NY Times goes to Fishtown!
No doubt you’ve seen the quaint little Sunday NY Times article about Fishtown, in which Jess McCuan drives to Philly for an afternoon and sees nothing but artists and boutique shop revival throughout New Kensington.
Seeing that her piece lacked a certain “local knowledge,” of which I, as a resident of Fishtown, am privy to, I rewrote portions of the article in hopes of shedding a truer light on our overlooked little gem of a neighborhood:
Day Out | Fishtown, Philadelphia
"Birth Pangs Along the River"
By John Davidson
THE Fishtown district of Philadelphia is known as a place to score drugs. Set along the Delaware River in the northeastern part of the city, the area was the former home the Turtle Clan of the Lenni Lenape Indian tribe before they were driven out and replaced by German, Irish and Polish immigrants, who were in turn replaced by bearded hipsters and wannabe artists.
But these days, wandering homeless men and kids with Fetal Alcohol Syndrome still easily outnumber artists and hipsters. Thanks to a planned waterfront casino and spillover from gentrifying neighborhoods like Northern Liberties, Fishtown is confusing mix of gentrification and urban decay. Young professionals and creative types are moving into extremely cheap, crumbling rowhomes, but upscale restaurants, galleries and high-end shops have yet to follow on account of the trash and crime.
Emblematic of the neighborhood is Rocket Cat Café (2001 Frankford Ave.,
215-739-4526, myspace.com/therocketcatcafe), a coffee shop that manages to employ girls who haven’t the attention span to remember you ordered a large coffee AND make change for a five. Presumably named after a shoddy metal sculpture bolted to the sidewalk outside, the coffee shop has furniture salvaged from the street and a mixed crowd of would-be artists, musicians and even some homeless youth who stink the place up on Tuesday afternoons.
During the day, gangs of Fishtown teens roam between coffee shops, thrift stores, and neighborhood taverns, throwing rocks at hipsters and stealing their PBR money. At Old Philadelphia Bar (2100 block of E. Dauphin St.) patrons regularly carry illegal guns and wave them around during meth fights.
One local favorite is Three Points (2573 Frankford Ave.), a food shack situated at the intersection of Frankford, Ambler and Huntington that used to be open 24 hours until some shootings near there a few months back shuttered the place after 11pm. If you go, watch out for the chicken, it might make you sick!
RELATED: Glossary: For The Better Understanding Of The NYTimes Piece On Fishtown [Philebrity]
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