Olney will likely remain a relatively quiet, middle and working class area.

I lived up there for several years between 2000 and 2004. I knew several people that had been there over 50 years, some since childhood. THey had no intentions of leaving, and in fact, were still very involved in civic activities.

The recent increase in property values in Olney (homes were about $65,000 in 2002 and now sell usually for at least $115,000) has helped reduce some nuisance properties as those that could get money for homes left and people that could pay more for houses moved in.

I recall Peppino's as just a pizza place - I think the sit-down Italian restaurant it had was a bridal shop. That bridal shop remains one of the nicest looking places along the 5th Street business area.

I teach high school at a charter high school in Philadelphia. The students I have from Olney are among the most interesting and have pretty stable home lives. While living there, I decided that the former Olneyites have a point about how nice it used to be. But in a sense, the nice parts of it today are nice for different areas.

Still on hot summer days, you walk down long stretches of porch-front rowhomes and see people rinsing pavements, watering flowers, and talking over porch rails. Major violence is still, thankfully, relatively isolated in Olney, and especially more common toward Feltonville.

When you drive up blocks like the 5600 or 5700 of N. 3rd, you get shot of what I imagine was the "old" Olney. It's spotless, landscaped and the houses remind you of Roxborough in places more than a very urban area.

I always thought Olney got a worse rap than it deserved. Fifth Street isn't great, but it's not too run-down to stroll along it, and frankly, at night, Olney is so quiet it's hard to find anyone out, especially north of Olney Avenue. When I did Town Watch, we always focused near the Boulevard up to Somerville. That always seems like an area that had declined much more than north of the railroad bridge.

Accessibility without a car will always challenge Olney in becoming an "in" neighborhood as far as appealing to Center City types looking for first home, cheaper digs. The Olney R8 station is nice, but it's too far east and south to appeal to people that might want to live in the nicer parts of the area between Olney and Godfrey Avenues. I am the only person I know that didn't mind walking from the station all the way past Fisher Park to go home when I wanted to different set of scenery.

I enjoyed my time in Olney and go back often to see how it's progressing. I only hope that the empty lot on the NE corner of 5th and Olney is filled with a building that enhances the corner. I still can't get used to the building that was there for decades being torn down after a fire a few years ago. In case you haven't been back and wonder which place I mean, it used to house Gerlach's Jewelers (I believe called "Barr's Jewelers" before that) and a bank at one time.

Someone said that 5th Street could use trees. They woudl be very much correct. A Main Street program would do wonders for 5th street. It would help give grants to business owners for facade improvements, and especially, more attractive, less intrusive business signage.

I always wanted to buy the entire stretch along Fisher Park and restore those buildings and release them. I would leave the pizza place and The Huddle. I would love to restore the Fern Rock Theatre. I cringe at that damn green paint they put on the ground floor in 2004.

I think it's reasonable to expect something very encouraging to happen at some point in the next 20 years in Olney. Seems like a long time, but it also took a long time for the factors that deflated certain aspects of Olney's greatness to transpire.

I COMPLETELY agree with someone saying that growing up in Olney made him who he is (or she.)
I feel the same way.
I call it Ol-en-eee sometimes.

I moved near front and chew when i was probably 4 or 5, which would have been 1988ish. There were many family-oriented people of all races and I loved that! So many kids my age were all around to play with all the time. In 1995 or so I moved a few block away near Tabor and Adams and was there until I went to college in west philly in fall 02.

The biggest thing I hold dear is the diversity. Getty gas station - and all the candy! Oteri's bakery and its amazing strawberry shortcake. Popcorns tattoo shop (what was i thinking?!) JJs candy shop on my walk walking from St. Helenas school. Field Day at Fishers Park and its haunted house every Halloween. Fireworks at Lawncrest (but rivaling that neighborhood every other day of the year.) And to this day, I love the shop rite at front and Olney. I worked there in HS and now my daddy does! He is responsible for the bakery's Sweet Potatoe Cake. Its awesome and i highly recommend it.

I got off topic and ranted more than helped the cause of research. But I wish you best of luck in this project. There is soooooo much history in the area and youll just have to navigate through the scads of info!

I lived on there too, right on the NW corner, but just before you moved there. The shopping center was not there yet.

Hi there. Has anyone noticed that the person who started this blog was a Temple University student who posted her first entry in 2005. I'm guessing she's graduated. I now live in the Washington DC region, and one of the Universities here sponsored the development of neighborhood histories, published in a series of short volumes, containing some of the information that has been posted here.

