Vietnam Vet Says He Lived in a Philly Stadium Concession Stand for Three Years

Get your popcorn ready, here’s a story that just screams Philly. As the story goes, a Vietnam vet & Green Beret lived in an empty concession stand inside Veterans Stadium for 3 years in his own “off-the-wall South Philly version of the Phantom of the Opera.” From 1979 to 1981 Tom Garvey lived in the empty concession stand inside the Vet.

Via The Inquirer:

In his new book, The Secret Apartment: Vet Stadium, a surreal memoir, [Tom] Garvey details how from 1979 to 1981 he lived in an empty concession stand inside the Vet which he secretly refurbished into an apartment in his very own “off-the-wall South Philly version of the Phantom of the Opera.”

“I was like a kid with a Willy Wonka golden ticket,” he said.

In what may be one of the most Philly stories ever, a Vietnam vet & Green Beret lived in an empty concession stand inside Veterans Stadium for 3 years in his own “off-the-wall South Philly version of the Phantom of the Opera.”https://t.co/dEttpFarty

— Stephanie Farr (@FarFarrAway) March 9, 2021

He described the room in his new book, “The Secret Apartment: Vet Stadium, a surreal memoir.”

People can survive just about anywhere.

“I’d been so busy for so many years when I came home, and this gave me the opportunity to put things in perspective,” he told the Inquirer. “I found it to be healing. It was a place where I went inside myself and found some peace.”

Give someone a roof over their head, and they’ll make into a home in no time.

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