We’re dreaming of a white Christmas weeknight bootycall library that hasn’t reached maximum occupancy this week. Despite Fisher’s current lack of seats (bitter), we’re glad the setup has changed significantly since 1900, when this photo was taken. Looks like a perfect place to cram for Intro to Claustrophobia or cry about that last BYO/mixer/shitshow you’re missing. Don’t fret honey child, you’re evidently amongst friends, and there’s always next year.
Happy Hey Day! (Cue Juniors freaking out and Seniors weeping silently). But this 1932 photo of the then-dubbed Cane March looks more like a funeral procession than a celebration. Maybe it’s because they knew Penn didn’t come up with the idea for Hey Day to begin with! That’s right, our precious celebration was originally modeled after a similar idea at Syracuse University. But it also has evolved from a formal ceremony honoring the advancement of each class to a parade of raucous debauchery. Hats off for another reason to get drunk and procrastinate!
This is the pool room of the old chapter house of Penn’s Phi Kappa Psi. Though Phi Psi has lived on Spruce since 1977 , this building sits at 3641 Locust and was built when all of Locust was still a street! Now the building is the Colonial Penn Center, home of the Leonard Davis Institute of Health Economics (that’s not Greek). This photo was taken just after the building was completed in 1905 (obviously they had to snap a classy picture before stuff like this or this could happen).
Check out this artist making a chalk sketch of Penn that puts all other chalk art to shame! Eh, actually, someone probably hired him to make Time to Shine ever more colorful or to impress pre frosh on Penn Previews. We see what you’re doing there. Fine, it’s still cool.
Here we have one of the many Penn traditions that didn’t quite stand the test of time. Presenting the Bowl Fight: an annual orgy game that pitted the sophomore and freshman classes against each other. It took place in the Quad in April, much like Fling! Only it was super violent. A couple of years after the Bowl Fight pictured (1914), someone died and they (appropriately) called the whole thing off. So please, sophomores, as you sneak past the tight Quad security this weekend to visit your old rooms, don’t try to wrestle freshmen into bowls. We wouldn’t want Fling cancelled, now would we?
Fling wasn’t always an excuse for privileged Penn students to get away with public intoxication, public urination, and many other kinds of behavior that y’all should know better than to display in public. It actually used to have meaning, as evidenced in the above picture from 1954. Students gather at the Schuykill to support the Penn crew team, for which Callow Day — which became known as “Skimmer Day” in 1951 and finally “Spring Fling” in 1973 — was first started as a way to show the rowers support. So, you really think Girl Talk as the headliner is that bad? There’s no way that it could be worse than sitting by a river. Sober.
Spring Fling is in the air and we are so freakin’ excited! What better way to get psyched (or faded, if you will) than to check out a Quad throwback? Pictured are two Penn students strolling through the LQ courtyard on a beautiful day in 1947. Here’s hoping for warm Fling weather like this, and maybe a worthwhile headliner? Sending out an SOF (save our Fling)! … David Guetta, are you there? Anybody?
Believe it or not, this isn’t a photo of the Penn Band trying to recruit during NSO in 1952. This is actually a photo of a protest to the proposed extreme budget cuts in Penn’s School of Education that year. The Musical Education Student’s Association rallied in front of Eisenlohr Hall (then an academic building, now Amy G’s humble abode) on June 2nd 1952.
Watch your back: The Locust Hawk has been spotted yet again! Perhaps Countess grew tired of stalking the pre-frosh tours, because this picture shows her lurking behind AXP. With a fiery look in her eyes and a stance that would scare the hula skirt off this leprechaun, she awaits the call to swoop. Is anywhere safe?
Remember the good old days when the Metallurgy and Mining program existed? Of course not; it was 1890. But it sure seems like these metallurgical students were having a lovely time in their super-creepy haunted house dorm room. The skull on the table is an interesting choice of decor, but they’re making it work. At least it’s roomier than Hill.
