Hawthorne Hall. Photo via Hiddencityphila.org.

West Philly neighbors and friends have a great opportunity to learn more about the Powelton and Garden Court neighborhoods and their hidden architectural gems at a series of neighborhood walking tours that begin on Saturday, Sept 21. Here’s more details:

• Two Powelton Village tours, organized by Hidden City, will take place on Saturday (Sept 21). Each event will start with a tour of Hawthorne Hall, home to a remarkable installation created for the 2013 Hidden City Festival. Then participants will get a chance to check out the Divine Tracy once owned by Father Divine’s Peace Mission Movement, the Hotel Powelton (Albert Barnes’s first factory), the Cloister, a gorgeous church converted to apartments, and more.

The tours will be led by Rachel Hildebrandt, a writer for the Hidden City Daily, who has an MA in Historic Preservation from the University of Pennsylvania and now works at Partners for Sacred Places, and Caroline Acheatel, who is also of Partners for Sacred Places.

The tour hours are: 1:00 p.m.  –  2:30 p.m. and 4:00 – 5:30 p.m. and the starting point is Hawthorne Hall, 3849 Lancaster Ave. Tickets are $20 ($15 for members) and spots can be reserved here (Tour I) and here (Tour II).

• Also beginning Saturday, Sept 21, there will be a few chances to explore the Garden Court neighborhood. “Farm to Ford” is the name of this historical walking tour. Organized by Garden Court Community Association, it is scheduled for Sept 21, Oct 5, 12 and 19 (all Saturdays).

During this tour you will learn the history of the neighborhood from its rural beginnings to today. You will also find out which children’s author made her livelihood here and discover a “secret” garden typically closed to visitors.

The tours will run from 11 a.m. – 1 p.m. and the starting point is in the courtyard of the Lea Elementary School, on 47th, between Spruce and Locust Streets. Tickets are only $5 (only cash accepted) and the organizers would appreciate if you RSVP at: GCCAtour@gmail.com. More information is available on the event’s Facebook page.

Historic March on Washington August 28, 1963.

Fifty years ago this week, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered his pivotal “I Have a Dream” speech in front of a crowd of over 250,000 civil rights supporters during the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom on Aug. 28, 1963. It was one of the largest human rights political rallies in the country and was instrumental in advancing civil and political rights for decades to come.

This Wednesday, in honor of the 50^th anniversary of the march, neighborhood organizer Algernong Allen will hold an audio playing of Dr. King’s famous speech in Cedar Park on 49^th Street and Baltimore Avenue at 6:30 p.m. The event, titled “March on West Philly,” is free and open to the public.

While no formal discussion is planned for after the event, Allen encourages community residents to stay and discuss both the speech and strategies for advancing civil rights.

“I wanted to celebrate the beauty of the original March on Washington, and felt that others would like to be able to do the same in some way,” Allen wrote in an e-mail to West Philly Local. “I want people to walk away more connected, more neighborly to those neighbors who look different, and reminded that there is still work to do.”

Some progress has been made in the five decades since that historic march, but civil rights are still under threat from Voter ID laws introduced and passed through state governments, the disproportionate number of people of color incarcerated, disparity in wages between genders and races and law enforcement profiling. So Allen hopes that the event can also mobilize West Philly residents to work together “to cultivate and extend the borders of a good quality of life”—to continue the fight for Dr. King’s dream.

“To those on the front lines of the civil rights movement, we owe a debt. A debt which we repay by our continued diligence in creating a world for our children in which our society, marches toward the highest aspects of our humanity,” Allen said. “Dr. King’s speech symbolizes and articulates that.  This is how we can say thank you, and rebroadcast the message of the movement that inspired the man.”

–Annamarya Scaccia

Dock Street beer was reincarnated in an old firehouse near 50th and Baltimore six years ago this week. The brewpub, which despite initial concerns has proven to be an anchor in the Cedar Park neighborhood, is throwing a party to celebrate.

Draft beers will be available at half price from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. on Thursday as part of the celebration. Dock Street will also release Trappist IPA, which was brewed with past Dock Street Brewer Scott Morrison, George Hummel of Homesweet homebrew and Tom Peters of Monk’s Café.

Rosemarie Certo raises a glass during Baltimore Avenue Dollar Stroll in 2012. Photo by Mike Lyons/West Philly Local.

The party is also a chance to look back at how Dock Street came to the firehouse, which was the center of a community controversy for many years. Many will recall the debut of the original Dock Street, Philly’s first microbrewery, back in 1985. Rosemarie Certo and her husband Jeffrey Ware later sold the brewpub, located in Logan Square, in 1998. A few years later, after it folded, Certo bought back the bottling rights and the name.

The stately brick building, built in 1903, has its own storied history. Here is the short version for those who need caught up: Fire companies Engine 68 and Ladder 13 moved out of the building in 1984 and there was a good chance that it would go on the auction block and, very possibly, be demolished. In stepped Cedar Park Neighbors, which bought the building for $1 from the city. The neighborhood organization helped save it by taking out a loan to renovate the building, which had become an eyesore with boarded up windows and decaying bricks. Members also helped lead the West Philadelphia Future Fund, which raised and distributed money to attract minority-owned businesses to the new farmers market opened inside the firehouse in 1988. The market had everything from working bakers and butchers to fish mongers.

That said, this is Philly, and the farmers market was not without its controversies, including complaints from potential tenants that the rent was too high.

“This project has been planned so that the community can see that there can be efforts where minorities can be providers as well as consumers,” a person involved in the project told The Philadelphia Inquirer at the time. “If this works, this will be a model for the whole state.”

It didn’t quite work out that way and by the late 1990s the main part of the building was empty again.Cedar Park Neighbors kicked into gear again and petitions started going around. Some nearby churches feared the brewpub would do more harm than good for the area and there was heated debate. Again, this is Philly – West Philly.

