Philadelphia History

Fleisher Art Memorial 124th Annual Student Exhibition

By: ornamento.blog January 12, 2023January 12, 2023

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Philadelphia’s Fleisher Art Memorial is celebrating its 125th anniversary this year! And it’s also mounting its 124th Annual Student Exhibition. And what a difference 125 years makes! Fleisher now offers classes in digital photography, animation, video art, and digital illustration in addition to the traditional fine arts mediums that were its forte back in 1898. The works in the show are a mix of the old mediums and the new.

Click on the dot next to the above pictures so see the slide show.

There is too much work for me to show it all here. If you are in Philadelphia, stop by and take a look. Many of the high-quality artworks are for sale. The show is free, open to the public, and runs until January 27. Fleisher is located at 719 Catharine St, Philadelphia, PA 19147.

A Walk in FDR Park

By: ornamento.blog August 25, 2022August 23, 2022

Art, fairmount park conservancy, landscape architecture, Philadelphia, Philadelphia History, urban parksArt, FDR Park Philadelpha, Olmstead Parks, Philadelphia ParksLeave a Comment

The Fairmount Park Conservancy is a non-profit corporation that supports efforts to improve the public parks of Philadelphia. And there are lots of parks in Philadelphia. Click here for an interactive map. They sponsored a tour of FDR Park that I took a few weeks ago. I learned a lot about the park, its history and the ecology of the area.

FDR Park is located at the southernmost tip of Philadelphia in an area once known as “The Neck.” It was originally marshland and wetlands, which is probably why it didn’t get build up too much, although people did live and farm there. FDR Park, which was known as League Island Park when it was opened in 1913, was designed by the Olmsted brothers, sons of Frederick Law Olmsted who designed Central Park. FDR park contains a golf course, sports and recreation areas, playgrounds, landscape architecture, picnic areas, and lots of shady paths and trails to walk.

FDR Park is also home to the Asian Market. My neighborhood has a lot of Southeast Asian grocery stores and restaurants, so this was not too exotic to me. Still, the smells were wonderful and I jumped at the chance to try fried crickets. Hey, why not? But they were out. I had some water ice instead (this is Philadelphia after all) and bought a jar of kimchi to take home.

Meadow Lake in FDR Park is man made, but connected to the natural tidal wetlands that are low lying and increasingly prone to flooding. Climate change and increased usage is changing the park.

The park is also home to many invasive species of plants which threaten the delicate balance of the natural ecosystem if they are not eradicated. Not every non-native plant and animal is a threat, but when they interfere with the natural ecology of the area, they can be a threat to the well being of the park.

So there is a new plan to reimagine, reconfigure and redesign FDR park for the future. This will entail relocating ball fields, replacing some lawns used for sporting events with artificial surfaces, and moving things around. Not everyone is happy with the plan, which has been in the making for some time. Quite frankly, I do not have the knowledge to have an opinion, although it’s clear that something must be done to improve the drainage and clear out the invasive plants. Until the dust settles, I intend to go back and enjoy the park.

A Visit to Elfreth’s Alley

By: ornamento.blog June 17, 2021June 15, 2021

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Years ago, I met a woman who, for a time, owned a house in Philadelphia’s Elfreth’s Alley. She liked the house she lived in but said she never got used to total strangers peering in her front windows and knocking on her door at all hours.

As the nation’s oldest, continuously occupied residential street, Elfreth’s Alley is a tourist attraction. Not a manufactured tourist attraction. Elfreth’s Alley, located in the Old City neighborhood of Philadelphia is the real deal. The people who live there are not historical reenactors, and the houses are privately owned, not part of the National Park Service. I’ve always wanted to explore Elfreth’s Alley more closely, (I pass by it on the way to The Clay Studio), but I am reluctant to go snapping pictures of people’s houses without an invitation. And then the invitation came. A flea market of antiques and crafts to support the Elfreth’s Alley museum, complete with guided tours.

I was pressed for time that day and didn’t have a lot of time to stick around, but I did manage to take a lot of pictures.

Plenty to do after you’ve been to Elfreth’s Alley

Philadelphia: This Week in History

By: ornamento.blog June 4, 2020June 4, 2020

Art, Art Architecture Philadelphia Philadelphia City Hall Photography, Philadelphia, Philadelphia History, Philadelphia Mural Arts, South PhiladelphiaFrank Rizzo, George Floyd, Octavius Catto, Philadelphia Public ArtLeave a Comment

It’s been quite a week. I wouldn’t say that things started with the murder of George Floyd, because they started long before that. I worked as a criminal defense lawyer in Philadelphia for seven years when I was in my 20’s and 30’s, taking mostly court appointments. I wasn’t a white knee-jerk liberal, and I wasn’t idealistic. But what I saw, and what I experienced changed how I see the world.

