A class-action law suit against property owners who rent their homes in Northwood could be looming in the coming months, warned neighborhood civic association President Barry Howell at last night’s meeting.
“I don’t know how rentals came to Northwood, but they won’t stay,” Howell said to 26 attendees. “If they don’t own it, they can leave.”
Residents from all over the Northeast attended the Burholme community meeting to learn about the Northeast's history. Photo by Christopher Wink.
The promise of Northeast Philadelphia historian Dr. Harry Silcox drew even larger crowd than usual to last night’s meeting of the Burholme Civic Association and Burholme Town Watch.
About 100 people showed up – more than the group of 65 for a similar presentation in Tacony, and more than a past Burholme meeting the mayor attended. President Al Taubenberger called the meeting to order as folks set up more chairs and pressed themselves against walls to hear Silcox discuss the history of Burholme and other parts of the Northeast.
Keep reading for Northeast trivia and a video. continue reading »
A car slammed into a police cruiser late last night on Roosevelt Boulevard.
The incident happened near the intersection at Lott Street near Whitman Plaza, while the officers were out of the vehicle, having previously pulled another car over. No officers were hurt, and the crash is still being investigated.
Keep reading below for video from Fox. continue reading »
Police are looking to a report by a woman who said she was abducted yesterday at Cottman Avenue and Roosevelt Boulevard.
The woman, whose identity has not been released, told police she was forced into a van at gunpoint, and then driven to Bristol where her male abductors attempted to assault her before she escaped.
The matter is still being investigated. You can view a report from FOX below. continue reading »
Seymour (Michael Indeglio), the hapless hero of LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS, attempts to rescue his love Audrey (Jordi Wallen) from a man-eating plant in The Devon Theater's production of the cult classic musical comedy running Sept. 10-27. PHOTO CREDIT: Kimberly Reilly
The fire alarm inadvertently rang out twice Friday night at the Devon Theater. But, aside from a grumble or two, the small cast performing the bright and wild musical comedy Little Shop of Horrors couldn’t shake a small but engaged audience at the run’s first weekend performance.
Little Shop, which runs at the Devon until Sunday Sept. 27, is the quirky tale of a melancholy floral assistant who turns celebrity after he discovers a manipulative, carnivorous, R&B-singing plant. The show, famed for witty banter and an impressive score, is set in a rough urban neighborhood called Skid Row.
Dan Bustard really likes video games.
His obsessive gaming took over his life and, he says, nearly brought him to suicide. Instead, he found his way into an Online Gamers Anonymous group and halfway house in Harrisburg.
Then he brought a camera crew to the Northeast.
A new documentary that follows the real and virtual lives of several obsessive gamers launched in select theaters and on Hulu.com last Friday, as Geekadelphia reported, and Bustard, of Wissinoming, is part of the lineup.
Some more good Frankford news.
The much celebrated culinary arts program at Frankford High School is getting the star treatment, as the Northeast Times reported last week. It’s the subject of a feature-length documentary called “Pressure Cooker” that was big enough to be entered into the Philadelphia Film Festival in March. continue reading »
It would be nice if our children had the same likes and dislikes as we do. But as we all know, that is not the case. Parents have to cross over to their side, and are often surprised by the result.
I made a deal with my son during spring break – if he could keep his cool, he would earn a trip. My son loves trains and public transportation, particularly SEPTA’s Market-Frankford line. Once, we spent an afternoon at the Frankford Terminal, he with his trusty digital video camera in hand, shooting footage of the elevated train and various buses leaving the station (he also loves taking the bus).
The prospect of spending the day on public transportation without even having a destination has never held an allure for me. I have nothing against the system. In fact I was once one of the many kids from Northeast Philadelphia who commuted daily to Temple University. If you were lucky, you either had a car or a friend to drive you to school. But most kids were like me, taking the bus to the El and transferring again to another bus or the subway. On a good day, that took about 90 minutes. It wasn’t horrible, and was always a good time to catch up on studying. But I never considered it to be enjoyable.
Continue reading to see the videos Pat and his son took of their ride on the El.
The Frankford Friends meeting house in 1960. Photo by R. Carollo courtesy of PhillyHistory.org
Every Friday, NEastPhilly.com will bring you NEast History, a historical photograph, story or account from the storied past of Northeast Philadelphia. See others here.
Here on Sept. 21, 1960, children play and a mother walks her daughter away from the Frankford Friends meeting house, which still stands as the Frankford Friends School.
This shot is taken on Orthodox Street looking south, just east of its intersection with Penn Street. It’s amazing how little has changed in almost 50 years – even today’s fence looks similar.
Below, see some other photos and a video of some work students are doing at Frankford Friends today.
The Devon Theater in Mayfair has seen a renaissance. It reopens this Friday.
By Christopher Wink
The Devon hasn’t gotten this much attention in generations. Perhaps neither has Mayfair.
But now that the Frankford Avenue institution has made the long transition back to prominence, opening this weekend as the Devon Center for Performing Arts. It will mark another measure in the long transition from 1946 first-run movie theater to adult-film movieplex in the 1970s to second-run theater and to abandoned eyesore.
After a gala and private screening on Friday, with a possible appearance by Mayor Michael Nutter, the Devon opens on Saturday with a sold-out performance of Nunsense, a musical comedy.
“We’re in an Irish-Catholic neighborhood,” said Michael Pickering, the Devon’s artistic director. “Nunsense was a no-brainer.”
But don’t be fooled by the Devon’s location, far from the glitz of Center City’s Avenue of the Arts or the established arts scene of Old City. The Northeast is about to get its first professional performing arts center, by way of a decidedly working-class neighborhood.
The Devon is an all-union house, including its paid, professional actors, some from Philadelphia’s growing dramatic community. Still, its long-term strategy for success in the Northeast is heavy on community.
Read more, see video and other photos after the jump.
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