West Philadelphia Born & Raised

The first few weeks on campus, I spent a lot of my free time wandering around the neighborhood. As time went on, my radius gradually started increasing. That's probably going to be close to half the photos you see from here out- not that I'm out photographing other areas less, but just that there's so much more to see here. At this point I can say I've walked to all 5 regions of the city, the entirety of the Main Line, some of the Delco suburbs, and to Camden.

Abe's, Philadelphia (University City)

Looking at the property records, somebody named Abraham bought this place in 1983, so I'm gonna go out on a limb and say that's when this opened. The sign frame looks much older, so I'm guessing that was recycled. Abe's has been closed for several years, and is now operating as a low-end grocery store who left their sign up.

DP Dough/Pizza Hut, Philadelphia (University City)

It took me a while to figure out that DP Dough is a chain and even longer to find out they are a national chain. Their coverage is pretty wide but not very dense. This location didn't make it, and closed around 2013. They returned to the neighborhood last year following their merger with competing calzonemonger Calio's. Pizza Hut then opened here in 2014 and closed in 2019, only a couple months before every other non-express location in the city. Currently it sits vacant. Given the neighborhood I'm sure something will happen before too long, but whether it's a new tenant or this gets pulled down for student apartments is up in the air.

Fresh Fields/Whole Foods/Target, Philadelphia (Logan Square)
 I went here thinking they would be open so I could get some dorm supplies. Turns out their grand opening wasn't for another 5 days. Oops. Like the other Center City Flex Targets, this opened with just the bullseye, then had the lowercase logo added to it last year.

Wawa, Bristol, PA

One of the rare 90's gas station Wawa's that still has the rounded window up top. Almost all of these got filled in during 2000's remodels (most of the modern-style ones with the old logo started out this way. Sometimes there's even a discontinuity in the ceiling where they dropped it). Interestingly, Wawa's current remodeling campaign has been keeping these intact despite overall being much more thorough remodels than the 2000's ones. This one got redone earlier this year.

McDonald's, Bristol, PA

This location opened in the 80's, and so far has been able to not only avoid getting McBoxed, but dodge the beige repaint as well.

Their sign advertises a Playplace, but they haven't had one in over a decade. The area it used to sit on has been an outdoor dining patio as far back as the 2007 Streetview.

Caldor/Ames/Walmart/Bristol Flea Market, Bristol, PA

Caldor opened as an expansion of the existing center in 1992, and was picked up by Ames when the chain went under. That then got picked up by Walmart once Ames went under, reuniting it with the several nearby Caldors that Walmart picked up in 1999. It retained the old logo and original décor until a shortsighted 2016 remodel. The store closed in 2017, about a month after I got this photo. It's now the Bristol Flea Market, who has made absolutely no modifications to the building.

Farmer's Bank of Bucks County/CoreStates/First Union/Wachovia/Wells Fargo, Bristol, PA

This is a particularly historic street, most of the buildings on it date back to the 1700's. This one's a little bit newer- it was first constructed in 1818 as a private residence, but was sold to Farmer's Bank in 1830. I don't know if/when it changed hands during the ~150 years between its opening and CoreStates, but it has been continuously operating the entire time.

Woolworth?/Mill Street Marketplace/Bristol Discount Pharmacy, Bristol, PA

I can almost guarantee this was built in the 30's as a 5-and-dime. As to what kind, I really can't say. Usually the brick pattern makes it identifiable but that has been stuccoed over in this case. The roof line makes me want to say Woolworth though. It operated for a while as Mill Street Marketplace, which was an upscale grocer. They closed a few years back, and more recently this has become home to the Bristol Discount Pharmacy.

A&P/SuperFresh/Selecto, Bristol, PA

A&P opened this store sometime in the early 50's, and remodeled it to the colonial look in the 60's. It rebranded to SuperFresh in 1982, before relocating to a new Futurestore 5 years later. It's now a Hispanic-leaning grocery store, who appears to have kept the early 80's SuperFresh décor intact. 

Sorry, my night pictures were awful that day.

