Olympic champions have made Boathouse Row one of the most important rowing centers in the world for rowers, bicyclists, runners, dragon boaters, kayakers and others who flock to this historic recreation area in Fairmount Park.

For 38 years, The Thomas Eakins Head of the Schuylkill Regatta has brought thousands of athletes from the region and beyond to Philadelphia for what is considered one of the best run, and most challenging head races, in the US. Its popularity caused it to recently expand the event to 2 full days. Approximately 5,000 athletes will compete and between 5,000 and 10,000 spectators typically attend this 2.5-mile head race, the grand finale of regatta racing in Philadelphia.

Competitor demographics:
•40% high school students
•30% college students
•20% masters rowers (27 and up, from still competitive Olympic medal winners to rowers who began in their 50’s. The oldest
•competitor is 78)
•10% elite rowers and those in special events: adaptive rowers, Community Rowing Program, Dragon Boats.

The best place to watch the regatta is at the Festival Area. The regatta festival…cool vendors, fun food, music, artists, games and more, is located at The Three Angels statue, approximately 1-mile north of boathouse row and the official launching area for hundreds of out-of-town boats. It is from here (or the finish line at Boathouse Row) that spectators can watch the boats battle it out on the water as they compete against the clock in this 2.5 mile race that begins at Laurel Hill Cemetery (Hunting Park Avenue and Kelly Drive).

Philadelphia's Jewish Film Festival

The Gershman Y’s Philadelphia Jewish Film Festival is the second longest running, critically acclaimed series of its kind in the United States. The festival brings to the Greater Philadelphia area the diversity of the Jewish experience as portrayed in independent feature films and documentaries from around the globe. Film programs are enhanced by dialogue and discourse led by notable guest speakers and distinguished filmmakers.

In May 2010 PJFF will celebrate the 13th year of New Filmmakers Weekend, the most unique and anticipated event of the season. New Filmmakers Weekend offers new and emerging filmmakers a unique platform to share their artistic vision with truly receptive and engaged audiences.

Learn more at Jewish Film Festival

Mob Scene, The Wiseguy Didn’t Do It

Jersey wiseguy beats murder rap but is now a suspect in another murder investigation.

Chinese friendship gate

A decorative arch built in 1984 as a joint project between Philadelphia and its Chinese sister city, Tianjin, the multicolored, four-story gate is Chinatown's most conspicuous landmark. The fourth-largest Chinatown in the USA, Philly's version has existed since the 1860s.

Mob Scene, The Cop the Kingpin and the Conviction.

Former officer Rickie Durham found guilty of tipping off Ace Capone hours before police raid his home.

Mob Scene, Win, Draw or Mob Bust?

A law enforcement raid on illegal video poker machines is connected to an on-going probe of the local Mafia.

GayBINGO: Honey, it's not your grandmother's bingo!

GayBINGO! is the fabulous, irreverent, campy, wildly popular monthly event that has been entertaining Philadelphia audiences for more than a decade! GayBINGO! raises money for people in the Delaware Valley living with HIV/AIDS. Now entering its 14th season, GayBINGO! has raised over 2 million dollars to date.

Celebrating a different theme each month, hundreds of people pack the hall in Center City’s Gershman Y for a night of good old-fashioned Bingo… with a decidedly different twist! GayBINGO! is hosted by the infamous Bingo Verifying Divas (BVDs!) – a wild bunch of drag queens on roller skates who entertain the crowd with their wacky humor and always outrageous costumes.

GayBINGO! promises to be an evening of unbridled fun, complete with ridiculous musical numbers, hilarious drag queen antics, chances to win cash and fabulous prizes, and much, much more.

2009-2010 Schedule

Learn more at GayBingo

Fright Factory: Philadelphia's Ultimate Haunted Attraction

During the Great Depression when factory workers lost their jobs, a lot of them also lost their minds and were thrust into insane asylums. Allegedly, the Fright Factory building once housed one such asylum. Many of these committed people were forgotten and left to their own devices, breeding nightmarish packs of crazy killers who inspired some of Hollywood's notorious villains, like Freddy Kruger from "A Nightmare on Elm Street" and Michael Myers of "Halloween."



Location:
FRIGHT FACTORY is Located at
2200 S. Swanson Street
Philadelphia, PA 19148
(215) 33-GHOST
(Just one block South of Snyder Avenue, next to Forman Mills!)

Terror Behind the Walls: Halloween at Eastern State Penitentiary

In the quest for Halloween haunts there's no better place to begin than a historic house of horrors. The rotting remains of a maximum security prison.

Opened in 1829, Eastern State was the first penitentiary designed to hold ever inmate in solitary confinement, forcing them into reflection and repentance. For 142 years, this fortress housed incorrigibles like Al Capone and many of them were driven to madness.

A dream for a house designer is a building that is already creepy, already deteriorating and decrypted, and Eastern State Penitentiary is that building.

