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Italian Market (Philadelphia)

Italian Market (Philadelphia)

The Italian Market is an area of Philadelphia featuring many grocery shops, cafes, restaurants, cheese shops, butcher shops, etc. with an Italian influence. It is generally considered to extend along 9th Street from Fitzwater Street in the north to Wharton Street in the south.

History

The Italian Market, frequently referred to simply as 9th Street, has its origins as a marketplace in the later 19th and early 20th century. The area, outside the traditional boundaries of William Penn's planned city, was an area for immigrants to settle in. Italian immigrants began to move into the area around 1884, when Antonio Palumbo began receiving "hundreds of Italian immigrants into his boardinghouse." Shops along 9th Street opened up shortly afterwards to cater to the new Italian community and have remained in the area to this day, with many of the present vendors tracing the founding of their business back to the first decade of the 20th century. The area continues to attract new immigrants as a number of Korean, Chinese and Mexican-run businesses have joined the traditional Italian shops in the market. The market also plays host to an annual Italian Market Festival with music, activities and, of course, food.

The Look

The Italian Market is considered to be an "outdoor" market. The market consists of shops which are usually on the ground floor of the traditional Philadelphia rowhouses that line the street. Owners would have originally lived on the one or two floors above their shop. There are also vendors (primarily of fruit and vegetables) that set up stands along the outside edge of the sidewalk. The vendor will stand in the street itself (where cars know not to park) and the buyer will stand on the sidewalk to inspect the produce. The market is known for its vibrant, ethnic atmosphere. Vendors will put on a show to grab the attention of customers and in the winter used boxes and crates will be put into metal barrels and set alight to provide fires where the vendors can keep warm.

Film

The Italian Market was featured in Rocky. Most notably, the running/training montage where a vendor tosses the boxer an apple.

List of Vendors

- Anastasi Seafood
- [http://www.anastasiocoffee.com/ Anthony's Italian Coffee House]
- Armand Rey Jewelery
- [http://www.geocities.com/Wellesley/Atrium/6167/flowers.html Betty Ann's Flowers]
- [http://www.thebutcherscafe.com/index.htm The Butcher's Cafe]
- [http://www.cannulismeats.com/ Cannuli's Meats] (est. 1908)
- Carl's Farm Eggs
- [http://www.claudiofood.com/ Claudio Specialty Food]
- [http://www.dangelobros.com/ D'Angelo Bros. Products, Inc.]
- Dan Khang Chinese Apothocary
- [http://www.dibruno.com/ Di Bruno Bros. House of Cheese] (est. 1939)
- Esposito's Meats
- Evantash Ladie's Foundations
- [http://www.fantes.com Fante's Gourmet & Kitchen Wares Shop] (est. 1906)
- George's Sandwich Shop
- [http://www.italianmarketspice.com/StoreFront.bok Grassia's Italian Market Spice Company]
- Iannelli’s Bakery
- [http://www.isgrobakery.com/ Isgro Pastries] (est. 1904)
- Lorenzo's Pizza
- The Market Smoke Shop
- Micali Fish
- [http://www.anastasioproduce.com/ Michael Anastasio Produce]
- Orlando's Meats
- Queen Cut-Rate
- [http://www.ralphsrestaurant.com/ Ralph's Restaurant]
- Renzullis Water Ice
- Sabrina's Cafe
- [http://www.thespicecorner.com/ Spice Corner]
- [http://www.superiorpasta.com/ Superior Pasta Co.] (est. 1948)
- Talluto's Pasta & Cheese
- Triple Play Sporting Goods
- Villa di Roma Restaurant

External Links

- [http://www.phillyitalianmarket.com/ Official website of the Italian Market]
- [http://www.9thstreetitalianmarketfestival.com/ Italian Market Festival] Category:Philadelphia neighborhoods Category:Philadelphia cuisine

Philadelphia

Philadelphia (sometimes referred to as "Philly" or "the City of Brotherly Love") is the fifth most populous city in the United States and the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, both in area and population. Since 1854, the city has been coterminous with Philadelphia County. Since 1952, the city and the county have shared a common government, yet the county still exists as a separate entity within Pennsylvania. As of June 30, 2005, the population estimate for the city was 1,470,151. The Philadelphia metropolitan area is the fourth largest in the United States by the current official definition, with some 6.2 million people, though some other definitions place it sixth behind the San Francisco Bay Area and Washington-Baltimore. Philadelphia is the central city for the Delaware Valley metropolitan area. Philadelphia is one of the oldest and most historically significant cities in the United States. It has played a critical role in American history and the birth of American independence, democracy, and freedom. During part of the 18th century, the city was the second capital and most populous city of the United States. At that time, it eclipsed Boston and New York City in political and social importance, with Benjamin Franklin playing an extraordinary role in Philadelphia's rise. The city limits have been coterminous with Philadelphia County since The Act of Consolidation in 1854. Prior to that, the city of Philadelphia consisted only of those areas between South Street, Vine Street, the Delaware River, and the Schuylkill River. The city's expansion incorporated the neighborhoods of West Philadelphia, South Philadelphia, North Philadelphia, and Northeast Philadelphia, as well as smaller communities such as Roxborough, Manayunk, Mt. Airy and Chestnut Hill. Philadelphia is also one of the largest college/university towns in the United States with over 120,000 students studying within the city limits alone and nearly 300,000 total college and university students in the metropolitan area.

