Omg!!! I went to Finletter when I was a little kid!
You just brought back sooo many memories.
We moved out of there a long, long, loooong time ago.

I lived on the 3rd and Godfrey block.

Is it really as bad there now as people say? How's 5th street? When I was little, that was thee place for us to go. Remember Mr Tams? My sister use to work there. I'm talking back in the 70's though. When the flyers won the championship.

We moved out in 84 - I'm going to email you.

well defining bad, meaning a change for 'not' the better is what i can say what is happening to olney. i lived there myself for 27 years and i can say, i lived and seen the differnece first hand. so your question asking, is it really as bad as people say it is, is closer to the truth then saying those people are wrong.

i don't remember tams. what was it and where at in olney?
5th street used to be a place where you can walk from one side and shop then cross over and walk up or down the other side w/o the sence of feeling of being robbed, trash all over, good quilty stores to shop. i could go on and on. but you get the idea.

what ever happen to the baby parade up 5th? what ever happen to fisher's park meetings where you and your family can go and play games for a day? to list a few.

olney was slowly being raped of things and the people who lived and worked there let those things happen. myself included.
i remember the older guys going down to 5th & olney to celebrate the flyer's wins in '74 & '75.

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dave

It's really sad certain people just don't care. I hate drug addicts and dealers. I think they all should be lined up and executed. They're destroying cities and communities all over the world.

well i think alot of people would agree with you that addicts/users & dealers destroy the cites and communities but that is only a part of a community that slowly dies from people not caring but there are other factors too. being active in your community. giving yourself when needed and not when needed. there are so many little things that you and i could of done, should of done and should do to improve and maintain where you and i lived and live now.
the change of olney was not over night. it happened with one change over another and with time it showed. only the people
and familes saw the change. take front & olney square. the old heinz co. building. it was built in '85-'86 time frame. in my opinion that is what helped killed 5 st. shopping & business. among other factors.
5th st. was a nice little place where you could spend a morning or afternoon shopping. it had a little bit of everything you needed.
now, the quility of shopping is not as it once was.
you may notice that alot of the people who written about olney on
phillyblog., always mention how things use to be and how great it was living in olney. hence the words, 'it was'!

they say change is good but not for olney.

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dave

Mr.Tams was a hamburger joint at 5th & Olney, from mid to late 70's.

i remember two banks at the corner, a bar and a candy store. i'm sure i must of walked past it many of times as a kid but i don't remember that store. remember the pet store on olney just west of 5th st.? i road past by there just last week and the one bank had a fire some time ago and now it's just an empty lot! i can see not a lot of money going into olney/5th st. anymore.

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dave

Do you realize the economic downturn that would be felt nation and world wide if there were an elimination of the illegal drug trade?

I'm not being funny here either.

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Buy Lawndale!

You obviously don't have a grasp of the big picture regarding the illegal drug trade.

over in the northeast section of PB, there is a thread about places that aren't there any more. here's what I remember, starting at my neck of hood at mascher & godfrey (circa 1970s - late 1980s):

Front & Godfrey - The supermarket there was a pantry pride but I think it was originally a food fair. next to them was a dry cleaners on one side and Al's variety on the other. I think there was also a photobooth in the parking lot. to the side of the strip of stores was a auto mechanic. Al's and the Auto mechanic burn down in '79. That strip was rebuilt to be a murray's meat market and a strip of stores. Then when PP went away, half of it became a JewelT discount grocer and then a Save a Lot. I think the dry cleaner stayed there throughout it all. Now it's completely different

Corner Stores - There was Webers at Mascher & Spencer, Nora's at 2nd & Godfrey, Keller's at 2nd & Champlost (there was a shooting there in the early 80's that rocked the area), Reynold's (what I knew it as) at 3rd and Spencer, Angelo's deli on Mascher, right above champlost & Finks Bakery on spencer near St Helena's

5th Street - Starting at 5th and Spencer, Modern Pharmacy, the german card store next to it, Fern Rock theatre, then Olde English pizza, Fern Rock Deli, the demi club and the photo store.

Fern Rock hardware
The diner (I remember when they did that addition that hid the original stainless steel diner)
Olney Pet Store
???? Bakery (on the same block as the pet store. the name is eluding me)
Jack's Donuts
Mama Dee's Pizza (on chew st & Old 2nd st)
Peppino's Pizza
Getlin Record's
Sound Oddessy
Jack's army and navy
McDonald's
Whimsy Shop
the 5 and 10 store
the hardware store (forget the name)
Zapfs music
Dennery??? sporting goods (corner of 5th and tabor)

By the time I was allowed to go to 5th street myself, the area of 5th below the Regional Rail bridge was off limits, as I was told it was kind of bad so I don't really remember much. I did go to the Olney bike shop though a few times which was close to the Blvd

anyone else have a list (or corrections) to mine?

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"Waiting for the moment when the moment has been waiting for so long"