Another IJP must see attraction.

Ghost Caught Inside Eastern State Penitentiary

Great special about the ghost inside the Eastern State Penitentiary in Philadelphia.

Psychic medium Joseph Tittel spends the night inside the most haunted prison in the world, the Eastern State Penitentiary with the Garden State Ghost Hunters. One spirit moves a ball and others are caught on tape and so much more. Amazing footage.

ESP Part1


ESP Part 2

World Cafe Live Philadelphia

In addition to being a world class music venue, World Cafe Live also features extensive and eclectic menus both Upstairs and Downstairs with daily lunch specials, nightly chef specials, great music and the hottest Happy Hour west of Avenue of the Arts.



Location:
3025 Walnut Street
Philadelphia, PA 19104
215-222-1400

Website: World Cafe Live

Mob Scene, Guilty until proven innocent

The cousin of mob boss Joey Merlino says he has no connection to the Mafia and wants the Casino Control Commission to allow him to work on casino construction projects.

First Person Arts: Transforming the drama of real life into art

First Person Arts transforms the drama of real life into memoir and documentary art to foster appreciation for our unique and shared experience.

First Person Arts is a Philadelphia-based non-profit organization dedicated to memoir and documentary art of all kinds. They host monthly StorySlams and Salons, occasional Edible World Food Tours, and an annual photography, film and writing competition culminating in the First Person Festival of Memoir and Documentary Art every November.

First Person StorySlams are a monthly, real-life-storytelling competition co-sponsored by LEtage at 6th & Bainbridge Streets in Philadelphia. Each months theme elicits stories that come from the life experiences of Phillys storytellers. Who are these local tale spinners? Everyone with a story and a little sense of competition is encouraged to participate.

First Person Salons are an interactive program offering emerging and established artists and writers an opportunity to present their new memoir and documentary-based works or works-in progress, and offering audiences access to exciting new works that might otherwise go unseen.

StorySlam: Baggage--Winner and Audience Favorite Renee


First Person Arts StorySlams: Foreign Territory: Brady


Learn more at www.firstpersonarts.org

Mob Scene: Angelo Bruno

When the mob ruled Philadelphia, Angelo Bruno was the king of the underworld. In Episode One George Anastasia investigates the rise and fall of Philly's most powerful Mafia Don.

Field guide to jaywalking in Philly

Everyone has their own style of illegally crossing the street against the light. Here are a few of the better-known examples:

The Moses
Quite possibly the most annoying of all, this technique, favored by foot messengers, involves crossing in front of cars that have a green light while holding up a hand as if to part the oncoming sea of cars.

The Frogger
This method involves darting out into traffic, stopping after a few lanes and waiting for traffic ahead to clear before proceeding. Also known as Stop-and-Go and the Bump 'N' Run.

Game The System
This is the approach used by a person who walks down the street midblock alongside traffic, while patiently waiting for seam to dark through.

The Usain Bolt
Not content to take many chances, this pedestrian races across the street as fast as humanly possible after the light changes to beat the oncoming rush of traffic.

The Zig Zaggers
Those who cross a wide street, usually starting midblock and cutting across at an angle away from traffic. Also known as The Angler or The Crazy Leg.

The Tourist
Wait patiently for the light to change like this is Denmark or something.

* Credit - NYPost

Mob Scene, Is a reputed mob boss now a mob informant?

Alleged Mafia leader Big Billy D’Elia is said to be cooperating with the feds. If that is true, there is a lot he may be able to tell them about the Philly mob, and political corruption in both Philadelphia and Scranton, Pa.

Mob Scene, Brother Against Brother

A tale of brothers who choose a crime family over their own family and ended up on opposite sides in a Mafia civil war.

Mob Scene, The Mob’s Texas two-step?

The feds continue to probe an alleged swindle involving a financial company in Texas and the son of a local mob boss.

Mob Scene, The Waterfront Wiseguy

A reputed North Jersey mobster, an alleged mob squad and the Philly Mafia connection.

Mob Scene, Happy Birthday Uncle Joe

Reputed Mob boss Joe Ligambi celebrates his birthday under threat of federal indictment and in the midst of a controversy about an alleged interview he gave to the media.

Mob Scene, Wiseguys Down the Shore

From Al Capone in Atlantic City in 1929 to Philly's reputed mob boss hanging out in Margate this summer, the mob loves to vacation at the Jersey shore. But gangsters at the beach sometimes find trouble in paradise.

Mob Scene: Joseph Ligambi

George Anastasia profiles reputed mob boss, Joseph 'Uncle Joe' Ligambi. Law enforcement sources allege that Ligambi is the head of the Philadelphia/South Jersey Crime Family.

Mob Scene: Anthony Nicodemo

A reputed mob soldier and his role in an illegal gambling operation run out of an Atlantic City casino.

Mob Scene, Delco Nostra Investigation

An investigation of mob activity in Delaware County.