Philly Tales Blog

Once before, I wrote about my father’s father, who was a professional baseball player and a Vaudeville and Burlesque performer. He died in 1920 at ...

Since May 14 was Mother’s Day and Father’s Day is June 16th this year, I thought it was a good time to post this article. This story is one of 46 f...

There was a small store called the Rigging Loft at Fisherman’s Wharf in Cape May, NJ. The owner asked me to research and write a pamphlet about the...

My first recollection of Cramp Elementary was kindergarten.  I would have been five years old, which by law you had to be to go to kindergarten bac...

"Spring has sprung," my grandfather, Pop, used to say. It was a time for celebration for him because he could go fishing again. Every April the 15t...

Philadelphia is considered one of the top locations for great restaurants and fantastic food. I mean, what could be better than an Italian Hoagie, ...

Since parts of the country are getting snow they rarely get, I thought I would highlight some of the past Philly snowstorms. I live in Atlanta now,...

I woke up early this morning thinking about Jerry Blavat. May he rest in peace. Somehow, I don’t think he is resting but rather hosting rock and ro...

When you see a flying roach, what do you do? If you grew up in rural America, you’re used to seeing and interacting with a great number of God’s ...

A while ago, I bought an illustrated map of Kensington created by Jessie Husband. It’s a beautiful visual depiction of the area where I grew up...

It was a fantastic day. Puffy white clouds slowly drifted across the bright blue skies, and it was warm, but the breeze was cool. It was the kind...

Note: I chose some images that relate to this article. You can see the other 35 images, plus over 1200 other images of historic Philadelphia, at h...