I didn't go inside and I regret it. You can still see a little bit of the décor through the doors though. The store originally would have had an entrance out to the sidewalk, but moved it so it faced the parking lot instead, most likely in the SuperFresh days.

This sign looks pretty old, it wouldn't surprise me if it was left over from SuperFresh as well.

Old Firehouse, Bristol, PA

There's not much information out here on this place, but according to the stone up top the fire company was established in 1874, and the building seen here was built in 1906. They have either dissolved or changed names and moved, as this building is now used as offices.

Delaware River Waterfront, Bristol, PA

While it's primarily here to serve the wharf, Bristol has a nice little esplanade out into the river. My picture makes it look like it goes out much further than it does; the pier doesn't quite reach the halfway point, or even come close to it for that matter. Technically it's still New Jersey on the right side of this photo, but that's not the mainland. What you see here is Burlington Island, a fairly large but uninhabited landmass in the middle of the river.

Here's the wharf of the other side of the pier. I believe this is meant to act as a parking lot for people coming to town via the river. Quite a few rich boat-owners live along here.

King George II Inn, Bristol, PA

Despite me only having one mediocre-at-best photo of it, this place was the main reason I came to town today. I got sucked down the rabbit hole of the oldest continuously-operating restaurants in the country and realized one of them (which is the oldest in the state and I believe clocks in at number 3 nationally) wasn't too far away from me. This restaurant first set up shop in 1682, and has been in its current building since 1725. Following Broad Axe Tavern in Ambler's unfortunate closure in 2016, this is now the only 1600's restaurant left in the state (Broad Axe opened the same year as this). Even if I didn't get a decent picture of this, it felt good to cross it off the list!

University City High School Site, Philadelphia (University City)

This vacant little (well, not so little. Huge, actually) triangle of land holds about 50 years of nonstop failure for the city. In the 1960's when most large cities were beginning massive urban renewal campaigns (most of which backfired), Philadelphia School District decided to eminent domain almost all of the former Black Bottom neighborhood, which as its name suggests was predominantly black and extremely impoverished, to build a new sciences-oriented magnet high school. It opened its doors in 1972. Long story short, the school failed. The science programs that were supposed to set it apart didn't last long, and it became just another inner city school and suffered from their usual problems. It's no secret that Philadelphia's public schools are generally terrible. Because of that, charter schools are becoming increasingly popular, leaving many of the city's district schools under-populated. To help better allocate resources, the city decided to close 23 of their schools in 2013. This was one of them. Unlike Eastwick's infamous Pepper Middle School, this once didn't sit vacant for long. It was demolished in 2015 for a new development, which finally broke ground earlier this year. It will feature several apartment buildings, some labs, a new nursing school for Drexel University, and a relocation for the aging middle school a few blocks away.

Interestingly, on the fence outside there was a sign posted giving the history of the neighborhood.

The Bulletin Building/One Drexel Plaza, Philadelphia (University City)

This building opened its doors in 1952 as the new headquarters for the Evening & Sunday Bulletin, a now-defunct newspaper that was once one of the city's most popular. It changed hands a few times after they went under in 1981, but has been owned by Drexel University since 1993. Despite that, they don't use the main office building. They lease it out as office space instead. The front wall here was originally solid brick, a sorta iconic midcentury façade that got this place listed on the historic register. They cut windows into it in the 2000's, which killed the effect of the original design but still stayed true to the midcentury style (they mimicked the design of the windows on the side walls). To kick off the beginning of the huge Schuylkill Yards development that will be built around here, they totally redid the façade earlier this year (ironically removing most of what got this place on the register in the first place) and turned the surface parking lot into a park.  

I'm happy they turned the lot here into a park, but sad they didn't reuse the old UFO-shaped lights or flagpole. I think both could have been reincorporated into the project nicely.

Comcast Technology Tower, Philadelphia (Logan Square)

I feel like I've been documenting this project as long as I've been posting here/on Flickr. It broke ground in 2014, and was starting to near completion at this point. It topped out a few months later, and opened for business in mid-2018. By the middle of 2019, construction was totally finished. It was in the news again a couple weeks ago- the Four Seasons at the top recently became the city's first 5-star hotel. Now if we could only get our 5-star restaurant back.

