Fanfics Fact Resources ::SPOILERS::

[longislanditalian2]

Do you know about any dance halls in Philly

[boxman]

Sorry, LII and Collider.... I didn't see these here. I'm about over with lunch now, so I'll get back to you two later...

[boxman]

May 27, 2008 15:53:30 GMT -5 longislanditalian2 said:

Thank you so much Boxman, these are great for my fics.

I'm happy to be of help!

I do have another question about some italian resturants, dance halls and iceskating rinks in Philly.

Family-owned Italian restaurants can be found all over South Philly. If you've seen "Rocky Balboa", his restaurant did a pretty good portrayal of a smaller, independently owned restaurant in the area. Nearly all restaurants of this type tend to have an intimate ambiance. The restaurants in "Frank's Best" and "8 Years" (where Stillman met his ex for dinner) also illustrate this well.

Upscale restaurants of all types are located in Center City. They're located along Walnut Street and also in the Olde City and Rittenhouse Square area. Chestnut Street has also seen a variety of bars and restaurants open on it recently. Rittenhouse Square and most of Walnut and Chestnut Streets are all within a reasonable walking distance from the fictional location of the Philly PD headquarters--probably about a 25 minute walk at the very most. Olde City is a bit further, and so a cab ride to any restaurant or bar there would make sense. In contrast to the family-owned restaurants in South Philly, the Center City restaurants and bars tend to be very trendy and attract both a lot of young adults and people who want to eat in a more "modern" and "fashionable" setting. Just to give you an idea of the quality of Center City restaurants, a few are recognized as among the best in the nation. The French restaurant Le Bec-Fin, for example, has nearly consistently received a five-diamond rating.

One really high-end Italian restaurant, La Veranda, is located on the far-eastern end of Center City along the Delaware River. I knew a guy that used to wait tables there and he told me this restaurant was a favorite among the local and international mob. (Refer to page 5 of this thread for more info.) He was clearly Irish, and so they always asked him to be their waiter. The reason for this is because it was clear he didn't understand a single word of the Italian language, and so they felt comfortable about conducting "international business" in front of him. He told me Joseph "Joey" Merlino once pulled out a gun in there and scared the heck out of everyone in the room.

I don't exactly understand what you mean by "dance halls" because that term is a bit generic and isn't used here. If you mean dance clubs -- the type that play Top 40, Hip-Hop, and House music and purely cater to young adults -- you'll find most of the larger ones along Delaware Avenue, just north of La Veranda and the Ben Franklin Bridge. These can hold several hundred people, a few are even large enough to hold as many as a thousand people! Several other smaller clubs can be found inside Olde City. Just north of Olde City, a few other large clubs are located on and around Spring Garden Street. Since most dance clubs don't stay open more than a few years, all this changes as time goes by. Therefore, it all depends also on what year you're writing about. There's several buildings along Delaware Avenue that once used to hold some of the most crowded and most popular dance clubs, but they are completely vacant right now.

In contrast to clubs, the bars in Philly (especially the Irish pubs), can have both dancing and longevity as a business. These are much smaller places, of course. You can find a bar that has dancing in pretty much every neighborhood in Philly, and they cater to all sorts of people and musical tastes.

The "Gay District" also has many clubs and bars too that have dancing. This area is centered approximately on Locust Street, between 12th and 13th streets, also not far from Cold Case's Philly PD headquarters. The episode 1.07 "A Time To Hate" did a very good portrayal of the area, which they called "Queen's Village". This is a bit inaccurate, as the actual Queen's Village is a few blocks southeast, but it still was impressive to me that they did try to name the "gay district" after an actual neighborhood in the area!

As far as ice skating is concerned, the RiverRink at Penn's Landing is the most well-known. It's an outdoor rink that's open only during the winter season; and ironically, it's located only about a block or two from La Veranda:
www.pennslandingcorp.com/index.php?pageID=15&image=13f

There are a few other indoor rinks across Philly. I don't really know of them well, so I can't say much about them.

[boxman]

May 29, 2008 7:28:31 GMT -5 Collider said:

Got a really random one for you, Boxy... please forgive me if it's a foolish question, or has been answered elsewhere.

Is there, in Philly, a location that could pass as a sort of miniature version of Hollywood? - i.e., an area for the 'Rich and Famous' (the latter being of particular interest) to reside without having to mingle with the hoi-palloi of normal folks... swimming pools in the back garden, neatly secluded from the media, that sort of thing. Failing somewhere like that nowadays, do you happen to know of any locales that maybe were like that once (say, in the 40s or 50s), but have slowly grown derelict or disused over the years?

Sorry if that sounds oblique and/or 'peculiar'... it makes sense in my head, honest.

Today, nearly the entire "Main Line" and Chestnut Hill district of Philadelphia are areas like you described (secluded, swimming pools, and gardens), that the rich and famous choose to live. The wikipedia entries I have linked are very informative, and the entry on Chestnut Hill even has a list of rich and famous people that lived there. Philly is one of the oldest cities in North America, so the history of wealthy people in both of these areas goes far beyond the 40s and 50s. Currently, they're still pretty much the area of choice for the rich and famous to live, especially in the areas north of Lancaster Avenue. There's often affordable apartments and smaller houses near the busier main streets, so the neighborhoods aren't exactly all-exclusive to the rich. And while there's spectacularly huge mansions and estates in the eastern and southern parts of the Main Line suburbs (closer towards Philadelphia), there's many homes for upper-middle income families there too.

Now back in the 40s and 50s, Germantown, located to the southeast of Chestnut Hill, was a nicer, well-to-do area that has fallen to decay towards the ending of the last century. With the recent housing boom, Germantown, like many areas, experienced a small amount of gentrification recently. IIRC, this was hinted to in "Devil Music", with the closing of the 50s-style drugstore, and it's modern-day reopening as a natural foods store.

