What Makes a Neighborhood

Great local color and history

 My design class has been focusing on one neighborhood in Philadelphia and researching the neighborhood's history, the current uses, the projects planned for the space and the community members and their opinions on what is and could be happening there. We're reading Image of the City by Kevin Lynch at the same time, where three cities, Boston, Jersey City and Los Angeles (circa 1960) are examined for their successes and failures of imagability and what people who live there think of the cities, remember and love. It's an interesting thing to think about what makes a neighborhood great and what makes it miss the mark.

 

Historic details and architecture

Great Front Stoop Gardens and City Planters

 Reclaimed wood planter,  Girard Ave.

 Raised bed vegetable garden, West Philly

Walk Into The Woods Opening Night

Trouble the Water the Movie

Wow, what a powerful movie. I watched this last night and I was so amazed, not just by the fact that it's a true story, with actual first person video of the entire storm (Hurricane Katrina), but what really struck me was that it was from the point of view of a poor couple from the 9th ward who were struggling to survive before the storm but had the foresight to document the event and to seek out documentarians to get their story out there, never victims, but always strong and caring.

If I taught high school in the city, I would show this to my students in a heartbeat because it really gives voice to the voiceless and shows their experience is a shared experience and a valid experience, wherever you come from, you can be in charge of your choices and your future, no matter what life throws at you. The woman filmmaker, Kimberly Rivers Roberts decides to record her neighborhood and the storm, keeping her caring, sunny disposition throughout, later revealing a powerful rap persona, Black Kold Medina and we learn she has had a life no one would envy but has not let this keep her down.

Street Photos

On the street in Philly.

PHOTOGRAPH GIVEAWAY:

Giveaway Day Has Arrived!

And the Winner is...............

Paintingpam!

Congrats! You'll be getting a free 8 x 10 photograph of your choice from my etsy shop, www.allisonostertag.etsy.com

You can follow Pam at her blog: http://paintingpam.blogspot.com

I went old-school and put everyone's name on a piece of paper, folded it, put it in a bag and asked a unbiased party (Emily, my coworker) to pick a name. Sorry for those of you who didn't win, but I was really excited by the response so I'll be doing this again soon! Check back for more info! Thanks everyone who is now following my blog! BTW, I would have held the drawing at noon, but we had an office meeting until 2!

FREE 8 x 10 PHOTOGRAPH GIVEAWAY!

I'm giving away one free 8 x 10 Photograph of your choice, and you can choose from any image in my etsy shop that is 8 x 10 or larger! All it takes to enter is to leave a comment someplace here on my blog (any posting)! When you leave your comment, be sure to mention you'd like to be included in the giveaway! The drawing will be in two weeks and I will notify the winner by e-mail.

Edible Schoolyard and Shopping Local

I just ordered Edible Schoolyard by Alice Waters from the Penn Book Center (not the bookstore, but the Indie bookstore on 34th and Sansom). I'm getting really excited about building a garden at West Philly High School this summer, so I am buying books on all the ways to prepare every vegetable under the sun and I figured I would buy Alice Water's book since she was the first person who got me thinking about gardens as food sources and community builders at public schools.

Thinking about buying locally, (not from the Penn Bookstore which is owned by Barnes & Noble), Sansom Street between 34th and 36th streets is a great local shopping enclave that is dissapearing as we speak. The Saturn Club will close its cafe in about a week and focus on Salon space. Bucks County Coffee closed its doors on this block about a year ago (and the other stores were bought by Saxby's), The Black Cat gift shop is closing its doors and has been selling off all their stock since Christmas and the White Dog Cafe has been bought out by the folks who run Moshulu.

On the upside, AVRIL 50 is still going strong after 25 years and has every magazine you love but is hard to find at the big box stores or CVSes (Bust, Ready Made, European magazines, every subject you can think of) and espresso drinks, teas and gourmet import chocolates. It really is a place you need to see to believe. Decorated with covers of Interview magazines from the early 90's, he also carries notecards, International newspapers, wrapping paper, black and white postcards, calenders and planners. Located at 3406 Sansom Street.

Rittenhouse Square Park

If you haven't visited the park lately, now's the time to go. I stopped by on Sunday because I'd noticed the leaves were changing and it was gorgeous out and the colors were fantastic. It's hard to take a bad photograph in the park, because there are so many different sculptures and lanes and features to focus on and beautiful old trees. There are plenty of benches and lots of local coffee shops to pick up a cider, hot chocolate or coffee to keep you warm while you read a book or just people watch. Kids were climbing all over the sculptures and playing tag in the dry fountain and old ladies were being pushed in wheel chairs by their aides, admiring the mini doggies with studded collars. It's nice to take a break and sit down for a while instead of running around like a crazy person all the time!

Beets! Free Food!

I stopped by the community garden today and I was planning to drop off compost and look around, but sad the season is ending, but when I got there I saw the beets! They were huge and there were these 4 ready to pick and scores of other ones will be ready now that these biggins are out of the way! And I was at the store this morning trying to decide what root veggie to roast and luckily I didn't get beets. I totally forgot I was growing them. I picked some thyme and lemon balm while I was there and I was feeling so happy I have a garden and I can get free food when I need it from the garden. Of course, I'll be tired of beets after I eat these, but it's still cool.

I've been thinking about ways to make the community garden more friendly and functional and fun and today I was thinking we should name each block of beds so people can say where their plot is. I was thinking letters, but you could also name the blocks after cities or states and you could name the paths. Like you could have the block Los Angeles and Rodeo Drive and New Orleans and St. Charles Ave. We have a fantastic community garden (18th and Wallace Streets),.