Entro-

Definition: An Introduction that begins at the end of a work.

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The following blog is a compilation of essays and three field reports investigating the industrial and commercial aspects of my community as well as its healthscape. The blog was an outgrowth of Dr. Masucci’s Urban Environment class at Temple University. The purpose of this semester long assignment was to investigate different themes in geography through the lens of various communities within the Philadelphia area. I chose a section of Roosevelt Boulevard, as my site of investigation, as it was the place I was most acquainted with.

In one of our earliest entries Dr. Masucci asked us to draw a map of our “community”. In my map I drew a community more conceptual then neighborly, one more tied to landscapes than to people. As you read through my field reports, you will notice that my conception of community hasn’t altered; my documentation of change within the community is related to the landscape and businesses. Thus change within the community are defined by lost or gain of businesses, improvement or declines of certain landscapes.

The blog is best viewed using Internet Explorer, I have worked with fixing the format on Mozilla, but it tends to horribly skew the font and place the pictures in odd places. For fluidity, I recommend viewing this blog in a monthly order, beginning with January listed on the right bar under “Archives”. The first half of the blog is separated into essays with accompanying hyperlinked descriptions of key words labeled “Concept List”. I recommended clicking on the words within the blog rather than just scrolling the pages, because the concept lists will appear between entries and possibly disorient the reader.

All clear, crooked, and fuzzy pictures, material, and concocted words not otherwise cited are copyright of F.A.

Summary

The three previous field reports illustrate the boundary character of the neighborhood that was alluded to in the (community description post.) Days Inn, the hotel mentioned in the second field report is particularly emblematic of the merging of geographical boundaries. Here, in this building we see the first hotel on the Boulevard, a symbol that qualifies the area as “investment worthy” i.e deserving of its “Northeast” classification. Yet while the building with its manicured lawn signifies the beginning of commercialization of and investment in the Boulevard, the structure retains characteristics usually associated with North Philly: workers behind bullet proof windows. The remainder of the neighborhood is a mixture of such odd juxtapositions. Motherhood Maternity in the Northeast Towers, Jomar’s across the street.

The original topic of the second field report was supposed to be gentrification, but after doing the field exercise and researching housing values, I came to the conclusion that there aren’t any apparent signs of gentrification. While it is true that the neighborhood is undergoing commercial investment, this investment has not overtly displaced lower scale businesses. The intensification of commercialization appears to be occurring most heavily on the Boulevard and on Rising Sun Avenue, however the increase in investment into Rising Sun, has embraced discount stores native to the area, seeming to cater to the low income community surrounding the northwestern side of the neighborhood

The influx of new consumers into the area, has not appeared to displace those native to the neighborhood, indeed in many areas such as with the influx of Asian supermarkets, they fill a fresh food gap( that is not fully utilized) formerly left by larger supermarkets such as Acme and Path-market, which have left the area. The mixture of low income residents with middle income and community-serving commercial development around low income housing such as the projects appears to act as a buffer against a significant increase in property values in the community, a characteristic of gentrification that often accompanies outside commercial investment.

Social development appears to be accompanying commercial development, as can be seen in the new investment of health clinics run by La Salle University and the increase in health businesses such as optometrists. Additionally the increased commercialization particularly of the areas covering Tabor and Rising Sun seem to accompany and perhaps in someway act as an impetus for the infusion of minorities into traditionally Caucasian neighborhoods like Lawndale. Likewise these two areas are also seeing a new influx of minorities i.e. Asians from Olney and the Northeast into the community.

Healthscape

The purpose of this trip was to identify the healthscape of my defined community. During the trip I documented businesses and institutions which I thought were important to personal health as well as to the general public. Most of these features obviously overlap, as what is important to the general public is also important to personal health. I began my trip at east Wyoming Avenue. Though east Wyoming avenue is not included in my community lines, I have included the area because of the presence of the former Parkview hospital.

In 2003 Tenet owned Parkview Hospital was sold to CTCA, the Cancer Treatment Center’s of America. Following renovation, the 273,848-square-foot-facility was opened in 2005. The medical offices attached to the hospital were retained as can be seen in the dialysis unit sign below, and the main hospital was reorganized into a cancer treatment center.

