The Kensington of kids playing pimpleball and waiting for the ice cream man still existed at the time Rocky was filmed in 1976.

By the time Steve Lopez published "Third and Indiana" in 1992 or so, Kensington Avenue was known as a desolate area populated by junkies and hookers.

When did the old Kensington give way to the new Kensington?

When all the factories & warehouses that employed most of the residents either moved south or simply closed.

You're romanticizing too much. If you watch Rocky I, there is an old boarded up building on the corner of the street he 'lived' on, where the doo wop guys are singing.

People still play many games.. in Rocky I on that street you could see a deadbox court and a hopscotch court in the shots. Those courts were still visible until just a little while ago when they repaved that street.

People still play halfball there. I can't speak for dimpleball.

I concur on the factories shutting down point..

That being said.. the old kensington.. which gave way to the new kensington... is now giving way to a new new kensington...

I think it was when the pimpleball died. end of the 70's

Can't say about Kensington in particular, but a lot of blame is usually placed on the crack epidemic of the 80s for the really rapid decline in many American urban areas.

Most of the areas were blighted and in bad shape long before crack came on the scene. Crack just made it that much worse. Back in the 70's-80's Kensington was associated with poor white people using inhalants (huffing) and for the cheap and plentiful biker meth that was abundant at that time

You're right. I just watched Rocky (the original Rocky) again this weekend. Darker movie than what I remembered of it. And Kensington (at least in the exterior shots) doesn't look much better than it does today.

Upper (West) Kensington died in the early 90's when the Hispanic drug dealers took over. Lower Kensington (around Big Bob's) is the Rocky Balboa area that is being resurrected by people not from here.

But yeah, it was historically mills and factory workers who left when the companies closed down. It was never really "nice" although a great many good people lived and still do live there.

Where/what is "Big Bob's"?

I haven't seen Rocky Balboa yet, but I don't think I'd call any areas where I am aware that they shot, "Lower" Kensington. Either Richmond, or Kensington; the areas that I am aware of they shot in is North of NKCDC's standard service area.