Cold Case often mentions the Main Line and Chestnut Hill. The exclusive boy's school in "Knuckle Up" was in the Main Line. The school in "The Sleepover" was located in Chestnut Hill, and is a good example of how these wealthy Philly 'burbs aren't exactly exclusive to the very rich. IIRC "Debut", "Greed", and "Blackout" also portrayed wealthy people in these areas. To give you a small idea of what homes in these areas look like, I really believe the scene in "Debut" where Scotty and Vera was walking to a suspect's house was actually filmed on location in Chestnut Hill.

BTW, in my view, Philly tends to not be a city of choice for "famous" people to live in these days--That is, actors, musicians, and other celebrities. Even though a lot of movies are filmed here and a lot of musicians and actors are from this area, the entertainment industry is primarily centered in LA and NYC, so most (to my knowledge) end up moving elsewhere. The actor Will Smith is a good example of this kind of exodus. Nowadays, "Famous" people and celebrities in Philly tend to be professional athletes from any of its teams, and people in the media (such as television newscasters), which are both different from the "Hollywood" sense of celebrity.

If you're looking for a Hollywood-type celebrity living in Philly during the past, then Grace Kelly and Georgiana Drew (of the Barrymore dynasty of actors) probably fit the bill.

[Collider]

Holy mother of wow, that's some thorough information. Boxy, you are a frickin' MEGASTAR. Thanks so so so much for taking the time with this.

[longislanditalian2]

Thanks Boxy, you are the best.

One thing how far is it from Kensignton to where Scotty grew up near Francisville

[boxman]

Jun 24, 2008 8:31:16 GMT -5 longislanditalian2 said:

Thanks Boxy, you are the best.

I'm happy that it helps you, LII.

One thing how far is it from Kensignton to where Scotty grew up near Francisville

Check my post on page six of this thread... It's about three miles.

---

Collider, for you:

www.philly.com/philly/news/22802729.html

Posted on Wed, Jul. 2, 2008
Anti-McKie flyer angers Gladwyne neighbors
By Kathy Boccella
Inquirer Staff Writer



In the small, exclusive community of Gladwyne, wealthier even than Beverly Hills or Scarsdale, neighbors recently were stunned to discover a flyer, ugly in tone, in their mailboxes.

Where it came from no one knows. Its target, however, was unmistakable: Aaron McKie, the former Temple and 76ers star arrested last week on charges that he tried to buy guns while under a protection-from-abuse order.

It read: "Attention please, read if you care about your neighborhood!!! How can we prevent Aaron McKie from moving into our safe and peaceful neighborhood. His house is almost complete on Youngsford Road. Let's prevent another Iverson from moving in!"

"It was a disgrace," said Joe Brown, who lives a few doors down from McKie's nearly finished stone mansion on Youngs Ford Road and got one of the two-page flyers Saturday. "I have no idea what they were thinking."

Gladwyne residents said they were angry that someone would try to run the player, who was arrested June 23, out of town. Two longtime friends talking outside the post office tsked-tsked when shown the flyer. It's unfair, they said, to target McKie just because he made a mistake.

"The consensus of opinion is how pathetic that some coward feels that they have to send something around like that. We're all trying to find out who it is," said Wally Heppenstall, a Realtor and flower-store owner who has lived in Gladwyne for more than 50 years.

McKie, who was released by the Memphis Grizzlies in May and may rejoin the Sixers as a coach, brushed off the controversy.

"What's new? You know how that stuff goes. They want to try to convict you before you even go on trial," he said. "I have to look into it. I have a family. I'll see what happens."

McKie is accused of trying to buy two guns despite being under a protection-from-abuse order filed on behalf of former girlfriend Kianna Williams, who alleged he threw her to the ground and threatened to kill her in September.

The order bars gun purchases. Authorities said that when filling out forms to buy the pistols in a Montgomery County gun shop April 8, McKie checked a box stating he was not under a restraining order.

He was charged with a felony gun violation and a misdemeanor charge of lying to authorities. The felony charge carries a maximum penalty of 15 years in prison.

In 2001, McKie was under another protection-from-abuse order after Williams, the mother of his daughter, alleged he punched her and dislocated her jaw.

Gladwyne neighbors seemed willing to give him the benefit of the doubt. Heppenstall called the gun-form problem a "mistake" and said McKie had done a lot of good for children through his AM8 Foundation, which raises money for school programs, basketball leagues, holiday celebrations, and renovations to the Belfield Recreation Center in East Germantown.

Besides, Heppenstall said, McKie has every right to move into the neighborhood.

Gladwyne postmistress Crystal Vorn said she didn't know who was behind the flyer or how many had been circulated. No one has complained about it, she said, although one mail carrier said he had heard about it from a resident. It's against the law to put anything other than mail in a mailbox, Vorn noted.

"Who would do something like this?" she asked when shown the handout. "They can't say who can move in here and who can't."

She said she might send it to the U.S. Postal Inspection Service.

Gladwyne is one of the wealthiest zip codes in the country, with an aristocratic country ambiance that many other suburban communities have lost. Its elegantly embellished houses sell, on average, for seven figures.

The community is the home of many local celebrities as well as the merely wealthy and those with venerable Main Line surnames, and many were miffed when helicopters and hordes of reporters interrupted their well-padded peace and quiet every time basketball bad boy Allen Iverson, who lived in a Monk Road manse, ran afoul of the law.

Joseph Cunningham, who owns the Shell station at Youngs Ford and Conshohocken State Roads, said that McKie and Iverson had filled their tanks at his station and that he liked them both.

McKie "is a very nice, very mannerly, very polite guy," he said, adding that the gun problem "was just a mistake."

Michele Seidman, who was filling up at the station, said she had known McKie when she worked in public relations at what is now the Wachovia Center. "He's the nicest guy," she said.

As for the allegations, she said, "It's not like he's a sex offender."

McKie, who grew up in Philadelphia, already has a nice pad. He lives in a $1.8 million French Colonial with five bedrooms and 61/2 baths in Penn Valley.

He played for the Sixers from 1997 to 2005 and spent part of last season as a volunteer assistant coach for the team before joining the Grizzlies. There has been speculation that he might return to the Sixers as a coach.

Several Gladwyne residents said that Iverson, now with the Denver Nuggets, had been a good neighbor, that reporters and curious "tourists" had caused the havoc.

