North Philadelphia. Basically Broad Street, north of City Hall up to Temple, up to Hunting Park, up to Fern Rock, all the way to Montgomery Count and Cheltenham, Melrose Park, and Elkin Park. Broad Street has always been a major life of commercial activity in Philadelphia although it never quite developed in a similar skyline, major business manner as Market Street and hasn’t had a similar arts-based revival as South Broad. Oak Lane, West Oak Lane, Olney. At different times these were different places.
My first impressions and experiences of North Philly were out the car passenger window driving down Broad Street to a game at Temple. As a kid living in the suburbs, this was my first "taste" of the bustling city. The drive started with a slow drum beat, we'd pass by the turnpike interchange and through Willow Grove, the beat got louder and faster as we went through Abington and Jenkintown, by the time we reached North Philly, it was a rapid and booming percussion. I simultaneously wanted to live here but knew I couldn't handle both the pace and boom of the percussion. Car windows turned to train windows and the excitement I felt as a kid driving to McGonigle Hall turned to a mix of disappoint and embarrassment when I rode the train to work. The only insight to those living in some of the worst conditions in the city was confined to the relative comfort of a SEPTA carriage passing through rowhome's backyards. I no longer had any desire to live in this section of the city and I was more convinced than ever that I couldn't handle it.
My first impressions and experiences of North Philly were out the car passenger window driving down Broad Street to a game at Temple. As a kid living in the suburbs, this was my first "taste" of the bustling city. The drive started with a slow drum beat, we'd pass by the turnpike interchange and through Willow Grove, the beat got louder and faster as we went through Abington and Jenkintown, by the time we reached North Philly, it was a rapid and booming percussion. I simultaneously wanted to live here but knew I couldn't handle both the pace and boom of the percussion. Car windows turned to train windows and the excitement I felt as a kid driving to McGonigle Hall turned to a mix of disappoint and embarrassment when I rode the train to work. The only insight to those living in some of the worst conditions in the city was confined to the relative comfort of a SEPTA carriage passing through rowhome's backyards. I no longer had any desire to live in this section of the city and I was more convinced than ever that I couldn't handle it.
NORTH BROAD
North Broad has always been a bit of a no man's land on the Philadelphia map. It's certainly no mirror image of South Broad. The differences start with the Ritz Carlton on a south corner and the municipal services building on a north corner, which in-and-of-itself is a no man's land. There's been attempts to revitalize this corridor. Maybe the MET is a Kimmel Center for younger audiences. Maybe. Maybe the Hotel Lorraine is a spring board for other residential development. Maybe. Maybe not. Temple University feels like it's ten miles away not two. Then there's Hunting Park. Then LaSalle University and the Central High area. Then some great Korean food. The backbone is there. The history is there.
North Broad has always been a bit of a no man's land on the Philadelphia map. It's certainly no mirror image of South Broad. The differences start with the Ritz Carlton on a south corner and the municipal services building on a north corner, which in-and-of-itself is a no man's land. There's been attempts to revitalize this corridor. Maybe the MET is a Kimmel Center for younger audiences. Maybe. Maybe the Hotel Lorraine is a spring board for other residential development. Maybe. Maybe not. Temple University feels like it's ten miles away not two. Then there's Hunting Park. Then LaSalle University and the Central High area. Then some great Korean food. The backbone is there. The history is there.
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TEMPLE UNIVERSITY
I'm not sure if it was the first Temple basketball game I went to, but the first game I remember going to was a 106-69 Temple drubbing at the hands of Wake Forest in 1993. The Temple team, which was stacked at the time and reached the Elite Eight that year with a triumvirate of great guards, Aaron McKie, Eddie Jones, and Rick Brunson, was no match for Rodney Rogers and Randolph Childress. This may be a stretch of the memory but I swear I remember seeing Rodney Rogers completing a 360-two handed hammer breakaway dunk as Wake pulled away in the second half. If that game didn't plant the seed for my decision to attend Wake Forest six years later it at least but in the school in my consciousness.
I'm not sure if it was the first Temple basketball game I went to, but the first game I remember going to was a 106-69 Temple drubbing at the hands of Wake Forest in 1993. The Temple team, which was stacked at the time and reached the Elite Eight that year with a triumvirate of great guards, Aaron McKie, Eddie Jones, and Rick Brunson, was no match for Rodney Rogers and Randolph Childress. This may be a stretch of the memory but I swear I remember seeing Rodney Rogers completing a 360-two handed hammer breakaway dunk as Wake pulled away in the second half. If that game didn't plant the seed for my decision to attend Wake Forest six years later it at least but in the school in my consciousness.
The convergence of Broad, Erie, and Germantown Ave used to have a great dining (Max's Steak) and shopping (Black and Nobel) combo but Black and Nobel relocated to South Street. Still worth checking out Max's, although Max's may have the slowest moving steak sandwich line in the city, seemingly opting to cook each sandwich as a batch vs. having a mound of meat and continuously cooking. On the positive side, waiting for the sandwich will let you soak in the neighborhood.
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