Month: July 2010
Lou’s Shoe Repair
The sole man of Frankford is what the Northeast Times called him a couple of weeks ago. Sorry I didn’t get time to link to the story until now. For those of us who grew up when the was a shoe repair guy in every neighborhood, this is sort of nostalgia.
Gene Oliveti has been mending footwear at Lou’s Shoe Repair in Frankford since a few months after graduating from Lincoln High School in 1977.
And not just shoes get fixed at the shop on the 4800 block of Frankford Ave., a business that was purchased by Oliveti’s father, Lou, in 1972. He’ll repair belts, handbags and briefcases.
Read the entire story by John Loftus here.
Yet Another Cool Bar Opening Up Under The El, it’s 3 miles from Frankford, but still
Philadelphia Brownstoner reports that the owners of Shenanigan’s Saloon is opening up a second location under the El at Front and Cecil B Mooore. It’s three and a half miles from Frankford but it still bolsters the case that businesses will open up under the El. For too long, probably since I’ve been born, I’ve been hearing that having the El sit over Frankford’s main drag is a big reason for Frankford’s business issues. Talk to me about the lack the crime. Talk to me about the poverty, and talk to me about better parking in mini malls.
There’s already Kung Fu Necktie, the El Bar is a regular hipster hangout and now comes news of Shenanigan’s Too. So let’s be real here and note that at least somewhere under the el, normal businesses can thrive.
photo credit: philly.brownstoner.com
Criminal Parked on the Wrong Block
I don’t usually link to stories like this but this is too good to ignore. From the Daily News:
On Saturday, police said Alvarez, 44, of Staten Island, N.Y., who was visiting the 12-year-old boy’s family, pulled up to where the boy was playing basketball on Lawrence Street near Rockland in Olney around 9:30 p.m. and asked him if wanted to go buy fireworks.
The boy got into Alvarez’s van and Alvarez drove nearly three miles to Rutland Street near Oxford Avenue in Frankford, where he parked the van, according to police.
A police source said residents of that area watched the van with New York plates park and witnessed as Alvarez and the boy went from the front of the van to the back.
Suspicious, the residents called police.
“This is outstanding that the neighbors got involved in this,” the source said.
Congratulations to the residents for getting this guy. You may have saved this boy.
The First Fourth of July
There are written references to Thomas Jefferson being in Frankford on July 4, 1776 but attempts to verify the accuracy of those accounts have not been successful. Joe Menkevich has done exhaustive research in exploring the story that Jefferson was here on the first Fourth. Read the results of his research here in the Frankford Chronicles and see some more related documentation on our history corner page under Quick Links. Read the entire document. Some of the most interesting material follows in the research notes.