But one longtime resident, Bobbie Willoughby, who was secretary of the Gladwyne Civic Association for 22 years before moving to Bryn Mawr last year, said she wouldn't want to live next to McKie.

"It's a little scary. He totes a gun, and his behavior is a little excessive, like he's out of control. I wouldn't care if an African American moved in next to me, but if he's carrying a gun and he's abusive, I really don't want it," she said.

But others defended the former NBA guard.

"If anything," said Cunningham, "he's an asset to the neighborhood."

Contact staff writer Kathy Boccella at 610-313-8123 or [e-mail].

---

Here's more links that might help you:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gladwyne%2C_Pennsylvania
www.zillow.com/search/RealEstateSearch.htm?addrstrthood=&citystatezip=19035

[boxman]

LINK

Posted on Fri, Jul. 4, 2008
Movie studio in Phila. suburbs could happen soon
By Derrick Nunnally
Inquirer Staff Writer

Nearly a year after officials said a big-time movie studio would be constructed in a stagnating Norristown shopping center, the only sign of Hollywood on the scene is a West Coast Video rental shop.

Since its announcement in August, the project has been delayed by a land-purchasing holdup and redesigned so the soundstages will go into new buildings on the Logan Square site instead of the shopping center and its former Sears store.

Now, months past when construction was first discussed, Norristown Studios' groundbreaking could be imminent.

A $10 million subsidy for the project made it into this week's tentative state budget agreement. Backers say it is the final piece of a funding arrangement aimed at infusing an economically troubled area with movie stars, production crews and large-scale development.

"Approval on that grant, I think, will trigger the switch to get us into a feeling of 'Break ground and let's go,' " said developer Patrick Kelley, a partner in the Norristown Studios project. "We're definitely getting it done. There's no double-clutching on this thing. We're getting it done."

Government officials eager for development to improve Norristown's fortunes were similarly optimistic the state subsidy would kick-start progress. At its announcement, the studio was heralded as a generator of $60 million in local revenue and 300 to 700 direct jobs.

Montgomery County Commissioners Chairman James R. Matthews said a groundbreaking could come "within 60 days" on the property as long as the subsidy comes through.

"It's all a handshake," Matthews said, "but from what I've heard, we're well on our way."

A spokesperson for Gov. Rendell would not discuss the status of the subsidy. State Sen. Connie Williams (D., Montgomery) said the $10 million item had made it onto the budget's list of capital projects, and she was hopeful it would come through.

"I think we're really going to start seeing movement now," said Sharon Pinkenson, executive director of the Greater Philadelphia Film Office.

Kelley said that while the subsidy had been in flux, the people behind the project have been negotiating with film studio operators about logistics and management issues.

The 20-acre site where the studio is planned was purchased in January. The Sears store - originally slated to host the new soundstages - will be developed to house production companies and other movie-related concerns.

Though no construction has been done on a new face for the Sears building, Kelley said that, too, was nearly ready to begin.

"We're just coming around the final turn there with design," he said.

The handful of retail operations on the grounds of the Logan Square site have been waiting for its rebirth for nearly a year.

A Web site for the Bellmawr, N.J., developer Develcom touts big things for the Studio Centre at Norristown Studios complex via blueprints and artists' renderings, but Tom Hanks and Scarlett Johansson haven't been walking through the door of Sessano Cafe & Deli for sandwiches just yet.

Sessano owner Santino Ciccaglione has been listening to rumors about the project with patient optimism.

"It's the biggest thing that will happen to Norristown since the factories closed down," Ciccaglione said, gesturing toward the nearly empty parking lot outside his shop Wednesday afternoon. "I hope the studio development is happening. I have no idea when."

Contact staff writer Derrick Nunnally at 610-313-8212 or [e-mail].

[Collider]

You have NO idea how useful those two article are, Boxy. Thanks so much for bringing 'em to my attention.

[boxman]

Jul 4, 2008 14:35:37 GMT -5 Collider said:

You have NO idea how useful those two article are, Boxy. Thanks so much for bringing 'em to my attention.

Uh, yeah... you're right... I don't know.... ;D

---

www.philly.com/philly/news/homepage/24306299.html



Posted on Thu, Jul. 10, 2008

Phila.'s population shrinking, though region's is growing
The city's rate of loss was second only to New Orleans', census data show.
By Alfred Lubrano
Inquirer Staff Writer

Continuing a long-running downward trend, Philadelphia lost more residents between 2000 and 2007 than any U.S. city except hurricane-ravaged New Orleans, newly released estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau show.

Population in the city decreased from 1,517,550 to 1,449,634 in the seven years, a loss of nearly 68,000 people, according to Greg Harper, a demographer for the bureau.

That drop of 4.5 percent represents the largest percentage loss in population of a top-25 U.S. city between 2000 and 2007, figures show.

Viewed more broadly, the population of the Philadelphia region as a whole has grown even as the number of people in its urban center has declined. The populations in the counties surrounding the city have either remained stable or increased, though experts say these changes are not necessarily linked to the city's loss.

The Philadelphia Metropolitan Statistical Area, which includes South Jersey, parts of Delaware, and Cecil County, Md., had a population gain of 139,000 (2.5 percent) between 2000 and 2006, according to the Census Bureau.

In the bureau's latest analysis, Philadelphia's rate of loss exceeded those of Detroit (3.6 percent), Baltimore and Chicago (both 2.1 percent). Conversely, Boston and New York increased in population over the seven years, at the rates of 1.7 percent and 3.3 percent, respectively.

"Philadelphia has been losing population for a while," Harper said. "It's not a new trend."

Between 1990 and 2000, for example, the city lost 68,027 people, the third-highest number among 243 cities with populations of more than 100,000, Harper said.

"That's pretty consistent," Harper said. "Philadelphia is one of the fastest-losing cities in the country."

Last year, Phoenix supplanted Philadelphia as the fifth-largest U.S. city, with a population of 1,552,259.

