philly

Well, it finally happened: R. Bradley Maule, aka BLove, has left Philadelphia. He's probably unpacking boxes right now at his new pad in Portland, OR with his lovely wifey Rachel. That's right – Brad left Philly for the Left Coast. A sad day. He was one of Philly's greatest spokespersons with quite the online presence backed up by visits to just about every neighborhood there was on foot. He knew what was going on in City Hall, he knew what was going on 57 floors in the air and several stories below ground. His photos and prose will sorely be missed.

A couple weeks ago me and a few others had some goodbye drinks and laughs with him in his favorite building, the PSFS buliding (in Sole Food). I've known Brad for 5 years now (I just dug up the first email thread we had back in February of 2005 – he commented on my blog 4 days prior) and while our face to face meets have been few, we've exchanged, what seems to be, a few thousand emails. I've read his site – PhillySkyline.com – religiously for 5 years now and it's going to be weird not having his opinion on all things Philly. It'll remain up as an archive, but nothing new will be posted.

Brad took me up with him on a hardhat tour of the Comcast Center months before its completion (no windows up on the floors we were on). He brought me up 33 floors in the PSFS building for this amazing view. He's put me on to a lot of cool stuff in Philly and I can't thank him enough for that.

But all is not lost. Brad will continue to take photos and he'll surely emerge discussing the goings on of the Left Coast at some point. For now, you can check out his newly created flickr photos and look out for new content on Maule of America in 2010. Brad's Farewell, Philadelphia slideshow.

All the best to you friend. And now I know somebody up in the NW for when I make it out there. Brad'll be scoping out the food scene for sure.

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