There’s a cool free light show inside the Ritz-Carlton’s historic dome
Grab a bottle from the champagne vending machine and check out the display.
Secret Philly
Secret Philly takes you behind the scenes to places that are hidden — or just overlooked — around the city.
Enter your email address and click “follow this” to have updates about all things related to this topic sent straight to your inbox.
Inside Marian Anderson’s South Philly home, where the classical singer made history
Because she was Black, the contralto gained international renown before she was recognized in her native city.
Secret Philly: How the City Hall clocks adjust for Daylight Saving Time
The 235-pound minute hands have to be manually adjusted.
Secret Philly: How a movie magnate built the ‘most important’ Rodin museum
Jules Mastbaum amassed one of the world's greatest sculpture collections, then gifted it to the city.
From Nazi cargo ship to Philly party boat: Life and times of the Moshulu
Before it was docked on the Delaware, 115-year-old vessel sailed all over the world.
Secret Philly: Inside one of the nation’s largest collections of LGBTQ history
Thanks to a $300k grant, the archives housed at William Way are finally getting proper treatment.
Memories from a Fishtown public pool that disappeared 50 years ago
Newt's swim spot was a community hub.
This Rittenhouse mansion hosts an international TV studio and Jackie Kennedy’s favorite fireplace
Stotesbury Mansion is home to a social club and an Emmy-winning series.
Inside Pennsylvania Hospital’s surgery theater, where patients screamed and women were jeered
Male doctors performed operations in "The Dreaded Circular Room."
Maps, mugshots and DA scrapbooks: Explore Philly’s past at the archives next to Yards Brewing
From rogues galleries to sketches of City Hall, it's all available on Spring Garden.
Secret Philly: Inside the historic Callowhill bank that was home to Stephen Starr’s hottest club
Today, the Northern Savings Fund building is finding new life as offices, exhibition space and (maybe) a speakeasy.
Why do we call Philly’s downtown ‘Center City’? Historians aren’t sure
It could stem from William Penn's original "Centre Square" — or have to do with the metropolis' shifting borders.
Behind the 10-foot walls of Girard College, where a whites-only legacy has been turned upside down
This centuries-old institution is the latest in our Secret Philly series.
Secret Philly: These 11 bars serve seriously great food
Great Italian at an Irish pub, Ethiopian at a Brewerytown dive and more hidden gems.
Secret Philly: The for-sale house Albert Barnes built before his famous museum
There's only one real piece of the famously quirky collector's work left in use for its original purpose: His other house in Merion Station.
Secret Philly: The rooftop tennis court on the edge of Center City
Built in 1984 for $1.7 million, the space once boasted basketball and handball courts, too.
Inside Pine Street’s Halloween, Philly’s hidden gem of a jewelry store
Henri David set up shop in this tucked-away rowhome-turned-store in 1990: 'It’s got to be handmade, or I’m not interested.'
Inside Philly’s Athenaeum: Napoleon and the Capitol Dome plans
In addition to books, this library has a secret basement that holds arts and architecture history, like the first renderings of the capitol building dome.
Inside Philly’s Mother Bethel AME Church, bastion of civil rights in the U.S.
The structure, on the National Registry of Historic Places, sits on the oldest parcel of land owned continuously by African Americans in America.