Philadelphia's population peaked at 2,071,605 in 1950, and has dwindled ever since. The city's current population is the lowest since the start of the 20th century, when the number of residents increased from 1.3 million in 1900 to 1.6 million in 1920, figures show.

Trying to make sense of the latest population estimates, local experts offered differing analyses. "It's not an easy question," said David Elesh, a Temple University sociology professor and an expert in urban development.

One thing is certain: It's not as though people are dying off. There were 38,000 more births than deaths in Philadelphia between 2000 and 2007, Harper said.

That net loss of nearly 68,000 means that "more people were moving out than moving in," Harper added.

Elesh's Temple colleague David Bartelt said a major reason for the loss was that the city had been slow to develop more nonmanufacturing jobs to keep population and attract new people.

"If we had a better job base, we wouldn't have people moving out," said Bartelt, a professor of geography and urban studies. "We need a nonmanufacturing job base that pays better than tourism jobs, which pay poorly."

Lately, the city has been attracting young people, especially to Center City, which is experiencing a population boom. But, Bartelt said, it's not enough. "We do a terrific job of inviting students to study here," he said, "but a not-so-terrific job of keeping them here."

Bartelt cited Boston as an example of a city that had a manufacturing past but that consciously began in the 1980s to become more high-tech, which kept the young people who attended its many colleges and universities.

"That's what people mean by 'the miracle of Boston,' " he said. "We had the same raw materials as Boston, but didn't create the significant program of business development that they did."

Interestingly, the people who are leaving Philadelphia aren't necessarily going into the suburbs, Bartelt said. Although analysis by Sue Copella of the Pennsylvania State Data Center in Harrisburg shows that population rose in the counties of Chester (12.2 percent), Delaware (0.4 percent), Montgomery and Bucks (both 0.3 percent) between 2000 and 2007, Bartelt's research shows the suburbs are not absorbing the city's exodus.

"The odds are, people from Philadelphia are not moving to its suburbs," he said. These folks may well be leaving the region entirely, Bartelt's research shows.

The people who are moving to Philadelphia's suburbs are coming in from outside the area, he said.

In South Jersey between 2006 and 2007, the population remained fairly stable. Census figures show that Burlington County lost fewer than 1,000 residents; Gloucester County gained 4,000; and Camden County registered virtually no change.

Janice Madden, a demographer at the University of Pennsylvania, said the economic base of the entire metropolitan area - not just Philadelphia - hasn't grown enough to keep pace with other metro areas. "We have not grown our employment base fast enough," she said. "All of our eight to 10 counties are not competing with the rest of the nation as a cohesive whole."

Greater specialization would have helped. The New York metro area is a financial center, while Boston's is an education center.

"Health care and pharmaceuticals are a relative specialty in this region," Madden said, "but we don't really have a large, go-go economic sector."

Throughout the country, most cities are losing population, Elesh of Temple said.

What mitigates the drainage, however, are great influxes of immigrants, he added. And that is where Philadelphia is failing.

"We have not been as effective as some other cities in attracting immigrants," Elesh said. "The growth registered in New York and Boston is due entirely to increasing immigrant populations."

Throughout the 1990s, the Philadelphia area ranked 17th to 19th among major metropolitan areas in attracting both legal and illegal immigrants, Elesh said.

After 2000, the area moved up somewhat (to 11th place), but it hasn't been enough to reverse the outflow of people.

"Jobs here for less-educated people like immigrants have not been growing and have probably been decreasing," Elesh said.

He concurred with Bartelt that jobs in the IT sector haven't been booming, either.

"We've done better in creating jobs for college-educated people, but it's not a rapidly growing area," he said.

But the news isn't necessarily all bad.

"Growth, after all, is a mixed blessing," Elesh said.

"I'm not sure it's an injury to civic pride if you're losing population. Growth brings benefits, of course, but it also brings congestion and higher prices."

And, he added, current national economic woes - created in part by high fuel prices - could be a blessing for the city.

"An energy crisis helps the city because people in the suburbs will move back in to no longer have long commutes," he said.

Elesh added that the city also seemed to be getting younger, a revitalizing factor.

Overall, he said, "if I'm looking for a place to site my new business, I'm not necessarily looking for an area with large size. I'm looking for quality of life. And the region has that."


Contact staff writer Alfred Lubrano at 215-854-4969 or [e-mail].

Inquirer staff writer Joseph Gambardello contributed to this article.

[longislanditalian2]

Are there subways in Philly??

[boxman]

Jul 22, 2008 13:53:02 GMT -5 longislanditalian2 said:

Are there subways in Philly??

Sorry, LII2, I didn't see your post here.

Yes Philly does have subways, and in 5x01 "Thrill Kill", there is a brief scene where Scotty, Lilly, and Stillman emerge from the City Hall station. It's the scene right before this screencap:


The city's subways are mainly served by SEPTA:
www.septa.org/maps/click_map.html

The Broad Street line (in orange) and the Market-Frankford line (in heavy blue) are the city's two "heavy rail" lines, with train cars similar to what you'd find running through Manhattan. The Broad Street line is underground for pretty much its entire length, except for IIRC the last two or three north-end stops. The Market-Frankford is underground only from Spring Garden to 46th Street. Beyond that, the Market-Frankford is an elevated railway.

The city's "light rail" trolley lines (shown in heavy green) also run underground from City Hall (where the detectives emerged) westward towards University City. After emerging from tunnels around University City, the trolleys run through West and Southwest Philly on several streets.

The suburban regional rail lines also run underground from the 30th Street Station to the Market East Station. But I wouldn't call them subways as they really only have two underground stops in Center City and mainly serve commuters to destinations outside of the city.

Flickr has a tag for SEPTA:
www.flickr.com/photos/tags/septa/
When I searched "septa subway", a lot of good photos came up that should give you a good idea of what Philly's trains and subways looks like. (Except, of course, the images don't capture the wonderful smell of urine that constantly wafts through the tunnels.... )

The PATCO line, run by NJTransit, connects South Jersey with Center City. It's the grey line on this map:
www.njtransit.com/pdf/rail/Rail_System_Map.pdf
This is the train line that runs on the Ben Franklin bridge.