History

Before Europeans arrived, the Delaware (Lenape) Indian town of Shackamaxon was located where Philadelphia now stands, specifically, the Germantown neighborhood. Although the area was within the bounds described in the 1632 Charter of Maryland, the Calvert family's actual reach never came this far, and Swedish colonists became the first Europeans to settle the area (see New Sweden), calling it Wiccacoa. A congregation was formed in 1646 on Tinicum Island by Swedish missionary Johannes Campanius. In 1700, the group built the Gloria Dei Church, also known as Old Swedes. Philadelphia is a planned city founded and developed by William Penn, a Quaker. The city's name means "city of brotherly love" in Greek (Φιλαδέλφια). Penn hoped that the city, as the capital of his new colony founded on principles of freedom and religious tolerance, would be a model of this philosophy. During early immigration by Quakers and others, when immigrants purchased land in the city, they also received farm land outside of the city. This was intended to allow the city's population to leave the city easily. Penn also required lots of alleyways and open spaces in hopes of controlling fires and disease, which were then common problems in London and other major cities. London Philadelphia was a major center of the independence movement during the American Revolutionary War. The Declaration of Independence and US Constitution were drafted in Philadelphia and signed in the city's Independence Hall. The United States Marine Corps also began here on Nov. 10, 1775 when Samuel Nicholas began recruiting men at Tun Tavern. For a time in the 18th century, Philadelphia was the largest city in the Americas north of Mexico City, and was the fourth largest city under Crown rule (after London, Bristol, and Dublin). In 1790, as the result of a compromise between a number of Southern congressmen and Alexander Hamilton, then serving as Secretary of the Treasury, the seat of the United States Government was temporarily moved from Federal Hall in New York to Congress Hall in Philadelphia before taking its current residence in Washington, DC. In exchange for locating a permanent capital on the banks of the Potomac River, the congressmen agreed to support Hamilton's financial proposals. Philadelphia served as the temporary capital for a decade, until 1800, when the Capitol building in the new Federal city of Washington, DC was opened. Washington, DC, separating Pennsylvania from New Jersey.]] An early railroad center, Philadelphia was the original home of the Baldwin Locomotive Works, the world's largest builder of steam locomotives, which eventually relocated to nearby Eddystone, Pennsylvania). The Pennsylvania Railroad, once America's largest railroad by revenue and traffic volume and at one time the largest public corporation in the world, was headquartered on Broad Street, as was its merger successor, the Penn Central, and in turn its freight railroad successor, Conrail. In 1876 Philadelphia hosted the World's Fair, known as the Centennial Exposition. Memorial Hall and the expansive mall in front of it are remnants of this fair. In 1926, the city held the Sesquicentennial Exposition, but Philadelphia was not the central focus of the United States Bicentennial observances that took place nationwide in the United States in 1976, a distinction that went to New York City. New York City

Geography and climate

Geography

New York City satellite. The Delaware River is visible in this shot.]] Philadelphia is located at . According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 369.4 km² (142.6 mi²). 349.9 km² (135.1 mi²) of it is land and 19.6 km² (7.6 mi²) of it is water. The total area is 5.29% water. Bodies of water include the Delaware River, Schuylkill River, Cobbs Creek, Wissahickon Creek, and Pennypack Creek. The lowest point in the city is 10 feet above sea level near Fort Mifflin in Southwest Philadelphia at the convergence of the Delaware and Schuylkill Rivers. The highest point in the city is Chestnut Hill, with an elevation of 432 feet above sea level located near Evergreen Place, just north and west of Evergreen Avenue.

Climate

The climate in Philadelphia is temperate, with four seasons. Summers tend to be hot and often muggy, with the humidity tending to be high during July and August. Fall and spring are mild and generally the most pleasant seasons. The rainfall pattern is generally spread throughout the year, with between six and nine wet days per month. Winters are cold, but seldom does the temperature drop below zero. Snow is unpredictable, some winters experiencing little and others characterised by continual snowstorms. The city center and inner New Jersey suburbs generally have light snow, with heavier falls being experienced to the north and west of the metropole. The lowest temperature ever recorded was -7° F on January 22 1984, and the highest temperature ever recorded was 104° F on July 3 1966.

