City Livin'

When I lived and worked in Philadelphia, I often would have to go downtown to cover court cases.

For awhile I used a parking garage a few blocks north of city hall on Broad Street and then hoofed it down to the court room. The parking attendants at the garage got used to seeing me and my VW Rabbit every week. Before long, the one attendant would see me coming and shout out, "Hey! Larry Bird!"

I was the only white guy around.

He'd tear off in my car, disappearing up the ramp, and I'd say a little prayer that my car would still be there when I returned. It always was.

Eventually I realized that all the other reporters had special red police stickers on their cars and they parked right beside city hall. So I looked into this and soon I had a special sticker too. Now I could pull up over the sidewalk, missing pedestrians of course, and park on a little makeshift parking lot right beside city hall.

Woohoo!

One thing that was always a dominant characteristic of downtown Philly (and likely most large cities) was beggars and con-artists. In Philly I got used to wading through them, ignoring them, and most importantly never making eye contact. You had to just keep moving.

Only once did I actually stop and give a buck to one of these guys. His story was so creative and funny I felt like rewarding him just for coming up with such a ridiculous tale. He was trying to raise money to fight Mike Tyson. lol That was an original one.

When I left Philly I left all that behind me and forgot about all the con men. I moved into the city of Harrisburg after a bit and even in Harrisburg you really didn't see these guys working the streets.

When I was in Harrisburg I was single and worked some long hours. Often I would sneak downtown for a burger and a pint after work.

Once in a tavern in mid-town a fellow followed me into the bathroom. While I was taking care of business in front of the urinal he said to me, "Hey buddy. I just got out of jail, some domestic thing, my wife is the pits. I'm trying to get some bus money so I can get to York. That's where my family is."

I gave him a couple bucks and he took off happy.

The next night I was in the same place, for the same reason, a burger and a beer. Suddenly I spotted this guy again.

"Stupid. Stupid. Stupid," I said to myself. "Have I forgot everything I learned in Philadelphia."

I approached the guy and said, "Hey, remember me? I thought you were heading to York to join your family?"

He said nothing and just turned and took off.

It never happened to me again.