I just joined...it's late, so I'll really get into it tomorrow. I lived on the 200 block of Kenilworth Ave., off 2nd St. directly across from Cardinal Dougherty H.S. I'm Class of '68. I came from Somerton in '64, and I remember Olney very well. I had an aunt on Linton St and one on Roselyn St. We visited them often, going back to 1956. I moved to the SF BayArea in'85 and haven't been back save for a couple days in 1990. I'll be glad to field any questions on the area from Broad St to Sears, and from the Boulevard to Ashbourne Country Club...my old stomping grounds. I'm really excited to see this site.

I also grew up in Olney in the '60's and '70's. Although not as nostalgic for the area as others may be (Olney High was a dreadful school to attend in the early '70's), I still have some nice memories of growing up there.

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You are very wise...

Olney High was a real pit, according to my sister, who went there in the mid '70s. Going to the bathroom was a dangerous excursion. She was so terrified of that school, she dropped out and I got her into Northeast Prep, where she graduated high up on the list. Expensive, but worth every penny.
Cardinal Dougherty was just the opposite. 6000 students came and went every day, and they were generally so well behaved, that we, in the neighborhood, could sleep through the morning rush of students coming to school. The only problem I had with CD was the damn band practicing on Sat. and Sun. mornings, beginning at 7:30 AM. Waking up to a John Philip Sousa march at sunup was a harrowing experience.

3rd and Spencer was Carlson's Candy Store. Joe Shag was the guy with the speech impediment who was Mrs. Carlson's Man Friday. The beer distributor at 2nd and Sparks was Krause's and his delivery guy was Rudy. We were regular customers. My mom used to get 2 cases of Piels delivered every week. I got a concussion and a demolished sled on dead man's hill after losing control and hitting a tree. The FernRock diner was a great place to get a slice of blueberry pie and a cup of coffee with an oil slick on top. Harvey's Pizza Den (originally Mom's Pizza) at 10th and Godfrey was, I think, the best pizza in Philly. I delivered for Harvey after coming back from Nam; made some good money and had a blast. Harvey died a couple years ago...he was a boorish, base individual, but I got along with him. I hung out sometimes at 5th and Cheltenham, near the Pizza Palace, behind Bernie's health food store. There was a 7/11 in that strip of stores, where my brother worked. One nite we were sitting on the small ledge in front of the massive store window and it just shattered and the alarm went off. We waited for the cops, but after a half hour, we had to call them. I thought they would respond a lot faster...their free donuts were in peril. More later...

LuDel's Steak shop at 2nd and Spencer(They made a PizzaHoagie...just cheese and sauce on a large Amoroso roll, open faced and grinded in the Blodgett pizza oven...Fantastic!).
The Trolley Barn at 5th and Godfrey (known as the "Shack"), where the 47 Trolley and the Y Bus terminated. We Dougherty kids used to hang out there, smoking cigarettes, playing pinball, drinking sodas and trying to pick up girls. It was run by Old Mrs. Schultz and was "off-limits" to CD students. We were frequently raided by School Disciplinarian Fr. Benonis and his "Holy Gestapo".
Fink's Bakery, on Spencer at Lawrence St, is a special memory. Back in our pot-smoking days, we would wander down there at 3:00 AM on Sunday and help Klaus Fink bake for the St. Helena's Mass crowd. After a few bowls of Colombian, we would bake and eat til we were ready to bust wide open. I'd hit the 7:00 Mass, then go home and crash til my mom threw a fit and woke me up.
Ward's Soda Fountain and candy store on Spencer, off 4th. We would go in and order 6 or 12 cent vanilla cokes and nurse them until ol man Ward would kick us out. He sold Mary Janes at 2 for a penny and I lost a few fillings from my teeth on the gooey molasses they were made from.
The FernRock Theater on 5th between Spencer and Champlost was a magnificent place. They ruined it by converting it to a twin, but in its heyday it was a teriffic place to see a movie. When I was a kid, Bishop Graham (Pastor of St. Helena's) and Fr. Donahue (Assistant Pastor and workhorse of the parish) held a lot of sway over what movies were screened at the Fern Rock. No sexual content, but violence was OK. Lotsa war and western movies. A kids dream.
It's lunchtime for my youngest kid...so...later!

My sister went to St. Helena's and Dougherty...she was born in '56 and you may have known her. Remember the St Helena's "Carnival"? It was a massive gambling event with poker, dice, wheels of chance, blackjack...everything it took to separate a poor working slob from his/her hard-earned pay. Sorta disgraceful conduct for a house of God. God bless Sister Stella Mercedes...ha ha...!