Cityscape

1966 Penn's surveyor, Thomas Holme, laid out the city in a strict grid, with all streets running either north-south or east-west. The north-south streets are numbered sequentially from Front (instead of First), along the Delaware River, to 13th, followed by the main north-south thoroughfare, Broad Street (instead of 14th). The numbered streets then resume, continuing in the original plan to 28th at the Schuylkill River. The east-west streets, many of them named for trees, e.g., Chestnut, Walnut, Locust, and Spruce (laid out in increasing hardness from softwood Pine in the South to hardwood Chestnut in the North) parallel the main thoroughfare named High Street by Penn, but called Market Street since at least the early 18th century. Six blocks south of Market is South Street, noted in recent decades for its raucous night life and the subject of the 1963 hit single by The Orlons of the same name, was the original southern boundary of the city. Vine Street, located three blocks north of Market, served as the original northern boundry. The Orlons Holme also planned five public parks, one at the intersection of High and Broad Streets in the very center of the city, now occupied by City Hall, and four others surrounding it now called Washington Square, Rittenhouse Square, Logan Square and Franklin Square. The eastern edge of Rittenhouse Square is on 18th St., four blocks west of City Hall, while the western edge of Washington Square is between 7th and 8th, about six and a half blocks east of City Hall. Both are the same distance south of City Hall. Concurently both Logan Square and Franklin Square are located the same distances east and west of City Hall as Washington and Rittenhouse and two to three blocks north of Market Street, reflecting the southern squares. The post World War II era would see further changes in the cityscape. Under the leadership of Edmund N. Bacon, the Philadelphia City Planning Commission organized a master plan for the city, creating a variety of special planning, redevelopment, development districts and areas to coordinate their efforts. Projects that were headed by the new master plan, ere major redevelopment of Center City, including the Penn Center Area (a large area of previous rail road land located north of Market and West of Broad), Market East and Penns Landing, new development and expansion in University City (focused mainly on the University of Pennsylvania), as well as the opening up of development on the fringes of the city, the Far Northeast and South Philadelphia Sports Complex. Bacons efforts would also see changes in the transportation of the city, with the inclusion of the Center City Rail Connector, Vine Street Expressway, Delaware Expressway, and improvements to the Schykull Expressway. Many of Bacons ideas, though not entirely as he had envisioned, can be seen today, with the basis of his master plan still being the governance of development in the city today.

Neighborhoods

Philadelphia has many neighborhoods, each of which has its own identity. Many of these neighborhoods coincide with the borough and townships that made up Philadelphia County before their absorption by the city. These include Logan Square, Andorra, Roxborough, Northern Liberties, Old City, Bustleton, Brewerytown, Oxford Circle, Feltonville, Somerton, Juniata Park, Manayunk, Center City, Queen Village, Kensington, Frankford, University City, Strawberry Mansion, Chestnut Hill, Fishtown, Olney, Logan, Port Richmond, Germantown, Mount Airy, Mayfair, Tacony, Wynnefield, Chinatown, Fox Chase, South Philly, Graduate Hospital/Southwest Center City, Society Hill, the Museum District and many others.

Suburbs

see Delaware County, Pennsylvania and Montgomery County, Pennsylvania Philadelphia also has a significant immediete suburban area which depend on its economy and public transportation, such as Yeadon, Upper Darby, Lansdowne, Ardmore, King Of Prussia, Abington, Jenkintown, Cheltenham, Willow Grove, Bala Cynwyd, Glenside, and Norristown.

Economy

Philadelphia's economy is heavily based upon manufacturing, refining, food, and financial services. The city also has its own stock exchange. The city is home to many major Fortune 500 companies, including cable television and internet provider Comcast, insurance companies CIGNA and Lincoln Financial Group, energy company Sunoco, food services company Aramark, Crown Holdings Incorporated, Rohm and Haas Company, the pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline, Boeing helicopters division, and automotive parts retailer Pep Boys. The Federal government plays a large role in Philadelphia as well. The city served as the first capital city of the United States, before the construction of Washington, D.C.. Today, the east-coast operations of the United States Mint are based near the historic district, and the Federal Reserve Bank's Philadelphia division is based there as well. Due in part to the historical presence of the Pennsylvania Railroad, and the large ridership at 30th Street Station, Amtrak also maintains a significant presence in the city. These jobs include customer service representatives and ticket processing and other behind the scenes personnel, in addition to the normal functions of the railroad. Because of the presence of the federal government, the city has a large contingent of law firms. The city is also a national center of law due to the prestigious University of Pennsylvania Law School and the Temple University Beasley School of Law.

People and culture of Philadelphia

Amtrak, will soon be eclipsed in height by the Comcast Center, currently under construction.]]

Demographics

As of the census of 2000, there are 1,517,550 people, 590,071 households, and 352,272 families residing in the city. The population density is 4,337.3/km² (11,233.6/mi²). There are 661,958 housing units at an average density of 1,891.9/km² (4,900.1/mi²). The racial makeup of the city is 45.02% White, 43.22% African American, 0.27% Native American, 4.46% Asian, 0.05% Pacific Islander, 4.77% from other races, and 2.21% from two or more races. 8.50% of the population are Hispanic or Latino of any race. The ethnic makeup of the city is 32.5% Black, 13.6% Irish, 9.2% Italian, 8.1% Puerto Rican, 6.4% German, and 4.3% Polish. Of the 590,071 households, 27.6% have children under the age of 18 living with them, 32.1% are married couples living together, 22.3% have a female householder with no husband present, and 40.3% are non-families. 33.8% of all households are made up of individuals and 11.9% have someone living alone who is 65 years of age or older. The average household size is 2.48 and the average family size is 3.22. In the city the population is spread out with 25.3% under the age of 18, 11.1% from 18 to 24, 29.3% from 25 to 44, 20.3% from 45 to 64, and 14.1% who are 65 years of age or older. The median age is 34 years. For every 100 females there are 86.8 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there are 81.8 males. The median income for a household in the city is $30,746, and the median income for a family is $37,036. Males have a median income of $34,199 versus $28,477 for females. The per capita income for the city is $16,509. 22.9% of the population and 18.4% of families are below the poverty line. Out of the total population, 31.3% of those under the age of 18 and 16.9% of those 65 and older are living below the poverty line.

