Perhaps last weekend you enjoyed a day of music at the Roots Picnic at the Festival Pier. Tonight, you may enjoy the stylings of the house band on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon. And maybe you’re like us and still listen to Phrenology once every couple of weeks. No matter, there’s no denying that the Roots have been one of the most impressive musical success stories to come out of Philadelphia in recent decades. And now they’ve been immortalized in a new mural.

New mural

Last week, the latest work from the Mural Arts Program was unveiled in a ceremony in the rear of the World Communications Charter School at Broad & South with guests including the Mayor and most of the band. The artists for the mural are known as Amber Art…

Just about anyone who’s walked around Philadelphia for a day would agree that we live in a city of murals. Whether they’re sprucing up blank walls downtown or serving as placeholders until vacant land can be developed, these works of public art make our city more vibrant, more interesting, and more cultured. In addition, the Mural Arts Program has impacted the lives of thousands of kids over the years, working both as an educational institution and as a community service program for juvenile delinquents.

Winter: Crystal Snowscape in Bella Vista

We mostly find ourselves reporting on murals being covered up by new development, like “Autumn,” once located two blocks away from the mural pictured above, or the Noam Chomsky mural now covered on Fairmount Avenue. So it brings us special pleasure to take the opposite approach today and tell…

One of the most appealing off the main thoroughfare neighborhood parks we’ve encountered in a while, sits in West Philly at the corner of 48th and Chester streets, locked up and largely unused.

An entrance

Squirrel Hill Falls Park was envisioned by local artist Danielle Rousseau Hunter. It’s a cozy forest-like corner pocket lot with a waterfall mural on its back wall. From the mid-80s until the mid-90s, Rousseau Hunter spearheaded efforts that corralled resources of neighbors and city and state offices, to raise hundreds of thousands of dollars, including donations to design and complete the park. But its use ultimately became a neighborhood saga, according to this 1996 City Paper article.

Front door

The article describes Rousseau Hunter as a community activist who was tough against blight and big on transforming properties.…

In style, black will always be black. But around town, green is the new black at ten city schools and rec centers where blacktop will be transformed into new green space as part of a multi-city-agency collaborative initiative announced this month. It means a creative approach to creating needed accessible public green space.

Born of out of the mayor’s Green2015 Action Plan to create 500 acres of green space in the city by 2015, members from various city agencies celebrated the news with an event this month at the William Dick Elementary Schoolyard at 25th and Diamond Streets in North Philly.

Great mural

The budget for this program is about $9M, according to Patrick Morgan, chief of staff for the Parks and Recreation Department. Last year, partners from the Mural Arts Program, Water Department, Parks and Rec and The Trust…

A long embarrassment for South Street is set to end in the coming months, as we’ve heard from a couple of sources that 7-11 is preparing to open a new location at 600 South St., last home to McDonald’s. This premium South Street corner has somehow been vacant for over five years, which is almost as unbelievable as the thought of a McDonald’s location ever going out of business.

This marks the third new 7-11 location opening in the greater Center City area in the last year or so. Previously, we’ve covered new locations on North Broad St., near the Convention Center, and at Front & Girard, almost under the El. This company seems to be aggressively expanding in Philly, and we can only assume that more are on the way.

By the way, there’s no word yet…

Philadelphia’s Mural Arts Program, the largest public art program in the country, has produced over 3,500 murals since its inception in 1984. Last week, in conjunction with the Phillies, the Mural Arts Program unveiled The Phillies Mural, a work of public art honoring our Boys of Summer that will rise eight stories on the side of a building on Walnut St., facing the Schuylkill river and I-76. That building currently looks like this:

In the coming year, thousands of fans and members of the community will participate in paint days to contribute to the mural designed by David McShane, who has also created two other baseball themed murals in other parts of the city. The Phillies Mural will honor current and former players, current and former stadiums, beloved announcers and of course the Phillie Phanatic. Fans will have the opportunity…