Turning into Ramona Avenue, and then into Adams Avenue, one comes to another large health center: Friends Hospital. Friend’s Hospital is a beautiful 100 acre gated campus on the Boulevard. Medical offices are set in contemporary buildings and old mansions alongside gardens. The hospital and outpatient services largely serves those with behavioral health problems such as depression, schizophrenia, eating disorders, etc, but a few medical offices within the campus also service other medical needs such as diabetes.

Crossing the Boulevard one reaches the intersection of Whitaker and Adams Avenue. Aside from the risk of being run over by revved Saturday morning and rush hour drivers, there isn’t anything particularly significant about this intersection. The first business serving the health of the community is the Wal-mart located in Northeast Towers. Within the Wal-mart there is an eye center, which sells glasses but doesn’t conduct exams. Near the Wal-mart, beside Motherhood Maternity is a GNC, a store which sells vitamins as seen in the picture to the left.

Across from Northeast towers near the intersection of Harrison and Whitaker is an Asian Supermarket which sells a variety of fresh fruit and fish. Backtracking on Whitaker and coming to the intersection of Adams and the Boulevard in Adams Plaza one notices another eye center right next to a bingo business. This eye center is actually a doctor’s office which sells glasses and conducts eye exams. The store is relatively new, have just opened within the last two years. . Next to the eye center is a new family practice medical office that has just opened within the past year.

Across the street from the plaza, set within in a rowhouse, is Dr. Shan’s Psychiatry, which has replaced a psychic catering to the phrenic health of the community. Continuing along Adams one sees a food mart catering to the nutritional needs of the community ,called “ A Bob’s" that sells fresh fruit and vegetables at reasonable prices. Within the plaza is a perceptually packed McDonalds, which some would argue is of greater importance than the sparsely populated food mart.

Continuing along Adams, one comes to Rising Sun Plaza, within the plaza there is another optometrist’s office and a Rite Aid pharmacy that recently relocated across the street next to Forman Mills. Across from Rising Sun plaza are medical offices, providing family care and other services. Situated adjacent to the projects the medical offices are meant to serve this and as well as other communities without insurance. 1

Turning right onto rising sun avenue and going over a small bridge one comes to Lawncrest medical center, which houses doctor’s offices such as dentistry and one family practice.

Backtracking on Rising Sun, and making a right onto Adams Avenue and going through and underpass one reaches the nicer side of Tacony Creek Park. Though the park is well kept by the Fairmount park commission and is used by children as a

playground, I’m hesitant to qualify the park as entirely healthy to the community,

because during past summers there has been frequent drownings in the creek which children swim in.

As I was playing basketball in the strip of Tacony that runs along Tabor road, I noticed an interesting phenomena on the playground. Ever since I was child the equipment on the playground has been extremely rusty, my first tetnaus shot was a result of a gash I recieved on one of the rusty slides. Walking past the area though, I noticed that the slides and other equipment had been uprooted and in place weeds and grass had grown. This long overdue removal is part of the Fairmount Park Commission's plan to clean up Tacony Park. I have noticed a slow increase in investment in the park starting by the transplanting of trees to an installation about 5 years ago of BASKETBALL nets! That was quite an event for the kids(myself included).

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1. La Salle

Friends Hospital Pictures Courtesy of

Friends Hospital

Commercial Landscapes

I began this trip on the intersection of Roosevelt boulevard with F street, going east bound. On the western side of the boulevard there is a Sunoco gas station and a mom and pop shop with a wonderfully illustrative name: “Cold Beer and Sandwiches”. On the right of the Boulevard is a closed check cashing place. Crossing Smylie road one comes to a car washing/ mechanic business. Continuing past the car washing business and rowhouses, at the intersection between Marley and the Boulevard is a one story Days Inn.

This Days Inn is the first chain hotel on Roosevelt Boulevard, as the picture illustrates ( the picture is a few years old) the hotel looks relatively nice on the outside, but inside the clerks sit behind a bullet proof window; an interesting representation of the undefined North/Northeast boundaries that the neighborhood is straddling.


Continuing along the sidewalk and crossing Landis St one comes to a very odd, some may say a hideous abomination. Behind an IHOP restaurant is a relatively new 6 story storage business entitled simply “Self storage” that obscures the neighborhood behind it.



As you can see to left the building blocks the backsides of the houses behind it. The picture doesn’t do justice to its peculiar juxtaposition.




