Live Cheap and Prosper

Once as a gag I did a cartoon sketch of a college buddy, Cheap John; as Mr. Spock in a moth eaten uniform, with a Vulcan salute and the caption on the bottom was "live cheap and prosper". John took being lampooned in stride because he was an easy going guy and never said no to a free gift. True to his moniker John never spent cent he didn't have to. One of the things he turned me on to was Sundays at the Philadelphia Museum Art, where instead paying full price you can pay what ever you wish. John had no embarrassment in pulling a small handful of loose change out his pocket for the admission.

 The Philadelphia Art Museum is a world class museum with over 80,000 square feet (7,400 sq meters) of  gallery space and over 200,000 objects on display. I could go on with a long stream of trivia about the building and what's inside but I know if you're really interested to can look up on-line all the same stuff and so much more. What I'm like to share is that the Museum still has "pay what you like Sundays" though now it's only once a month on the first Sunday. What would cost a family of four $60-$80 could be enjoyed for whatever you feel like paying for it. One wonderful feature is bringing young children. With so much to see and experience it is a four hour event but children do get restless. This is no big deal if you only paid a few dollars to get in and don't feel pressured to get your money's worth out of being there.

Metered parking is available on the street at $2 an hour. They use a small electronic kiosk that prints a ticket to displayed in the window. In the middle of the traffic circle in front of the Museum is a couple of hundred parking spaces at $12 for up to 4 hours and $2 for each additional hour. Also there is a a Museum parking garage available, I don't know the price on that but I think it's a bit more expensive -yes a little of Cheap john had rubbed off on me.

Once the car is parked You can spend a few minutes on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway. It's a wide boulevard with green space, plenty of statues and other pieces of public art. To get in the Museum from street level there is the 72 stone steps made famous by the Rocky movies. The view from the top is great and  usually there is at least one vendor selling Rocky tee shirts,

You can fill a camera with thousands of photos visiting a museum like this one.

There are paintings, statues, architectural displays and a variety of special shows. 

This month there is Dancing Around The Bride : Cage, Cunningham, Johns, Kauschenberg, and Duchamp. Across the street at the Perelman Building (included in with the Museum's admission) is Shipwrecked! Winslow Homer and "The Life Line". With all special shows no photography is allowed.

If you have young boys, the hall of armor on the second floor is the place to go. When my two sons where little this one room could occupy their imaginations for hours.

In a past post I had mentioned the "Circle of Bubbas" (my right wing gun toting red state friends) that I associate with. To help keep a balanced world viewpoint I also have my friends among the Free Tribes of Granola Grazers. A book that was lent to me several years back was Zombification. One essay talked about the idea of "Culture Stamps" -like Food Stamps they would be a government subsidy for poor people. Culture Stamps would allow everybody to engage in the arts which right now many are priced out of. If we want to have a nation of shared values it helps to have some way of sharing our collective heritage. Considering the current political climate -fat chance that there will be another entitlement program.

Over the last 30 years museums have become more like show business than guardians of our human legacy. Still most museums take their special place in society seriously and the majority of museums have some kind of family discount, free exhibition days or like the Philadelphia Art Museum a once a month "pay what you will" Sunday. Often you have to read the very fine print to find these discounts but the are there.


If you're a family on a budget, a couple looking for an affordable date or an artist who hasn't yet sold his first big commission then check out the Philadelphia Art Museum on the first Sunday of the month. If Philadelphia is too far away then ask your local museum if they have anything similar. Why not? -it's only logical.