In Manayunk, Venice Island’s new facilities are something to behold. The performing arts building, green-roofed pump house, and outdoor amphitheater are just a few of the rec center’s recent upgrades, though not everyone in the neighborhood knows about it. To help raise awareness, artist Eurhi Jones has collaborated with Mural Arts and the Philadelphia Water Department on a 10 block outdoor installation that literally guides you to the center’s front door

The quiet season has set in on the abandoned, nature-reclaimed West Basin lake at East Park Reservoir. On one of the the last winter mornings before humans are reintroduced, Hidden City co-editor Michael Bixler took a chilly hike with Autubon PA and Outward Bound to hear what the future holds for this extraordinary, urban wildlife sanctuary

With a boardwalk in Center City and a reimagined rec center in Manayunk each set to open this week, Philadelphia has two inspiring venues in which to see the Schuylkill River anew. Brad Maule previews the Schuylkill Banks Boardwalk and Venice Island Performing Arts and Recreation Center

Little fanfare accompanies the short trek between Fairmount Park’s East Park and Lemon Hill sections, but under your feet (or tires), the 33rd Street superstructure, including an unusual brick skew arch tunnel, is still doing the job it was created to do at the turn of the 20th Century

Thanks to an EPA mandate telling the Philadelphia Water Department to modernize its facilities and install an underground sanitary interceptor for major storms, the Venice Island rec center is starting over from scratch. Vivienne Tang and Brad Maule take a look at what the $45M project means for Manayunk

Photographer Dominic Mercier set out to hit all 49 Park(ing) Day parks. He didn’t make it everywhere, but he sent us these…

A neighborhood park at the southern gateway to Frankford becomes an active cog in the city’s stormwater management machine

The last major open air creek without surrounding green space in the city, the Frankford Creek is poised to be lined by a trail and park connecting the Tacony Creek Park, now under construction, and the Delaware River. A feasibility study for the project will begin in 2013