Philadelphia Neighborhoods, a compendium of historic views of the major residential sections of Philadelphia, presents a snapshot into the past when old neighborhoods were not so old and when currently established ones were as yet new construction. Through the medium of postcards, readers are invited back to an era before automobiles dominated the streets, before many city roads were paved, and when the local grocery store was not located in a mall. Using chapters divided into subsections that detail the various regions of North, South, Southwest, and West Philadelphia, as well as the "new" Northeast Philadelphia, the author chronicles the vibrant, diverse communities that have helped shape the city's rich history.

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.

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.

A unique panoramic survey of ethnic groups throughout the United States that explores the diverse communities in every region, state, and big city. Race, ethnicity, and immigrants' lives and identity: these are all key topics that Americans need to study in order to fully understand U.S. culture, society, politics, economics, and history. Learning about "place" through our own historical and contemporary neighborhoods is an ideal way to better grasp the important role of race and ethnicity in the United States. This reference work comprehensively covers both historical and contemporary ethnic and immigrant neighborhoods through A–Z entries that explore the places and people in every major U.S. region and neighborhood. America's Changing Neighborhoods: An Exploration of Diversity uniquely combines the history of ethnic groups with the history of communities, offering an interdisciplinary examination of the nation's makeup. It gives readers perspective and insight into ethnicity and race based on the geography of enclaves across the nation, in regions and in specific cities or localized areas within a city. Among the entries are nearly 200 "neighborhood biographies" that provide histories of local communities and their ethnic groups. Images, sidebars, cross-references at the end of each entry, and cross-indexing of entries serve readers conducting preliminary as well as in-depth research. The book's state-by-state entries also offer population data, and an appendix of ancestry statistics from the U.S. Census Bureau details ethnic and racial diversity.

Students in the Spring 2002 Community Publishing class at Temple University participated in an oral history project focused on capturing stories from the Forgotten Bottom neighborhood in South Philadelphia. The life histories of many of the community's residents have been collected as interviews in this book.

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.