The Many Faces of North Philadelphia

North Philadelphia holds stories on every block – stories of creativity, disinvestment, industry and resilience that shaped the entire city. The first-ever North Philadelphia History Festival, held July 24 to 27 across a few of the dozens of neighborhoods that make up North Philly, invited locals to step into that living archive.

Before colonization, the area was home to the Lenape people, whose land stretched from Delaware to New York. For the majority of the 19th and a portion of the 20th century, North Philadelphia was home to countless factories that supported the industrial revolution, including the Ford Motor Company, Tastycake and Frishmuth Tobacco Works, just to name a few. As elders who were around long enough to know often put it, “you could get fired from a factory one day and walk across the street and get hired on the spot.”

The Fletcher Street Riding Club is carrying on the centuries-old legacy of urban cowboys in Philly and is spitting distance from the 2,000-acre Fairmount Park – both institutions highlight the thriving ecological landscape that grew and thrived alongside the booming industry.

Riding up North Broad, one could get whiplash from trying to catch a glimpse of the art and cultural legacies that dot the arterial corridor: The Blue Horizon, Joe Frazier’s Gym, The Divine Loraine, The Uptown Theater where folks were able to see concerts from the Temptations, The Supremes, James Brown, usually for less than the price of a cup of coffee today, and the brownstone performance art hub known at the Freedom Theater. Instances of Black affluence peppered thoroughfares like Cecil B. Moore (formerly Columbia Avenue) and Diamond Street.

About half of those institutions have since shuttered. Many factors are to blame, including outsourcing of factory work to foreign countries, white flight, disinvestment in the largely Black and Brown communities, and diminished backing of the arts. As a result, North Philadelphia saw a surge in poverty and crime. But if one thing is certain about North Philadelphia, it’s that it’s resilient.

This fall, for Next City’s annual Vanguard conference, Next City will be heading to North Philadelphia with more than 40 up-and-coming urban planners and community development professionals to learn about the history of the area and how it’s shaped the city as a whole.

Ahead of that, Next City attended the four-day North Philadelphia History Festival, organized by Scribe Video Center as a “cultural celebration of the African American and Puerto Rican communities” in the area to transform historic sites “into living exhibits created by artists, historians, curators and other cultural workers.” We spoke with and photographed artists, community members and festival attendees to learn about their connection to the area and their hopes for the future.

The New Barber’s Hall has been in Curtis Lee’s family for more than four decades. His family has maintained ownership despite rapid changes to the neighborhood

Situated in the heart of Temple University’s Campus is the New Barber’s Hall. This community hub, founded by Jake Adams 46 years ago, has withstood the many changes to the neighborhood. In addition to being a local watering hole, the space hosts weekly live jazz shows and other regular events on one of its four floors.

Curtis Lee, a 40-year-old North Philadelphia native, is the nephew of New Barber’s Hall owner Jake Adams.

“Most people would’ve sold a business, a house for money because they’re desperate or they just love money. But if they hold onto a piece of property, it can last a lifetime. You can build equity. It’s important as a Black person to try to hold onto something and try to own something.

“North Philadelphia has changed a lot, and it is becoming a 100% better than what it was. I just hope that families stick together more. It’s more important that we can build together as a community. We forget about that as we get older. “

Vernon Jordan III visited the “it be your own people” exhibit at the Divine Loraine since he had multiple friends who worked on the exhibit.

Vernon Jordan III is a Philly-born and raised writer, filmmaker and poet.

“I went to Freedom Theater as a teenager – that was my training ground. We learned all about Columbia Avenue, C. B. Moore, the founding of Temple, of course, the riots, but there was so much beauty. And the Divine Lorraine was also part of that story and history. Being at Freedom Theater was essential for my understanding of North Philadelphia.

“I remember going to the Blue Horizon with my dad as a kid to see boxing matches. And as I got older, having conversations with my grandma, who, when she and her family migrated here from South Carolina, they were in North Philly. Her story is about like going to see like the Jackson Five and like Motown acts for like 10 cents, 25 cents at the Uptown.”

muthi reed, an ethnographic artist living and working in Philadelphia, stands next to her video installation.

