Philadelphia is a patchwork of the political and economic changes dating back to 1683. Having been re-created repeatedly, each era of the city's development includes elements of the past. In this book, the authors describe the city's evolution into a post-industrial metropolis of old communities and newly expended neighborhoods, in which remnants of 19th-century industries can be seen in today's residential areas. This book explores a wide range of issues impacting upon Philadelphia's post-industrial economy--trends in housing and homelessness, the business community, job distribution, a disintegrating political structure, and increased racial, class, and neighborhood conflict. The authors examine the growth of the service sector, the disparity in the city's urban renewal program that has enriched center city but left most neighborhoods in need, and they evaluate the realistic prospects for regional solutions to some of the problems facing Philadelphia and its suburbs. Author note: Carolyn Adams teaches in the Geography and Urban Studies Department at Temple University. David Bartelt teaches at the Institute for Public Policy Studies at Temple University. David Elesh is Professor of Sociology, Temple University. Ira Goldstein teaches at the Institute for Public Policy Studies, Temple University. Nancy Kleniewski teaches Sociology at State University of New York, Geneseo. William Yancey is Professor of Sociology, Temple University.

This book covers the 20 years that transformed Philadelphia into a city of neighborhoods, from Kingsessing to Wissahickon. At the turn of the 20th century, Philadelphia was the "workshop of the world," with builders toiling tirelessly to fill the staggering demand for housing. This golden age of construction resulted in whole new neighborhoods for the city's burgeoning population, transforming it into a place where immigrants could easily find jobs and a community to call their own. More than 200 vintage photos and postcards whisk readers back to the neighborhoods as they once were, exactly as our grandparents and great-grandparents knew them, before modern influences altered them beyond recognition. Arranged by neighborhood, this Philadelphia family album, a scrapbook for the city, is filled with rare vintage photographs and comprehensive information about the houses, the builders, the neighborhoods, and the people who lived in them.

How does a so-called bad neighborhood go about changing its reputation? Is it simply a matter of improving material conditions or picking the savviest marketing strategy? What kind of role can or should the arts play in that process? Does gentrification always entail a betrayal of a neighborhood’s roots? Tackling these questions and offering a fresh take on the dynamics of urban revitalization, The Philadelphia Barrio examines one neighborhood’s fight to erase the stigma of devastation. Frederick F. Wherry shows how, in the predominantly Latino neighborhood of Centro de Oro, entrepreneurs and community leaders forged connections between local businesses and cultural institutions to rebrand a place once nicknamed the Badlands. Artists and performers negotiated with government organizations and national foundations, Wherry reveals, and took to local galleries, stages, storefronts, and street parades in a concerted, canny effort to reanimate the spirit of their neighborhood. Complicating our notions of neighborhood change by exploring the ways the process is driven by local residents, The Philadelphia Barrio presents a nuanced look at how city dwellers can make commercial interests serve the local culture, rather than exploit it.

Stories from an important, if little noticed, neighborhood of Philadelphia

The Native Americans called it shackamaxon, the place where the chiefs meet, but Kensington soon became a meeting place of a different kind. Ideologies and demagogues, industry and entrepreneurs all came together in Kensington and Fishtown. Kensington was the epicenter of the American vegetarian movement, and a decade later the area's shipyards gave birth to the U.S. Navy's first submarine. In Kensington & Fishtown, native son Kenneth W. Milano presents a collection of fascinating and diverse articles from his column The Rest is History. Relive the golden age of Kensington and Fishtown as you learn about learn about their fascinating pasts.

The many neighborhoods west of the Schuylkill River across from William Penn's "Quaker City" were distinctly rural until 1860, when horsecar lines first crossed the river. The area soon became home to wealthy businessmen who built elegant mansions and villas in University City and Powelton Village. West Philadelphia's growth accelerated northward into Belmont and Parkside-Girard after the 1876 Centennial Exposition and westward into Cedar Park, Spruce Hill, and Walnut Hill in the 1890s with the introduction of electric trolley lines. West Philadelphia: University City to 52nd Street is the first photographic history of the area in the last one hundred years. Images of the typical, modest West Philadelphia row houses, which slowly took over the open farmland after the Market Street Elevated opened in 1907, tell the story of how Philadelphia became known as the "City of Homes." Countless, rarely seen photographs of the streets where people lived and worked fill this extraordinary history.

