Eastern State Penitentary cell door

I've been in Philly for the week, doing touristy things. I discovered Eastern State Penitentiary, the coolest tourist thing I've ever seen. It has art, it has history, it has sociology, it has architecture.



The site itself is a stabilized ruin:



Aside from the haunting ruins themselves, there is embedded art. My favorite is the Ghost Cats. They commemorate the feral cats that took over the place after it was abandoned in 1971, and Dan the Cat Man, who fed and looked after them. The Humane Society caught them, spayed and neutered them, and turned them back loose, so over the years they died out. Likewise, the Ghost Cats are slowly being removed so that they, too, will vanish.



I couldn't resist -- I became a member, and went back nearly every day.