Walking past the storage place one reaches another interesting site at the intersection of Adams Avenue and Roosevelt Boulevard. On Adams is a plaza called appropriately “Adams Plaza” that houses a number of low key businesses, and a post office. Across from the plaza is an automotive store (Strauss Discount Auto Parts) and a furniture store. Careening off to the right on the Boulevard is the Northeast Tower Plaza, housing more upscale stores. One may not normally view a discount store such as Ross or GNC as “upscale” stores, but in a low key commercial area, chain stores often signify development. Thus if Ross, or even a Wal-Mart were to move into an area of Hunting Park, the status of the area within Philadelphia would be increased. Chain businesses convey stability, and most importantly sustainability.





At the intersection it is interesting to note the similarity between businesses and the different customers they draw on. As was mentioned there is a small business/furniture store across from Adams Plaza and within a short vicinity there is a Raymour and Flanigan in the Northeast Tower Plaza. The small furniture store is common to the area, serving the relatively low income base in the community, the Raymour and Flanigan however is something of an anomaly. The existence of Raymour and Flanigan appears to draw in more non-residential consumers to the area. The prosperity of Northeast Towers appears to be having a slight ripple/suction effect on the inner community. Though the majority of businesses in Adams Plaza are small like the hair salon( MiMi’s) and bingo(Adams Bingo) there is a new addition to the Plaza: Barefeet Shoes. Barefeet Shoes may signal the influx of chain stores other than KFC, albeit lower status ones than those in Northeast Towers. Originally, on looking at the display within the store I was unaware the Barefeet was a chain store, and if it was I thought it would be on or at the price range of Rainbow and other stores found within the area. However upon cruising Roosevelt Boulevard farther Northeast near Welsh road, and seeing a large building sporting a Barefeet Shoes sign in Blue Grass Plaza, I was forced to revise my assumptions about the store. It is interesting to note how quality of or rather scale of a store (low, middle or high/up) within this area is measured not on its appearance but rather by comparison to businesses in the farther Northeast.

Continuing on Adams Avenue one comes to a Korean nightclub, a new addition on an old Korean restaurant, and another Plaza across the street. I didn’t think there was anything special about the restaurant because its been there since I was a child( except that the awning is cool), but while I was driving in the car I noticed the remnants of a former sign on top of the building, on squinting closer I could make out the words ‘Philadelphia Electric Company”. I took a picture through the car window, you can see the words on the top of the building. I searched for information on its closure on the net, but I couldn’t bring up any.


The plaza(Adams and Tabor Plaza) across from the Korean restaurant is interesting to note because of the addition of many international restaurants within the recent years. Three stores, one Indian, and two Vietnamese attest to the emigration of more diverse ethnicities into the area, as the main customers of each restaurant are usually of the same nationality. The pictures to the left shows an Indian and a Portuguese restaurant. Along the right side there is another Portuguese restaurant that has been in the area for a long time. I’ve been told by residents that their used to be a greater Portuguese presence in the neighborhood.

Continuing on Adams Avenue down and up a hill and across from Hill Creek II project housing are two plazas. The first plaza at the bottom of the hill didn’t have a particular name, it is unofficially known as the blockbuster/ bowling plaza. As can be seen on the sign, Blockbuster retains a spot near the front so that’s where the plaza received its name; in a way the situation of the stores on the sign with the exception of the Laundromat reflect a hierarchy of stability of each of the businesses.

The most interesting part of the plaza for me was a building called the “Furniture club”. The store itself wasn’t my focal point of interest rather the structure and the stores before it. About three to four years ago, the door seen in the picture opened up into a gallery which housed a supermarket to the right, arcade, Asian movie store and travel agency to the left. Since this is a field report and not a lament, I will spare you my digressions about how awesome that whole arcade and gallery was with its hip Vietnamese pop music, but it was definitely a loss to the school kid social scene. I suspect the market went out of business because of competition with Hong Kong supermarket as well as with another market which is now the Barefeet shoe store that I mentioned above. It’s fascinating that at one time back in 2001 I think even as close as 2002, four Asian markets were operating within a 1 mile radius of each other, one on each of the plazas.

