Center City West: Area Building Boom Includes High-Rise Hotels, Condos
David Ertz peered out his office window at the evolving Center City skyline he is helping to create. “It is kind of remarkable, what’s going on,” said Ertz, a partner and design architect at Cope Linder Architects, located at Market and 17th streets. The firm has designed buildings in the neighborhood like 1706 Rittenhouse Square […]
Rittenhouse Square: As the Decades Pass, Clothing Store Owner Keeps Pace With Changing Fashions
The visually stunning windows of Sophy Curson on the corner of 19th and Sansom streets stand out in the sea of industrial and vintage-looking storefronts. The slanted tile roof and floor to ceiling windows are inviting and intriguing – much like store itself. Sophy Curson has been in business since 1929. According to family lore, […]
Philadelphia: Aging at Risk of Financial Exploitation
Much has been said about impact of the millennials, which can make it easy to forget that baby boomers will soon reach retirement age. From 1999 to 2009, the nation’s aging population grew from 35.3 to 39.6 million and will reach an estimated 55 million by 2020, according the World Health Organization. Philadelphia is no […]
Center City: New Program Combats Illiteracy Among Philadelphia’s Youth
The Free Library of Philadelphia has long benefited communities around the city. As the adult illiteracy rate in Philadelphia continues to rise, the library system has strengthened a two-year program called Read by 4th to combat illiteracy at a young age. “The statistic we go off of is that less than 40 percent of kids in third […]
Center City: Five Parks That Make You Forget You’re In Philadelphia
Philadelphia is full of parks and lush gardens that make it easy to forget it’s a large city on the East Coast. Rittenhouse, Graduate Hospital and Logan Square are three neighborhoods within walking distance of each other and include some of the most walker- and biker-friendly areas in Center City. They’re home to some of the […]
Amateur Sports: Sports Groups are Important for Mental Health
The physical benefits of sports and exercise have long been established. Staying active can help fight disease, improve your immune system and show better character traits to help you develop as a person. But what about the mental health side of sports? According to the National Institute of Mental Health, anxiety disorders are the most common […]
Fishtown: ZogSportsPHL Giving Back to Charity Through Amateur Sports
On the Morning of 9/11, Robert Herzog was on his way to work. His office building was located on the 96th floor of World Trade Center One (North Tower). That morning, he did things he didn’t usually do. He hit the snooze button twice. He usually took an express train but took a different one […]
Logan Square: “Like Living and Having a Classroom Outside of The Classroom”
The Logan Square Neighborhood Association is an all-volunteer community organization comprised of residents and organizations in the Logan Square area who hope to keep the area a beautiful and safe place to live and visit. In order for the organization to run smoothly, it needs strong leaders who can recognize the needs of the community. […]
Fairmount: Plants Providing Natural Healing Benefits to People Using Herbal Remedies
Before pharmaceutical medicine became prevalent in modern society, people used holistic herbal medicine to treat illnesses. Today, the trend of using herbs for health care continues. “Essentially, herbal medicine is the use of plants as medicine in different forms which can be teas, tinctures or liquids, there are a lot of different ways to prepare them,” Adam […]
Francisville: More Than Just Another Furniture Store, Uhuru Seeks to Educate
When nonprofit Uhuru Furniture moved from Center City to Francisville, sales manager Ruby Gittelsohn remembers one community member’s surprise. “I remember one guy said, ‘I was watching while they were renovating this building, but I didn’t think it was going to be something for me,’” Gittelsohn said. “Meaning, it was going to be more gentrification. […]