In the past few weeks, we’ve had a non-stop surge of shitty surprises, to the point that it’s as though each new crappy surprise is trying to outdo the previous one. The world really feels like it needs all the good surprises it can get, so what the hell, here’s a super tiny tiny one: a new Scouting NY post or two! And because the world is totally topsy turvy, this one focuses on Philadelphia!
Last winter, I was invited to give a speech for an Atlas Obscura event focusing on Philadelphia’s portrayal throughout the history of film. Everyone knows the stereotype of a movie set in New York, Los Angeles, New Orleans, or Boston…but what is the Philly equivalent?
I chose to examine four classic Philadelphia films. Today, we’ll start off with one of the highest grossing horror movies of all time…
There is never a moment in The Sixth Sense when Philadelphia is not front and center at its most gothic. Every building is brick or stone, always ancient; churches and graveyards abound; there’s a perpetual gloom; and existing statuary is used to wonderful effect.
The movie begins with famed psychologist Malcolm Crowe being gunned down in his own home by a former patient. The presumably wealthy Dr. Malcolm has a townhouse in Rittenhouse Square at 2006 Delancey Place, one of the wealthiest city zipcodes in the country.
You’ve also seen this same block, which dates to the early 1800s, in Trading Places — Dan Aykroyd lived just down the street!
Later, a great night shot of the townhouses accentuating the existing brick and stone to creepy effect…
We then move to meet our protagonist…
Portrayed as a down-and-out apartment block, young Cole “I See Dead People” Seer’s home is at 2302 St. Alban’s Place — note that they digitally removed that pesky telephone pole for the movie.
St. Albans Place was originally built in the 1870s for industrial workers in a neighborhood that, over time, developed a rough reputation and earned the name the “Devil’s Pocket.” One of the selling points was and remains the beautiful garden running its length, today tended by locals.
The door at 2302 opens, and we meet Cole…
Across the way, Malcolm waits for him, and holy crap…
Is that the exact bench Bruce Willis is sitting on still there after two decades?
It is! This took me by surprise — rarely is a location ever so perfect that an existing bench can be used as is. As it turns out — this is a prop bench from the movie, and was left by the film production after they wrapped. Movie history right out in the open!
Cole runs off, and you can see that annoying telephone pole in frame for a moment…
He swings a corner and magically transports a few blocks over to Grays Ferry Ave at Fitzwater, clearly chosen for that gorgeous ascension of building styles all the way to the skyscrapers in the distance. The church on the right is the former Greater St. Matthew Baptist Church, since converted into loft apartments, a thematically nice inclusion.
Cole’s magical walk to school finds him leapfrogging over the city to pause in front of St. Augustine Church located far to the east…
I’d complain about the geography, but the church is beautiful, and ultimately, no filmmaker can resist a T-intersection street that lets you pull so far back on a building and look up.
The current St. Augustine dates to 1847, replacing the original Olde St. Augustine’s, built here in 1801 only to be burned down in the Nativists riots of 1844.
Cole opens the front doors…
…which feature a bit of gothic embellishment…
I wasn’t able to go inside on my visit, but the interiors were actually filmed on location as well, a major feat considering the Catholic Church usually says no to ANY sort of controversial material.
Cole finally arrives at his school, the fictional St. Anthony Academy for Boys.
This was portrayed in the movie by Pierce College at 1420 Pine Street, founded in 1865 with a focus on adult learners. Pierce’s College Hall, seen here, was built in 1915.
Interspersed throughout the film are a wonderful handful of isolated shots of real Philadelphia statuary that add a nicely ominous tone to the film. First up is this creepy shot of a statue holding a spear…
This is a close-up of the Washington Monument on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway:
Later, as Cole is on a bus, we pass an ancient cemetery in the throes of autumn foliage, graves a-kilter…
This is the cemetery of the Old Pine Street Church, a Presbyterian church chuch built in 1768…
…and it looks like that enormous tree on the left has since died and been made into a carving of George Washington?
Finally, my favorite — a quick shot of the famous art deco Swann Memorial Fountain in Logan Circle.
Designed and built in 1924 by Alexander Stirling Calder, the fountain features four Native American figures representing major streams in the area…
…and shot in the right way, the darkened eyes have quite the haunting effect.
Shyamalan chose a close-up of this statue for his film…
One final church makes it into the film as Cole reveals his power to his mom — the Shiloh Baptist Church at 2040 Christian Street.
Shot in 1998, The Sixth Sense portrays a side of Philadelphia that feels totally removed from the city we encounter in, say, Rocky, or Blow-Up. And yet it still feels authentic and utterly real. The gothic nature comes not from Hollywood props and ornamentation, but instead, existing statuary and buildings, focusing on a very real side of Philadelphia and treating it with respect.
And Cole might see dead people, but all the locations in The Sixth Sense are still very much alive, which is always a plus!
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