PHILLIES WIN WORLD SERIES celebration photos on Broad Street, IDIOTS THANK THEM BY RIOTING & LOOTING
This was the highlight of the night at St. Stephen’s Bar in Spring Garden when the Phillies won the World Series
Then my friends and I (Mike, Jeremy & George)
rushed down to Broad Street to celebrate
It was crowded, but a lot of fun. Peeps hugging it out, high fiving, everyone celebrating
it was one big happy Philly Phamily
I ran into a few more friends, Scott Stein, owner of Pearl and Peter Breslow PR for Pearl
I thought it was crazy that people would climb the “supposedly” greased poles like a cop had told me. “She went on to say, don’t worry about them getting hurt, the only people who will know will be their folks who ID them at the morgue.
That this girl wanted to touch the hot bulb 25 feet off the ground. That sign must have been a tad uncomfortable, but no one was feeling any pain tonight, I thought
but I guess I can understand why this guy climb the pole to grab the Phillies World Series Banner
The new shirts were out already, probably not official though
I thought it was cold, but the adrenaline must have kept him warm. Guess he’s not afraid of heights.
All this celebration made us hungry and around midnight we went to Monk’s to grab a bite, there were plenty of seats, 
but when we emerged and walked back to Broad Street we could see that things had gotten a little ugly. This is 16th and Spruce. Both planters are torn up and a shutter is in the background
But then when I got to Broad I thought how bad could it be this riot cop is posing for photos, WHAT RIOT COP, what the heck is going on?
I felt safe too as Superman was hanging on the corner, until I saw a girl try and throw a cinder block through the window at the Kimmel Center; the guard came out and she started hitting him. The police were able to break it up and then they just let the kids walk away
Then this outside the Bellevue
Now I do know this minor stuff happens in other cities, but I guess I thought Philly would be different, since we’ve all seen it on TV and are disgusted by it, maybe these folks don’t watch TV? Maybe they wanted make a bigger statement than Boston last year, sorta like when Devil night got out of hand and Detroit practically burned itself down every Mischief Night, which is tonight BTW.
These guys were still excited, and were not the ones that tipped over this planter, just hanging out near it
A picture says a thousand words (and although I took about 500 shots, I picked out only a few, as it was 3AM when I did this blog and I had to get some sleep before work at 9AM,) was this someone’s revenge for being the ugliest, fattest City as those magazines keep attaching too us or was this how we pay back the Phillies for finally winning the World Series. I thought the curse was over, I was wrong.
I was beginning to get upset. As someone who writes about Philly, and someone who has been a volunteer tour guide for over 10 years, I was shocked with what was going on then this!! Someone set a fire in the middle of the street and threw someone’s bike on top of it. The fire got fairly big, and I just had to leave. Center City was becoming a war zone as bottles broke around me, and M80s went off. Who are these kids, are they the students from the 2 dorms that are right there at Broad and Walnut, where most of the damage occurred?
I saw at least three bus stops damaged, but this one was destroyed; the same stop that protects their friends, family, teachers, neighbors from the elements after a long day at work. The guy in this picture is challenging the cop. I have no idea why, but I saw it over and over again. Maybe they are still hyped from the G Summit, or doing rehearsals for next year.
These planters that beautify the street, probably cost a fortune, and where do they think the money is going to come from to replace. Do these people pay property taxes? Do they own anything? At this point I was thinking, the parade shouldn’t even start at City Hall if , maybe we should move it up to South Street to the stadiums, or to the suburbs.
Then they smashed Robinson Luggage’s windows and tried to loot it, note luggage on ground. These skateboarders didn’t want to listen to the riot police, telling them it was a public sidewalk and they didn’t want to go in the street. i was wondering where the rubber bullets were, for a city that sometimes suffers a bad reputation for police brutality, I was impressed and angered that the police showed so much restraint.
These cops were preventing folks from going down Sansom towards Juniper as a CAR WAS ON FIRE. The crowd surged towards the fire, I just wanted to go home.