Culture

Philadelphia has long been a Black and White city, with hardly any Asians or Hispanics to speak of. Recently however, starting in the Nineties, tens of thousands of Asian and Hispanic peoples entered the city, raising the Asian and Hispanic percentage, but decreasing the White and Black percentages, as whites continued to flee and Blacks not growing as fast. The immigration of Asian and Hispanic peoples, as well as many others, have slowed the city's decreasing population, and the city is predicted to have a growth rate of zero, or an increase in population by 2010. The city has the second largest Irish, Italian, and Jamaican populations in America. Increases in Latino immigration have created a diverse Hispanic community centered around El Centro de Oro in North Philadelphia. There is also a large Puerto Rican and Dominican population in the city. The Asian community has long been established in the city's bustling Chinatown district, but recent Vietnamese immigrants have also forged neighborhoods and bazaars alongside the venerable Italian market. Numerous Korean immigrants have come to the melting-pot of Olney. Many other cultures can also be found throughout the city, including Subsaharan Africans and West Indians in the Cedar Park neighborhood, Poles in the Port Richmond neighborhood, and many Russian, Greek and Ukrainian immigrants in the Near Northeast. Recent immigration from Asia to Philadelphia are of mainly Indian, Chinese, Vietnamese, Cambodian, and Thai backgrounds. Also the skyrocketing Latino population continues to grow as Mexican, Colombian, Guatemalan, and Puerto Rican, although Puerto Rican immigration to the United States is diminishing, move to the city. Philadelphia also has a large population of Ethiopians,Somalians, Jamaicans, Haitians, Sudanese, and Nigerians making up a large part of the city's African population.

Annual fairs and events

- The Mummers Parade, held every New Year's Day on Broad Street
- The Greek Picnic, a reunion and celebration of African-American college fraternities
- Philadelphia St. Patrick's Day Parade
- The Wing Bowl, a chicken wing eating competition
- Philadelphia Flower Show
- First Friday
- Philadelphia Fringe Festival
- Philadelphia Folk Festival
- Philadelphia Film Festival
- Philadelphia Auto Show
- Unity Day
- [http://www.phillypride.org OutFest/PrideFest]

Food

Philadelphia has great diversity, depth, and quality among its restaurants. Notable restaurants include Iron Chef Masaharu Morimoto's self-named Morimoto, Rouge, Old Original Bookbinder's, Vetri, La Croix, City Tavern, and Le Bec-Fin. Little known facts:
- In the 2005 Zagat Restaurant Guide, Philadelphia had more restaurants score 29 than any other city in the United States.
- Philadelphia routinely finishes first in food service industry surveys for the best tipping cities. Distinctive Philadelphian dishes include:
- Cheesesteaks, a kind of humble culinary masterpiece, made of paper-thin chipped ribeye steak fried on a griddle, cheese (usually either Cheez Whiz™, provolone, or American) and fried onions on an Italian hoagie roll. There tends to be some fairly fierce competition over the coveted "Best Cheesesteak" title, and many will often share their opinions vigorously on this topic. (Easiest place to get one is at 9th and Passyunk, where both Pat's Steaks and Geno's Steaks are located. Both are 24-hour operations, with trademark south-Philly Italian market awnings and tables on the sidewalks. Both being triangular shaped buildings, they stare at each other like opposing battleships facing an impasse while splitting clientele fairly evenly.) Cheesesteaks (be it of lower or higher quality than the aforementioned restaurants) can also be obtained at thousands of neighborhood delis and restaurants through the Philadelphia, South Jersey, and Delaware area.
- Hoagies -- a sandwich made with cold cuts and veggies on an Italian roll, similar to the submarine sandwich. Sandwich is so-named because of its popularity among Italian-immigrants employed at the former shipyards on Hog Island, with the sandwich originally being called a "hoggie".
- Scrapple -- corn meal mush cooked up with every part (scrap) of the pig, from the Pennsylvania Dutch country of Lancaster County.
- Italian ice (locally called Water Ice)-- a frozen dessert, similar to a slushie except stiffer.
- Irish ice -- Water Ice served through a soft-serve ice cream machine, giving it a unique texture.
- Polish ice -- A much looser, creamier form of Italian Ice, usually coming only in chocolate and vanilla.
- Gelati-- A mix of water ice and soft ice cream.
- Soft pretzel -- thick, doughy pretzels, generally coarse-salted, often served with mustard. Unlike soft pretzels of other cities, which are the same shape as hard pretzels, Philadelphia soft pretzels have a long, thin, block-like shape. Best eaten fresh, they generally don't keep well, becoming rather rock-like after several hours.
- Stromboli -- similar to a calzone, invented in Philadelphia.
- Black Cherry Wishniak -- Old fashioned black cherry soda, made with actual black cherry flavoring. Name "wishniak," while not exclusive, is generally associated with popular regional soft drink brand Frank's.
- Tastykake -- Brand name synonymous with pre-packaged baked goods, and a Philadelphia institution for over 90 years; best known varieties include Krimpets (jelly or butterscotch), Kandy Kakes (cream or peanut butter), Krimpies (shaped like Krimpets, but with "Kreme" filling and chocolate cake and icing), Tasty (fruit) Pies (unlike many competitors, these are not fried and sugar glazed)
- Utz Potato Chips and Herr's Potato Chips -- Regional brand names, offering chips and pretzels.

