Interview with Elmer Smith, columnist for the Philadelphia ...



Interview with Mr. Elmer Smith

Columnist with the Philadelphia Daily News

Interviewer: Michelle Tiger, MSW Candidate, University of Pennsylvania

Mr. Smith was born in June, 1945. Mr. Smith has been in journalism for over 30 years and worked for the Evening Bulletin until it ceased publication in 1983. Mr. Smith has been a columnist with the Philadelphia Daily News for over twenty years, first as a sports writer, then a sports columnist, and later as an editorial columnist. Mr. Smith is presently a feature columnist and associate editor of the Daily News opinion ages. Mr. Smith is also a professor of journalism at Temple University, where he has taught news and editorial writing. Mr. Smith has won numerous writing and civic awards including the coveted Nat Fleisher award for lifetime achievement from the Boxing Writers Association of American. He has also won three first-place awards from the Keystone Press Association and an American Red Cross public service award for columns he filed from location in Haiti and Somalia during the relief efforts.

I met with Mr. Smith on April 2, 2003 at his office at the Philadelphia Daily News at 400 North Broad Street, Philadelphia, PA. We discussed the South Street West neighborhood.

**************************************************************************************

Mr. Smith: There’s a difference between the South Street corridor and South Street. When I think about South Street and gentrification…South Street has to be about 70% commercial, so it’s not what you’d think of in terms of gentrification.

Interviewer: I’ve gotten feedback from the business owners that I expect might be different than feedback I would get from the residents.

Mr. Smith: South Street has transformed itself as a business community in the way that Penn’s Landing has, in the absence of an active plan by the city. There seems to be a natural course of things that occurs. All those clubs that you see along Columbus Boulevard, those are not the uses that the city would have planned, but there was one club, then another, and another.

So there gets to be a critical mass. If you looked at Front Street, just a block west, and south from Market Street to Washington Avenue, there’s probably 50 restaurants in that corridor. Again a situation that created itself. South Street, similarly, has evolved as a business community, not as much by design as by the attraction of similar uses. The clubs, the junk shops, “Condomnation,”all those places on the eastern end of South Street, sort of sprung up. Now, west of Broad Street on South Street, historically going back to the Philadelphia Tribune located on 16th Street, was more residential than east of Broad Street. It’s becomingly increasingly commercial.

Interviewer: Even South Street was residential?

Mr. Smith: Even right on South Street there were homes…and lofts above the stores downstairs. Maybe a third or more of the buildings there were totally residential…we’re talking 30 years ago. The change has been much slower. That was an entirely Black neighborhood.

Interviewer: Are you from Philadelphia? Did you grow up here?

Mr. Smith: I’m from West Philadelphia and my parents are also from West Philadelphia. The South Street corridor, from 15th Street to about 22nd Street, has been almost all commercial for most of my life. And it has been mostly integrated commercial. As you got closer to Broad Street it became more racially integrated. It’s a typical kind of commercial corridor in that it drew from both sides of South Street in about a 4 to 5 block area. It’s not like the eastern end of South Street that draws people from all over the city. The western end is patronized by local people. But it always held its own as a commercial area. It’s not downtown though. It’s more small business owners supported by the local community. The nature of the businesses has changed somewhat with the demographics, especially south of South Street, what they call “SOSNA”…the South of South Neighborhood Association. And north of Lombard Street, and from Lombard to Washington Avenue was a historic Black neighborhood. In fact, it was the first Black neighborhood in Philadelphia, and extended east of Broad Street. There were no Black people in North Philadelphia at the time that Dr. DuBois wrote The Philadelphia Negro. The Black population was concentrated in the neighborhood we’re talking about now, around South Street.

Interviewer: There weren’t Black neighborhoods in West Philadelphia?

Mr. Smith: The migration to West Philly came later. My father was born in South Philly, his father was from South Philly. If you’re a Black person in Philadelphia, you can trace your lineage in Philadelphia more than four generations…it goes right to South Philly. So that was a historic Black neighborhood.

Interviewer: What were the boundaries of the South Street West neighborhood?

Mr. Smith: Just north of Lombard Street to west of where Graduate Hospital is now, around 21st Street. The neighborhood crossed over to the east side of Broad Street to about 11th Street. And south to Christian and Carpenter Streets, to about Washington Avenue. From the 300 block to 800 block of South Street, then from 12th Street to about 21st Street was the hub of the Black community. The Royal Theater was a Black theater. There was the Dunbar, a Black theater. The Philadelphia Tribune located in the area, on 16th Street, for historic reasons… because that area was the center of the Black community.