Many police departments have had toxic cultures when it comes to dealing with people of color. Philadelphia is no different. One of the most divisive figures in the city’s history has been Frank Rizzo who was the Police Commissioner from 1968 to 1971, and later, Mayor. There was a controversial mural of Rizzo not far from my house in the Italian Market. People in the neighborhood have been trying to get it removed for years. This week, the Philadelphia Mural Arts Program ended involvement with the Frank Rizzo mural and it is going to be replaced with art more fitting for the neighborhood.

Likewise the bronze statue of Frank Rizzo that has stood before the Philadelphia Municipal Services Building since 1999 has been removed after years of argument over whether it should stay or go.

7055b1c5ee834f16b891a5b97555b7f8 — Statue being removed during wee hours of June 3, 2020

I said in the opening sentence of this post that the events of this week didn’t start with the murder of George Floyd. We all have a tenancy to ignore things that don’t affect us and to bury feelings that make us squirm. It’s only human, but it’s dangerous-like ignoring a chronic headache that turns out to be a brain tumor that could have been treated if only we had paid attention. And it’s only human to do things a certain way because that’s the way we’ve always done them. That’s dangerous too, We have to think about what we think about and we have to be aware of our history. If they don’t teach us in school, we have to find out for ourselves.

I invite you to have a peek into Philadelphia history of the 1870’s, the era of Reconstruction when slavery as a formal institution had ended in this country and when social parity for everyone seemed like it might even be achievable. Until it wasn’t.

It only took 147 years for Philadelphia to commemorate the work of Octavius Catto who was murdered in 1871 while helping black voters exercise their right to vote. Read the post, Octavius Catto’s Quest for Parity. Then understand that we must change, or this tumor we’ve been ignoring for so long will kill us.

Philadelphia Fashions a District

By: ornamento.blog October 31, 2019October 30, 2019

Art, Art Architecture Philadelphia Philadelphia City Hall Photography, Philadelphia, Philadelphia HistoryArchitecture, Art, Philadelphia, Philadelphia Fashion DistrictLeave a Comment

I had some time after a visit to the hand doctor today, so I decided to check out the Philadelphia Fashion District.

The Gallery Shopping Mall in downtown Philadelphia has been completely renovated and reopened to the public in September as Philadelphia Fashion District. No one shops at malls anymore, so the developers couldn’t just follow the old model of retailing in a renovated space. So in addition to the standard mall retail therapy establishments, the Fashion District is offering some intriguing opportunities for artists, makers, and entrepreneurs.

The Fashion District has invested one million dollars for art installations geared to “making museum-caliber art more accessible to the city, while also elevating the beauty of The District.” The Bridgette Mayer Gallery has a display there with art for sale.

Conrad Benner, whose blog StreetsDept.com, chronicles street art in Philadelphia, has been charged with curating an exhibit of the work of Philadelphia street artists. These works are currently on display on the lower (concourse) level of the Fashion District through the end of this year.

The Fashion District has provided space for RecPhilly, an organization who provides co-working space, recording studios, visual labs & conference rooms for creatives. RecPhilly membership is financially accessible and has proven to so popular that there is now a waitlist. But new memberships are sure to open up in the future. Read more about RecPhilly on their website here.

The Fashion District is sponsoring more art-related events than I’ve written about here as well as planning to open up movie theaters, restaurants and performance spaces. They are trying to do a lot and we’ll see how it goes. Here are some pictures.

Jeweler’s Row

By: ornamento.blog May 16, 2019May 16, 2019

Art, Jewelers Row, Philadelphia, Philadelphia History, Sansom Street PhiladelphiaJewelers Row, Philadelphia, Photography, Sansom Street, Urban DevelopmentLeave a Comment

Jeweler’s Row is a Philadelphia treasure the future of which is being threatened by potential unbridled development. Jeweler’s Row, located on the 700 block of Sansom Street, was not always the seat of the Philadelphia jewelry industry, having been home to the printing and engraving trades before morphing into a jewelry district around the 1880’s. Many jewelry store proprietors from the Delaware valley and South Jersey made weekly trips to Jeweler’s Row to drop off and collect repair jobs, replenish their stock and to meet with their fellow jewelers to talk business.

A developer sold a brace of buildings to Toll Brothers Builders in 2017 and Toll Brothers got permission to tear down the buildings to erect a high-rise apartment building. There was plenty of opposition from the neighborhood and community groups but in the end it didn’t matter.

Last week, I got to tour 708 Sansom Street which is one of the buildings slated to be demolished. It is a cavernous four-story building with tin ceilings and ornate hardware. As I walked from floor to floor, I could see that the tenants, the majority of whom were manufacturing jewelers, were in the process of moving their equipment out of the building and finding new space for their businesses and studios.

I imagine that 708 Sansom Street supported many families over the years and that its tenants were a close-knit bunch. Now it is like a ghost town.