Notable residents

Philadelphia has been home to many people of note, the most famous of whom is probably Ben Franklin, who along with the others in the Continental Congresses helped shape the city along with the country and the world. Its cultural diversity is reflected in the music and musicians who have come from or through Philadelphia: the R&B styles of Jill Scott, Patti LaBelle, and Boyz II Men; the jazz of John Coltrane, Grover Washington Jr., Stan Getz, and Sun Ra; the rock of Todd Rundgren, Hall & Oates, and Pink; the hip hop of The Roots and Eve; the electronic-funk of Josh Wink; and the opera of Marian Anderson. Famed comedian Bill Cosby was born and raised in Philadelphia as well as actors Grace Kelly, Will Smith, Seth Green, John Barrymore, Peter Boyle, and Kevin Bacon. Others, like Richard Gere, were born in Philadelphia, but moved elsewhere in their youths. Kathryn Morris (of TV's Cold Case, set in Philly), was born in Ohio but attended Philadelphia's Temple University.

Media

Philadelphia is home to some of the country's most prominent radio stations, including two of the nation's leading rock stations, WMMR at 93.3FM and WYSP at 94.1FM. Both stations have been breakthrough stations for many contemporary rock bands, and both are widely known in the rock music community for their influence in impacting the country's rock music trends. In 2005, Philadelphia became the largest city in the United States without a modern rock-format radio station, in part because of the difficulty such a station has in gaining market share from WMMR and WYSP, two of the country's most popular rock stations. WPLY Y100 had formerly been a purely Philadelphia-based alternative rock station, but its format was changed to hip hop in early 2005 by parent company Radio One. Ex-Y100 Program Director and others have since started Y100rocks.com and broadcast, air and sponsor Philadelphia concerts, local bands and host private recordings with major artists on a regular basis. Philadelphia is home to WHYY-FM (90.9 FM), the Delaware Valley's premier public radio station and NPR affiliate. WHYY-FM produces Fresh Air, and is affiliated with WHYY-TV, which serves Philadelphia but is licensed in Wilmington, DE, a city 25 miles SW of Philadelphia. WXPN (88.5 FM), operated by the University of Pennsylvania, is responsible for launching the careers of many famous artists who couldn't get airplay from the major stations at first. The station is funded to a large extent by listeners who become members. WXPN sponsors a music festival each summer, and they now broadcast worldwide via their website: [http://www.xpn.org]. WEXP, La Salle University Radio, is one of Philadelphia's most popular college radio stations. WEXP specializes in alternative music and sports, and was established in 1972. The station is well known for its sports coverage, which is widely considered as the most extensive of any college radio station in the United States. WEXP airs nearly 100 live sports broadcasts every year for six Explorer teams, in four sports (soccer, football, basketball, and baseball). They broadcast worldwide via their website: [http://www.WEXPRadio.com]. WXTU (92.5 FM) is the most listened-to country music station in the northeast, and second most east of the Mississippi, behind only Nashville's WSM. WOGL (98.1 FM) is a popular station for oldies. Philadelphia's current sports talk radio station, WIP 610AM, became the city's "Pioneer Radio Voice" on March 17, 1922. The station, which was owned and operated by the Gimbel Brothers Department Store, was the city's first radio station. WUSL (98.9) and WDAS (105.3) are Philadelphia's leading stations for R&B, quiet storm and hip-hop audiences.

Museums, art collections, and sites of interest

- 30th Street Station
- Academy of Natural Sciences
- Atwater-Kent Municipal Museum
- Barnes Foundation
- Betsy Ross House
- Curtis Arboretum located in Elkins Park
- Eastern State Penitentiary
- Edgar Allan Poe National Historic Site
- Elfreth's Alley
- Fairmount Park
- Fairmount Water Works and its interpretive center
- Fort Mifflin
- Franklin Institute
- Gloria Dei National Historic Site, built in 1700, is the oldest church in the state.
- Liberty Bell & Independence Hall
- LOVE Park
- Mummers Museum
- Mütter Museum of the College of Physicians of Philadelphia (museum of medical and pathological oddities and curiosities)
- National Constitution Center
- One Liberty Place
- Penn's Landing
- Philadelphia City Hall
- Philadelphia Doll Musuem
- Italian market
- Philadelphia Museum of Art (with 'Rocky' steps, although Rocky himself is currently installed down at the Spectrum)
- Philadelphia Zoo
- Please Touch Museum
- Reading Terminal Market
- Rittenhouse Square
- Rodin Museum (largest collection of Auguste Rodin's works outside France)
- Rosenbach Museum & Library
- SEPTA Museum
- South Street
- University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology
- Wagner Free Institute of Science
- Walnut Street Theatre, the oldest operating theatre in America
- Wanamaker organ, second largest operating pipe organ in the world