Interviewer: Was the Strand there too? I also saw the Uptown Theater on Broad Street in North Philly.

Mr. Smith: Not sure where the Strand was. The Uptown wasn’t open until many years after the Royal opened. In fact, North Philly became the nerve center of the Black community of Philadelphia after the first World War. The Uptown didn’t open until the 1950s and closed in the 1970s. South Philadelphia was a historic Black neighborhood. What happened, for reasons that are not entirely clear to me…maybe proximity to Center City and proximity to a vital White neighborhood on the other side to the south and to the east…outside interests began to encroach on the South Street community. Which was easy enough to do because the Black residents were beginning to disperse into West Philly and North Philly.

Interviewer: Were there White business owners in the neighborhood?

Mr. Smith: Oh yeah, there were a few White business owners. The closer you got to Broad Street, the more you would find White business owners. South Street had a lot of hair salons, grease joints, Bea’s Lawnside Barbecue, which is back there again. I think her son owns it. West of Broad Street, the 1500 block of South Street, was a café society kind of block. On the northwest corner of Broad and South Streets, there was Pep’s Lounge. It was a jazz room…very, very hot nightspot! Pep’s was a place where all of the top jazz acts performed. Miles Davis, you name it…it was very hot. On the south side of South Street, in the 1400 block was the Postal Card, also a hot nightlife spot.

Interviewer: What year was this?

Mr. Smith: From about 1955 to about 1970 to 1975.

Interviewer: The Royal Theater closed around 1970.

Mr. Smith: There was a change on the street occurring about that time, gradually. Pep’s and the Postal Card were where the top jazz acts performed. There were two other clubs on the block but I can’t think of the names. And the grease joints went with the clubs. Bea’s Lawnside was the best of the grease joints.

Interviewer: What’s a grease joint?

Mr. Smith: A grease joint is a barbecue restaurant. The mythology is that when you’re drinking a lot there’s nothing like grease to line your stomach! Anyway, anybody who was anybody performed in the clubs there…Miles Davis and many others.

Interviewer: It was a jumpin’ place!

Mr. Smith: Exactly! And Walt Palmer will remember that…he could party pretty good in his time! All of that is an indication of what kind of neighborhood it was. You had to have a critical mass, enough people around, to support that kind of activity. People did come from other parts of town. It never became the Cotton Club…actually Pep’s did eventually, and then the Whites started to go there. By the time I started going to Pep’s, it was more White than Black. Pep’s Musical Bar, it was called, and there’s not a name in jazz during the bebop era that didn’t appear at Pep’s. A block north was a place called the Showboat, at Broad and Lombard Streets. That whole strip around Broad and South Streets had about a half dozen really hot night spots, mostly connected with music. Bea’s Lawnside had her competition across the street…

Interviewer: Was Ron’s Ribs there then?

Mr. Smith: That is Bea’s Lawnside! Ron is Bea’s son or grandson. It was called Lawnside because there was a nightlife spot in South Jersey that a lot of Black people went to. That’s way before the time we’re talking about, when Black people couldn’t go to nightclubs downtime. So they created their own strip in South Jersey…the Lawnside…the Tippin Inn…Loretta’s High Hat. Loretta actually came back and bought the Showboat years later. Later she moved in with Kenny Gamble. Kenny Gamble later sold his mansion on the Main Line and moved back to his old neighborhood near South Street. There’s a story. I said to him, how did you tell your family that they’re moving to South Philly from the Main Line? He moved back into his old neighborhood.

That whole café society was a culture. There were also art studios, largely Black owned. So anyway, what happened was in the area just south of South Street and on South Street, people started to move in. Actually, the city condemned a couple of blocks, Naudain Street, Rodman Street, using eminent domain to move people out. Some of the houses were in pretty shoddy shape. There was an expansion of Graduate Hospital anticipated. It actually happened.

Interviewer: Was the city working with Graduate Hospital through this change? When was this?

Mr. Smith: Yes, the city was working with Graduate. About 25 years ago. Late 1960s, early 1970s. Some of these condemnations, this eminent domain raid, began before that, for reasons that are not entirely clear to me as to how they were able to do that. I was never able to figure out how the city did that over in Walt Palmer’s neighborhood, in West Philly. Afterward, some of those lots stayed empty for years. Anyway, the thing that was so deeply resented by a lot of people is that new houses were built sometimes on the foundations of those houses that were destroyed. And then new people, richer people, moved in. The poorer people were driven out by the higher taxes. But we’re really only talking about maybe 4 or 5 blocks of houses, but that’s all it took to make a difference because it’s bounded on 2 sides by commercial strips, Broad Street and South Street. So we’re just talking about those areas northwest off of Broad and South Streets that fell victim.

