Weird Philly Crimes #2 OUT-OF-PLACE SETTINGS \ SOCIETY HILL'S PLASTIC INVASION

 

 

 

 

May 29, 1998 Edition: SFEdition: CITY
Section: CITY & REGION
Page: B01

OUT-OF-PLACE SETTINGS \ SOCIETY HILL'S PLASTIC INVASION Author: Julie Stoiber, INQUIRER STAFF WRITER

Article Text:

Pat Clement and Grace Boyd were strolling east along Spruce Street yesterday morning in leafy, lovely Society Hill when suddenly, something odd caught their eye.

There was a spoon taped to a tree. And a little farther, a spoon taped to a curvy wrought-iron banister. And more spoons poking out of a window box planted with purple flowers and ivy.

In fact, there were little white plastic spoons everywhere, the kind you would see in a deli. Only they weren't in a deli. They were taped to signs and homes and sidewalks, sticking out of hanging baskets and water spigots, tangled in ivy, affixed to fire hydrants and downspouts, tucked under the wiper blade of a silver Sentra in need of a wash.

Not just spoons, either.

``Here, look, there are knives,'' Boyd said, nudging her friend and pointing to a shutter in the 600 block.

Down the street, she would encounter forks, too.

``It's very unusual,'' said Clement, who lives in Egg Harbor Township.

That's putting it mildly. To the many puzzled, bemused people who live and walk on the stretch of Spruce between Front and Eighth Streets, the sudden proliferation of plasticware was a mystery.

Was it a goofy prank? An avant-garde art project? A way to use leftover utensils from the Memorial Day barbecue?

``I can't believe what I'm looking at,'' said Norma Schub, who was waiting for the No. 12 bus at Third and Spruce a few steps away from a house that had a knife masking-taped to its window. Down the block was a discarded car tire, onto which a spoon had been taped.

Schub wondered if it might be a restaurant promotion.

In fact, a new restaurant did open last week in Society Hill. It's an Italian spot called Sfizzio, where the Copper Penny used to be in the Society Hill Towers complex.

Alas, no connection.

``We don't even have plastic things here,'' said Tiffany Polijczuk, one of the restaurant's managers.

Robert and Stella DiGiacomo, in Center City from the Northeast for a doctor's appointment, thought there might be a connection between the cutlery and the posters they had seen promoting the annual Greek Festival at St. George Greek Orthodox Cathedral, which is just north of Eighth and Spruce.

But the administrator at the church quashed that idea. ``I don't know anything about it,'' said Hippocratis Polemis.

``What's with the spoons?'' asked Marsha Heit, who was out for a walk with daughter Elizabeth, 2.

Asked for her theory, she burst out laughing.

``Definitely communists!'' she said.

Whoever went wild with the plasticware appears to have done it overnight Wednesday. It probably involved more than one person, given the variety of styles and the use of three kinds of tape.

``They weren't here yesterday,'' said Heather Stigall of the 300 block of Spruce Street, who discovered a fork sticking up from her wrought-iron railing.

Some of the groupings were downright whimsical, like the string of forks and spoons cheering up a tired brown porch at Fifth and Spruce.

``Not being from Philadelphia, we thought maybe this is something they do all the time,'' said Clement.

``Maybe on Thursdays,'' added Boyd, chuckling.

``I hope whoever put them out comes back and picks them up,'' Clement said.

That was Mark Taylor's concern.

``Basically, this is a form of littering - with a message,'' said Taylor, who found three spoons standing like soldiers in a little patch of dirt outside his apartment in the 200 block.

Like others, he thought it might be the work of art students.

Regina Barthmaier doesn't think so. She's the administrative coordinator at the University of the Arts' College of Art & Design. Classes are out for the summer, she said. And besides, site-specific art installations have to be approved by the dean.

``I doubt that it's us,'' she said.

The police were baffled, too.

``It's one of the more interesting things I've heard today,'' said Capt. Brian Korn, head of the Sixth District Police. ``It would be tough to figure, if you caught somebody in the act, what you would charge them with.''

Probably criminal mischief, he said. He planned to tell his patrol officers to be on the lookout last night.

That would be welcome news to Susan Behrend. She lives in the 600 block of Spruce and couldn't decide whether to be miffed or amused.

Her first thought was, ``Candid Camera.''

Then she got mad.

``I called the Sixth District [police],'' she said. ``I think it's defacement of property. These are historic homes.''

She had to admit that the little plastic throwaways were having an impact.

Said Behrend, ``They've captivated people.''

Caption:
PHOTO
Plastic spoons stick out of some greenery along Spruce Street, as Zed the dog, being walked by owner Elise Stern, passes by. (The Philadelphia Inquirer / TOM GRALISH)
Spoons also showed up on vehicles in the area. No one has owned up to the handiwork.
Seven forks were affixed to one tree with tape. Fire hydrants and water spigots also were targeted.
A spoon and fork popped up at the front of two houses on Spruce Street. Many people speculated about who was responsible. Others were more concerned about when the utensils would be removed. (The Philadelphia Inquirer / TOM GRALISH)