The Benjamin Franklin Parkway has sliced through the Logan Square neighborhood of Center City (downtown) Philadelphia since World War I. Named after Philadelphia's favorite son, the mile-long boulevard begins at city hall and heads diagonally towards Logan Circle before reaching the Philadelphia Museum of Art. The postcards and other images in this work show the parkway's development and its role in Philadelphia's civic and cultural life. Despite often serving as a speedway into and out of town, the Ben Franklin Parkway is a triumph in urban planning that has become a treasured part of the City of Brotherly Love.

In the 1950s and 1960s, as the white residents, real estate agents, and municipal officials of many American cities fought to keep African Americans out of traditionally white neighborhoods, Philadelphia’s West Mount Airy became one of the first neighborhoods in the nation where residents came together around a community-wide mission toward intentional integration. As West Mount Airy experienced transition, homeowners fought economic and legal policies that encouraged white flight and threatened the quality of local schools, seeking to find an alternative to racial separation without knowing what they would create in its place. In Making Good Neighbors, Abigail Perkiss tells the remarkable story of West Mount Airy, drawing on archival research and her oral history interviews with residents to trace their efforts, which began in the years following World War II and continued through the turn of the twenty-first century. The organizing principles of neighborhood groups like the West Mount Airy Neighbors Association (WMAN) were fundamentally liberal and emphasized democracy, equality, and justice; the social, cultural, and economic values of these groups were also decidedly grounded in middle-class ideals and white-collar professionalism. As Perkiss shows, this liberal, middle-class framework would ultimately become contested by more militant black activists and from within WMAN itself, as community leaders worked to adapt and respond to the changing racial landscape of the 1960s and 1970s. The West Mount Airy case stands apart from other experiments in integration because of the intentional, organized, and long-term commitment on the part of WMAN to biracial integration and, in time, multiracial and multiethnic diversity. The efforts of residents in the 1950s and 1960s helped to define the neighborhood as it exists today.

Residents of Philadelphia have been nagging Akashic Books for years to see their own entry in the award-winning Noir series. The time has finally arrived - but the city must beware as there may be no recovery from the tarnishing of this collection of 15 original crime stories. Features brand-new stories by Diane Ayres, Cordelia Frances Biddle, Keith Gilman, Cary Holladay, Solomon Jones, Gerald Kolpan, Aimee LaBrie, Halimah Marcus, Carlin Romano, Asali Solomon, Laura Spagnoli, Duane Swierczynski, Dennis Tafoya and Jim Zervanos.

PHILADELPHIA ARCHITECTURE; a comprehensive guide to 300 years of architectural history describes 253 BUILDINGS with 174 corresponding PHOTOGRAPHS including each building's location, date(s), architect, client, use & its fit into the social & economic history of Philadelphia & its relationship to the evolution of architectural styles. This book is for layperson or architect, resident or visitor. 'A museum of architecture', Philadelphia, more than any American city, represents the history of architecture in the U. S. with its outstanding examples of every important architectural style & period in the country's history. Contains NINE WALKING & DRIVING TOURS, an illustrated GLOSSARY of architectural terms & BIOGRAPHIES of important Philadelphia architects. The companion volume to PHILADELPHIA ARCHITECTURE: PHILADELPHIA'S BEST BUILDINGS: IN (OR NEAR) CENTER CITY. 39-PAGES ($7.95) ISBN (0-9622908-2-3) published by Foundation for Architecture, editor: John Gallery. Highlights 48 significant buildings; colorful MAPS for WALKING TOURS of four areas representing different architectural periods, & PHOTOGRAPHS of each building. Special feature--a list of outstanding buildings of interest to CHILDREN. Guidebook is perfect for the visitor restricted by time who wishes to view a select group of buildings. Call: FFA 215-569-3187; One Penn Center at Suburban Station, Suite 1165, Philadelphia, PA 19103, or Koen Book Distributors.