Sports

---- Philadelphia has a long and proud history of professional sports teams. Philadelphia sports fans have a reputation of being devoted to their teams in good times and bad. Of late Philadelphia teams have been performing well, but frequently missing championships by failing during the crucial stages. Some locals half-jokingly attribute this to the Curse of Billy Penn. The city's last major championship came in 1983. The Philadelphia Wings, the indoor lacrosse team, have won six championships between 1989 and 2001. The Eagles, Phillies, Flyers and 76ers have each recently had new venues built for them. The Eagles currently play at Lincoln Financial Field (informally known as "The Linc") which was built in 2003. The Phillies now play at Citizens Bank Park (2004). The Sixers and Flyers share the Wachovia Center (1996) with the Philadelphia Soul (Arena Football League) arena football team. The Wachovia Spectrum (1967) is now home to the Flyers' top farm team, the Philadelphia Phantoms (American Hockey League), and the Philadelphia Kixx (Major Indoor Soccer League), an Indoor soccer team. The Philadelphia Barrage (Major League Lacrosse) play at the stadium of Villanova University, which is located in Villanova, Pennsylvania (Delaware County) which is just outside of Philadelphia to the west. The Philadelphia Wings are an Indoor lacrosse that plays in the National Lacrosse League. Philadelphia is also the place where the Army-Navy Game is held every year, now played at Lincoln Financial Field. In the past Philadelphia has also been home to the Philadelphia Athletics (MLB, now the Oakland Athletics), and the Philadelphia Warriors (NBA, now the Golden State Warriors). The city's original NFL team was the Frankford Yellow Jackets (Frankford being a neighborhood located in Northeast Philadelphia); the club disbanded during the 1931 football season, then re-emerged under the same ownership two years later as the Philadelphia Eagles. The Manayunk area is also home to the annual USPRO bicycle race, which is the US road racing national championship race. The main feature of the race is the "Manayunk Wall", an inclined street including all of Levering Avenue and a few blocks of Lyceum Avenue. The race has been largely credited with the economic revival of the neighborhood, and cycling is a prominent theme of many of the shops and restaurants in the area. Philadelphia is also home to the Big Five, a unique rivalry consisting of Temple University, St. Joseph's University, University of Pennsylvania, Villanova University, and La Salle University's basketball teams. Originating in 1955, the Big Five plays their games at the Palestra, a venerable brick building housed on the campus of Penn. In the past, fans would throw streamers of their school's colors onto the court when their team scored their first points. Often games come down to the final shot, giving their school bragging rights for the rest of the year. Philadelphia is considering a bid for the 2016 Summer Olympics.

Government

2016 Summer Olympics From a governmental perspective, Philadelphia County is a legal nullity, as all county functions were assumed by the city in 1952, which has been coterminous with the county since 1854. The city is headed by an elected mayor who is limited to two consecutive four-year terms, but can run for the position again after an intervening term. The incumbent is former Philadelphia City Council President John Street (D), who was elected in 1999, and re-elected by a larger majority in 2003. Philadelphia's mayors have been Democrats since 1955. The legislative branch of Philadelphia is the Philadelphia City Council, which consists of seven council members elected at-large and ten council members from individual districts. The current council president is Anna C. Verna. Anna C. Verna The Philadelphia County Court of Common Pleas, also known as the Court of Common Pleas for the First Judicial District of Pennsylvania, is the trial court of general jurisdiction for Philadelphia. It is funded and operated largely by city resources and employees. The Philadelphia Municipal Court handles matters of limited jurisdiction as well as landlord-tenant disputes, appeals from traffic court, conducts preliminary examinations for felony-level offenses, and the like. Traffic Court is a court of special jurisdiction which hears violations of traffic laws. Pennsylvania's three appellate courts also have sittings in Philadelphia. The Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, which is the court of last resort in the state, regularly hears arguments in Philadelphia City Hall. Also, the Superior Court of Pennsylvania and the Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania sit in Philadelphia several times a year. Judges for these courts are elected at large. Each court has a prothonotary's office in Philadelphia as well.

Education

Public schools

All of Philadelphia is served by the School District of Philadelphia. All schools in the district are required to have a school uniform or a similar dress code.

Private schools

Philadelphia is home to the most extensive Catholic education system in the nation. Along with hundreds of parish-driven elementary schools, there are also twelve Catholic high schools within the city ranging from Archdiocesan high schools to private Catholic high schools.

Higher education

Transportation

Philadelphia is served by the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority, or SEPTA. SEPTA runs buses, trains, subways, trolleys, and trackless trolleys around Philadelphia and into the suburbs. Philadelphia lies directly on Amtrak's Northeast Corridor. Amtrak's 30th Street Station is a major railroad facility which offers access to Amtrak, SEPTA, and NJ Transit rail lines. PATCO provides subway service to Camden, Collingswood, Haddonfield, Cherry Hill, Ashland, and Lindenwold, New Jersey, from stations on Locust Street between 16th and 15th, 13th and 12th, and 10th and 9th Streets, and on Market Street at 8th Street.

Airports

Two airports, Philadelphia International Airport and Northeast Philadelphia Airport, reside within the city limits (Philadelphia International also lies in the city limits of Tinicum Township, Delaware County). Philadelphia International Airport provides domestic and international scheduled air service, while Northeast Philadelphia Airport serves general and corporate aviation.

Roads

Inte

Korean American

A Korean American is an American of Korean descent. Although there were earlier immigrants to the U.S., Korean immigration to the U.S. is widely accepted as having begun January 13, 1903, when laborers arrived in Hawaii to work on sugar plantations. More began arriving after the passage of the Immigration Act of 1965. As of 2000, ethnic Koreans living in the United States numbered some 2.1 million, with large concentrations in California, New York, Pennsylvania and New Jersey; a large number of these are students or temporary workers and hence do not have permanent residence status. The 2000 Census counted 1,076,872 Korean Americans, up from 798,849 in 1990. About one-tenth of these are adoptees who are or have been raised mainly by white families; they may be found anywhere in the country, and in most cases they do not have Korean names. The 2000 Census also recorded an additional 151,555 Americans of part-Korean ancestry. The South Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade counted 2,157,498 ethnic Koreans living in the U.S. in 2003. In 1993, Jay Kim became the first Korean American to be elected to the U.S. Congress, while Chang-rae Lee became the first Korean American writer to receive the PEN/Hemingway Award in 1995. For other notable Korean Americans, see the list.