More riot police. The guy in the red hat walked up to the cops and started taunting them. It was so bizarre that he would do that. They pushed him out of the way. I stopped taking pictures. I didn’t want a record of it I was so disgusted. Maybe I remember the rioting and looting of the 70s and how it took this City years to get over that reputation. Some people might say it was only minor structure damage, but the scene was ugly, and the news will travel and the damage to our tourism industry will occur.
This guy, well I saw him shimmy the bike on the fallen pole til he finally got it free and declared it was his gleefully. When he did get it free, it still had the lock attached to the wheel, he threw it down. “What piece of shit” he said.
As I passed the Borders at Chestnut, I was surprised that the windows were intact, but I heard that FYE did not fare so well nor did the planters didn’t do so well either. Maybe the folks in the dorm on Chestnut Street care about their neighborhood a little more than the other folks. Did you know this whole series of photos only took 15 minutes between the time I left the restaurant til this moment; and I saw just a glimpse of the damage that will leave a black eye on this City for decades. I walked the rest of the way home having gone from exhilarated to complete disgust for my some of my fellow citizens. As I looked down the side streets I could see police running, an orange glow, mail boxes, dumpsters, and a few fist fights, thanks.
Video of car being flipped at Broad & walnut: Insurance does not protect your car from riots!
It felt like a BIG FUCK YOU TO THE CITY, TO AUTHORITY, TO RESPONSIBILITY, TO MATURITY, TO YOU AND TO ME
I do realize this is only a small part of the overall celebration that went on throughout the tri-state area, this just happens to be my neighborhood.
Philly Future has a great wrap up of photos with lots of links to blogs:
http://www.phillyfuture.org/node/6611
CBS3 Van Rocked and damaged
http://cbs3.com/video/?id=67450@kyw.dayport.com
Video from the Phila Weekly before the crazy hit:
The Broad Street party. Before it got TOO crazy. http://tinyurl.com/6lnwgr
Unfortunately people don\’t stop being evil because of a championship. I\’d seen posts on message boards asking other championship cities what are some good riot ideas!!
having watched a city block go up in flames and having dealt with the riot police during the 2000 RNC and the south street riots, i gotta say its a fine line here – – yes, property damage occurred and, as sad as that is, one would be naive to think that it wouldn\’t have happened in a city of 2 million after all the hype around the \’quarter-century drought\’. its vital to have riot police on site at a certain point- sadly as soon as they arrive, its like tossing a match onto a volitile situation, since people (in this case drunken) see the gear and react
Alcohol! All it takes is one to start the ball rolling and people follow . They get caught up in the moment.
Trust me this has happened in other cities. Wait until friday! More drunken fools !
Pathetic.
Thanks for commenting on my blog Hugh…..I am going to try to link your to mine…..I wasn\’t out in the streets last night, I live in Wash.Twp. NJ…but the NBC 10 news was saying for the most part the fans behaved…..I think it would be interesting for my readers, that are all over the country and beyond….to see your photos and comments!!!! Keep in touch!!
Lisa
I only saw coverage on Fox, is the City trying to bury this I wouldn\’t blame them. I couldn\’t believe the poor women who\’s car was overturned at Broad and Walnut while she was eating dinner at the Capital Grille. Nice going. Karma baby, watch out.
You can have a good time, but when was turning over cars, breaking windows and looting part of celebrating. Its not an excuse that other cities do the same thing.
Hey, While I hear what Mr. Blake is saying, I\’m sorry that I must respectfully disagree. Human beings with cognitive thought processes have a personal responsibilty to themselves and their community to act and behave civily. It doesn\’t matter whether its a city of 2 or 200 Million, and to use the excuse that the people of this City haven\’t seen a Winner in more than a \”quarter century\”, to explain that it should have been understood by all that this behavior would occur here, is incredulous to me…
Holy crap! Man, I so wish that I would have gone out. A once in a lifetime opportunity and I didn\’t go. I\’m regretting it.
