"[We've] never been viewed as a sexy city," says 35-year-old Girls of Philly founder Kurt Allen (last name withheld). "People think it's just Santa getting snowballed and cheesesteaks. But we've got hot, sexy, intelligent girls who are in charge of themselves and ready to show the world."

Kurt's three-year-old Girls of Philly brand and Web site (www.girlsofphilly.com) feature a parade of up-tha-block types plucked direct from the Delaware Valley. They're not just chicks he buses down from New York and calls Philadelphians, either — as some "laughable" competitors allegedly do. They're real-deal, honest-to-God, snowball-slinging, cheesesteak-eatin' Philly girls.

Think there's no market for local flesh in the oversaturated world of Cali- and Florida-based bronzed goddesses? Kurt says guys may fantasize, but in the end they'll always come back to the girl next door. The majority of GoP's approximately 1,200 subscribers, in fact, live in the Delaware Valley — "Havertown always pops up," says Kurt — and similar sites like HotGirlsofPhilly.com, PhillyCamGirls.com, TheCutestGirlsofPhilly.com and PhillyFreaks.com are testament to the popularity of underdressed yokels.

For GoP's purposes, the tasteful line is drawn at no intercourse, no spread eagle, no toys and "no hardcore below the belt." Basically, nothing you wouldn't find on Girls Gone Wild. The catch is not what they're doing, says Kurt, but where they're from — Bella Vista, Kensington, Cherry Hill, etc.

Of course, finding attractive locals to strip and occasionally make out with other girls at a fratty Old City bar wasn't as easy a task as Kurt initially imagined it would be. When he first started GoP, he held weekly casting calls at Mexican Post because well, where else would you find Philly's hottest tamales? To his dismay, the turnout was far from sizzling.

"Most of the girls look like they'd dropped off planet Pluto," he laughs. "They weren't aspiring models, they were just looking to make a quick buck ... It got to the point where the bartenders couldn't wait to see the next 'talent' walk in." Kurt remembers staring at his buddies and thinking, "Oh my God, it's gotta get better than this."

Nowadays, he mostly finds girls through model referrals, and online. Kelly, a 21-year-old Temple student, stumbled across GoP via Craigslist. She'd never posed topless before, but felt comfortable expressing her sexuality and needed the money. "The shoot was straight-up business," she recalls. "I went in there, looked over the contract, [Kurt] decided what outfits I would wear, and we got started."

I asked both Kelly and Kurt if Philly girls have a signature look, something that distinguishes them from girls in Baltimore, Austin or Allatoona.

Kelly thinks so: "Here, we generally have a gangster-tomboy edge and haphazard fashion that isn't purposefully done."

Kurt, though, finds charms in all our dolls. "Philly girls put up a wall, but once you get past it, they're fun and funny."

During their session, Kurt made suggestions about how Kelly might pose, but she mostly followed her gut. "I actually felt like some kind of enigma," she says in retrospect. "I love having my picture taken, and if it helps pay my tuition, what's a little nipple that Mom doesn't know about?"