Tourism: lifeline to Philly

By Kwanwoo Jun

CENTER CITY, Philadelphia - “Major” Samuel Nicholas posed for a photo at a tourist’s request. In a green tailcoat and under a black cocked hat, he made a pompous look as if he were a real Continental Army officer. The shutter clicked, and he resumed his position, strolling back and forth on the hallway of a visitor’s center.

A historical impersonator in Philadelphia, Nicholas’ job is to interact with tourists and help them feel a real sense of U.S. history. On any given day, he might chat with tourists, pose for pictures, give directions or answer questions about the American Revolutionary War.

Nicholas, 37, works at the Independence Visitor Center, a 21^st-Century modern building in downtown Philadelphia, although he “lives” in the 18^th century. And while Nicholas himself is a single man from Mansfield, Pa., his historical alter ego talks about his “lovely wife Mary Jenkins Nicholas” and their “five children.”

Whenever Nicholas cracked a joke, visitors burst into laughter -- a response he says he always loves.

“My presence makes their experience come alive,” he said, smiling.

               Nicholas, who has worked for Historic Philadelphia for 15 years, is one of the tens of thousands of employees in the multi-billion-dollar tourism industry in Philadelphia, a city that would lose its vitality without funds tourism generates.

In Philadelphia, tourism brought in $5 billion in visitor spending and $8.2 billion in both direct and induced business sales in 2009, according to the Greater Philadelphia Tourism Marketing Corporation.

Tourism in Philadelphia galvanizes local hotels, shops, restaurants, and markets. It also keeps double-decker buses for museums, local farms and construction sites busy.

Visitor spending in Philadelphia resulted in $1.2-billion tax revenue last year, helping schools, libraries and other public services stay afloat, GPTMC data show.

Tourism in Philadelphia was a bigger employer than transportation, insurance, food stores and banking in the region last year, sustaining 83,664 jobs, or 5 percent of the total employment, the data show.

“If the tourism industry drops away, it will be a very sad and unfortunate thing to Philadelphia,” Nicholas said.

             While tourism is still a major industry in Philadelphia, recent numbers indicate Philadelphia’s tourism industry is being affected by the economic slowdown.

GPTMC data show 36 million domestic travelers visited Philadelphia in 2009, down 1.9 percent from 2008, with visitor spending plunging 13.2 percent year-on-year.

But Ethan Connor Ross, research director of GPTMC, said Philadelphia’s tourism economy has picked up again, citing a Smith Travel Research report on a 5-percent increase in hotel occupancy this year.

“Philadelphia’s drop in tourism in 2009 was in line with national and global trends -- the great recession caused a pullback in overall travel activity,” Ross said. “2010 has been a stronger year – people with the means are ready to travel again.”

Philadelphia Economic Index shows the city’s economy declining again since 2007 after years of slow recovery, with factories continuing to close. The city knows tourism can be a real economic and job booster.

Philadelphia, the birthplace of American independence and democracy, has more cultural and historical relics than any other U.S. city – a great boon to tourism.

Across the street from the visitor’s center is the Liberty Bell Center, where a cracked bell is on display as an icon of American independence and international freedom.

The bell was first hung in 1753 onto the Pennsylvania State House where America’s independence was discussed and declared in 1776. It has since served as a symbol of anti-slavery and suffrage movements until it cracked in 1846.

The bell that no longer rings still attracts 13,000 visitors a day in season, according to the National Park Service that supervises the center.

“It is still doing a pretty damn good job, cracked or not,” said Robert Schulte, a park ranger, referring to the endless streams of visitors flowing in to see the bell. “Right where you are standing is the most popular spot in the city.”

The Liberty Bell Center building sits in the middle of the most historic square mile in the United States.

To the north of the Liberty Bell Center stand the Independence Visitor Center and the National Constitutional Center. The United States Mint building and the grave of a U.S. founding father Benjamin Franklin are just to the right of the centers.

Right to the west of the Liberty Bell Center is the Declaration House, where U.S. founding father Thomas Jefferson drafted the Declaration of Independence.

Down to the south are the Independence Hall, formerly the Pennsylvania State House, that announced the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution.

Randy Garrison, 56, a tourist traveling from Dayton, Ohio, who was traveling with his wife, said he hoped to bring his children to visit Philadelphia. “They need to see the heritage and the history of the country,” Garrison said.

Philadelphia has actually launched an aggressive and smart campaign to attract tourists for more than 10 years.

This year, GPTMC, a main tourism promoter for Philadelphia since 1997, has decided its successful “With Love, Philadelphia XOXO” campaign, which started a year ago.