External links

- [http://www.arirangeducation.com/ Arirang - Interactive History of Korean Americans]
- [http://www.kamuseum.org/ The Korean American Museum]
- [http://www.geocities.com/mokkim/kafacts.html Statistics]
- [http://www.asianweek.com/2003_01_10/feature_timeline.html AsianWeek: Korean American Timeline]
- [http://www.kachi.org/ Korean American Christian Heritage Institute of Silver Spring, Maryland]
- [http://www.kahs.org/ Korean American Historical Society]
- [http://www.koreamjournal.com/Magazine/index.php KoreAm Journal]
- [http://www.koreanamericanheritage.com/ Korean American Heritage Foundation] Category:Ethnic groups of the United States
- ko:한국계 미국인 ja:韓国系アメリカ人

Chinese American

A Chinese American is an American who is of ethnic Chinese descent. Chinese Americans constitute one group of overseas Chinese and are also one group of Asian Americans. Numbering 2.3 million in 2000, Chinese Americans make up 22.4% of Asian Americans (larger than any other Asian American subgroup), and constitute slightly less than 1% of the United States as a whole.

Immigration

United States]] Chinese immigration to the United States has come in several waves. According to records from the United States government, the first Chinese arrived in the United States around 1820. Subsequent immigrants that came from the 1820's up to the late 1840's were mainly men, who came in small numbers. However, due to the lack of Chinese women in the United States at that time, many of them intermarried with Americans of European descent. The best known Chinese immigrants that came during this period are the world-famous Siamese twins Chang and Eng Bunker. The major initial wave only started around the 1850s. This was when the West Coast of North America was being rapidly colonized during the California Gold Rush, while southern China suffered from severe political and economic instability due to the weakness of the Qing Dynasty government, internal rebellions such as the Taiping Rebellion, and external pressures such as the Opium Wars. As a result, many Chinese emigrated from the poor Toisanese- and Cantonese-speaking area in Guangdong province to the United States in order to work on the railroads. They used to endure in such poor living conditions in their homeland that many were willing to sign up for prepaid long-term labor contracts to work in the US. Many gave the sum of money to their family and didn't expect to be able to return home alive. They considered this act to be akin to selling themselves as pigs (賣豬仔). These Chinese clustered in Chinatowns, the largest population was in San Francisco. Some estimated over half of these early immigrants were from Taishan. This immigration (encouraged by the Burlingame Treaty of 1868) was stopped by the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 which made Chinese immigration illegal until 1943. Many Western states also enacted discriminatory laws which made it difficult for Chinese and Japanese immigrants to own land or even find work. These laws were not overturned until the 1950s, at the dawn of the modern civil rights movement. With the loosening of American immigration laws in 1952 and 1965, a second wave of Chinese immigration began. There was an increase in immigration of professionals from Mainland China, which began to allow for emigration in 1977. This group of Chinese tended to cluster in suburban areas and tended to avoid urban Chinatowns. These Chinese tended to speak fluent Mandarin often in addition to their native dialect. A third wave of recent immigrants consisted of undocumented aliens, chiefly from Fujian province who came to the United States in search of lower-status manual jobs. These aliens tend to concentrate in urban areas such as New York City and there is often very little contact between these Chinese and higher-educated professionals. They generally speak some Mandarin but mostly Min, which, although close to Taiwanese does not generally produce much affinity with Taiwanese Americans. The amount of immigration from this group has begun to decrease as the economic situation in Fujian improves. Typically, an immigrant from Fujian will pay a snakehead several tens of thousands of dollars to be transported to the United States, as well as room and board. The funds for the trip are financed by family and village. The immigrant will usually work for three years, the first two to pay off the debt and the third as profit. Ethnic Chinese immigration to the United States since 1965 has been aided by the fact that the United States maintains separate quotas for Mainland China and Hong Kong. Absent from the list of Chinese Americans are immigrants from Hong Kong, who because of immigration law, tended to immigrate to Canada. In the 1980s, there was widespread concern by the PRC over a brain drain as graduate students were not returning to the PRC. This exodus worsened after the Tiananmen protests of 1989. Many immigrants from the PRC benefited from the Chinese Student Protection Act of 1992 which granted permanent residency status to immigrants from the PRC. One unintended side effect of the law was that the primary beneficiaries of the law were undocumented Fujianese immigrants, who unlike the Chinese graduate students, would have had no chance to gain permanent residency through normal means. In the late 1990s, large numbers of professional Chinese Americans began to return to the PRC, creating a brain gain. In a typical career pattern, a Chinese graduate student would emigrate to the United States and enter the job market and return to the PRC after encountering the glass ceiling; Chinese students had once been favored under affirmative action programs, but that was no longer the case after 1990. The number of Chinese graduate students returning to the PRC increased dramatically after 2000 and the dot-com bust resulted in worsening job prospects in the United States.