[boxman]

Here is a slideshow of sites in and around Philly that are rumored to be haunted:

www.nbc10.com/slideshow/community/14401101/detail.html

[teledetective]

Hey, boxman! Even though I stumbled upon this very late in the game, I am grateful for all the informative articles about Philadelphia! Thank you.

Now, for my question...do you know of any art colleges in Philadelphia? I'm planning to write an attempt at a fanfiction, but I'm looking for this information -- specifically, art colleges. I'd prefer if the art college in question was such that anyone, rich or poor, could attend, but I'd be happy with information on any art colleges.

[boxman]

Oct 16, 2008 20:52:22 GMT -5 teledetective said:

Hey, boxman! Even though I stumbled upon this very late in the game, I am grateful for all the informative articles about Philadelphia! Thank you.

Sure! And it's never too late....

Now, for my question...do you know of any art colleges in Philadelphia? I'm planning to write an attempt at a fanfiction, but I'm looking for this information -- specifically, art colleges. I'd prefer if the art college in question was such that anyone, rich or poor, could attend, but I'd be happy with information on any art colleges.

Because it's getting late here, let me just go quickly over this for now. I should be able to give a little more details on a one or two of these schools later this weekend.

Philly has many art schools, and a good reason for this is because the city has a long history of supporting the arts. (Think of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, or the Philly Pops, for example.) While this city and it's surrounding suburbs are home to many colleges and universities--and each has an arts program to some degree--there are six schools that I think are noteworthy.

The Art Institute of Philadelphia: Probably the easiest for anyone to get into; however, I believe it's a "technical school" and doesn't have the accreditation to qualify as a "college".
www.artinstitutes.edu/philadelphia/

Moore College of Art and Design: Uniquely the first and only women-only art college.
www.moore.edu/site/about_moore/mission_history

University of the Arts (Philadelphia): Also called the "UArts", this school is one of the oldest art university in the country.
www.uarts.edu/about/history.html
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_the_Arts_(Philadelphia)

Temple University's Tyler School of Art: This school is currently located on a campus just right outside of Philly's northern city limits, but will relocate soon to Temple's main campus within North Philly.
www.temple.edu/tyler/
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tyler_School_of_Art

Philadelphia University's School of Design and Media: This school is located in Northwestern Philadelphia, near Fairmount Park and Lincoln Drive (the road which Miriam, the victim in 6x03 "Wednesday's Women", was found dead on). Even though this school is in close proximity to the heart of Philly, it has a suburban feel to it since it's so close to wooded areas.
www.philau.edu/designandmedia/index.html

Finally, Drexel University's Antoinette Westphal College of Media Arts & Design (what a mouthful...): This school is not really well-known partially because Drexel University is traditionally viewed as an engineering and technical school, and also because the school only recently received this name. However, it's the only notable art college located in University City, a very short distance west from the so-called Philly PD headquarters. Mantua, the very decayed urban neighborhood mentioned in 4x12 "Knuckle Up" and 2x08 "Red Glare", borders Drexel U to the north.
www.drexel.edu/westphal/
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antoinette_Westphal_College_of_Media_Arts_and_Design

The Art Institute, Moore College, and UArts are all located in Center City, within a few blocks from City Hall. Drexel U's AWCoMAD, as mentioned earlier, is located in University City. All four of these schools are in urban settings. Both Philadelphia University's School of Design and Media and Temple U's Tyler School of Art are in suburban settings, though Tyler's campus is actually outside of Philly right now.

[Collider]

Heeeey, Boxy... here to bug you again with another of my oblique and random questions.

Among your countless Philly articles, do you have any lying around that deal specifically with the inner workings of drug busts or undercover work in the city? I'm trying to get a feel for how that sort of experience could best be written, and if you've got any Philly case studies, it would be hugely helpful.

No worries if not, as always... but I figured it'd do no harm in asking and - let's be honest - you're a much more reliable resource than Google.

[boxman]

Oct 17, 2008 4:16:58 GMT -5 Collider said:

Heeeey, Boxy... here to bug you again with another of my oblique and random questions.

Among your countless Philly articles, do you have any lying around that deal specifically with the inner workings of drug busts or undercover work in the city? I'm trying to get a feel for how that sort of experience could best be written, and if you've got any Philly case studies, it would be hugely helpful.

No worries if not, as always... but I figured it'd do no harm in asking and - let's be honest - you're a much more reliable resource than Google.

Hi, Collider! There's actually one such case unfolding right now. This probably doesn't go into the kind of detail you want, but the reports could get more detailed as time goes on:

www.philly.com/philly/news/local/31154369.html

Posted on Fri, Oct. 17, 2008
Montco man among 4 charged in meth ring
By Mari A. Schaefer
Inquirer Staff Writer

Four people, including a Montgomery County man, have been arrested and charged with operating a methamphetamine ring in eastern Pennsylvania.

The group made as much as $9 million worth of the drug, the state Attorney General's Office announced yesterday.

Arrested were Michael Spadafora, 42, of Reading; Michael Sexton, 55, of Perkiomenville; and Randy Cronrath, 43, and Holly Cronrath, 40, both from Bechtelsville, Berks County. The four face drug and corrupt organization charges. Spadafora also faces additional firearms charges.

The attorney general said the office was investigating whether Spadafora supplied the drug to the Warlocks outlaw motorcycle gang.

According to an affidavit, the investigation - which authorities called "Operation Underground" - began in June 2007, when a confidential informant told investigators of the operation and mentioned having obtained large quantities of methamphetamine from Spadafora. The informant said Spadafora had manufactured the drug in his Reading home basement and kitchen.

Randy and Holly Cronrath, according to the affidavit, sold the drug for Spadafora. Sexton allegedly was gathering chemicals and equipment to begin his own illegal drug laboratory.

In August, undercover investigators met and arrested both Cronraths at a storage shed in Bechtelsville.

During a search of the shed and the homes of the Cronraths, Spadafora and Sexton, investigators allegedly seized almost four pounds of methamphetamine kept in an ice cream pail, more than $53,000 in cash, and other substances used in the manufacturing of the drug, including liquid mercury.

