Posted on July 18, 2006
Tile Broadcast on 6ABC
So WPVI TV, Philly’s local ABC affiliate ran a investigative piece on the tiles last night. While good in theory, the broadcast was typical hellion propaganda. The piece – located here – did interview the Resurrect Dead team, so that was good. Other than that, I was disappointed that they included footage only of inferior new-school tiles. New school tiles are far less impressive both stylistically and aesthetically. They were also a little off on a few of the facts, “Ressurrect” vs. “Raise” and so forth. Overall, the piece was nice to see.
This morning on my way to the bus I found a middle aged man crouched down on the corner of 10th and Locust, marveling at the remaining tile at the intersection. “That’s really something.” He said to me when he noticed me watching him. We talked for a minute. He saw the newscast last night and it had captured his fascination. I introduced myself and told him a little about the documentary. Chalk that up to as the first odd Toynbee tile related coincidence in his life. I wonder how many new fans have been and will be made as a result of last night’s coverage.
One thing I was happy to see, was a photo of the infamous James Morasco. While it’s a shame the Morasco family continues to get hassled by the media – now 3 years after his death – it was still nice to finally put a face to a name. Another innocent bystander is the man living at the infamous South Philly address. According to our sources in Buenos Aries, the tile listing the south 7th street address was laid in the mid to late 1980’s, before the current resident moved in. Its old owner, “Railroad Joe” Julius Piroli may or may not have had anything to do with the mystery. To find out more, you’ll just have to wait for the documentary.
As always, for all your Toynbee tile news and for information about the documentary, please visit Resurrect Dead. Thanks and Goodbye!
whoa, pretty cool exposure. people always look at me funny when i take photos of the tiles on the crosswalks. then they walk up and look at what i was taking a photo of and just stare quizzically.