“Love Letters” – An Artist’s Gift to Philadelphia

There are several reasons Philly has so much public art (a subject for an upcoming post), but this one is great fun, and definitely off the beaten path. One of Mural Arts’s most popular projects, artist Steve Powers created 50 of these murals as a gift to his West Philly neighborhood. They were designed to be viewed from the Market-Frankfort El (Philly’s name for its elevated transit train) with the largest concentration between 63rd and 52nd Streets. Some are viewable from street level (it’s not a great neighborhood, but ok to walk around during the day), but for the best views, get off at the stops and check out the surrounding buildings from both sides of the platform- you will only have to re-pay if you leave the station. You definitely won’t see all the murals on one train ride, but you can see many of them. The easiest train access from Center City is from the station at City Hall – it’s only a 10/15 minute train ride. Check the mural arts website for a list of the murals and their locations: https://map.muralarts.org/tours/14