READING, PA? Wow...never thought I'd see that name-checked here, loto. I'm near Reading for 1/2 the week, and did, indeed, spend 10 years living in the heart of beautiful downtown Reading, every section of which is a bad part of town.
The rest of the week I live in, emmm...yeah, it's true...South Philly. I'll agree with the previous posters on that count. South Philly is a historically blue-collar area, heavily populated by Italian and Irish neighborhoods, punctuated with tiny 2 or 3 block areas of just about every ethnicity you can imagine. The diversity exists, but we try to keep it our little secret.
North Philly is "the bad part" but has, for the past 20 years, slowly become more gentrified as the hipster contingent stakes their claim. Twenty years ago homesteaders began buying abandoned industrial sites and they've now started to branch out, forcing locals to relocate further north, or west. This ugly bit of displacement was promoted by developers, and the resulting artificial/manufactured neighborhood is cunningly referred to as "Northern Liberties". Charming...
Savvy monkeys with an interest in NYC history will draw parallels with the wholesale removal of the indigenous Eastern European and Latino neighborhoods on Manhattan's Lower East Side.
Give me the little neighborhoods in South Philly anyday: Pennsport, Bella Vista, Queens Village, Passyunk, Southwark, et al. Additionally, there are only 2 places in all of Philadelphia to get a real cheesesteak, both in South Philly, and they face one another on opposite corners of the same intersection. And they're both open 24/7.
And if anyone's still reading and wants to pick a fight: Geno's for steaks, Pat's for fries. "Whiz, without."
(Someone give that man a sedative...Golly, I just rambled on...)
On second thought...Michael Stipe killed himself? Was this an effort to promote the super-fantastic NEW REM supersonic CD/vinyl/cassette/DVD of their super-celebrated new release of said super-dynamite CD?
I'm so sorry for your loss, HawthorneWingo. Your story of the phone call was especially touching, and makes me want to root even harder for the Red Sox.
My paternal grandparents (Baby and Grand Dad) were first nicknamed by their 4 sons (my dad and my 3 uncles). They always called their folks "Doc" (Grand Dad was a dentist) and "Coonie" (she had captured a wild racoon and raised it as her pet years before I was born), how we came to call her "Baby" I don't know. I've heard them all before, so don't bother making any unsavory comments regarding her somewhat unusual nickname! ;]
I miss them all the time.
And, thanks for all the comments...it's pretty cool to see what a nice international community we have here.
Even though I'm guessing I'm about a decade younger than the target demographic, those photos look awfully familiar to a once-young boy who grew up on the other side of the country, in SE Pennsylvania.
Golly, these photos are really fascinating, and just a bit too nostalgia-inducing for the middle of the night...
Great link.
Damn that baby jeebus... It makes the baby ME cry. I doin't get it...why do you christers get it ????????????????????????
posted by red cell 20 years ago
I get the ha-ha...just don't get anything else. What a creep.
posted by red cell 20 years ago
In ""
READING, PA? Wow...never thought I'd see that name-checked here, loto. I'm near Reading for 1/2 the week, and did, indeed, spend 10 years living in the heart of beautiful downtown Reading, every section of which is a bad part of town. The rest of the week I live in, emmm...yeah, it's true...South Philly. I'll agree with the previous posters on that count. South Philly is a historically blue-collar area, heavily populated by Italian and Irish neighborhoods, punctuated with tiny 2 or 3 block areas of just about every ethnicity you can imagine. The diversity exists, but we try to keep it our little secret. North Philly is "the bad part" but has, for the past 20 years, slowly become more gentrified as the hipster contingent stakes their claim. Twenty years ago homesteaders began buying abandoned industrial sites and they've now started to branch out, forcing locals to relocate further north, or west. This ugly bit of displacement was promoted by developers, and the resulting artificial/manufactured neighborhood is cunningly referred to as "Northern Liberties". Charming... Savvy monkeys with an interest in NYC history will draw parallels with the wholesale removal of the indigenous Eastern European and Latino neighborhoods on Manhattan's Lower East Side. Give me the little neighborhoods in South Philly anyday: Pennsport, Bella Vista, Queens Village, Passyunk, Southwark, et al. Additionally, there are only 2 places in all of Philadelphia to get a real cheesesteak, both in South Philly, and they face one another on opposite corners of the same intersection. And they're both open 24/7. And if anyone's still reading and wants to pick a fight: Geno's for steaks, Pat's for fries. "Whiz, without." (Someone give that man a sedative...Golly, I just rambled on...)
posted by red cell 20 years ago
In "Shakeskin is a gallery of shaken faces."
Holy cow! I love the internets! They vibrate!
posted by red cell 20 years ago
In "News photographer snaps picture of a bloody face in a mirror"
On second thought...Michael Stipe killed himself? Was this an effort to promote the super-fantastic NEW REM supersonic CD/vinyl/cassette/DVD of their super-celebrated new release of said super-dynamite CD?
posted by red cell 20 years ago
Oh gosh...Moby died? Cadaver-isly?
posted by red cell 20 years ago
In "Curious, George: The GRANDEST of parents..."
I'm so sorry for your loss, HawthorneWingo. Your story of the phone call was especially touching, and makes me want to root even harder for the Red Sox. My paternal grandparents (Baby and Grand Dad) were first nicknamed by their 4 sons (my dad and my 3 uncles). They always called their folks "Doc" (Grand Dad was a dentist) and "Coonie" (she had captured a wild racoon and raised it as her pet years before I was born), how we came to call her "Baby" I don't know. I've heard them all before, so don't bother making any unsavory comments regarding her somewhat unusual nickname! ;] I miss them all the time. And, thanks for all the comments...it's pretty cool to see what a nice international community we have here.
posted by red cell 20 years ago
In "A bit of California nostalgia"
Even though I'm guessing I'm about a decade younger than the target demographic, those photos look awfully familiar to a once-young boy who grew up on the other side of the country, in SE Pennsylvania. Golly, these photos are really fascinating, and just a bit too nostalgia-inducing for the middle of the night... Great link.
posted by red cell 20 years ago
(limited to the most recent 20 comments)