The campaign focuses on a simple slogan designed to entice people to visit Philadelphia, a city named after two Greek words -- “philos” meaning “love” and “adelphos” meaning “brother.”

Campaign posters and banners use no complex pictorial images. Instead, they use the friendly Post-it designs that carry only the slogan written simple in black and red. It aims to put Philadelphia on everybody’s list as a place to go.

The ads rely on various platforms like outdoor banners, TV, online, print, radio and in-theater commercials. They often target tourists in other major U.S. tourist cities, promoting the mindset of “I’ve been to New York and Washington. Let’s do Philadelphia this time.”

The slogan has been so popular that bars and bakeries in Philadelphia are actively using it for marketing their products, with a “With Love, Philadelphia XOXO” ale and a “With Love, Philadelphia XOXO” cheesecake.

              In June, Philadelphia became the world’s first city to showcase its tourist attractions via a mobile application to demonstrate how much it values tourism.

The Find Your Philly mobile application features five tours, or “treks,” focusing on the city’s history; arts and culture; science and multicultural aspects; as well as the expanded convention center, due to reopen in March 2011.

Convention business is another part that Philadelphia focuses on to boost international visitation. The ongoing $786-million expansion of the convention center would make it possible to host two major conventions simultaneously.

In September, SugarHouse Casino opened its doors on the Delaware River waterfront. The city quickly connected SugarHouse to the public transit system in a smart bid to get tourists off the streets and into the casino.

             One of the tourism marketing successes in Philadelphia was the creation of a thriving business enclave in the city’s central Midtown Village. The city has renamed the former brothel district.

             The “Gayborhood” area has turned into a bustling spot for trendy restaurants, cafes, bars, clothing stores and souvenir shops since it adopted its new name.

             GPTMC and other tourism agencies and sponsors have constantly supplied the district with things to enjoy and maintain vitality. In June, a three-week summer event featured a gay film festival, a photo exhibition and a block party.

             “Before it was the ‘Gayborhood,’ it was a red-light district,” said Nelson Hernandez, 23, who works at an area cafe. “Once it’s substantiated, the local community that cultural backgrounds have been in legitimizes the area here.”

             He said many restaurants, shops and cafes in the neighborhood are owned by the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people. The shops carry “rainbow” stickers to demonstrate acceptance of all people, gay or straight.

             A few blocks away from the gay district, “Major” Nicholas was still having fun with tourists at the Independence Visitor Center. His friend “Trooper” Robert Hare joined him, spinning an old wood top on the hallway.

            Work seemed not really work to Hare, 37, an employee of Historic Philadelphia, who was impersonating a member of the Philadelphia Light Horse Troop who escorted General George Washington, commander of the Continental Army.

“If you find something that you love, you’ll never work a day in your life. -Benjamin Franklin,” Hare said in an 18^th-century hunting frock made of orange-colored thick cloth, a common garb won by American volunteer troopers.

Nicholas was demonstrating some of his 18^th-century antique items – including an army sword, a bugle, a stylus pen and sheets of ivory for taking notes – to tourists.

On his antique desk, Nicholas placed a note for visitors: “Questions answered with sarcasm and wit. You have been warned.” He said his note was aimed at drawing more attention from visitors than his colleague’s note “Questions cheerfully answered.”

The witty notes, just like GPTMC’s smart campaign slogan, carried the same underlying message: Come visit Philadelphia.

(Extra photos)

Nicholas in Philly

     CENTER CITY, Philadelphia - "Major" Samuel Nicholas...When I first saw him, he was working at a 21st-century modern building in the Independencen Visitor Center in Philadelphia, a two-hour drive away from New York where I live. But he said he "lives" in the 18th century.

     He was unmarried. But he said he "has a lovely wife and five kids" at home. He was impersonating an American marine officer in the 1750s and1760s to help visitors or tourists feel the US history real.

     His uniform was real - a cocked hat, a regimental(tail) coat, the knicker pants, the stocks and the Continental Army officer's sword.

     He had a lot of antique items -  including a bugle, a stylus pen, a top and sheets of ivory for taking notes - originating in the 18th century American colonial period. He said he loves his job that he has been in for 15 years.

     "Fifteen years. I must have loved it," he said.

     I think he is one of the tens of thousands of professionals that make the multi-billion-dollar tourism industry keep thriving in Philadelphia.

     He is one of them who make travellers "love" the city whose name comes from the two Greek words - PHILOS ("love") and ADELPHOS ("brotherly").

     It's the city of brotherly love !!.