Citizenship

Legally all ethnic Chinese born in the United States are American citizens as a result of the Fourteenth Amendment and the 1898 United States v. Wong Kim Ark Supreme Court decision. Upon naturalization, immigrants are required to renounce their former citizenship. The People's Republic of China does not recognize dual citizenship and considers this a renunciation of PRC citizenship. The Republic of China in Taiwan not only recognizes dual citizenship, but also does not recognize the American naturalization oath as renouncing citizenship. In addition, the PRC does not recognize the American citizenship of children born to PRC nationals in the United States.

Life in America

Chinese Americans have made many large strides in their lives in America. Today, Chinese Americans engage in every facets of American life, from elected office, to military, to media, to academics, to sports. Chinese restaurants have become a commonplace in America. Chinese heritage is celebrated not only by most Chinese Americans (but not all), but also by mainstream America; the most prominent is the Chinese New Year celebration.

Social status and demographics

Chinese New Year. This photo shows Washington Street at Grant Avenue looking West.]] Cities with large Chinese American populations include New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Houston, and Philadelphia. In these cities, there are often multiple Chinatowns, an older one and a newer one which is populated by immigrants from the 1960s and 1970s. In some areas, Chinese Americans maintain close relationships with other Asian groups, particularly Vietnamese Americans. These relationships are helped by the fact that many Vietnamese Americans are ethnic overseas Chinese, although most ethnic Chinese Vietnamese Americans do not classify themselves as Vietnamese American. In addition to the big cities, smaller pockets of Chinese Americans are also dispersed in rural towns, often university towns, throughout the United States. Chinese Americans formed nearly three percent of California's population in 2000, and over one percent in the Northeast. Hawaii, with its historically heavily-Asian population, was nearly ten percent Chinese American. As a whole, Chinese American populations continue to grow at a rapid rate due to immigration. However, they also on average have birth rates lower than those of American whites, and as such their population is aging relatively quickly. In recent years, adoption of young children, especially girls, from China has also brought a boost to the numbers of Chinese Americans, although most of the adoptions appear to have been done by white parents. Chinese American income and social status vary widely. Although many Chinese Americans in Chinatowns of large cities are poor, others are well-educated upper-class people living in such suburbs as Cupertino, Palo Alto, Chino Hills, Diamond Bar, and San Marino. The upper and lower-class Chinese are also widely separated by social status. The lower-class Chinese is often looked down by the upper-class as being uneducated workers who are illegal immigrants. In the San Gabriel Valley, for example, even though the cities of Monterey Park and San Marino are both Chinese American communities lying geographically close to each other, they are separated by a large socio-economic and income gap.

Politics

San Marino]] Chinese Americans are divided among many subgroups based on factors such as generation, place of origin, socio-economic level, and do not have uniform attitudes about the People's Republic of China, the Republic of China on Taiwan, the United States, or Chinese nationalism, with attitudes varying widely between active support, hostility, or indifference. Different subgroups of Chinese Americans also have radically different and sometimes very conflicting political priorities and goals. It is for this reason that Chinese Americans do not have any unified political groups or any unified political viewpoints. In recent decades, many Chinese Americans have entered politics, and succeeded in getting elected into political offices. The most prominent is Gary Locke who became the first Chinese American governor on mainland USA. Others include March Fong Eu, Matt Fong, Elaine Chao, David Wu, ... Among Chinese in PRC, second-generation Chinese Americans known as American-born Chinese are often perceived as being a bit exotic. Chinese Americans have also strongly influenced politics in the People's Republic of China. The son of James Soong is an American-born Chinese with United States citizenship. In Communist China, the top leadership contains few persons educated in the United States: the Cold War period made for tenuous China-America links and the Cultural Revolution disrupted academic exchanges with the rest of the world. However, the middle ranks of the People's Republic of China government contain very large numbers of people who received their education in the United States, and a graduate degree from an American university has become an important benefit to political and economic career advancement. In addition, the sons and daughters of many Chinese political leaders, such as Jiang Zemin, are students in the United States. With the leadership transition to the fourth generation of Chinese leaders under Hu Jintao, American educated Chinese officials are increasingly found in powerful positions.

Racial discrimination

Two incidents have energized some Chinese Americans and other Asian Americans, particularly American-born Chinese in recent years -- the murder of Vincent Chin by white automotive workers in 1982 and the unsubstantiated charges of spying against Chinese American nuclear scientist Wen Ho Lee at Los Alamos National Laboratory in 1999, whom many believe was a victim of racial stereotyping. During the Cultural Revolution, Chinese Americans, like all overseas Chinese, generally speaking, were viewed as capitalist traitors by the People's Republic of China government. Chinese citizens with relatives in the United States faced extra suspicion and scrutiny. This attitude changed completely in the late 1970s with the reforms of Deng Xiaoping. Increasingly, Chinese Americans were seen as sources of business and technical expertise and capital who could aid in China's development (economic and otherwise).

External links

- [http://www.ocanatl.org Organization of Chinese Americans]
- [http://www.chsa.org/ Chinese Historical Society of America]
- [http://www.asiansinamerica.org/directory/dir_e_ch.html/ The Asians in America Project - Chinese American Organizations Directory]
- [http://www.paperson.com/history.htm "Paper Son" - one Chinese American's story of coming to America under the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882]
- [http://www.pbs.org/becomingamerican/ Becoming American: The Chinese Experience] a PBS Bill Moyers special
- [http://cprr.org/Museum/Chinese.html Chinese-American Contribution to Transcontinental Railroad] - Central Pacific Railroad Photographic History Museum
- [http://www.committee100.org/ Committee of 100]

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