fishtown: Philadelphia Metropolis

Reading the City

By Samantha Kirk» My father, a Navy veteran and contented suburban Maryland home-dweller, has trouble understanding why I love the city. When I talk about the row house I'm moving into in North Philadelphia, with its bathroom window offering an unobstructed view of the neighbor's bedroom, its crumbling drywall, its nightly chorus of stray cats, he waxes poetic about the Jeffersonian virtues of the countryside and the joys of homesteading. He knows I love the wilderness and the country; so why, he asks, have I spent most of my adult life seeking out the experience of the city? It's true that I am quite the nature lover. I hike, I climb rocks, I garden; plant identification is one of my hobbies. Being able to read a forest or meadow by the leaf shapes hidden within it is a wonderful thing. Much, in fact, like walking down a city (Comments)

Answer 6: The Middle Class

While it has been heartening to see Baby Boomers migrate from the suburbs into Center City, and young homemakers settle into Fishtown and South Philly, outside this zone of prosperity, the story is different. Philadelphia continues to lose middle-class residents,... (Comments)

The New Flophouses: Part Two

By Ryan W. Briggs» We're standing near the fenced-off grass lot in Kensington that adjoins the clubhouse, used for barbecues and lectures by The Last Stop's mercurial owner "Eddie Z", short for Edward Zampitella. A Kensington native who never learned to read or write, Eddie is a 20-year recovering addict who styles himself as champion of men struggling free from the grip of addiction. His brand of recovery uses tough talk and violent imagery to remind addicts what they stand to lose with their habit. The side yard features a handmade plywood coffin, spray-painted black, with a mannequin inside. A crude, grim idol, the mannequin represents the fate of everyone at the clubhouse, if they start using again. (Comments)

Growing and Prosperous

                            Change since   Schuylkill Change since  Phila 2009 Citywide 2000   SW Center City 2000             Pop   1,531,120 +1%... (Comments)

Median Household Income High to Low

    Inflation Adj.    Plus   Rank Neighborhood MHI 1999 MHI 2009  or Minus      In $$$$ in $$$$   1 Chestnut Hill               83,972            89,081  Plus  2 Center City/East               56,499            63,857  Plus  3 Fairmount/Spring... (Comments)