Illegal Tangerines, An Adult Ball Pit, and Boothing With Friends: Ticking Most of Philly Off My List.
It’s 7 a.m., not too early for my little booth adventures. The car’s packed with snacks, my bag of photobooth props, and Google Maps cheerfully suggests I’ll be in Philly in about nine hours. At this point, driving a few hundred miles to get to a booth doesn’t feel like such a big deal—especially with three on my radar.
Crossing the border was a hassle this time. Turns out my ESTA had expired (oops), and I had to apply for a new land visa. Then I nearly got denied entry over two tangerines I’d brought as road snacks—apparently cross-border citrus is a no-go. By the time I got through Buffalo, I was already frazzled but had a few hundred miles and the dulcet tones of a true crime podcast to calm me down.
Luckily, I’d timed my trip to meet up with Stacy, my photobooth buddy from Chicago who splits her time between there and Philly. I planned my trip around her schedule, and it was absolutely worth it. My nine-hour drive turned into almost eleven, so by the time I arrived downtown, I was exhausted and running way behind. That led to a chaotic hotel check-in, a quick outfit change (during which I managed to swing my camera into my forehead and nearly knock myself out), and then off to meet Stacy who graciously insisted on taking me out for dinner.
First stop of the night: El Vez, a Mexican spot in the heart of downtown (that has sister locations in other major cities). It was my first time encountering a booth that was out of service on one of these trips—not counting the Manchester booth, which is more often dead than alive. I’d checked with the venue just the week before, so the issue must have been recent. Naturally, I will later learn it was repaired the day after I left. Of course. But I didn’t have time to dwell on it—this was my only night in Philly, and I still had two booths left to check off.
Next up was North Bowl, in the northeast of the city. This was the only venue I hadn’t been able to confirm ahead of time, so I was anxious about what we’d find. Stacy expertly navigated the metro (hometown advantage), and we arrived at a bustling bowling alley—Friday night vibes in full swing. After getting ID’d (bless), we found the booth tucked away at the back of the alley. It’s a booth rebuilt and refurbished by Classic Photo Booth, so the exact model number isn’t super obvious, but the cabinet looked like a Model 20/21, so let’s go with that.
When we arrive there’s a discarded bottle of developer that been abandoned behind the stool (but realistically it’s probably just water from a top up so no need to alert anyone)
We managed a few strips, though the last one didn’t come out, leaving the couple waiting behind us empty-handed too. We let them know they could email the address posted in the booth and headed to our final stop of the night: Concourse Dance Bar.
Concourse was not what I expected. Slinkies hung from the ceiling, sequined fabric wrapped the beams, and there was an actual adult ball pit. Stacy and I start laughing when they stamp our wrists “for re-entry until 1am” —we’re way past our bedtime at 10pm, but here we were. Their booth, another rebuilt one that looks like a Model 17 with a classic MCM lightbox sign, was amongst the chaos. While we waited, a drunk guy was enthusiastically trying to convince two women to join him in the booth (we checked on them, they were fine) with no success.
Stacy and I took turns, and of course, we got two strips together—one for each of us, as is the rule.
Before we left, I kicked off my shoes and climbed into the ball pit to photograph our strips (my attempt at some aesthetic content for my instagram) before we head back outside. Two out of three booths isn’t bad for my first trip to Philly since 2018, and I’ve already promised Stacy I’ll be back soon to finally tick El Vez off the list. After meeting her for coffee in the morning (because i had no idea the marathon was this weekend and my car was trapped by road closures) I hit the road again—off to tackle a small share of the NYC booth in the next 18 whirlwind hours. Wish me luck!