They also recovered, according to the affidavit, a number of weapons, a cardboard cutout of a police officer with bullet holes in the chest, and a book titled Your No Nonsense Guide For Making Meth.

Contact staff writer Mari A. Schaefer at 610-892-9149 or [e-mail].

---

ARTICLE LINK
SLIDESHOW

Police Make Large Meth, Gun Bust With Ties To Local Biker Gang
Last Edited: Thursday, 16 Oct 2008, 4:25 PM EDT
Created: Thursday, 16 Oct 2008, 4:06 PM EDT
WTXF-Fox 29

State investigators say they've taken down a heavily armed methamphetamine operation that produced hundreds of pounds of the dangerous drug and distributed it all over our area. Now four suspects are under arrest.

Attorney General Tom Corbett says the Warlocks Motorcycle Gang were the main recipients of lots of meth cooked up in two labs in Berks and Montgomery Counties. The labs produced over 500 pounds of meth, worth millions of dollars.

They had the firepower, they had the drugs and they generated plenty of cash. State investigators say when it came to producing home grown methamphetamine in our region, this was a big time operation.

"Spadafora allegedly produced more than $9 million worth of methamphetamine," said Attorney General Thomas Corbett.

Agents say 42-year-old Michael Spadafora and three others ran the show, cooking meth in the kitchen and basement of Spadafora's half-million dollar Reading home, a shed and a shipping container.

After each meth cook, they say Spadafora put liquid meth in pipes and buried it underground until he needed more. Some of his best customers were right here in our area.

"We believe Mr. Spadaforas's meth was distributed across southeast Pennsylvania and was even being supplied to members of the Warlocks Outlaw Motorcycle Gang," said Corbett.

The Warlocks have long been linked to meth. Recently, state investigators took down 13 members of the notorious biker gang for dealing the drug. Then Warlocks president Thomas Zaroff was arrested and his garage raided. Just two weeks ago, Corbett's agents broke up a multi-million dollar operation that was shipping crystal meth from Mexico to Philadelphia in porcelain dolls.

"Definitely what it tells me, there is a problem here in southeastern Pennsylvania with methamphetamine," said Corbett.

Corbett says most disturbing was the discovery of this life-size, bullet-riddled target of a police officer found in a suspect's home.

"Somebody's learning how to hone in with their weapon and where are they shooting, they're shooting into the heart of a police officer. We have a huge problem in this state, this country with a lack of respect for law enforcement," said Corbett.

Agents made undercover purchases of meth from this ring. They seized 68 guns, including half a dozen assault rifles and handguns with silencers.

The meth labs were dismantled. Corbett says with the high demand for meth in this area, there's no doubt someone try to take fill the void left by these arrests.

By Dave Schratwieser

[Collider]

Boxman, you never fail to deliver! Thank you SO much for this stuff... I'll definitely have to keep an eye out for further articles on this.

;D

[boxman]

Here's an in-depth article about Jocelyn Kirsch, the "Bonnie" of the "Bonnie & Clyde" identity thieves from Philadelphia that's been on the national news for a while:

www.philly.com/philly/hp/news_update/20081019_A_look_into_Kirsch_s_own_troubled_identity.html



Posted on Sun, Oct. 19, 2008
A look into Kirsch's own troubled identity
In filings before her 5-year sentence, she described a history of emotional distress, shoplifting and family dysfunction.
By Emilie Lounsberry
Inquirer Staff Writer

For an 18th-birthday present, Jocelyn S. Kirsch got breast implants - an operation performed by her plastic-surgeon father.

The day after she graduated from high school, her mother left her behind and took off to California.

Arrested for shoplifting four times, she has admitted stealing merchandise on as many as 100 other occasions without getting caught.

And she hasn't spoken to her only brother in years.

Those are just a few excerpts from the psychologically troubled backstory of Kirsch, 23. Her stunning looks captivated an international audience when she was arrested in December in a bold identity-fraud scam in Philadelphia. The world was still watching Friday when U.S. District Judge Eduardo C. Robreno sentenced her to five years in prison and ordered her to pay about $100,000 in restitution.

For a year, Kirsch and then-boyfriend Edward Anderton - scheduled to be sentenced Nov. 14 - partied their way through a crime spree that inspired police to dub them the "Bonnie and Clyde" of identity theft. They stole identification from friends, neighbors and coworkers to finance fun - dinners in trendy restaurants, vacations to Paris and the Caribbean, and shopping trips for clothing, electronics, even $2,200 hair extensions.

Psychological and other records introduced in court, however, reveal another Kirsch beneath the high-life veneer: a sad young woman who grew up in a highly dysfunctional family and suffered emotional problems long before entering Drexel University in 2003.

She told one psychologist that her father was "incapable of true emotional connection," and that he and her mother "should never have been parents." She said she was afraid of frogs and of "never learning to be normal."

At her sentencing, Kirsch's mental health was debated at length, based on five psychiatric and psychological reports providing a graphic account of her childhood, her grim relationship with her parents and brother, and her romance with Anderton.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Louis D. Lappen said that Kirsch clearly had "some psychological issues," but that they were not serious enough to warrant a reduced sentence.

Defense attorney Ronald Greenblatt argued that Kirsch was "so clearly mentally ill," with borderline personality disorder, that she deserved a break. For instance, she told people that she had violet eyes because she was of Lithuanian descent, but she was just wearing tinted lenses. She also claimed to be an Olympic pole vaulter.

It was ironic, Greenblatt said, that a woman who had invaded others' privacy by stealing their identities would become the object of a media frenzy, that photos of Kirsch - always smiling, often in a bikini - would be splashed across the Internet.

"It wasn't what the press made this out to be - this girl who had everything doing it for fun," he said. "This was a disturbed person."

Robreno, the judge, sought to balance the issues. He noted the seriousness of Kirsch's crime, yet acknowledged that she had grown up in an environment of "stress and hostility."

He said he "was left to wonder: Was the defendant mentally ill, or was she really self-indulgent?"