Most of the former tenants have found new space but it has not been easy. Many of them have had to relocate away from Sansom Street.

While it’s true that the only constant in life is change, and that the face of the jewelry business is changing, there is still room for places like Jeweler’s Row. These business districts and manufacturing centers still serve a purpose. But then again, you never really miss something until it’s gone.

Philadelphia’s Fabric Row

By: ornamento.blog January 31, 2019January 30, 2019

Art, fabric row, Philadelphia, Philadelphia History, Sewing, Sewing school, South Philadelphia, Butcher Sew Shop, South PhiladelphiaArt, fabric row, Philadelphia History, SewingLeave a Comment

I feel so lucky to live in a City where I am within walking distance from wonderful shopping districts with a genuine historical significance. Of course there’s the 9th Street (Italian) Market, Jeweler’s Row, and the Reading Terminal Market. But one of my favorite areas is Fabric Row is located on Fourth Street below South Street. Even though I don’t sew much, I love window shopping on this colorful street. There’s always something to see.

According to the Philadelphia History Museum’s web site, Philadelphia’s bustling fabric row on South Fourth Street ran through the heart of a Jewish immigrant neighborhood. Peddlers hawked dry goods from pushcarts and sidewalk stands. Successful vendors opened family-run shops. Dressmakers, shoppers, and tailors flocked to this area of the Queen Village neighborhood to purchase fabrics and notions for their customers and families.

There aren’t as many fabric stores on Fourth Street as there used to be. Times change. People are not sewing as much as they used to. (Although home sewing has moved into a new phase.) New businesses are popping up among the fabric stores including independent fashion stores, shops selling hand made goods and the wonderful Kawaii Kitty Cafe. It is still a thriving, vibrant area.

Visit Fabric Row the next time you visit Philadelphia. In the meantime, here are some more pictures I took on walk down Fabric Row when the weather was much warmer!

trim steel pony pushcart old cash register clearance sale barrel of fabric bolts adlers

To learn more about Fabric Row at Hidden City Philadelphia, the Encyclopedia of Greater Philadelphia and the Fabric Row web site.

Octavius Catto’s Quest For Parity

By: ornamento.blog January 25, 2018June 3, 2020

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3.C

Philadelphia unveiled its first public monument to an African-American on September 2017. “A Quest For Parity” is located on the south apron of Philadelphia City Hall.

Who was Octavius Catto? He was an athlete: He established the first successful African-American baseball club in Philadelphia. He was an activist and a key figure in the protests that led to the desegregation of streetcars in Philadelphia. He was an educator, teaching at the Philadelphia Institute for Colored Youth. He was a soldier: when the Confederates invaded Pennsylvania in 1863, he raised a company of Black soldiers, one of the first volunteer regiments of volunteers in the Commonwealth. He served as a Major and raised a total of eleven regiments during the war.

I ‘ve always thought of Octavius Catto as a Philadelphian even though he was born in South Carolina. He settled in Philadelphia and met his fiance Sarah Le Count here. The building that housed the Philadelphia Institute for Colored Youth still stands on Bainbridge Street a few blocks from my home, as does the spot on South Street where Catto was gunned down in an election day riot in October 1871. He was 32 years old. Too soon for his work to be done.

The statue of Catto is beautifully rendered by sculptor Branly Cadet who designed and executed the monument. The picture at the top of this post shows the gleaming metal ball that sits in front of the statute and reflects Catto, Philadelphia, and the passers-by.

5.E

The twelve-foot bronze statue is imposing and lifelike; Catto seems about to tip off the pedestal. Is he running? Is he making an impassioned speech? Cadet aptly portrays Catto as a man of action, an activist, passionate and relentless.

If you find yourself in Philadelphia, go see the monument. To read more about the monument and the artist, press here. To see a documentary film about Octavius Catto, press here.

Christmas at Laurel Hill

By: ornamento.blog December 21, 2017December 20, 2017

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Laurel Hill Mansion in Fairmont Park is all decked out for the holidays. This year’s theme is “Celebrating 250 Years of Designing Women.” The Christmas Tree in the main room is decorated with ornaments showing women’s fashion plated from Godey’s Lady’s Book. If you never heard of Godey’s Lady’s Book, you are in for a surprise. Godey’s was the premier woman’s fashion magazine in the United States from 1837 to 1898. But it was more than a magazine. Women relied on it for information and articles on everything from cooking to housekeeping to health to etiquette. It contained sheet music, short stories, book reviews, etchings and essays by the leading intellectuals of the day. Its female editor, Sarah J. Hale, wrote “Mary Had a Little Lamb” and convinced President Lincoln to make Thanksgiving a national holiday. Hale was also a trend setter who knew what her readers wanted. In 1850, she started a fad when she introduced the American public to the Christmas tree when she published a picture of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert and their family gathered around their holiday tree.

Here are some pictures of Laurel Hill.