After a possible spot in Mount Airy fell through, Dock Street applied to the city to open a brewpub and pizzeria in the space, which was in the heart of what The Philadelphia Inquirer called “the gentrification frontier” in September 2007.

Dock Street opened on Aug. 20, 2007 and since then has helped attract more new businesses to the neighborhood. Back then there was a party, just like tomorrow.

Photo: Annamarya Scaccia/West Philly Local

Already home to Philadanco and PhilaFunkLive, the seemingly quiet stretch of N. Preston Street between Market and Filbert Streets is buzzing with even more activity now that Inewsent Studios has claimed space in the historic Bell Telephone Exchange, which once served as a telecommunications enterprise in the early 1900s.

Opened in April, Inewsent, located on the second floor of the 113-year-old Georgian Revival building at 8 N. Preston Street, is a 12,000 square-foot independent multimedia complex meant to support independent journalists and artists living and creating in the city. It’s actually an extension of PhilaFunkLive (PFL), a sweeping 3,000 square-foot live performance hall and screening space in the Exchange that was founded by Powelton Village resident and real estate developer Michael Davis in 2007.

In addition to PFL, which hosts 12 – 15 bands a week, Inewsent houses two offices, three audio production studios, two additional 1,000 square-foot performance spaces in the basement, a 25-person call center, WINR Radio, WPFLTV, Cup O Soul Philly (a coffee shop only open during PFL events), and Inewsent Gallery, a permanent art space curated by Stephanie Santos and Lindsay Gilbert. In the future, Davis plans to also run an independent national news station out of Inewsent and is currently looking for a national news anchor and independent journalist in Philadelphia and 49 other cities across the country, from Alaska to Florida.

“Inewsent Studios provides performance spaces where independent artists can be seen and heard and also provides a productive, creative and collaborative environment,” said 52-year-old Davis, a former Army Military Police officer and Judge Advocate General who also runs his medical malpractice and criminal defense law practice out of the Exchange’s first floor. “I wanted to find the ‘best use’, do something fun and support independent artists, which is my passion.”

–Annamarya Scaccia

William Hamilton Mansion at The Woodlands.

This Tuesday (May 21) there’s a rare chance to see a Curio Theatre show at an historic location. For one night only Curio presents “William Hamilton: Not Your Typical 18th Century Gentleman” at the Hamilton Mansion at the Woodlands (40th and Woodland). The show runs from 7 to 9 p.m.

Here are some details about the show from the Curio website:

“This light-hearted performance will feature fictionalized accounts of the life of William Hamilton, written and performed by members of the award-winning Curio Theatre Company. Presented in the historic eighteenth century home of one of Philadelphia’s most prominent citizens, this one-night-only production chronicles the life of the man behind The Woodlands, based on historical accounts, documents, and letters from his Founding Father contemporaries (including Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, and Charles Drayton).”

All in all, it should be an unforgettable evening that also includes complimentary cocktails served in “true Hamilton style.” For more information and to buy tickets ($15), go here.

While West Philly’s Hip Hop Fundamentals has already reached—and exceeded—their $10,000 Kickstarter fundraising goal, there are still 22 hours left to donate to the campaign supporting the dance crew’s upcoming educational assembly, “Civil Rights Movements: The Power of Youth Engagement as Seen Through the Eyes of Dr. King.”

Founded in 2011 by Repstyles Crew members Steve “Believe” Lunger and Mark “Metal” Wong, Hip Hop Fundamentals work to “empower and educate” local youth by teaching academics and social issues through hip hop assemblies. Their new hour-long “Civil Rights Movement” show (view video below), which will be performed at 10 Philadelphia public schools, will use dance, history lectures, music, interactive workshops, and audience participation to showcase the critical role students played in advancing civil rights in the 1950s and 1960s. A free May 5 public performance of the show at Clark Park kicked off the crew’s fundraising efforts.

During the show, students will have the opportunity to unite to “overcome prejudice, breaking unjust laws, writing letters to elected officials, marching and protesting, and boycotting,” Hip Hop Fundamentals’ Education Director, Aaron “Professor Peabody” Troisi. Hip Hop Fundamentals five-performer cast will read samples from different Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. letters and speeches, including “I Have a Dream” and “Letter from a Birmingham Jail,” as well as highlight examples of student leadership and involvement  in the Greensboro Lunch Counter Sit-Ins, the Montgomery Bus Boycott, and the Freedom Rides.

“Civil Rights Movement” will also illuminate hip hop’s connection to the historic movement, with particular focus on Afrika Bambaataa and other founders of the politically and socially-conscious genres. According to Troisi, in drawing this connection, Hip Hop Fundamentals will show how hip hop “is one of the many legacies of the Civil Rights Movement; an empowering modern culture in which young people play a critical role.”

The tour will kick off before the end of this month and last through the end of the school year. While Hip Hop Fundamentals is still hammering out schedule and location details, the crew hopes to perform in West Philly’s Samuel Gompers and Overbrook Elementary schools, as well as Dimner Beeber Middle School.

According to Troisi, all funds raised through Kickstarter will go towards tour overhead, which costs roughly $1,000 per show for performers, transportation, production, and other expenses, with no costs passed on to the schools. He said some of the money will also fund arts programming provided free to local high-need schools, and hiring local young dancers for HHP’s youth-teaching-youth mentorship framework.

“We are hoping to bring empowering arts programming back to Philly’s public schools. We are hoping to work with and educate the youth in our communities who need it most,” he said. “This campaign has been so successful, it is obvious that our city is starved for good, educational arts programming. We’re honored to be a part of providing that to youth in our city.”

– Annamarya Scaccia