The Gottesman family is admittedly “obsessed” with riding SEPTA and the parents let their tattoos share stories of their travel. NBC10’s Matt DeLucia shares the families’ token of appreciation that each of them now has on their arms.
Chalk this one up to commitment, bonding and love for a certain kind of transportation.
Years ago, the Gottesman family in Philadelphia’s Fairmount neighborhood made a pact to do something special.
They just made good on that deal. And what they ended up with is a circular mark of what they love the most – no, it’s not a Philadelphia icon like the Liberty Bell or Independence Hall.
What the Gottesman family loves most is another Philly thing – SEPTA.
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“That was like my first love was, it was the Broad Street line? I know that sounds crazy,” Paige Gottesman said while sitting next to her husband Sam Gottseman
“I'm almost just ashamed to say just how obsessed we are -- a little bit -- with SEPTA,” Paige said.
Even the two Gottesman children -- young adults now -- rode and recorded their rides.
“It was not only using SEPTA for transportation, but like the sense of wonderment and enjoyment that the kids exhibited,” Sam said.
“It's been a part of our entire life,” son Bengie Gottesman said, while next to his sister Stella Gottesman.
“It was not only using SEPTA for transportation, but like the sense of wonderment and enjoyment that the kids exhibited,” dad Sam said.
There is something else that brings mom and dad wonder and joy – tattoos.
“I just started getting them wherever I would go, like, where I travel,” mom Paige said. “So they're all kind of like postcards, a little bit.”
The love for SEPTA and body art has now come full circle for the Gottesmans.
“I've been ready for a tattoo since I don't even know when,” daughter Stella said. “But, my first tattoo, I knew that it was going to be a family tattoo.”
But what would that tattoo look like?
“We had no idea what it was going to be,” Paige said. “Let's just let it naturally come to us -- and it came to us really quick.”
It had to be train related, naturally.
“Tokens,” Paige said. “The best thing in the whole world.”
Yes, the Gottesmans opted to pay homage to the way we paid in the days gone by.
“Some people are skeptical, like, ‘why would you get a SEPTA token tattoo?’” Bengie quipped.
“It's just it's just like the perfect little circle,” Stella said.
“It's so great,” Paige said. “We're really in it forever now.”
Those bronze and silver-colored SEPTA tokens live on, on each of the Gottesmans’ forearms “even though SEPTA had tokens much longer than they probably should have,” Sam said.
The token of appreciation reminds the son of his upbringing in Philadelphia no matter where he goes.
“If I ever feel, like, disconnected from my family or, like, just disconnected from Philly in any sort of way, I can just look down and I'm like, ‘I'm from there,’” Bengie said. “And, I can remember all the memories that I've had and all the memories that I’ve had and all experiences in them. It makes me happy.”
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