North Broad Street & Erie Avenue & Germantown
Avenue
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Images of the crossroads of Broad Street & Erie Avenue & Germantown AvenueNicetown-Tioga, Hunting Park Section of North Philadelphia |
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Max's Steaks, Hoagies, and Ice Cold Beer, Erie and Germantown Avenues, North Philadelphia, April 19, 2001, viewed from the southwest corner of Broad and Erie. |
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Image of the northwest corner of Broad Street and Erie Avenue, view from the southeast corner of Broad Street and Erie Avenue, April 19, 2001. |
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Image of the northeast corner of Broad Street and Erie Avenue, view from the southwest corner of Broad Street and Erie Avenue, April 19, 2001. |
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Image of north side of Erie Avenue, 2nd block west of Broad Street, view from the south side of Erie Avenue, April 19, 2001. |
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Image of the northwest corner of Erie Avenue and Broad Street, viewed from the southwest corner of Broad Street and Erie Avenue, April 19, 2001. |
Received January 01, 2002
Hello Jim,
Just as a point of curiosity, I looked up my old neighborhood this
evening on the internet. The problem is that I found it!...
I am 53 years old and was born and raised in the 3700 block of No
15th Street @ 15th & Erie. I left for school in 1967 and only came
back over weekends to visit my parents from my home in New York.
My parents passed in 1982 and I left the East Coast, only returning
to 'the old neighborhood' the week before your photos were taken...
I was there only a short time, as it was getting dark, and therefore
it didn't nearly have the mental and emotional devastation as seeing
it in your photos in full daylight. I even see my church (St Stephen's)
in the background of the charred remains of the Beury Building.
I don't know who you are, what your age group is, or the purpose
of these pictures as related to your vocation/avocation. But I
only wish/hope that you had known the area in years gone by (which
is what will always remain in my 'mind's eye').
Best regards
'An old Nicetown Girl'
Received June 06, 2004
I remember the local Horn and Hardart at Broad and Erie. We had three
Bakeries: Hanscom’s, Bogoslafsky’s and Helen’s. The Sun Ray drug store had a
small restaurant called the Ranch Room which is where everyone collected on
Saturday for a fifteen cent soda called a “zombie cooler.” The rhythm of the
neighborhood was syncopated to the cream and green PTC trolleys that plied
Germantown Avenue and Erie Avenue. Everything that one could want was
within a few blocks’ radius of Broad and Erie: haberdashers, restaurants,
doctor’s offices, bars, churches, schools. The neighborhood was complete in
itself, a self-sufficient universe. However, the Broad Street Subway offered
speedy conveyance to the huge, cavernous department stores of downtown that
had endless floors of merchandise. Every child dreaded downtown and had
horror stories of being dragged through Lit Brothers, Gimbels, and
Strawbridge and Clothier, all in a single afternoon.
The neighborhood taprooms were working man’s “beer and shot” bars. They
were largely the domain of men. Few unescorted women would cleave the cigar
smoke on their own to “belly up to the bar.” Schmidt’s, Ortieb’s, and
Schaeffer were the brands of choice, with a few quaffing Ballentyne Ale.
Many wives became weekend widows because of the allure of beer in an
air-conditioned bar took their husbands away.
The ethnic mix was Irish Catholic, Italian Catholic, Black Protestant, and a
small enclave of Polish Catholic. At Saint Stephen, the largely Irish
parish, Mass was said upstairs and downstairs simultaneously to accommodate
the crowds. School-age children identified as a “Catholic” or a “Public.”
One single four-foot, six inch nun could control perhaps a class of 40 or 50
children with a ruler in her hand and a holy scowl on her face. The local
Public Schools were a year or two behind the Catholic Schools for curriculum
and produced children who were marginally skilled in reading. There was more
than a little friction between Catholic and public School children. Epithets
were shouted often.
As the sixties drew to a conclusion, working people began to move to the
suburbs or Jersey, making room for slum-class people to move in and bring
crime and grime. One can now look at crumbling rowhouses and just remember
when Broad and Erie was God’s beautiful urban acre.
From: "Robert Butler"
Received October 02, 2004
Received October 05, 2004.
