South Philadelphia Over the Years

South Philadelphia Over the Years

This article relates to Early Sobrieties

After Michael Deagler's protagonist Dennis Monk in Early Sobrieties is ejected from his parent's house in suburban Bucks County, he drifts, as many former small-town and suburban kids do, to the nearest big city. As much as Early Sobrieties is a book about new starts to life, it is also an ode to South Philadelphia, which officially became included in the city proper starting in 1854 and has changed in many ways since then. South Philly neighborhoods feature prominently in chapters of Deagler's novel, from Southwark ("Southwark") to Grays Ferry ("Kid Stuff") and Moyamensing ("Moyamensing").

The area that is now South Philadelphia was first inhabited by the Lenape, then by Dutch settlers, and over time took on the cultural identities of various groups that arrived there. In the early 19th century, free Black Americans and Irish immigrants formed the largest communities. In an atmosphere of tension due to competition over jobs, Black residents were targeted by white mobs during riots that took place in the 1830s and '40s, and continued to face threats later on. By the early 20th century, Russian Jews, who had fled oppression under the tsar, and Italians comprised the largest populations. In the 1970s, Vietnamese refugees began to settle. By the time of the 1990 census, the ethnic makeup of the area was approximately 31% African American, 31% Italian, 10% Irish, 5% German, 4% Asian, and 3% Hispanic.

In this place of historical racial, ethnic, and cultural diversity, denizens have had one trait in common until recently: class. South Philadelphia's economic mainstay was traditionally blue-collar jobs supplied by the nearby factories, ports, and waterways, including the Navy Yard, which closed in 1995 and was eventually converted into offices. With the revitalization of Center City Philadelphia, the adjacent northern neighborhoods of South Philadelphia began to see an influx of young urban professionals and rising housing prices.

Deagler's character Dogman, an accountant, lives in Bella Vista ("New Poets") and Monk stumbles upon his old friend Kevin Mangan in East Passyunk, a neighborhood of high-end vintage shops and pet supply emporiums whose "gentrification needle [has] recently ticked from up-and-coming to no vacancy." Philadelphia magazine lists the East Passyunk restaurant boom in 2009, a weathervane indicator for gentrification, as a historical marker in South Philly's timeline, along with significant events like the first official Mummers Parade in 1901, the opening of Pat's King of Steaks (the originator of the cheesesteak sandwich) in 1930, and the election of two-term mayor Frank Rizzo in 1971.

South Philadelphia from One Liberty Observation Deck in May 2017, by Dough4872 (CC BY-SA 3.0)

Filed under Places, Cultures & Identities

This "beyond the book article" relates to Early Sobrieties. It originally ran in July 2024 and has been updated for the May 2025 paperback edition. Go to magazine.