There is a good story on Hiddencity Philadelphia about the Globe Dye Works with an update of where they stand in the massive renovation and repurposing of the complex.  Take a look at this link.

There will be some events this year at the Globe that will be open to the public.  If you have the time, it is well worth a look at this hidden treasure in our midst.  Both sides of my family worked in the textiles mills in Frankford and the Globe is a significant part of that history.

When I drive along Adams Avenue from Kensington to Wingohocking, I picture how it will look when the Frankford Creek is restored and those old mills are converted to condos.  It is all there waiting to be restored since the creek was never covered up like most of the rest of the city was.

Johnny Abel tipped us off to the piece on Hidden City Philadelphia.  Take a look.

Although Tacony doesn’t share any borders with Frankford, we’re covering Hidden City’s Exhibit over at the Disston Saw Works anyway.  It was definitely worth the trip.  Now I’m pissed I waited so long to check out one of the installations until the last weekend, cause I’d have liked to check out the others.  But it was really something getting into a working factory and seeing what industry really means.  While I was going to Drexel, I used to live in Tacony at Edmund and Longshore so I’ve known about the similarities between Tacony and Frankford for quite a while.  Both were titans of Philadelphia commerce and literally workshops of the world.  And while I’ve had the phenomenal opportunity to get into Frankford’s Globe Dye Works to document it’s resurection, Disston’s Saw Works is still churning out product as Disston Precision.

The Disston facility was big as balls, and there were two different buildings open for viewing, one was the machine shop, apparently where most of precision stuff is made, and other was the art installation.  John Phillips and Carolyn Healy really did a nice job.

Here’s Disston Precision:

And here’s the exhibit:

and of course, rafters.

[link] http://www.disstonprecision.com/

[link] http://www.hiddencityphila.org/events/Disston_Saw_Works