Continuing up a hill one comes o a Vietnamese restaurant, that is relatively new and bit upscale in comparison to the other Vietnamese restaurants in the area which are essentially soup joints. Across from the Vietnamese restaurant are the Hill Creek II projects.

I took a picture of the projects because I thought they are interesting in that they look like apartments and are fairly kept up on the outside and are also situated across from Rising Sun Plaza.


The main features in Rising Sun plaza are Forman Mills, Hong Kong Supermarket, and National Wholesale Liquidators.
Forman Mills and National Wholesale Liquidators are two discount chains native to Philadelphia one selling clothes( Forman Mills) as well as house wares and furniture( Liquidators). The Forman Mills is interesting because it was on the left side of Rising Sun, but recently relocated into the old Hecht’s building across the street in the continuation of the plaza.

National Wholesale Liquidators is interesting because it has filled a community need for a variety of cheap goods like clothing and packaged food. With the construction of the new Wal-Mart in Northeast Towers, it has been predicted that the store would go out of business but it has remained, I think in large part due to its strategic placement across from the projects.

Lastly Hong Kong supermarket is interesting because of the former Acme supermarket that stood in its place around 1998. Though the supermarket offers a variety of reasonably priced “American” foods( like Mac and cheese), I’ve noticed that the surrounding community tends not to use the market heavily.

When a new small food mart appeared on (Adams Plaza) in 2001, I noticed that a lot of residents mentioned how good it was to finally have a food market in the area, which I thought was ironic because there were four supermarkets within the area.

Without making too many assumptions , but based on talks with neighbors, I think, the reluctance to shop at the Asian markets may be due to the feeling of intimidation. The workers at the markets are not themselves intimidating, but the feeling of “foreign” homogeneity, even if it is non-existant( the markets serve different ethnicities, Chinese, Vietnamese, etc) may contribute to the feeling of alienation between the community and the influx of Asian businesses.

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Days Inn Picture Courtesy of Travel Sources

Industrial Landscape

The purpose of this field exercise was to examine some of the industrial aspects of my community. The industrial area is situated near residential houses on a few streets, sandwiched between various commercial entities. The commercial entities will be addressed in a second field report. The area I decided to analyze is between the intersections of Adams Avenue and Whitaker Avenue as well as Whitaker Avenue and East Godfrey. Additionally the intersections of Harrison Street and Foulkrod with Whitaker and Tabor were also included in the investigation. As I drew the map of the area, I noticed that there is a trend of industrial concentration toward the more eastern side of the area, closer toward the more identifiable Northeast side of the area than its Northwestern counterpart.

I began my field exercise at the beginning of the intersection of Adams and Whitaker where both streets run into Roosevelt Boulevard. On the left and right sides of Whitaker are two areas of commercial concentration: Northeast Towers and a plaza. Continuing along Whitaker a second intersection appears at Foulkrod street. A discount store called Jomar can be found at this intersection.

The building was interesting to me, because having lived in this area for the majority of my life, the building has always appeared vacant, and been known as the former Canada Dry factory. The one story building set on a 5.78-acre lot is relatively small compared to other factories nearby. The building has a squarish appearance with some rounded columns in the front. The yard, for shipping which a now a parking lot, is also relatively small. The picture of the parking lot above, does not belong to Jomar, it was taken from the parking lot of Northeast Towers to get a better angle.

There are two sections of the building open to consumers, the “opening” which as the name implies is the first area you walk into, and the “warehouse” which is where furniture, and additional fabric is sold. The set up of the store is interesting, and a bit disorienting because of the lack of separation barriers between items. Not much work has been done to alter the factory appearance of the inner building.

I did a little research on the building and it appears that the former Canada Dry factory was vacant between 1994 and 1996. In 1996 under the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection’s Land Recycling Program which “is based on the principle that it is more environmentally responsible to redevelop a brownfield site than to build on virgin land." the land was sold by Foulkrod Associates to Philadelphia Soft Pretzels Inc. under an agreement to cleanup the contaminated soil and groundwater. 1. In 1999 the building was sold to Jomar’s Inc for $1,500,000, which remains its current owners. 2

Continuing on Whitaker is a small factory building called “Showcase” at the intersection of Harrison street. I was told that this is the former site of Mrs. Paul’s bakery, but I haven’t been able to clarify that. The building is one story and fenced in. I googled the name but haven’t been able to find out what exactly the bakery bakes.