Green Village Food Market, Philadelphia (Logan Square)

There's not much out there on the history of this building. Obviously, it began life as a set of rowhomes, but I can't say too much beyond that. The unit on the end looks to be Civil War era with some c. 1900 bay windows added. I thought the more nondescript units to the right of it were newer at first, but then found a photo from 1911 showing them before their street level was butchered for commercial use. Going by those pictures, I'd guess they're from somewhere in the 1800-30 ballpark. It was neighborhood store Green Village Food Market (presumably with apartments above) until around 2015. The property was rezoned in 2018 to allow for a 14-story hotel with a rooftop restaurant to be built on the site, but so far nothing has materialized from that and these buildings remain abandoned.

McDonald's, Philadelphia (Logan Square)

So there's not very much information out there on this building, but I can tell you it was first built in 1898, and expanded/renovated in 1923. I don't know if they were the original tenant, but gas natural gas company UGI (owner of AmeriGas) was headquartered here through most of the 1900's, prior to moving to King of Prussia. After they left, it was renamed One City Plaza and divided into smaller offices. They were emptied out over the last few years so the building could be converted to apartments, which began construction last summer. McDonald's has been here since at least the mid-90's, as evidenced by the script logo. They were allowed to continue operating after construction began, but closed at the end of last year, which leads me to assume they were running out the lease. The space is now listed as for lease, indicating they will not be reopening. Following the burning of the 17th & Walnut location during the riot in May, Center City is currently McDonald's-less. Fortunately, I believe that one will be rebuilding- it's a corporate-owned location and was actually planning a remodel before the fire.

Eckerd/Rite Aid, Philadelphia (University City)

Eckerd opened this store in 2003, and became Rite Aid in 2007. While they are still open, the building is owned by a developer who plans to build a new office building on the site (I have a feeling it will be a while. It's called 3 University Place and will follow 2 University Place, which has been in the planning stages for about 5 years now). It's a wildly busy store  being right on the border of a very rough pharmacy-less neighborhood, so I have a feeling they will be relocating.

Inside, it's been remodeled to the Customer World décor but otherwise remains very Eckerd.

The ceiling's higher by the entrance, which I thought was a neat touch. I like the amount of natural light this lets in.

Notable milestone of this trip is that it was my first time getting carded. I was buying Sudafed because I somehow managed to catch a cold within 2 weeks of starting college. Sniffles aside, it was a pretty empowering experience.

Poké-Man, Philadelphia (University City)

Despite the sheer number of poké restaurants around here and the fact that I've eaten at most of them at this point, I couldn't tell you what exactly poké is. Maybe like Sushi but in bowl form instead of a roll? I thought this one's name was funny. It's close enough to Pokémon to get the joke across but changed just enough to avoid a lawsuit. It opened in 2016 alongside the apartment building it sits under.

A (Blurry) Return to Fresh Grocer

The pictures I got this visit were absolutely terrible, but I figured since the store's closed now I might as well post them.

It's hard to get across with pictures, but this store had a bizarre layout- the main aisles were on an angle through the store, but the frozen, produce, and pharmacy aisles were cut out with aisles going in different directions. I'm pretty sure ACME's gutting the place, so hopefully it will return as a somewhat normal store. This picture's looking towards the checkout from the end of the bread aisle, but also alongside the first frozen aisle.

And not only that, but not all the angled aisles were the same either. Some had concrete floors, others had tile. This one had a fluorescent track light going down the top of it, but towards the other end of the store they used highbay lights in addition to strips along the tops of the shelves.

They also had a sushi department, which always looked and smelled amazing but given the store's track record with the health department I never risked trying it.

Italian Market, Philadelphia (Bella Vista)

This neighborhood is one of my favorite parts of the city. It was where many of the early 1900's Italian immigrants wound up, and holds onto that heritage tightly. This strip of 9th Street is famous for its assortment of Italian grocers, butchers, produce markets, delis, and of course restaurants. I'm sad to report the mural of former mayor and neighborhood idol Frank Rizzo seen here has since been removed in the wake of this Spring's events, but hoping that eliminates a hurdle to them finally developing this corner at least.