Macy's parade

For the first time in my life, I stood in the middle of the Macy's Thanksgiving Parade. I first hated going out in the morning chill to do a photo assignment but later came to really enjoy being out there. It was such a great experience. I was fully soaked in New York!

A giant “Snoopy” balloon floats above holidaymakers during the 84th Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade near Herald Square in New York, Friday, Nov. 25, 2010. The demonstration of giant inflated balloons has become an annual event since Macy’s employees first organized it in 1927 to mark the Thanksgiving Day in festivity. (NYU/Kwanwoo Jun)

Holidaymakers pack a sidewalk on 33rd Street in New York, Friday, Nov. 25, 2010, as a large “Spiderman” balloon floats during the 84th Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. Since Macy’s employees first staged the march of giant inflated balloons in 1927 to celebrate the Thanksgiving Day, the parade has become an annual event. (NYU/Kwanwoo Jun)

A New Yorker holds up her camera to take a photo of the 84th Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade near Herald Square in New York, Friday, Nov. 25, 2010. Despite chilly temperatures, tens of thousands of people turned up on the streets in New York to watch the three-hour demonstration of giant inflated balloons. (NYU/Kwanwoo Jun)

(Extra photos)

Chocolate Show

Me: Covering the Chocolate Show in NY, I was given an unlimited supply of chocolate like other visitors. I do not want to eat chocolate any more.

Kathryn: Jealous! Great photos

‎Me: ... ; )

Amanda: great photos and do you have any leftover chocolate? :)

Me: Hey, Amanda. Let me brag about it. A week after, the free chocolate is still melting down in my stomach.

A miniature railway train made of chocolate and candy bars is displayed at Metropolitan Pavilion on 18^th Street in New York, Saturday, Nov. 13, 2010, during the Chocolate Show. The annual extravaganza drew more than 50 chocolate vendors to display their products and chocolate-made pieces of art. (Photo/Kwanwoo Jun)

Swedish chocolatier Hakan Martensson displays his sculpture “wolf” carved out of a chocolate bar at Metropolitan Pavilion on 18^th Street in New York, Saturday, Nov. 13, 2010, during the annual Chocolate Show. Martensson said he usually spends more than a day to make a single piece of chocolate-made sculpture. (Photo/Kwanwoo Jun)

A mannequin wearing beads of chocolate stands on display at Metropolitan Pavilion on 18^th Street in New York, Saturday, Nov. 13, 2010, during the annual Chocolate Show. More than 50 chocolate vendors exhibited their products and chocolate-made pieces of art during the annual extravaganza. (Photo/Kwanwoo Jun)

A chocolate-decorated brassier is on display at Metropolitan Pavilion on 18^th Street in New York, Saturday, Nov. 13, 2010, during the annual Chocolate Show. The annual event attracted more than 50 renowned chocolate vendors that displayed their work of art as well as their products.

(Photo/Kwanwoo Jun)



 

NYC Marathon

By Kwanwoo Jun

LONG ISLAND CITY, New York - Thousands of people – including babies, kids, volunteers, couples, parents and seniors – cheered, clapped and jangled little pink bells today, in support of New York City Marathon runners on 11th Street and 48th Avenue in Long Island City.

Some waved name inscribed placards to support friends and families running in the race and others did “Go” shouts through megaphones, made of hands or plastics. Party music also blared from a speaker.

Cheers later turned into roars when throngs of runners flowed in.

“It’s moving to see the paralyzed people with disability and to see their mental strength to do that,” said William Telesco, 43, of Long Island City as he watched a group of handicapped wheel chair racers pass.

For Gina Cazzola, 43, a Girl Scout troop leader who has led her students to support the event for years, the chill outside is a fair price to pay for seeing the runners.

“It inspires me,” Cazzola, of Flushing Queens, said. She helped her Girl Scouts set up a water distribution table. The girls had blankets, folding chairs, coffee thermos and donuts to help them stand the cold and hunger.

“Donuts get us through. Donuts and coffee,” she said.

Eric Benaim, 32, a local realtor on nearby Vernon Boulevard, set up a free food and coffee table out on the street for the crowds.

“We give back to the neighborhood, and we hope the neighborhood give back to us,” he said.

Jeff Grayzel, 47, of Morristown, N.J, drove more than an hour to Long Island City to see his friends in the race. His wife stood on a chair and waved a placard ’Go Rose City Runners! Yeah Dick, Kim, Mark.’

Grayzel had been playing a chess game with one of his sons on the street, but they when they heard they cheer they took up pink plastic megaphones and rushed to the roadside and shouted, “Keep it up guys. Keep it up.”

