Details matter
A 2.3-mile walking tour of the seven Philadelphia locations where a 6′3″ drifter spent Season 4 ruining an otherwise ordinary Wednesday.
The route · north to south
Start at the Rail Park, end with a drink at Rittenhouse. The order is walkable, mostly downhill, and follows the season roughly as it aired. No stop on the route requires a ladder, a warrant, or a flash drive.
Noble St & N Broad · Callowhill
An elevated stretch of dead freight line, now a park, used for every scene the season needed to look weathered and unsupervised. Rust, sightlines, and no obvious exits.
1901 Vine St · Logan Square
Site of a research session that becomes a fistfight. Philadelphia's main branch has marble stairs, a reading room with 30-foot ceilings, and — as the season demonstrates — excellent acoustics.
1400 John F. Kennedy Blvd · Penn Square
The opening shot of the premiere is William Penn on top of the tower, which is how every production establishes it is in Philadelphia and not Toronto. Look up, then look down at the pavement, which is what the camera does next.
1735 Market St · JFK Blvd side
A seasonal outdoor bar in an office plaza, and the first place we see our man holding a bottle. He later tells police he was at a different Uptown entirely, in Frankford, which is either a lie or a genuinely confusing night.
Somewhere on Broad · Exact location disputed
The show orders a whiz wit from a sidewalk cart with no visible signage, thereby declining to take sides in a rivalry it does not understand. We stop at whichever cart is there. It is never the same cart.
Broad & Locust · Broad Street Line
He takes the subway, meets a stranger, and the season begins. You may ride one stop south and walk back up, or simply stand at the top of the stairs and feel it. Both count.
227 S 18th St · Rittenhouse Square
The last stop, a French bistro on the square, where a wanted man conceals himself behind a menu at a sidewalk table in full daylight. Filmed here twice — the second time because of casting, the first time because a former President arrived for breakfast mid-shot.
Departures · this week
| Depart | Tour | Guide | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| 09:15 | Full route, seven stops | Denise | Boarding |
| 11:40 | Full route, seven stops | Denise | Two seats |
| 13:00 | Short route, no Rail Park | Marty | Sold out |
| 15:30 | Full route + cart stop | Denise | Sold out |
| 18:45 | Evening route | Marty | Cancelled — Marty |
Fares
Groups of eight or more, ask about the private route. We cannot guarantee the cart.
Conditions of travel
On that last one: stop two is a public library, stop four is an office plaza at lunchtime, stop six is a SEPTA platform, and stop seven has a dress code. That leaves the Rail Park, where you are free to do as you like and where nobody is going to be impressed.
What to bring: a folding toothbrush. There is no bag check, because there are no bags.
Found property · currently held
| Ref | Item | Recovered at | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| LF-0114 | One (1) bobblehead. Hockey mascot, orange, googly-eyed. | Stop 6 | Unclaimed |
| LF-0119 | One (1) shirt, men's, XXL. No visible damage. | Stop 1 | Unclaimed |
| LF-0127 | Folding toothbrush, used. | Stop 7 | Not retained |
| LF-0131 | Napkin bearing the name of one cheesesteak shop. | Stop 5 | Destroyed unread |
| LF-0140 | Reading glasses, bifocal, one arm missing. | Stop 2 | Returned to owner |
| LF-0142 | Menu. Full size. Taken from a sidewalk table. | Stop 7 | Returned, apologetically |
Property is held thirty days at the Rail Park entrance and then donated. We do not mail things. The bobblehead is not available for donation and will be held indefinitely.
Press · selected notices
“Relentlessly paced… a punishing sense of place.”
Delaware Valley Review
“[The] library sequence alone is worth it.”
Screen & Sound Monthly
“Somehow both too long and over far too quickly.”
The Broadcast Quarterly
All three of the above are reviews of the television programme. None of these publications have taken this tour, been contacted about this tour, or been made aware that this tour exists. We have written to them.
Parking was very difficult. I circled Twentieth Street for eleven minutes and the tour had already left. The guide was apologetic. Three stars, and that is generous.
B.K. · Fishtown · Verified walker
Before you go
No. Not with the series, the studio, the network, the novels, or any person appearing in any of them. We are a walking tour. We walk past buildings that were also walked past by a camera.
Because the tour goes around Philadelphia, and the man's name is Reacher. Read slowly, the words are exactly where they belong. Read at speed, you are on your own.
We are aware. We were made aware four minutes after registering the domain, by a friend, at volume, in a bar. The name stands.
It helps. Six of the seven stops are worth visiting regardless, and the seventh is a subway entrance.
2.3 miles over roughly two and a half hours, entirely on sidewalk, entirely flat. There are three stretches longer than half a mile. Bathrooms at the library and at City Hall.
The tour runs. The season is set almost entirely on wet pavement and we consider rain an upgrade.
Whatever you have on. Marty will tell you, unprompted and within the first ten minutes, that he is not a vagrant, he is a hobo. He considers this an important distinction and he is not entirely wrong.
No. They paraphrase, inaccurately, and at the wrong moments. Marty has a version of the subway scene that is longer than the subway scene.
No. This question is asked on roughly one tour in three and the answer has never changed.
No.