PhilaPlace

The Eyes Gallery

402 South Street

The corner of 4th and South Street was the corner of South Street’s hey-day. To hear 1970s transition-era artists like Julia Zagar talk about it, one didn’t need to stray far from the corner to experience most of the arts and culture movement that was happening at the time. Artists, musicians and other assorted “new age types” began taking advantage of South Street’s cheap and plentiful buildings, turning them into stores, restaurants and homes. Julia Zagar describes the street as a blank canvas where young creative people could experiment and build their own world. The Eyes Gallery was one of the first such businesses, and one of the few that have survived into the 21st century. Julia and her husband, mosaic muralist Isaiah Zagar, opened the shop upon returning from working with the Peace Corps in Peru. They sold many of their wares out of the first floor of the shop and lived upstairs. Today Julia continues to sell goods from Mexico, Central, and South America in the expanded store.

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