“What they might now see is not always what it was.”

This statement, in its simplicity, carries weight. It’s as somber as it is matter-of-fact—a wistful acknowledgment that the blight that now dots the Mill Creek neighborhood is not the contour that defines it or the future it’s nurturing.

This statement is also at the heart of The Mill Creek Documentary: Past, Present, and Future, a new film by the Mill Creek Community Partnership (MCCP) and Eli Lu Productions exploring and honoring the three prongs of Mill Creek’s history (view trailer below). It’s a provoking documentary that encapsulates shifting images and heavy interviews with hopeful poignancy—refusing to accept the systematic and social issues that devastated the streets north of Market as permanent.

This Friday, Dec. 20, MCCP and Eli Lu Productions will screen The Mill Creek Documentary for Mill Creek residents—and those beyond the West Philly community—at St. Ignatius Nursing Home, 4401 Haverford Avenue. The premiere screening event will open with a reception at 5 p.m., followed by the showing at 6 p.m., and a panel discussion immediately after.

The documentary was made possible by funding and support through the Preservation Alliance of Greater Philadelphia. It is also a project of MCCP’s Fine Art Through Our Eyes Community Arts Initiative.

For more information, contact info@mccponline.org or call 267-288-3255.

–Annamarya Scaccia

Demolition crews have begun tearing down the 40th Street Methodist Episcopal Church to make room for retail space. The two-story Romanesque-style church has stood at the corner of 40th and Sansom for 136 years. The construction of the new space, which will host Dunkin Donuts, Zesto Pizza and a couple of other retailers, is expected to be completed by April 2014.

(Photo by West Philly Local reader Karl Munkelwitz.)

Another holiday season has come to 52nd Street and efforts are continuing to help the teeming commercial strip regain its reputation as “West Philly’s Main Street.”

52nd Street Station after renovation.

Over the past five years, the Enterprise Center’s Community Development Corporation (TEC-CDC) has invested in the renewal of 52nd Street, a once busy commercial corridor hit hard by the 10-year Market-Frankford EL reconstruction project. Providing guidance and support, the neighborhood initiative group has worked to spur economic growth in the area, hoping to bring back its vitality.

As part of those efforts, TEC-CDC recently hired Akeem Dixon as the retail gateway’s first-ever Commercial Corridor Manager, made possible by support from the Philadelphia Local Initiative Support Corporation (LISC). In his role, Dixon will primarily oversee a cleaning contract managed by the center, funded in part by the Philadelphia Department of Commerce, aimed to “help make 52nd Street the best it can be,” said Bryan Fenstermaker, TEC-CDC’s senior director of programming.

52nd Street Station before the 2007-2008 reconstruction project / Photos: Wikipedia.

“Our [work] is to make 52nd Street the most attractive and vibrant corridor that it can be,” Fenstermaker told West Philly Local. “52nd Street is really the livelihood of West Philadelphia … A number of people grew up here on the corridor and remember what it used to be like. There’s no reason it can’t come back.”

Hiring a portal manager is a major development not only for the corridor, but for the local organization,  which has a hand in its planning and economic growth. According to Fenstermaker, the new manager will also serve as a soundboard for the “wants and needs” of the area, helping TEC-CDC leverage the requests of 52nd Street’s businesses and residents. Dixon will, in effect, act as a liaison for those partners involved in the corridor—be they local community associations or business owners and street vendors—so there’s full engagement among everyone who has a stake in 52nd Street’s success.

“What we would like to see is the businesses and vendors come together to support somebody that’s full-time on there as a sustainable practice,” said Fenstermaker. “We’re there to support the stakeholders and the corridor, so I see us being there long-term.”

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The Woodlands.

An expansive swathe of history, The Woodlands is a majestic estate that is as overawing as it is rousing.

Once home to famous Philadelphia lawyer Andrew Hamilton, The Woodlands on 40^th Street and Woodland Avenue has transformed over the centuries from a 250-acre tract to a 53-acre manor featuring neoclassical architecture and lush greenery. And now the famous grounds, which made the National Historic Landmark District registry in 2006, is the inspiration of Elizabeth Gilbert’s new novel, The Signature of All Things (Viking), released last month.