“Kids didn’t want to come today. Now they are having a lot of fun,” he said.

Many viewers sat on lawn chairs they brought to the crowded streets.

“I thought if it’s going to be a long time, it could be a little stress on the back to be standing the whole time,” said Brian McGovern, 52, a lawyer from Long Island, who had been waiting for his business partner to turn up on the street.

Standing next to his chair was a backpack of books and newspapers.

Mr. Cadillac

By Kwanwoo Jun

        ASTORIA, New York - Thomas Wagner is no longer homeless, but he knows his “final resting place” should be under a railway viaduct on a street corner in New York where he used to live.

             His attire belies his 13-year life on the streets. Wagner, 61, slings a brown bag over his shoulder. He’s dressed in an unbuttoned brown wool jacket with glasses hanging from his right pocket. His black jeans, snow-white socks and sneakers are all nice and clean.

The vestiges of his former life on the streets are his deep-wrinkled, tanned face and a habit of smoking: He pulls out a Marlboro cigarette, cups his hand to light it and inhales deeply and tastily until it burns completely.

Many of the homeless may be eager to flee their dark past when they finally leave the streets, but Wagner keeps coming back. About 36,000 homeless people are in New York as of Nov. 1 this year, municipal data show.

Born in Hell’s Kitchen, Wagner, an Army veteran and ex-volunteer cop, became homeless in 1994 after losing jobs and failing in two marriages where he had fathered three daughters. His life on the streets lasted until 2007.

Nicknamed Cadillac Man – a name he earned after claiming to be hit repeatedly by Cadillac sedans when he was homeless in the 1990s – Wagner left the streets three years ago. But to this day, he says, he feels more at home on the streets than in his cozy one-bedroom apartment in East Elmhurst.

        His last wish is to have his ashes put in a coffee can under a railway viaduct on 33^rd Street and 23^rd Avenue in Astoria where he used to live on the streets.

Wagner visits the bridge two to three times a week, traveling a dozen subway stops from East Elmhurst where he and his girlfriend Carol Vogel share an apartment.

City officials in May removed the clothing-filled shopping cart he had affixed to the drainage grates. Wagner says he wanted to help other homeless people stay warm by bundling up at night or during the winter.

        “I’ll put my ‘wagon’ back there sometime,” Wagner said during his recent visit, pointing to the spot where his cart used to stay.

        But to bring his cart back is not good enough.

Wagner wants to have his body cremated after death and his ashes placed under the viaduct – a desire his girlfriend and close friends already know about.

            “I told them to scatter some of my ashes there, and the rest should be put in a Chock full o'Nuts can…It says right on the can ‘the heavenly coffee.’ They'll get a laugh out of it,” he said, smiling and reciting the coffee chain’s commercial.

            To Wagner, the Astoria neighborhood is special. He made a living there by collecting recyclables, made many good friends and earned fame as a homeless writer.

            Last year, Bloomsbury Publishing published his memoir “Land of the Lost Souls: My Life on the Streets,” which drew attention to the issue of homelessness.

            The book, recommended reading for urban-poverty studies, chronicles first-hand his experiences as a homeless man on the tough New York streets.

            Will Blythe, who was then an editor at “Esquire” magazine and who lived in Astoria, first noted his “homeless” friend’s talent. “Esquire” published an excerpt of Wagner’s journal that details his life on the streets in 2005.

            “I thought, ‘Oh my God, This guy can write,’” Blythe told the New York Daily News on July 29, 2009. “I went back to him and I said ‘Do you have any more?’”

            Wagner said he began keeping the journal in hope that it should find a way to reach his now grown-up daughters from his previous marriages. He also said he needed something to do in order to stay sane and fight loneliness on the streets.

            “Besides maintaining my sanity, it was like comforting to me,” Wagener said, “By writing, it was like talking to another person.”

            Life on the streets was vulnerable to violence. Wagner said perpetrators would come to pick on him. They once kicked him all over until he passed out in Manhattan and smashed his face with a bat to break most of his teeth in Brooklyn.

            After roaming around the wild streets in various neighborhoods in New York, he later came to settle as a homeless fixture under the railway bridge in Astoria.

He used to greet, meet, chat and make friends with Astorians who gradually recognized him as part of the scenery in the neighborhood. His life there became an invaluable and indelible part of him that he wants to take to Heaven.

            “If my ashes are over there, I'll be having visitors all the time,” Wagner said. “They'll know that's my final resting place. It does give me peace of mind.”

(Extra photos)