COVER STORY .

Olney the Lonely - Photo Essay


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Published: Feb 18, 2009

Woo Cho was born in Seoul but moved to Philadelphia with his family. His Express Wireless store is one of several cell phone shops on North Fifth.

Jangki is sometimes referred to as Korean chess.

Tong Soublee (right) plays jangki, a Korean strategy game, at the St. Paul's Church senior center.

Once a mostly white neighborhood, Olney now comprises blacks, Koreans and myriad immigrant groups

Dwenjang jjigae, a Korean bean paste stew, being fired in the food court of the H Mart on Old York Road.

A snapshot of North Fifth Street's evolving cultural tapestry

Jin H. Yu, a doctor of sociology, has run North Fifth's Korean Community Development Services Center since 1985. Though the neighborhood's face has changed, he's remained a force.

The Korean Daily Tribune, published in Elkins Park

Russell Stridh (far right), a longtime Olney resident and senior center regular, fondly recalls the days when Eugene "Mr. Olney" Mansdoerfer ran the Fourth of July parade.

The soy sauce aisle at the H Mart in Elkins Park

The view just off Fifth and Olney

MULTI-FACETED: The German architecture and Korean signage that dominate North Fifth Street begin to tell the story of the cultural flux that's come to define the Olney neighborhood.

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Click Here For the City Paper Story Olney The Lonely

Comments

When I click on the information on Olney, it points me to the photos instead of the planning commission's report....

by phillygrrl on February 24th 2009 12:53 PM

Fixed. Sorry about that.

by Marc Steel on February 24th 2009 3:09 PM

Thanks for a great story (and for leaving it up on the Internet). I grew up in Olney in the 50s & 60s, learned to play baseball in the Olney Midget League, attended St Helena's, Cardinal Dougherty and LaSalle College before heading off to grad school (Michigan) in 1970. My parents didn't sell their Olney house till 1999, so my walking-the-streets memories extend that far. I've spent some time living in Korea, so even the hangul signs were oddly familiar when I first saw them, back on a visit. More recently, my wife and I were in town for a funeral, and drove through my old neighborhood (front of CDHS), down the driveway behind the house I grew up in, and stopped in St. Helena's after school hours, then drove down 5th St. past the park, Inky, etc. to the Boulevard. Lots of changes, to be sure, but I didn't see all the trash that others have mentioned. Back in the 50s and 60s, Olney, like a lot of Philly, was a wonderful place to grow up--good schools and playgrounds, the library at 5th & Tabor, Fisher's Park, a vibrant 5th St. business district (Martin guitars to try out at Zapf's--thanks, Willy!), the Olney Times ("Aggressively Devoted to the Good of Greater Olney" was it?), and some great little bakeries here and there. Here's hoping Olney sees its renaissance, the sooner the better.

by Eric Flatpick on November 14th 2010 4:55 PM

Also In This Week's Cover Story Section

Olney the Lonely

by Brian Howard

Peering through the kaleidoscope of one of Philly's most diverse and overlooked neighborhoods.