Philly has so much love to give (heck, it's right there in its name -- well, at least in the Greek translation) that not even its 10 friendliest spots for getting friendly can use it all up. So where does the rest of it go? To this list of 24 things that people from Philadelphia love, obviously...
1. Bragging about historical sites we’ve never visited
We have a lot of cool historical stuff that’s fun to brag about/explain to out-of-towners, but let’s be real, there's no way you can find the Betsy Ross House without Google Maps.
2. Having exact change for SEPTA...
Even having a $10 bill at a station that doesn’t sell tokens means you’re walking to the next stop. Will Philly please just get a SmarTrip system already?
3. ... or just avoiding SEPTA all together
Because sometimes you just don’t want to sit next to a rolled-up diaper on the Market-Frankford line.
4. Cheap beer/liquor. Together.
Only in Philly can you convince everyone that a combination of PBR and bottom-shelf liquor is a good special.
5. Jose Garces
You'd be crazy not to love his Village Whiskey, no matter where it was, but here in Philly we even pretend to know what the heck is going on at his latest restaurant/dinner theater. Shhh... don't tell anyone, but we just sit at the bar.
6. Pretzels
We will NOT be ashamed of our lifelong love affair with soft pretzels, even if (especially if) they’re from Auntie Anne’s.
7. Autumn
Mostly because there's so much sweet stuff to do: beer fests, one of the country's most horrifying haunted houses, and, best of all, an entire food festival dedicated to bacon.
8. Being the subject of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia
It's not like any other show talks about going to Wawa. How exciting!!
9. Hating New York
As two of America's oldest major cities, New York and the City of Brotherly Love have a rivalry that goes way back, and there's no question which town is better.
10. Moving to New York anyway
We're looking at you, Questlove!
11. Donnoli
Deep in South Philly is where the magic happens... if by magic you mean stuffing an old-school donut full of "a glorious mixture of impastata cheese, 6X powdered sugar, chocolate chips, and buttercream".
12. The fact that Will Smith is from here
You’ll try to resist, but we all know that we all know the lyrics to the Fresh Prince theme song.
13. Water ice
Citywide, the favorite flavor is probably Blue, and you've had it so many times you probably think you know all there is to know about Rita's.
14. Mispronunciation
Speaking of Rita's, apparently they serve "wooder ice", it's "Kinga-Prusha Mall", and the aforementioned pretzels are actually "sawff pressles".
15. Wawa
What else are you going to eat when the bars close? And where else are you going to find so many different kinds of hoagies.
16. Tastykakes
Little Debbie Oatmeal Creme Pies are pretty cool, and the Twinkie lends itself nicely to ungodly burgers, but you know what was around before either of them? Oh, and they're also available at Wawa.
17. Our sports teams
We will never let you forget that the Phillies won the World Series in 2008, okay? AND 1980! The Sixers have three rings. And the Eagles... um, the Eagles seem like they had a pretty good season in Silver Linings Playbook.
18. Arguing about cheesesteaks
Is Pat’s the best? Or Geno’s?! Who cares when you can hit both of 'em (and 11 more) in one day?
19. Boyz II Men
The fact that Nate, Wanya, and the crew sang outside Geno’s in the "Motownphilly" video 23 years ago might put the aforementioned cheesesteak spot over the top.
20. Making fun of New Jersey and Delaware
Dela-WHERE, amiright?
21. Old bars and restaurants
Anyone who doesn’t like McGillin’s basically doesn’t like America.
22. Bikes
One of the aforementioned methods of avoiding SEPTA.
23. Having a story about how dangerous the neighborhood is... for every neighborhood
Criminals in Philly don’t discriminate, whether you’re in Center City, Graduate Hospital, Cedar Park, Fishtown, or ANYWHERE. Just get a group of five locals together and chances are, there’s at least one word-of-mouth robbery story for every neighborhood.
24. The view of the Parkway
Just look out from the art museum steps whenever you forget why you still live here.Sign up here for our daily Philly email and be the first to get all the food/drink/fun in town.