Continuing on Whitaker past (Northeast Towers) and across from another plaza, is a large enclosed lot and building with a sign on the fence labeled Cardone. The picture to the left was taken at the security entrance to Cardone.

The expansive lot and building gives the impression that this factory is perhaps the headquarters or the main manufacturing center of the business. I did some research and as it turns out 5501 Whitaker Avenue is the world headquarters of Cardone, the largest automotive remanufacturing company in America. Employing 4,200 workers within Philadelphia, Cardone operates 2.3 million square feet of manufacturing, office, and distribution space, and is listed as Philadelphia’s largest manufacturing employer. Two streets down to the left of the headquarters, Cardone has another plant at 5660 Rising Sun Avenue. Due to intense competition with China, Cardone relocated one of its Philadelphia based lines to Matamoros, Mexico. The company is unable to rule out relocating more factories. The lost of jobs would be devastating to the surrounding area, as well as leave an empty gaping manufacturing field similar to those in Flint Michigan following the withdrawal of General Motors.3

On the left side of Cardone near the intersection of Godfrey Avenue and Whitaker is another factory building with a sign entitled “Thalheimer Bros”. When I saw this building I came from its backside on Tabor Avenue, and thought it was a closed down factory. The building looked dingy, and there were small glass factories panes which were busted all over, as can be seen in the picture to the left.

Walking alongside the side of the building on East Godfrey Avenue, the tall brick building begins to look cleaner, and gave me the impression that it was most likely still operational.

Along Whitaker Avenue, bordering the building’s entrance, the property appears cleaned up, though the plain utilitarian building gives off a soiled appearance in comparison to Cardone across the street. Note: this second picture is a shot of the side of the building from a supermarket parking lot. Thalheimer Brothers is a recycler of non-ferrous and nickel alloys. The plant is relatively expansive covering 400,000 sq ft on 20 acres. 4 The front side of the plant is a mixture of the broad plant and smaller offices that look like they serve some managerial purpose.

At the corner section of Godfrey and Whitaker across from Thalheimer Bros, and adjacent to Cardone is the US Naval Depot. The Depot is an expansive base covering over 200 acres of land running from East Godfrey Avenue to Robbins Street. The base is so large that there are streets signs within the enclosed area. Most of the structures are one story squared to rectangular shaped buildings, while a few are two story. I didn’t take any pictures of the actual base, because it seemed a bit un-kosher, but I did get a sign in a shaded area on east Godfrey that doesn’t portray the base very well, because its not as green as it looks on the sign. Within the base there is a child care center and playground for the children of workers. Overall the base employs 4,200 people, many of which live in the surrounding area. 5

1. DEP

2. Roddy Realter

3. Cardone Survival

4. Thalheimer

5. Navy Depot

Concept list 4

Ethical Framework

Community- Population of individuals inhabiting a specified region, with shared social connections to one another.

Event-specific- Final decisions are determined by specific “events” rather than in accordance with a set of rigid guidelines. Allows for a greater flexibility in molding and formulating appropriate responses in varied situations.

Sustainability- Ability of an ecosystem or piece of land to continue the services it provides to its dependents over a long duration. This does not disallow for change, only that change not permanently damage the core functions of the systems.

Principally- Decisions that are made according to a set of rigid principles rather than a general framework, thus disallowing event-specific adjustments. Ex: International Monetary Fund and World Bank have a strict set of principles regarding the introduction of trade liberalization, that they do not generally diverge from, even in the face of acknowledged negative impacts of these principles.

Environmental- Relating to anything concerning ones surrounding. Used in the following entry when referring to ecosystems and human involvement with them. The definition however is not merely related to ecosystems and living things, the atmosphere is also included in one's surroundings. Environmental is often referenced anthropogenically because we only become aware of our surrounding when it is in relation to ourselves.

Framework- A set of loose guidelines that stipulate the general values that are held toward certain themes such as environment and development. The framework sets the goals in mind, and allows for different means to accomplish these goals, in this way it is termed as “loose” although it is not something that can be easily abrogated. It is an outline for a mode of reaction rather than a charter.

Concept List 2

Urban Juxtaposition


Urbanization- The use of this word refers to the urbanization of land within an urban setting. This can be defined as the process by which an area within a city experiences a growth in population and financial investment, thus producing an encroachment on land formerly occupied by diverse organisms.

