South
Street is an east-west street in the Center City
neighborhood of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The stretch of
South Street between Front Street and Seventh Street is known
for its "bohemian" atmosphere and its wide variety
of shops and eateries of many different styles. The street
is comparable to a large outdoor mall, with the occasional
bar and club providing live music. It is one of Philadelphia's
largest tourist attractions, and today is frequented by people
from outside the city as well as tourists from other states
and/or countries.
History
Originally named Cedar Street in William Penn's plan of Philadelphia,
South Street was the traditional southern boundary of Philadelphia's
city limits before the townships of Passyunk, Moyamensing
and Southwark were annexed to the city.
Prior
to and until the 1950s, South Street was known mainly as a
garment district, featuring a number of men's suit stores
and other clothing stores. At approximately that time, city
planner Edmund Bacon and others proposed the construction
of the "Crosstown Expressway"- a short limited-access
expressway connecting the Schuylkill Expressway and I-95 by
cutting a swath along South Street. Although that project
never got further than the planning stage, the drop in real
estate values that resulted from the uncertainty attracted
artists and counterculture-types.
South
Street was very different in the 1960s-1970s than it is today.
Back then, it was filled with clubs and bars, most of them
promoting live local music. It was on South Street that the
Philadelphia local music community began. Most people who
frequented South Street actually lived in South Philadelphia,
unlike today where it is populated by the inhabitants of North/West
Philadelphia, suburban Philadelphia and New Jersey.
The 1960s
and 1970s saw South Street grow to become a huge clubbing
and live music area for Philadelphia. It was not uncommon
to see South Philadelphians go "bar-hopping" across
the clubs, listening to live bands along the way. It was this
time when many artists, including Kenn Kweder (revered as
the "bard of South Street"), George Thorogood and
Robert Hazard got signed because of this community of fans
on South Street.
However,
towards the 1980s South Street began getting more famous,
quickly becoming one of Philly's tourist attractions. Tourists
flocked to the nocturnal community that South Street had accumulated
over the years, and the "neighborhood" community
aspect was stripped from it. Many of the South Street clubs
closed, replaced by chain stores and shops to cater to the
tourists who came down.
South
Street in Popular Culture
Zipperhead (now out of business) was referenced in the song
"Punk Rock Girl" by the Dead Milkmen.The Orlons,
a music group from Philadelphia, released a 1963 song based
on (and entitled) South Street.
Philadelphia
band Need New Body has a song called "So St RX"
which is about South Street.
Fear's
1982 song "I Don't Care About You", which name-checks
the neighborhoods associated with the punk movement in the
United States in the early 1980's, begins with the line, "I'm
from South Street Philadelphia".
The Dead
Milkmen's 1988 song "Punk Rock Girl" makes references
to Zipperhead (a punk rock/alternative clothing and accessories
store) and The Philly Pizza Company, both of which were located
on South Street before going out of business. Portions of
the video for this song were filmed on South Street. Zipperhead
has since relocated to South 4th St. and renamed to Crash
Bang Boom, after rising real estate costs forced them to close.
Boyz
II Men's debut song and video "Motownphilly" was
filmed on location on South Street.
The HBO
comedy special The Diceman Cometh, starring comedian Andrew
Dice Clay, was recorded at South Street's Theater of the Living
Arts (and was mentioned in the special by Clay).
South
Street is shown in the opening credits of the FX Network show
"It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia".
During
Mardi Gras in 2001, celebrations at South Street restaurant/bar
Fat Tuesday got out of hand, eventually resulting in drunken
partiers spilling out onto the street. Stores and other businesses,
including the Tower Records location, were broken into and
looted before Philadelphia police had a chance to quell the
ruckus.
The incident
painted a negative image of Philadelphia and was the subject
of ridicule on many late-night TV talk shows. Subsequent years
have seen not only an increased police presence on South Street
on Mardi Gras, but also a general avoidance by partiers due
to said presence.
Today,
South Street remains a very popular hangout and commercial
hub for teens and twentysomethings alike. South Street, while
once popular with many consumers who preferred shopping at
small unique shops and boutiques, is increasingly becoming
an outdoor mall. Longtime South Street icons such as Zipperhead
have moved elsewhere, making way for commercial giants to
move in, diluting the original cultural experience.
Source
of Article:
Wikipedia.
(2008). South Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Retrieved May 30, 2008 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Street_%28Philadelphia%29 |
