Independence Hall Parking
My new favorite thing is Independence Hall Parking. It's a parking garage under Independence Hall.
I feel like very few people know about this gem. Very few people must know about it because... There was TONS of space and empty spots when I parked there after work tonight.
Basically the deal is this.. It's affordable night life parking, in old city. So, here's the breakdown of costs... on Sunday through Thursday if you pull in after 5pm and get out by... I think it's 3am...
It's $9.50. HOWEVER, if you go on a Friday or Saturday night the pricing model of in after 5pm and out before 3am is slightly different... Care to guess how much it costs then?
If you thought that it cost 20 or 30 bucks like most of the places that you could park right in and around old city Philadelphia... You'd be wrong. The cost of parking in Independence Hall Parking to enjoy some old city nightlife as long as you are in after 5pm and out before 3am is...
Drumroll please...
$5.
Yep. 5 BUCKS!
And here the last time I went to old city I paid like 25 bucks to park.
Tonight I went to Spruce Street Harbor Park... guess how much my friends that I went with paid to park? 20 bucks. Guess how much I paid? $9.50.
Now, the only caveat is this... It's a little bit of a walk. It's about a quarter mile to a half mile to possibly a three quarters of a mile depending on where you are going. But, a little walking never hurt anyone! In fact, walking does you well. So, you actually get a little bit of cardio in with your cheap parking. It's like a two for one special! Not only is the parking cheaper and in a very nice facility as well... It's an excuse to exercise a little tiny bit too.
I always try to park further away from things on purpose anyways just to add a tiny bit of exercise to my day.
Tonight was a little bit further of walk. The Ritz theaters are a little less of a walk. Independence Beer Garden is right there. Old City and he bars in Old City are maybe a third of a mile walk.
Still, even if you're kind of not sold on the idea of some extra walking, which is fine too.... Just consider that it's really not bad for some VERY affordable parking. I mean, Friday and Saturday night parking in the city for 5 bucks? 5 BUCKS!!! And we're not talking some shady strange lot. We're talking a very VERY nice parking garage under Independence Hall that is run by the city of Philadelphia. I mean, it's monitored 24/7 and is even staffed with people 24/7.
I seriously never knew this existed until a few weeks ago. If I HAD known? I'd have gone to Old City SOOOOO many more times before. But, I'll definitely be going to the Old City-ish area way more often, that's for sure.
It makes most of the places in and around Old City very accessible.
It's strange that the weekday parking is more expensive than the weekend parking... But, the thing that I don't get is... You see all these people fighting for parking spots. I mean, on my walk to Spruce Street Harbor... I saw a good number of people trying to pack their car into a tiny little spot like a sardine in a can. This was even just a few blocks away from the garage. Here I pulled in off the street, grabbed a ticket, and didn't even have to go to the second level to find a spot. There were MORE than enough spots right there on level one of the parking garage. And when you go to leave? You just put your ticket in the little machine, put your credit card in, and print a receipt if you'd like. Then you drive around to the little machine near the exit and put your ticket in that and the arm lifts up and away you go!
Independence Hall Parking... I'm definitely going to be hitting up Old City more often. Probably get my butt to a First Friday or two as well. I mean, that's RIGHT there! I feel like the city needs more 5 dollar weekend parking. Or $9.50 during the weeknight parking. Although I feel like all nights should just be 5 bucks. It's strange to me that it's more expensive during the week than it is on the weekend... But, hey, it's still better than the other parking options.
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