In the end, Robreno shaved 10 months off the 70 to 81 months prescribed by sentencing guidelines, and ordered mental-health treatment for Kirsch in prison.

Kirsch is the only daughter of Lee Kirsch, a plastic surgeon, and Jessica Eads, who until recently was a nursing director at a California hospital. The Kirsches moved to North Carolina from Florida in 1995 with their daughter and son, Aaron.

Kirsch's problems began as her parents focused their attention on her brother, who had developed emotional and behavioral problems of his own.

"It is now easy to see," her father wrote to Robreno, "that our family spent a lot of effort attending to Jocelyn's brother, and even though she seemed to be doing fine, we may have well overlooked her difficulties."

In another letter to the judge, Kirsch's maternal step-grandmother, Sandy Cole, recalled her as sullen and unhappy, a troubled preteen with a strange and impolite sense of humor. Even as she blossomed into a beautiful teen, Cole wrote, she remained "very insecure" about her body.

By the time Kirsch was in high school, her parents' marriage was falling apart.

Kirsch told psychologist Allan M. Tepper that her mother, with whom she had lived, left for California the day after she graduated from high school in June 2003.

She did not get along with her brother, a year older than she, so she moved to a neighbor's home.

According to Tepper's report, Kirsch said her brother had been violent as a child. "He basically beat me since I was an infant," she said. It has been years since she has spoken to him.

Kirsch arrived in Philadelphia in September 2003 as a Drexel freshman. During four years there, she visited her father once - in the summer of 2004 when he performed the breast-implant surgery and fixed a bump on her nose. It was a birthday gift, she told psychologist Jeffrey E. Summerton.

She found it "kind of creepy" that her father had operated on her, she said, but he "wouldn't let me go to another doctor."

Another psychologist, Frank M. Dattilio, termed the surgery "a boundary violation" and noted that "the symbolism of her father taking a scalpel to her body was, at the very least, odd."

Cole, the step-grandmother, wrote to the judge, "I truly think she was led to believe by her father that external beauty and living the 'high life' was what she should aspire to."

After a serious relationship with a Drexel graduate who enlisted in the military, Kirsch met Anderton in September 2006. She told him about her shoplifting arrests, and soon they set off on a criminal path.

Kirsch, who suffered from the painful bladder condition interstitial cystitis, said Anderton had held her hand during medical procedures. She also took a number of pain medicines, including OxyContin, Percocet and Xanax, and told psychiatrist Kenneth J. Weiss that she often felt "stoned."

During her time with Anderton, Kirsch told Weiss, her behavior changed.

"She developed an urge to travel, felt impulsive, and did odd things such as painting her apartment neon pink," Weiss wrote in an evaluation. "She and Ed lived in a bubble."

When they were arrested late last year, police searched their Center City apartment and found dozens of fraudulent driver's licenses and credit cards in a variety of names, plus a kit for picking locks, computer software used in identity theft, and a machine for printing ID cards.

Tepper found that Kirsch had a "fractured self-image," an exaggerated need for attention, and chronic feelings of emptiness.

In her letter to Robreno, Kirsch said she had always known that something was wrong with her. Growing up, she said, she felt isolated and misunderstood.

In Anderton, "I thought I'd found the half of myself that was missing," she wrote. "I felt whole. . . . I loved him."

As for their crimes, she continued, "one small thing led to a number of larger indiscretions, and before I knew it, we were doing more and more dangerous things: spending our money recklessly, drinking, lying, stealing."

Kirsch has been in custody since July. In her letter to Robreno, she called prison "horrific" and asked him to remember that she was more than "the sum" of her wrongdoings:

"I am not Bonnie, I am just Jocelyn."

Contact staff writer Emilie Lounsberry at 215-854-4828 or [e-mail].

[boxman]

www.philly.com/philly/hp/news_update/20081113_On_the_Side__Seeking_Market_freshness.html

Posted on Thu, Nov. 13, 2008


PHOTOS

On the Side
Can the Italian Market be saved?
Its very roots - humble, cut-rate curbside sustenance - could be the salvation of a revitalized Ninth Street Market.
By Rick Nichols
Inquirer Food Columnist

If you linger on South Ninth Street long enough, it can come to have the feel of a boulevard of broken dreams - and not just because trash bags are heaped on occasion at the very base of the "Italian Market" signpost.

A sausage-maker tried to get a merchants' Web site going. Nobody wanted to chip in, he says. SEPTA bus service got cut back, you'll hear, after stall owners complained their canopies were getting clipped.

Every two hours, workers at Superior Pasta have to run out to move their cars to another meter or risk a ticket: The fine can be half a day's pay.

And so on. It's not just trash-phobic suburbanites who dump on the Ninth Street Market. The locals do a pretty good number themselves: They're in perpetual fret over its identity (Is it going too "Mexican"?) and its viability (Whole Foods is barely two blocks north, and weekly farm markets have popped up like chanterelles).

The question of its very relevance - after 100 years of ebb and flow - is not beyond intense discussion, if you bring it up, over a cappuccino at Anthony's, or next to the walk-ins stacked with romaine on Christian Street.

That Rocky ran here is little comfort. That it is the country's oldest and largest curbside market is no insurance. That it lives for the weekends, clings to the holidays, can be unnerving.

Which is why it is of no small consequence that Emilio "Mee Mee" Mignucci, 41, has chosen this moment to step up. He is the hard-working, third-generation co-owner of Di Bruno Bros, the cheese house (est. 1939) at 930 S. Ninth. And in August he took over as head of the market's moribund and famously fractious - often stalls versus stores - business association.

You can, if you poke around, dredge up mutterings that Di Bruno's itself, by opening a glittering Center City spin-off, is part of the problem: It is one less reason to schlep down to Ninth Street.

But the far larger consensus is that Mignucci, diamond studs in his ears and a hair-trigger hug, is making a heroic stand: "He's basically taking on a second job," said Michael Anastasio, the produce wholesaler.

