FYI Philly: Secret shoe collection at Temple revealed
CENTER CITY (WPVI) -- Temple University's School of Podiatry houses a secret collection that is sure to have you kicking up your heels.
The school's corridors are lined with cases and cases of shoes, making it look like a visual ode to footwear.
Barbara Williams is the tour guide and the school's resident shoe expert. She showed Meteorologist Melissa Magee a few gems from ballets, to Broadway to television.
Some of the notables includes a pair of silk sandals from Lucille Ball, platforms that Sally Struther's wore on the show "All in the Family" and a pair of Manolo Blahnik sandals that Joan Rivers wore to her daughter's wedding rehearsal.
The collection also includes footwear from four First Ladies and President Ronald Reagan. The whole collective was put together for the bicentennial.
Athletes are represented too. There are the Nikes Dawn Staley wore when she won the Olympic gold medal in Athens, Bernie Parent's Stanley Cup skates, shoes from Joe Frazier, Dr. J, Reggie Jackson, Mike Schmidt, Andre Agassi and the legendary Billie Jean King.
"You can also, if you're a tennis player, tell exactly how she served because the one toe is all messed up," explained Williams, who is the Director of the Center for History of Foot Care and Footwear.
Celebrities and athletes aside there are shoes from around the world, like Egyptian burial sandals that date back thousands of years, hand stitched men's wedding shoes from India, Chinese lotus shoes used in foot binding and Victorian sandals that were considered racy at the turn of the century.
"I really liked the really unusual shows you'd never see anywhere else," said Sharon Foley of Chinatown.
On the extreme side, you can check out shoes made for a woman with gigantism or sky high Doc Marten platforms.
Tours are free but by appointment only on Wednesdays and Fridays.
FOR MORE INFORMATION
Temple School of Podiatric Medicine Shoe Museum
148 N. 8th Street
Philadelphia, Pa.
Free Tours: Wednesdays & Fridays
Call to schedule: (215) 625-5243
