Originally Posted by Mayfairchick

Its a shame the only people with great things to say, are the ones that DONT live there anymore....anyone here actually live there? DO they have any kind of community activism going on?

Originally Posted by So_Su_Mi

Olney is typically pronounced "ahl-nee" or incorectly as "ah-len-nee."
-According to wikipedia

But if most of the people around there say al-len-ee then how does it make it wrong? Do the people who live there decide or do the people who write wiki articles decide?

Originally Posted by CityMan

I agree that this is all awesome - the memories. How about Louise's at 6th and Nedro - HUGE hoagies. I saw we all get steaks at Old English, drink Schaefer at the Huddle and make a fire in the park pavillion.

Originally Posted by CityMan

Ahh-lu-knee is a very unique area since it is situated between north philly and northeast philly. I grew up there - Mayfairchick and Geno must be around my age. The sledding hill in the park was known as "the creek (crick)" since there once was a spring house there. The flight of whites was very gradual and some whites remain. I still order from Old English and eat it in The Huddle. The decline started IMO when Mcdonald's replaced Cheryl Dee's dress shop on 5th st. Cheryl Dee's moved to where the Whimsy shop was, then was replaced by Gola Electronic, which sold pipes for freebasing cocaine - talk about decline. Not many Koreans lived there, they just owned the stores. They live in Cheltenham. The Koreans hastened the decline when they installed the roll-down grates on the storefronts that they bought. It made the neighborhood look a lot worse than it actually was. The street signs they installed without community approval were mysteriously removed one night. On a side note, the neighborhood ends at the railroad tracks west of 7th street, then the neighborhoods are called Logan or Fern Rock. I also remember a pretty bad white gang known as Inky or Inky Yard. They hung at 3rd & Delphine and were bad news. I would say that the area now is still as good and more diverse than say, Lawncrest.

Originally Posted by fitz73

Quote: "Many of the comments posted here long before mine support something I firmly believe about Olneyites that have left the area - they loved their neighborhood more than any other people that moved out of a neighborhood. Does that make sense? People recalling Olney or longtimers still living there today, all rave about how fine a place it was to live. I regret that so many of those memories are often tied to it being all white - but I think many equate that to it having been all stably middle and working class at one time."

This is in response to the quote above:

I understand what it must sound like to you when people say things like "Olney has changed so much", or "the neighborhood's not what it used to be".

I live in a suburb just outside of Philly. This area has become more culturally diverse than it was when I first moved here in 1988. The difference between what is going on here and what went on in Olney in the late 1960's and 70's, is that people are not moving simply because people of different races and backgrounds are moving in. That's what happened in the 60's and 70's in the Olney area. It is more the 'fear of the unknown' than a prejudiced thing. Or at least they're not moving at the pace they did back then. Some still move hoping to find that 'perfect' place where everyone is the same. Good luck to them!

A woman who still lives on the block I lived on in Olney over 30 years ago, tells a story of what happened when she first moved to Olney in 1961. At the time, Olney was primarily settled by German-Americans, and I am assuming that many of those residents were also of the Jewish faith. This woman happens to be Irish-American and Catholic, and when she and many Irish-Catholic families migrated to the Olney area, the current residents complained that the neighborhood was changing. Apparently, we are stereotyped as always having tons of kids and not being the 'kind' of people you would want in your neighborhood. By the time I reached schoolage, I believe the majority of the children I played with were Irish-Catholic, which means that the German Americans and the Jewish people moved out when we moved in.

Does that make sense to you in relation to what happened when it was an all white neighborhood?

Also, I would have to say that growing up I didn't have any black friends. The reason for that was because there were no black children in my neighborhood at the time. In 1966, that changed, and black children were bussed into my elementary school. We did not know about black children, and black children did not know about us. That's okay to 'not know about other races', except that it caused the 'white flight' that you hear about so often. They were 'afraid of the unknown'. They didn't know what it would be like to live with black people, as I'm sure black people didn't know what it would be like to live with white people.

This is in sharp contrast to the way my children are growing up. They live and go to school with children of all races, and it has been this way since they were born. They don't understand when I tell them that from Kindergarten to 6th grade, there was not one black child in my school. They don't get it when I explain that the reason was that I didn't have any black children on my block or in my neighborhood. They just don't get it.

My oldest, who is now 24, watched the movie, To Kill a Mockingbird, for the first time when she was 6 years old. The "n" word is used constantly to describe one of the main characters, a black man. During the movie, my daughter turned to me and asked, "What does that word mean and why do they keep calling him that?" She never heard that word spoken by anyone and didn't know what it meant.

Also, people and children have changed more than neighborhoods. Children today, mine included, are nothing like me when I was growing up. Our world has changed, times have changed, and that makes people change, and that means that the way children are raised, changes. For the better, I hope.

I'm probably confusing you more, but to think back on the neighborhood where I grew up, I do say that it isn't the way it used to be. But where I am living now is nothing like it 'used to be'. Whether people think it's worse or better or not, It's just different, we're all different. And for the people who are saying about the trash and graffiti in the area, don't think that there isn't a lot of trash and run-down buildings, and graffiti in white neighborhoods now, because there is.

Many of the stores you hear about were the mom and pop type stores, now there are supermarkets and chains and the like.

I hope this clears it up a little for you.

Originally Posted by jt3931985

god i forgot all about the garbage mean we used to have a little minni trash can for it i wonder why they stopped that?

Originally Posted by EastChestnut

"Duhhh.... I tell you evy-TING. He looka like a man!!!!"

Originally Posted by fisherparkkid

it stopped because it was farmers who used to come and collect the garbage to feed their pigs. no farms, no pigs to feed.

Originally Posted by Phillycatlady

Yeah, that's the one. It's on Tabor not far from 5th and Tabor. Yeah, that does not sound right- about the pastor- games and boys in his house?? I didn't notice if the church had a rectory- is it the house next door? It is sad to me that it's sitting there empty, and will probably be left to decay or get knocked down one day. The grounds still look well kept, but the church's sign is broken and cracked. I hear that the Episcopal Diocese of PA still owns it.
Sometimes after work I feel like heading for a church (prerferably Episcopal) to catch a midweek/evening service, it is good for me, a good way to unwind. So I was searching for a church near work. I will check out St. Paul's. Thanks!