Degrade/degradation- Process by which a piece of land formerly productive in its provision of nutrients to sustain different organisms is unable to produce at the same level. In order for this land use change to be categorized as a degradation it must have a negative impact upon all organisms except for the predator, because if the impact is not entirely or largely negative than the degradation occurring is subjective.

Natural- Culturally constructed, biologically infused notion of the “correct” performance that should be manifested by the environment and organisms. Spatially it refers to the perception that a piece of land is unaltered by human use.

Landscape- Topographical formation of a piece of land, that covers a large area. Also the mental view of what the appearance of a selection of land “should” look like.

Area- Spatially generalized selection of land, that signifies the enclosure of a point of interest, thus the area of the park is referencing only a select set of boundaries in the park that represent the point of interest, not the entire physical boundaries of the park.

Juxtaposition- A comparison of two points of interest by placing them aside one another. “Aside” doesn’t refer to a physical positioning, but a mental comparison of the contrasting features of each object. In this entry, the deer sign beside a park is represented as a juxtaposition. However, the context of the sign rather than the sign itself, is the point of interest; the context of the sign contrasts with its setting, i.e. a deer sign within an urban park contrasts with the industrial characteristics of the surrounding neighborhood.

Concept List 5

Community Description


Area- Spatially opaque area that houses points of interest. In this entry it's partially confined within the street limits set forth, but the influence of the points within these limits has an effect on other geographical points beyond it, so it partially encompasses through influence geographical points which do not spatially fall under it i.e area isn’t so clearly delineated between streets.

Locale- Topographical point of interest within the generalized area defined above. Thus area would be the street limits set forth in this entry, and locale would be the Northeast Tower Plaza, a specific point of interest within the specified area.

Neighborhood- Assumes two definitions in this entry, one which is referred to as “my neighborhood” or “the neighborhood” and one which refers to “other neighborhoods”. The first definition is a generalized space in which I have set the street boundary lines according to familiarity with the area. The neighborhood is not part of an official boundary, rather it is an amalgamation of official boundaries. The second definition refers to official, though not necessarily rigid boundaries set by the City of Philadelphia. Thus when reference is made to the neighborhood of Olney, this is referring to the general geographical boundaries of Olney, not necessarily the influence of Olney.


Community- Though the topographical confines of community are set within the street limits given for the sake of clarity in the project, the actual spatial definition of community being employed is ambiguous. It is partially measured by the feeling of connection to points of interest, thus when I say “my community”, I am referring to points of interest which I feel complement each other i.e they financially or socially support the neighborhood. But the term becomes vaguer when I reference the “Asian” community, because they do not necessarily all share a “connection” with each other. Anthropologically it borders on absurd to lump all Asians into one vast “community”, Vietnamese and Koreans do not necessarily share a “connection” or interest with each other. Vietnamese may define Vietnamese restaurants in Olney and Adams Avenue as part of their community but not the fellow Asian, but Korean owned business next store.
So why am I employing this ambiguous term? Because the term seems to explain some of the phenomena I as an outsider am witnessing by the assemblage of various Asian stores right next to each other within two plazas, on Adams Avenue and Whitaker. The phenomena could just be a coincidence or could indicate there is some resemblance of “community” as defined by a shared feeling of connection between the two groups occupying the same plaza.

Commerce- Business transactions involving the large scale sell of goods and services. Used to refer to business that is occurring colloquially above the “mom and pop” level. Can involve the establishment of hospitals, medical offices, or chain stores, which involve the exchange of goods and services in larger financial degrees than those of small businesses. Used as a general indicator of the intensification of investment within in an area.