Williams Richard SrA 438 ECF/TCF
What's up Jim? My name is Richard M. Williams Jr. I'm in the US Air Force and I'm currently over seas serving my country. I grew up in Nicetown and I get the chance to come home about twice maybe three times a year. I'm stationed in South Carolina so I usually drive up to Philly and every time I get in the city limits and see familiar sites I big smile grow on my face. That smile gets bigger the closer I get to my Grandmother's home on the 4500 block of N. Uber st. It's great to see Pictures of back home because you can get down sometimes over here in the desert. I remember as a teenager walking to Broad and Erie to go clothes shopping ect. I needed something to lift me up today and your photos did it for me.
Received November 18, 2005.
Hi Jim:
As a reminder, I am "Nicetown Girl" (Philadelphia:
Broad & Erie) I had originally posted to you January
01, 2002 traumatized at having seen my neighborhood as
it is now, an arena of devastation and destruction. At
that time, I had inquired as to whether or not you had
previous knowledge of the area...Your lack of
familiarity of "my home" stayed within me! (I became
DETERMINED to find contrasting photos and images to
counteract this HORROR !).
BUT! Alas, see; In the meantime, it also gave rise to
reactions for others from the 'old neighborhood'(Oh My
God, that was absolutely THRILLING!!!!!)...
The woman who had a relative - ("uncle" I believe),
had owned the newspaper stand...I would LOVE to share
with her, because it's her uncle from whom my brother
& I purchased our comic books and "TV Guides" from the
time we were 7 or 8 years old!!!
http://world.nycsubway.org/perl/show?13438
RE: Picture
This is a shot which (from a perspective) is directly
LEFT of the your #1 shot of "Broad and Erie"...("If
you turn the corner view")
http://world.nycsubway.org/perl/show?13538
In this shot, look to the far right and behind the
trolley; THAT is Broad & Erie !
http://www.jerryapp.com/arcv2c/ja-t387.jpg
This is the perspective of "Rexall Drug Store" which
appears in a perpsective of your 3rd shot!!!
http://www.davesrailpix.com/phila/htm/ehp156.htm
This is the perspective 'kittycorner' to shot #1 -
Across Broad St from the Erie, West view - On the
lower left is "King of Pizza" -
That is where I had my first ever taste of pizza; Yes,
it remains the standard against which I gauge all
pizza till this day!... That Ballroom was the scene of
many weddings and special evening occasions!
http://www.davesrailpix.com/phila/htm/phil289.htm
This is actually cutting across a couple of your
pictorial perspectives; but Jim it means so much to me
in that it is indeed cutting across SO MUCH of this
entire perspective!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Jim,
Just from the responses which you have had from my
original, lonely and brokenhearted reactions of an
"orphan" (3000 miles from home on New Years Day), I
think you have the "Beginnings" of something here...
This had been an extraordinary neighborhood which
still invokes deep feelings from "US" !...Quite
frankly, I think that they would love to see all of
the pictures...All you would have to do is 'attribute'
in accordance with the names so attached! But
obviously, this is *Your* website and is 'carved' to
your own
"sight" ;)
Nonetheless, I thank you so much for having given
me/us even a glimpse of what had been my/our home...At
the particular moment in time in which I found your
site, I was feeling truly bereft...AND, you responded
the following day!!!That was SO awesome! What
courtesy!
You've done good Jim; and you truly could not have
done more!
With all best regards,
"Nicetown Girl"
Received February 06, 2006
Dear Jim,
I spent years on the corner of Broad and Erie, emerging from the subway and
waiting for my 53 trolley to take me to my home on Wayne Avenue. I went to
Temple University and can remember taking public transportation all hours of
the day or evening and never feeling threatened or at risk. Needless to say,
that is not the case today.