In “it be your own people,” ethnographic artist Muthi Reed curates a cinematic collection that explores the essential role of love in sustaining Black life in North Philadelphia. The work acts as a shrine, honoring both collective and personal histories — especially that of Reed’s maternal grandparents, who met as young Southern migrants working at the Divine Lorraine Hotel in the 1940s. Drawing from a dynamic range of images, symbols and archival media, Reed constructs and reconstructs a layered visual narrative that reflects the experiences of Black Philadelphians.

muthi reed’s family looks at her video installation at the Divine Lorraine Hotel.

Musician Alfir Pollit chatting with audience members during a live performance at North Philadelphia History Festival.

Blessing Robinson recently returned back to North Philadelphia from New York. “I was born in New Jersey, but I moved to North Philly when I was nine years old, right up the street on 31st Street. I went to L.P. Hill Elementary School before it was closed down.”

Blessing Robinson outside of The Yard on John Coltrane Street during a musical activation during the North Philadelphia History Festival.

“North Philly has amazing birds. I recently saw a woodpecker – it was over there near the Boxer Trail. I think that North Philly has definitely made strides as far as nature, because I see a lot of great animals. Of course, there are a lot of chipmunks and a lot of groundhogs, but the fact that you have such a rare bird just sitting there [Fairmount Park] for you to see, and it’s basically a conservatory or reservoir, I think that’s amazing.”

Fairmount Park isn’t just green space; it serves as a cultural anchor for everything from neighborhood cookouts and family reunions to large-scale festivals and parades. It’s where drumlines rehearse. Beyond the block parties and drumlines, Fairmount functions as one of the city’s last intact ecological hubs. Its wetlands, forests and wildlife offer quiet protection against the noise of development.

Philadelphians celebrating Liberian Independance Day at Fairmount Park.

On any given day, parts of Fairmount Park can be packed with community members celebrating birthdays, graduations or family reunions. A Liberian Independence Day festival happened to be taking place at the park at the same time as Slow Drag, a mobile music installation highlighted during the North Philadelphia History Festival.

Philadelphia has a thriving car culture scene. On Sundays, car aficionados bring their tricked-out cars to Belmont Plateau, a section of Fairmount Park to show off their custom designs and sound systems. The North Philadelphia History Festival tapped into this community for the Slow Drag mobile sound installation.

SlowDrag is a public art project and mobile sound installation featuring a procession of classic cars.

Created by artists Mendi and Keith Obadike, Slow Drag unfolds as a procession of slow-rolling, tricked-out cars blasting remixes of the Obadikes’ love song “Joy and Everything.” Each vehicle was customized and is outfitted with high-end speakers, creating a synchronized sonic experience that wrapped around North Philly. The procession passed through Fairmount Park.

Anyabwile Love is a writer, filmmaker and Black studies professor who founded and coordinated the John Coltrane Symposium, an annual celebration of John Coltrane’s life and music. Love’s son Coltrane is a student and video game aficionado.

The father-son duo Anyabwile and Coltrane Love stand outside of The Yard on John Coltrane Street during a musical activation.

When asked about his favorite thing about North Philadelphia, Coltrane responded that he wished “more people knew that Kings” – the iconic water ice spot – “is so good.”

For Coltrane, it was water ice. For his father, bike rides and block parties. What links their memories is the way Philly summer makes room for joy and connection.

“The elders in our community were probably my age then, but they really kind of looked over us and showed interest in us. They took us on more like excursions — Valley Green and places like that. Summer in Philadelphia is special.”

Like any place, North Philly contains multitudes. Here you’ll find joy and pain, grit and softness, legacy and invention all colliding at once. It may not be the newest or shiniest of all of Philadelphia’s neighborhoods, but one could argue that it’s one of the most storied. This place has always been layered. The North Philadelphia History Festival offered a fresh reminder that history will always show up in its people and places.