Palumbo's Sign, Philadelphia (Bella Vista)

Palumbo's was a popular nightclub that opened its doors nearby in 1940. It regularly featured performers such as Frank Sinatra, Al Martino, Louis Armstrong, Jimmy Durante, and Louis Prima. Even when he wasn't performing, Sinatra was known to be a regular there. While it was never proven, the club was also known for their mafia ties. This relation may have culminated with its 1994 demise, when the then financially struggling Palumbo's fell victim to arson. This was also never proven, but the consensus was that the owner did it for the insurance money. A Rite Aid now stands on the site. Needless to say, I was amazed to see they still had a sign up after all this time!

Los Taquitos de Puebla III, Philadelphia (Passyunk Square)

The southern end of the Italian Market has over the past 20 years or so made a heavy shift over to Mexican foods. Not quite sure why, but they only seem to be on this street. This restaurant, which sits practically next door to the city's 2 most famous Cheesesteak shops (and was formerly home to another cheesesteak shop itself), is now a Taqueria. Their first 2 locations were in Delaware, so this seems like an odd location for a third- normally restaurants aim for Center City when expanding here. 

Termini Bros, Philadelphia (Bella Vista)

Termini's is probably the most popular bakery in the city. Around Christmastime, the line to get in here wraps around the block as early as 4 AM.  They first opened in 1921, and have been operating at this location since 1938 (I'm fairly certain the neon signs are original). They have opened three satellite locations over the years- one by the stadiums, one at Reading Terminal, and another in the Comcast Center. This location offers tours of the kitchen, which is a pretty impressive sight. They even still use some of their 1930's mixers.

Ralph's Italian Restaurant, Philadelphia (Bella Vista)

Ralph's opened here in 1900, and advertises being the oldest surviving Italian restaurant in the country. Like Palumbo's, they've also had a few celebrities pass through- Sinatra (obviously), then their website lists Joe Biden, Teddy Roosevelt, and Taylor Swift. That's an interesting mix. In spite of all the hype it gets, the restaurant itself is tiny. It's still the same size as when it first opened in a standard Philly 16-foot-wide rowhome.

Amoco/Arco Sign, Philadelphia (University City)

This lot was once home to an unbelievably small porcelain-façade Amoco that later became an Arco. It was no surprise when they tore it down for the apartments seen on the right here in 2013. However, it was a surprise that they left the old Arco sign frame on an Amoco pole up on the corner. Like it's practically touching the building. It looks weird here, isn't being used, and was probably an obstacle during construction so I have no clue why they left it.  

Mobil/Getty/Gulf, Philadelphia (University City)

This is one of several Getty's that Gulf picked up in 2017. The conversion here's been incredibly slow, so slow that the Gulf banner has actually since fallen off, uncovering the Getty sign once again.

My Pharmacy, Philadelphia (University City)

One time I found an article on the history of this building, but it's not coming up again so I can't give you all the details. What I can tell you is that this was built in the late 1800's as an upscale hotel. As the neighborhood turned, it became a rooming house and was eventually turned into apartments with retail space underneath. My Pharmacy opened here in 2012; previously the retail space was home to a jazz nightclub.

Apartment Construction, Philadelphia (University City)

This area's seen an insane amount of apartments, mainly targeted towards students, go up recently. The two seen under construction here were on the site of some circa-1900 duplex houses that had previously been split up into apartments themselves. The new one on the left took on a more modern style, but the one on the right tried to match the style of the surviving half of its duplex. One time I went on a date with someone who lived in a place similar to these, her apartment was surprisingly fancy. I thought we had a good time, but apparently she thought "Opened 2 hr ago" was an appropriate response to me asking for a second date. But I digress. I would have expected these to be much cheaper construction since they're for students, but that would indicate otherwise. 

While this was primarily a West Philly post, I had some South Philly photos near the end and now feel the need to include some music from that part of town. It's some Good Feels playlist material.