I was born and raised on the 4900 block of Wayne Avenue. I recently drove back
down that street with my granddaughter in tow after we had attended a school
picnic in Chestnut Hill. I was sickened and saddened by what I saw on block
after block after block as I approached my old home. Most all of Wayne Avenue
and the neighboring streets of my youth looked like the aftermath of a World
War. It had been many years since I had navigated the trolley tracks on that
street and I was ill prepared for what I saw. Blight everywhere. Decay
everywhere. Aimless groups of people everywhere. Where were the shady tree
lined pavements I used to walk, and, walk I did - everywhere. Where was there
anything to hang on to, any reminder of the nice, diverse, friendly, clean and
bustling neighborhood, the place where I grew up, as did my mother and her
sisters before me? It was gone, all gone. Where were the trees, the little
stores, the feeling that you could have all you would ever need right there on
those blocks. What happened to Happy Hollow Playground?- lost, sad. What
happened to Freidberg's Pharmacy across the street from it? - lost, gone. What
happened to the Wayne Avenue Playhouse movie house, to Shpeenie's Candy Store,
to Sal's Pizzeria, to Schenk's Bakery, to D'Ambrosio's Tailor Shop, to
Laudenslager's little shop and to my own grandfather's shoe repair shop -
Bennie Wise - Shoe Repair? - ravaged by neglect and lack of caring, all sadly
gone as well. With tears in my eyes, a tightness in my throat and sadness and
anger in my heart, I quickly drove through it all and past it all, as fast as
I could, down to Wayne Junction, a right turn towards Hunting Park, a left to
the Boulevard and headed home to Bucks County.
Most of us left our old neighborhood hoping that those to whom we sold our
properties would take care of them as we had. They didn't.
I said I would never go back there again but I think I must someday. Perhaps I
will bring my daughter with me. She is an Historic Preservationist and may see
something good that I didn't. Who knows. Perhaps, sadly, she will be as
disheartened and disillusioned as I was...as I am.
Wayne Avenue was once a lady. She had charm and sweetness and character and
respectability and was a safe haven for her children and her visitors. She was
a place to bring your heritage to and share it, proudly. We had a melding of
nationalities back then - Jewish, Italian, Irish, German, English, Slavic -
with all their sounds, foods and wonderful peculiarities. Now, Wayne Avenue is
a forgotten hag showing no traces of her lovely and lively youth. How has she
come to this? I think she has gone too far and lost too much to ever come
back.
Most sadly sincere,
Pearl Carman Plavin,
Granddaughter of Bennie Wise, Shoe Repairer, 4838 Wayne Avenue
I also have to visit the old neighborhood that I grew up in from '57 until I moved to the poconos in 1980 and yes it is a mess , but my heart still does flip-flops about it and it always will, I am so glad I looked up st. stephen's website . I was hoping to buy an artifact from the church because I had heard it was sold to whomever, and was sad. Has it? I tell my daughter every time we go through to put up her windows cause my mom was highjacked for a ride one time (fairly nicely by someone who just wanted a ride apparently) well I could tell a lot of bad stories about the seventies, but before that it was a wonderful place to live . well take care, and if the area improves I'm sure you'll be putting those pictures on also, I hope anyway, I see that theres some kind of improvement at temple when I was going through to get home in july hope it spreads around! Bye for now, a former resident of Bristol st. ,Maryanne
great pic. of nicetown i,myself went to ST.STEPHEN'S longtime ago i'm 57yrs. use to hang at MC'HALES PLAYGROUND at wayne+bristol sts. SAVAGES at wayne+dennie that was when the hood was nice and beautiful. thanks again Bob Bergen {aka FROG}
Yes before zip codes we had postal zones.I lived at the easten portion of St STephen's, parish, at 10th & Erie Ave. At the trolley loop where Ringling Brothers Circus came after the WWII. The circus later ended up at Lighthouse Field at Front & Erie. My grade school safety post was behind the Buery Bldg shown on one of your photos at Watt St. There was always a joke when asked what street my safety post was on. Interesting that we walked from Broad St to 10th or 9th St and Erie for lunch each day and back to school in time.. JMCG
James E. Frizzell
Post Office Box 595
Kimberton, Pennsylvania 19442
e-mail: jimmy@jim-frizzell.com
date posted: April 21, 2001.
last revised:
July 14, 2007
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JAMES E. FRIZZELL
1999
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USE OF PHOTOGRAPHS BY SIGNED WRITTEN PERMISSION ONLY