Philadelphia is a world leader in public art. The Mural Arts Program grew out of an effort to reduce graffiti in the city by engaging the underachieving youth who were doing the graffiti and engaging them in more challenging projects. The program has been a major success and the city now has nearly 3000 murals, as well as many heart warming stories of participants who turned their lives in more fulfilling directions, in some cases avoiding incarceration, or worse.

We had a niece visiting from out of state, and one of these tours caught her attention, so off we went. Transport is one of those open, fake trolley sorts of buses; they depart from the Independence Mall Visitor Center on Saturdays. In some cases, the mural of interest was on the side opposite from where Ye Olde Photographer sat, so some are not photographed all that well, but perhaps enough interest will be sparked by this gallery to encourage viewers to take one of the tours.

Ye Olde Photographer's aging brain was not up to handling a camera and taking notes on all of these scenes, for which he apologizes. (You'll just have to take the tour yourself!) Our obviously well-prepared tour guide presented a lot of information, including names of the artists who designed the works, some of whom have very distinctive styles. A few shots of interesting scenes, architecture and details are sprinkled in among the mural shots.