Hi Fran, Did you remember when there was a funeral parlor at the building on the northeast side of 49th & Baltimore? I went to my first funeral there as a girl scout at the age of 12 because my classmate died when she was in 7th grade at Shaw Jr High where we went from Harrington at 53rd & Baltimore.
There was a bank across the street and on the other side where that health care office is now was a fish take-out place that did incredible business on Friday nights because of the large number of Catholics in the neighborhood. I think it was called Uhry's. It had all the activity of a train station during rush hour on Friday nights. I mostly went to the Ambassador theater at 57th & Baltimore where they also had cartoons, serials with John Wayne from the 20s and a feature. Looking back, I don't know how the adults could stand to be anywhere near that movie house during those matinees. Also went to the Sherwood at 54th & Baltimore where I remember receiving free dinner plates on Tuesday nights (to fight the inroads of television) and the Lenox at 53rd & Chester across the street from the Little Sisters of the Poor. Do you remember the big sliding board that came out of the huge old boot on 69th Street? It was supposed to be from the old woman and the shoe who had so many children she didn't know what to do. Sande Knight tel. 215-246-2424 fax 215-405-3178 [EMAIL PROTECTED] This message (including any attachments) contains confidential information intended for a specific individual and purpose, and is protected by law. If you are not the intended recipient, you should delete this message. Any disclosure, copying, or distribution of this message, or the taking of any action based on it, is strictly prohibited.
--- Begin Message ---Hi, Sande, Although we didn't go to the tea room at 47th & Springfield, did you know that the Marigold Dining Room at 45th & Larchwood was originally the Marigold Tea Room? I benefited from Marigold food since before I was born because while my mother was expecting me, she walked up 45th St. to the Marigold for a good dinner whenever my father was traveling on his job. She did so until she could no longer comfortably walk up the hill. Also the Fireside Dining Room was in a house at 43rd & Pine St. The ice cream parlor on Baltimore near the Byrd Theater was owned by Mr. Angelo. It was the biggest treat to go there for an ice cream soda while sitting on those fancy curved wrought iron chairs and be greeted by that gracious and friendly Italian gentleman who always had time to chat. I think I described the Byrd Theater here a while ago. It had an elegant second floor room where people could play cards before the movie began. It was a lovely place and one where we went as kids just about every Saturday afternoon for the matinee, complete with many cartoons. On Sunday afternoons, we often walked to the Commodore Theater at 43rd & Walnut for their matinee and cartoons. Whenever a cartoon would begin, all the kids in the theater let out a big cheer. Many of the movies that we saw as kids were really good. I wonder why most of them don't show up on the classic movie TV channels? Ah, it's fun to walk down memory lane. Fran In a message dated 1/13/2004 7:06:37 PM Eastern Standard Time, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: > > > > > > > > > In the thirties, there was a Ladies' Tea Room at 4711 Baltimore Avenue run by two > sisters, one widowed and bossy. My mother worked for them after her classes at West > Philly High. It was a trip for me to take my mom to meet my friend's friend who had > just bought that same place in 1970. She walked about the building reminiscing and > explaining what it looked like then. > > Across the street where the municipal lot now stands was the Byrd movie theater > where "House of Wax" with Vincent Price played in 3D and they gave out those > glasses. One of the buildings near where Mariposa now stands housed a pharmacy with > a soda fountain where you could get the biggest and best hot fudge sundaes. > > The area known as Squirrel Hill, an area bounded by 46th to 49th and Kingsessing to > Windsor, was, by the thirties, upper-middle class complete with a commuter rail > service like those in the suburbs. Although, it may have started out, as Al Krigman > suggests, a lower-middle class neighborhood at the turn of the century utilizing > those huge houses for their big families and by renting out to more recent > immigrants than they. The really large and expensively-built, single homes in that > area seem to have been funeral parlours, i.e., northwest corner of 48th and > Springfield (Ellie and Nick's B&B) and the Italianate single (the Ewings) on the > north side of Chester next door to the apt bldg on the northeast corner of 48th & > Chester. > > The church on the southwest corner of 47th & Kingsessing was originally an > Episcopalian church built, I think, about the same time as St Francis. So there had > to be some WASPS around despite the developing mainly Irish "Catholic Power Corner." > St Francis, as a group of worshipers, was started around 1896 and they finished > building their church in 1920. It was thought by many that the "Lace Curtain Irish" > lived east of 49th street and to the west of that same street housed those Irish not > so fortunate. > > If you ever drive or bicycle around old, southwest Philadelphia, you will find > remnants of stables, old peddlers' trails that wind through streets diagonally and > other reminders of an earlier time. Other neighborhoods may have had the money to > re-build but these old places just remained and stagnated because of poverty. > > Sande Knight > > tel. 215-246-2424 > > fax 215-405-3178 > > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > > > This message (including any attachments) contains confidential information intended > for a specific individual and purpose, and is protected by law. If you are not the > intended recipient, you should delete this message. Any disclosure, copying, or > distribution of this message, or the taking of any > action based on it, is strictly prohibited. > > > >
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