Mignucci isn't starting off slow. He has a one-year term. And already he has recruited other sons of market pioneers (coffee-shop owner Anthony Anastasio, for one, whose own grandfather started a produce stand in 1938), launched committees on lighting and parking and trash, lobbied city councilmen, met with New York developers.

"After 100-plus years," Mignucci wrote of his new troops, "we are young and virile and ready to effect change in 'The Market.' "

Not just to clean it up without Disney-fying it. Not just to find more parking, the eternal quest. But to get tenants for the empty storefronts. To invite new housing. To revive the gritty romance; to make it sing again, somehow louder than the grumbling.

At first blush, it is not unthinkable that this time - given Mignucci's raw energy and track record, and the right aligning of the stars - the market's latest identity crisis could turn out differently, well, than the last half dozen of them.

But there is a good chance that things won't unfold quite the way, or at quite the pace, that Emilio Mignucci envisions.

There are other market conditions in play, far afield of Ninth Street.

---

In a drizzle one recent morning, Mignucci cradled a cup of tea and surveyed the stretch of South Ninth that heads north of Montrose.

Directly up the street from Pronto, the prepared-food shop his family owns, their parking lot has been reconfigured as a poor man's piazza, red umbrellas furled at a cluster of cafe tables.

Mignucci said 300 patrons were polled in June and their top request was "more seating." So there, he said: 40 more seats, up for grabs, open to anyone.

One step forward. Except like so much here, there's another part of the story: The back wall of the lot is painted with that towering mural of Frank Rizzo, the late mayor. But it is also the side wall of one more vacant storefront on Ninth, the former butcher shop of one A. Bonuomo, sealed up like a tomb, maintained as a memorial by his widow.

It is hard to get a precise count, but about 10 percent of the storefronts in the core of the market (between Christian Street and Washington Avenue) are empty - some relegated to storage (as are three owned by the Di Bruno interests), others plastered with "Fabulous Store" leasing posters, some (an old bread shop, for instance) scarred by fire and boarded up, others simply dark, most visibly the shuttered Butcher's Cafe at the key corner of Ninth and Christian.

For these Mignucci has plans, too: First, he is closing Pronto itself after the holidays, but just for conversion to a wine and cheese cafe. Then he wants to find someone to bring in a craft-beer emporium like the 500-bottle Foodery that is such a hit in Northern Liberties.

And why not another space filled with a bustling trattoria presided over by a headliner, say, Marc Vetri, the rustic-Italian golden boy? (It's not such a stretch! His father grew up in the 'hood! Vetri's partner, Jeff Benjamin, says if they ever did a deal with anyone, it would be with the Mignucci family.)

And what about the fallow stalls, lined in Astroturf, or home to a ripped mattress, at this northerly end of the market? Mignucci sees a future for them, as well: Get some Lancaster County farmers in there; have curbside join farm market: What's old is new!

A few blocks south, the operating stalls are piled high with soul-food collard greens and second-quality lemons, with croakers and porgies and whiting, immigrant Mexican vendors selling to African American shoppers.

No $19-a-pound Spanish cheeses down here, none of Fante's hammered-copper pots, or Sonny D'Angelo's exquisite game sausage: Here price trumps local, bargain beats organic.

Farther south, across Washington Avenue where the old icehouse once stood, Mignucci (who runs the Di Bruno properties with two other Mignuccis, his brother Billy and cousin Billy) sees something else, in his mind's eye, at least: a row of new retail, with condos above, rising from the demolition site.

Midwood Management, the New York developer, bought the property: "They must know something," Mignucci says.

So that's his wish list - a cleaned-up market, more parking, farm-fresh produce, lights on not just until 7 but until 10 at night, coffee shops open, cafes jumping, his own Pronto reimagined, looking out that three-story mug of Frank Rizzo.

Maybe then the hip, young crowd that lines up outside Sabrina's Cafe will spend a few bucks after brunch.

---

Another future, though, suddenly seems just as likely as the economic crisis plays out: a back-to-roots scenario in a market born in hard times and, perhaps, soon to be rededicated by hard times.

It's not that the old ways would be replicated, exactly. Demographics have changed in surrounding Bella Vista - Italians front and center, maybe, but young professionals to the left, Mexican immigrants to the right, African Americans towing shopping baskets, Asians with their own markets a few blocks east, brimming with baby bok choy, Thai basil, and lemongrass that hasn't dried out.

Oh, and there's been refrigeration: So the business for 40 (that's correct) butcher shops that sold meat to daily shoppers on Ninth Street in the day isn't coming back; about seven remain.

But "Ninth Street was built on cheap," to quote Michael Anastasio, the produce wholesaler.

And it is that end of the trade - the bins of fish heads and ham hocks, the cheap cuts of chuck and five heads of garlic for a dollar - that could see a revival unbidden by a business association or promotion budget.

That open-air low overhead is why Philadelphia granted the curb market license to poach on a public street in the first place; "to counter," as a local historical marker notes, "the high prices and food shortages after World War I."

From the beginning, the market was a target of anti-immigrant sentiment and harangues about lousy sanitation. But here it still stands, the droopy awnings, the sidewalk chants, the raw commerce little changed in style since 1915 - though the product line has a new accent.

Isgro's still stuffs cannolis to order. George's stews its tripe. Di Bruno still celebrates truffle season. But towering Mexican wedding cakes totter in the window at Las Lomas, and there are tamales and pollos rostizados, and at Lupita's Luncheria, workers spoon down steaming bowls of posole.

Yes, you can get most of this stuff - the pots and pans, the gravy-soaked pork sandwiches, the bony fish, the hair-relaxer, the cheeses, the tamales, posole and roast chicken - in other parts of the city these days.

What you can't get, of course, is the Ninth Street Market in all its faded glory - fire barrels showering sparks, peppers by the bagful, skinned rabbits in the windows.

So while the economy's nosedive may sidetrack the higher-concept piece of Emilio Mignucci's rescue, it may - without anyone's lifting a finger - give a second life to the stalls still struggling at the curb.

They may not speak Italian. But they are, still, The Market.

Contact columnist Rick Nichols at 215-854-2715 or [e-mail]. Read his recent work at go.philly.com/ricknichols