Community Description

Called “the Boulevard” by residents and those acquainted with it, Roosevelt Blvd, is a 14 mile vein of highway extending from Bucks County to Broad Street. Northbound, the Roosevelt expressway connects the Boulevard to the Schuylkill Expressway (I-76). Along this 12 – lane highway are residential houses, hospitals, and businesses. The Northbound stretch of the highway is dominated by row homes and relatively low scale business investments while the north eastern corridor is categorized by the intensification and concentration of commerce as can be seen in its numerous plazas and malls. I have never really thought much about the area I live in, but as I was thinking about my community map and how to define the concept of “neighborhood”, I began to view the area in a different light. Traveling Septa’s R bus to Hunting Park and back everyday, has enabled me to see where an abrupt commercial and to some extent a racial transition line begins in one locale on the boulevard i.e my neighborhood. Beginning at C and the Boulevard and ending at 4641 east Roosevelt Blvd Philadelphia, PA, the road is marked by the first concentration of commerce on the boulevard, the “Northeast Tower Plaza” . The Plaza houses a few chain stores typically not found in the lower income areas of the northern corridor of the boulevard, such as Raymour and Flanigan, Motherhood Maternity, etc. The development of the Northeast Tower Plaza has been relatively recent, growing mostly in the past six years.

Outside of the plaza on the sidewalk bordering the Boulevard there is an odd juxtaposition: a subway stop. Odd because no subway runs on Roosevelt Boulevard. The nearest transportation centers in this area are buses connecting to the subway at Hunting Park or the Frankford transportation center. The entrance to the steps of the defunct subway stop has been gated, but it is littered with trash and graffiti. Additionally the gate to the actual entrance to the subway stop has been removed and one is able to enter into this dark hole in the underground, that some residents suspect to be a drug lair.

While researching the history of Roosevelt boulevard I found the reason behind this strange pockmark in the ground. During the 1960s due to congestion of the Boulevard the Philadelphia City Planning Commission set forth a plan to build an expressway between Hunting Park avenue and I-276 in Bensalem. The plan called for the construction of an interchange with the un-built Pulaski Expressway, which would connect the Near Northeast with the Betsy Ross bridge. Additionally a separate plan, called for the extension of the broad street subway into Roosevelt boulevard, in expectation of the increase in business the now demolished Sears built a subway station. During the 1970s the plan failed to materialize, hence the defunct subway station, that is so oddly juxtaposed on the highway. Recently the plan has been resurrected and sketches have been re-drawn. If these plans are initiated the landscape of this specific area of the boulevard will be radically altered. Tacony Creek Park , which runs under the boulevard and the spacious Friends hospital a 100 acre gardened hospital, for the treatment of mental illnesses may face environmental difficulties from intense development. These possible challenges to the landscape makes this community in transition an interesting area to study.

Though the focus of my project will be on the area of Roosevelt Boulevard that I specified above, I will extend the scale of the project into the immediate neighborhoods that the western lane of the Boulevard straddles. Over the past decade I have noticed some significant changes in the demographics of this area. Firstly, within the past 8 years there has been an influx of Asian owned businesses along Adams Avenue, and Whitaker; two streets that run into the Boulevard.

These businesses, some of which are Asian markets, have replaced supermarkets such as Acme and Pathmark that have past left the area. During the 1980s Olney experienced an influx of Asian businesses, mostly Korean owned. Recently the neighborhoods that run along Cottman and Bustleton are experiencing a growth in the Asian community. The area that I am studying buffers these neighborhoods, and I am interested in whether these new businesses on Adams and Whitaker have had an effect on expanding Asian businesses further northeast. Aside from these businesses some other areas of interest in the neighborhood, is the Tacony Creek park that runs under the boulevard, in the past few years the Fairmount Park commission has begun to clean up the park especially the streams which were frequently littered with trash.

Though the area is in the Lawncrest/ Summerdale district the neighborhood is frequently called Crescentville, the community however is actually a mix of Olney, Lawncrest, and Feltonville. I say a mix, because the houses on the Boulevard are frequently classified as Feltonville, while those on the western side of the intersection of Tabor and F street are classified as Olney, while the houses in the neighborhood of the elementary school, at Tabor and Foulkrod street are classified in the Lawncrest neighborhood. I’ve gauged the areas to be in these neighborhoods from an inability to access sports teams at local recreation centers with a certain address. Due to the confusion of ambiguous “neighborhood” classifications I will set the boundaries of the community as follows : F and the Boulevard to 4641 Roosevelt Blvd( Friend’s Hospital) , intersections of Tabor road and Whitaker Avenue, intersections of Adams avenue with Tabor Road as well intersection of Adams Avenue with Whitaker before Whitaker moves onto the boulevard.









Map courtesy of the US Census Bureau
and Philadelphia Neighborhood Network.