🌾 Inside the Parkway’s art cave | Morning Newsletter

Welcome to a new week, Philly.

Calder Gardens opens to the public soon. See why architecture critic Inga Saffron calls the site a “strikingly subversive design that challenges what a Parkway art palace is supposed to look like in the 21st century.”

And Philly workers are leaving the office earlier than they used to. Read on for these stories and more of the day’s news.

— Julie Zeglen (morningnewsletter@inquirer.com)

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Fans of sculptor Alexander Calder often need to look up to see his work, as in the case of the giant “Ghost” mobile hanging in the Philadelphia Museum of Art. But to see it at Calder Gardens, first, you need to go down.

🌾 The new exhibition space dedicated to one of the city’s most famous artists is tucked, cave-like, beneath the meadowy hill along the Benjamin Franklin Parkway and 22nd Street.

🌾 Architecture critic Inga Saffron notes that the site looks nothing like its stone-laden neighbors along the Parkway — and that that’s a good thing.

🌾 Instead, its garden and pavilion work together to create “a living version of an Impressionist painting” on an otherwise uninspiring stretch of urban highway.

Read Saffron’s full review ahead of the pavilion’s public opening on Sept. 21.

If you work in a Philly office and find yourself heading home a little earlier than you used to, you’re part of a trend.

Workers in the city are leaving the office 12 minutes earlier on average this year than they did before the pandemic — 5:05 p.m. now vs. 5:17 p.m. in 2019, a report by commercial real estate company JLL found. SEPTA has noticed, too, with a growth in ridership during the earlier hours of the evening rush.

The shift doesn’t necessarily mean employees are working less, though.

Business reporter Ariana Perez-Castells has more.

In other workplace news: Guards at 10 Philadelphia Housing Authority facilities and at the Navy Yard say they are owed thousands of dollars by a PHA contractor who failed to pay as they kept watch.

The Hansons learned in May at an oncology checkup that leukemia — which Lincoln beat as a toddler — had returned. Last week, Strahm and outfielder Brandon Marsh hosted the Glenolden family at Citizens Bank Park to get them a break from the “hell” of Lincoln’s cancer battle.

With Gov. Phil Murphy’s signing of a bipartisan bill into law last week, which of these is now legal in New Jersey?

A) Dogs on beaches year-round

B) Serving food in weed lounges

C) $17 minimum wage

D) Human composting

Think you know? Check your answer.

📺 Mapping: The local spots seen in Task, episode two.

⚾ Eager for: The Phillies to hurry up and clinch the National League East title.

🍽️ Not getting resos at: The Philly eatery named to Bon Appetit’s best new restaurants list.

⚱️ Intrigued by: The Ardmore ceramic artist who will turn your loved one’s ashes into an object of your choice.

🇺🇸 Considering: What, to America’s immigrants, is Citizenship Day?

Hint: _ Township in Chester County

DRIFTY FERN

Email us if you know the answer. We’ll select a reader at random to shout out here.

Cheers to Nick Malhomme, who solved Sunday’s anagram: Andy Warhol. Jamie Wyeth’s portraits of the “Patriarch of Pop Art” were hidden in his Chadds Ford home for 50 years. Now they’re finally on display in New York.

Philadelphia’s Mexican Independence Day Festival served as a celebration of Mexico’s vibrant culture and heritage, as well as an act of resistance amid increasing attacks on Latino and immigrant communities, attendees said Sunday.

Think back to the night that changed your life that could only happen in Philly, a true example of the Philly spirit, the time you finally felt like you belonged in Philly if you’re not a lifer, something that made you fall in love with Philly all over again — or proud to be from here if you are. Then email it to us for a chance to be featured in the Monday edition of this newsletter.

This “only in Philly” story comes from reader Michael Thomas Leibrandt, who describes a handed-down fandom:

Around Philadelphia, our Eagles aren’t just a love — they are a generational love. Ninety years ago, my grandfather headed over to Chestnut Hill Academy to see the Eagles prepare for the 1935 season. Forty years later, my father did the same, making the trip to Widener University to see the team at practice. Thirty years after that, I made the trek up Route 309 to see the Eagles fresh off of a Super Bowl appearance in 2005.

But of the three of us, Grandpop had a unique opportunity that we did not — until now. Fifteen years after he saw the Eagles practice in Chestnut Hill, Grandpop went to Municipal Stadium to see the World Champion Eagles face the Cleveland Browns. This team was not just any team. Coach Neale, Tommy Thompson, and Steve Van Buren were at the precipice of NFL history. In 1947, they came up one score short of an NFL Championship in Chicago. In 1948, even swirling winds and an accumulation of snowflakes could not stop the Eagles from winning it all. In 1949, the knee-deep mud of Los Angeles couldn’t either.

Now the Eagles have opened 2025 with all of the high-tech showmanship of Lincoln Financial Field. The championship banner has been raised and we are off to the races. At the end of this run: NFL immortality and a step closer to the illusive professional football dynasty within city limits.

Grandpop would never get the chance to see the Eagles become a dynasty in 1950. A 5–1 start would fade into a 6–6 season finish. And where did I watch the beginning of the next chapter of Eagles’ NFL greatness? In front of a large neighborhood TV, of course. The uncertainty of the current SEPTA sports express was just too uncertain for me. The potential of this Eagles team is not.

And with the result of yesterday’s Chiefs-Eagles rematch: Indeed! Thanks for starting your week with The Inquirer. Have a good one.

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