I just feel like this is what people should feel compelled to do after they LOSE not WIN!
Really enjoyed your gorgeous photos. Captured a fun moment in history!
this isn\’t even a tenth of what it was like up in boston last year. to not expect some property damage would be naive.
as a whole, the police were awesome last night. i chose to celebrate on the streets of manayunk and they were very restrained with the two or three thousand who were dancing on main street.
While I agree with you 100% on how sad all this destruction is, why blame it all on the local students and the \”young people\”? There were hundreds more so-called \”adults\” behaving with even less maturity. A (student) friend of mine spent the last fifteen minutes of her time out there walking around with a bloody eye because a forty-something man who probably pays taxes picked up a piece of a planter and chucked it in her direction. Real immaturity from everyone, from EVERY age group.
I\’m sorry you\’re right, I will change that, and i will also add that the Commerce Bank windows were smashed, and now that I have seen the car flipped that wasn\’t students. The reason I said kids was I talked to more than a dozen and I asked them where they lived.
What\’s as pathetic as the people flipping the car are those people who stood around taking pictures and videos and instead of trying to stop it.
First of all, great photos. Secondly, I think you\’re being a little unrealistic if you thought that 100% of the people out last nigt were just going to high five and dance all night. Truth be told, it\’s too bad a woman got her car flipped over, but quite frankly, parking your car on Broad last night was about as smart as wearing a steak around your neck when you see a pack of wolves. I\’ll be honest, I thought it was going to be a hell of a lot worse than it was. There were hundreds of thousands of people on the street last night. 95% of them did nothing more than a little dancing, hugging, and cheering. I hope you don\’t let the other 5% convince you that we are a city of savages.
I was at Broad and Walnut soon after the game was over and it was awesome. People high fiving each other. Yelling and screaming. But what followed was despicable.
Makes you wonder if some people in this city deserved to be a part of this joyous occasion.
I live on 15th and Locust and when I got back there was a little paddy wagon outside my apartment building with cops arresting a bunch of drunk idiots who could not celebrate responsibly.
I thought to myself \”You waited 25 years to for this only to get arrested on the night you should be celebrating! You\’re pathetic\”.
I commend the police for showing all the restraint. To dismiss this as something that is expected is ridiculous. For all those comparing this to Boston and Detroit, this was Philly\’s opportunity to show the rest of the nation that we belong at the top. I am sorry to say we blew it in some ways.
This is nothing new. It is sad and it is ridiculous!! BUT, when there are tens of thousands of people gathered together (most of them drunk)with no type of order or rules.. some people go crazy.I don\’t think it has anything to do with \”Philly\” or Philly fans. Does it suck?? YES. But it\’s just what some idiots choose to do when \”celebrating\” or protesting, or whatever…. I remember being very thankful not to have a car parked on the streets of campus the day after Ohio State beat Michigan.. b/c the majority of them were flipped over, broken into or on fire shortly after the big win. Not sure how this whole damaging property thing ever got started as a way to celebrate teams victories.. but it did not start, and is certainly not going to end in Philadelphia. I was there last night.. and most people were just having a great time, dancing, singing, smiling, drinking, hugging eachother, and of course climbing a few poles. When it started to get rowdy.. I left. But, I wasn\’t SHOCKED that it started to get ugly towards the end.. just sad that those kinds of people exist, and the rest of us have to deal with them. Regardless of the town, city, or state that we live in…
Worst thing I saw: a woman standing right next to me was hit with a flying beer bottle. She fell and smashed her teeth in.
great shots! i wonder if we passed by each other at some point.
i was on Broad St between 10.15p and 1.45a between City Hall and Washington Ave – it was quite a sight at all times. the cops were incredible all night and handled the situation rather well i thought. i took photos all night too ending my string of posts with some commentary on how the night ended.
i thought it was going to be much uglier than it ended up being.
Today\’s entry has the happy fan moments http://www.PhillyChitChat.com with information on the parade on Braod Street.