Set in Philadelphia, The Signature of All Things is a tale of botanical history set over 120 years (from 1760 to 1880), with the main character family, the Whittakers, living at White Acre—the fictional manifestation of The Woodlands. According to her blog post on The Woodlands’ website, Gilbert—the novelist behind the wildly successful memoir-cum-movie Eat, Pray, Love—was inspired by the grandeur of The Woodlands, with particular focus on the carriage house and basement, which became a private botanical study and bedroom of the head housekeeper, respectively, in Gilbert’s first novel in 13 years. “So much of The Woodlands ended up in my novel—providing me with marvelous details which, I believe, help the book spring to life,” she writes.

“The Woodlands has now become so intrinsically entwined in my mind with White Acre that I can scarcely tell the two apart. I’ve been so grateful, as well, to the welcome that the curators of this great American treasure have given me — to the grounds, to the rooms, to the history,” she continues. “My hope is that my imagined story will draw very real readers to this very real place, so that The Woodlands will continue to get the appreciation it so richly deserves!”

Originally purchased by Andrew Hamilton in 1735, The Woodlands didn’t become the grand parkland it now is until 1786—20 years after Andrew’s grandson William inherited the grounds. That year, he built The Woodlands mansion with matching carriage house and stable, and “reshaped [it] to reflect contemporary English picturesque landscape and horticultural ideals.” Nestled on the Schuylkill River’s west bank, The Woodlands now features an elaborate Victorian rural cemetery, created in 1840, that is the resting place of over 30,000 people.

The Woodlands is open to the public from dawn to dusk. Pick up Gilbert’s novel, The Signature of All Things, in bookstores or online.

–Annamarya Scaccia

Editor’s Note: West Philly Local is proud to present the second in a series of vignettes of local block captains drawn from Them That Do, a multimedia documentary project and community blog by West Philly-based award-winning photographer Lori Waselchuk. The first profile ran last week.

Maureen Tate became a gardener because of a killing.

In the 1980s, during the era Maureen calls the “The Crack Period,” Cedar Park neighborhood residents organized drug vigils on the corner of 49^th Street and Baltimore Avenue where they would stand in shifts all night and ‘stare down dealers’ to try to prevent them from doing business.

“We were trying to regain control of our streets,” Maureen explained.

Another intimidating location was the vacant lot at the corner of 49^th and Florence Avenue. “The corner lot was trashed all the time and it was dangerous,” said Maureen, who has been the block captain of 4800 Florence Avenue since 1982. “The neighbors were feeling really threatened.”

When a Vietnamese immigrant was murdered in his home next to that lot in 1983, she and her neighbors decided to act. They removed the trash, built flower beds and filled them with daisies, lilies, and tulips. They named it Florence Garden. “Our garden made us feel we were reclaiming that space and staking our presence.”

The transformation required patience, and several years of work. Maureen laughs when she thinks about how little she knew about growing things. “Everything I know about gardening, I learned at Florence Garden.”

She and a handful of others maintained Florence Garden for 20 years. It won second place in the city’s garden contest in 1989.

“It was beautiful.”

Eventually the city sold the property in a sheriff sale and developers built four townhouses.

Cedar Park is now experiencing a period of more stability and reinvestment. “It’s such a relief to see happy people on our street.” Tate remains very active on her block as well as with Cedar Park Neighbors. She continues to garden in public spaces, organizing crews to build and maintain flower beds around Cedar Park.

Early this year, it was revealed that a mixed-use high-rise tower would replace two historically designated brownstones on 38^th and Chestnut Streets, with construction completing in 2015. It seems that demolition of those two brownstones, formerly Philadelphia Episcopal Cathedral’s parish house, is fast approaching, Hidden City Philadelphia recently reported.

According to Philadelphia License & Inspection records, a demolition permit was secured for the brownstones, located at 3723-25 Chestnut Street, on September 27 and updated on November 1 with an amendment for inclusion of a revised work plan. Once demolition completes, construction will begin this year on the $97 million project, developed and overseen by local firm Radnor Property Group (RPG) in partnership with the Philadelphia Episcopal Cathedral. The end result will feature a 25-story residential tower offering 276 apartment units, retail on the ground floor, and a fitness center.  Continue Reading