Interviewer: Several of the people that another student and I have interviewed for this project have said that things changed in the South Street West neighborhood when White people moved in. On one hand, there’s segregation and people wanting to be in certain places but not being permitted to. But at the same time, when White people moved in and this neighborhood became more diverse, the residents thought that was a bad thing. In a way, it seems they wanted their neighborhood to remain segregated. It’s not right to deny people equal rights and privileges because of the color of their skin but at the same time it seems that people self-segregate. Perhaps we’re all more comfortable with our own kind? I think it’s one of those things that we as human beings struggle with.

Mr. Smith: It’s true, we do self-segregate, but that’s not the case in this neighborhood. Blacks were consigned to this neighborhood. This was the place where Blacks were allowed to live in Philadelphia, if you trace it back for a long time. It was the only place they could live. If a Black person moved to Columbia Avenue in North Philly seventy or eighty years ago, there would have been a riot. It was primarily White then. It’s just the way it was at that time. I agree with you. Your observation is right on point, except that we were at the tail end of a forced migration to this area. So now from the standpoint of the Black people that are there, it’s more like what happened to the Native American Indians, when they got moved off their land to reservations. Then when oil was discovered on the land they were moved to, they were forced to move again. It’s more of that kind of situation here. Not that Blacks are entirely correct on that…some of it is memory, some of it is a sort of cultivated victimization that some Black people wear to some extent. But some of it is very real. Just look at the western end of South Street. There have been upscale townhouses that have replaced typical Philadelphia row homes that probably were not in bad shape. So from the standpoint of the residents who were there, what they believe, whether it’s entirely true or not, was that they were displaced specifically so that the neighborhood could be turned over to another class of people.

Interviewer: So Center City grew out, going south into the South Street neighborhood. It’s still happening now. Ms. Jessie, of Jessie’s Dress Shop, was telling me about new properties ½ block north of South Street at 17th Street that are selling for $400,000 to $476,000. That’s a lot of money! Who will live there?

Mr. Smith: Yes! There’s plenty of people who’ll live there.

Interviewer: Are some of them black professionals?

Mr. Smith: Yes, some. I have a friend building middle class housing. I’m on the board of Brandywine Workshop. Brandywine Workshop is a print workshop. We produce prints and make fine art accessible to people of minimal means. And right next door to us is the Clef Club at Broad and Fitzwater Streets. Next to that we own a lot, where there used to be a fire house, then there’s a little church and the paint store. And right behind that is a street called Pemberton. My friend is building very upscale housing in that area. Also, there’s a Dr. Johnson building in that area. $350,000 minimum. That’s a natural situation. What’s also natural is that the moderate income people will be hard pressed to stay. The paradox of gentrification is that if you own your home in an area that’s being gentrified, you should be glad for gentrification. It raises your property values, as long as the resulted effect on the tax rate doesn’t push you out. There are pros and cons, but black people tend to look at it as a historical trend. Naudain Street, Kater Street, Rodman Street…Queen Village…they’ve gone upscale and are driving people out. Look at property down south, like Hilton Head, which was largely Black, where the high taxes ran people out. Harlem. So what you’re looking at is a trend, part of it perceived, part of it real. But it’s inevitable, almost inexorable. It’s not evil.

Interviewer: Sometimes it’s evil. Maybe things are a little better now with Civil Rights but 30 or 40 years ago it probably was evil.

Mr. Smith: The difference today is that there are many middle-class Blacks in a position to benefit from it. So part of this is perception. I guess what I’m getting to is that the change has not been nearly as great as in West Philly. In West Philly, people were pushed out by institutions. White people did not come in and move into the neighborhood -- University of Pennsylvania came into the neighborhood. It’s a different scenario. It was much more rampant in West Philly. South Street is a smaller area.

Interviewer: Graduate Hospital – friend or foe? Is there anything you can tell me about how Graduate Hospital impacted the neighborhood?

Mr. Smith: I think the influence of the hospital has been good. Naturally one of the immediate impacts is that some people were displaced but there was not massive displacement. The hospital already owned much of the land that it developed.

Interviewer: The new building was built in the 1970s, right?

Mr. Smith: Right. It was not just the hospital…there were doctor’s offices. That’s a pretty stable neighborhood there. Much of the area we’re discussing is southeast of the hospital.

Interviewer: Yes, 1400 and 1500 block.

Mr. Smith: Oddly, much of the displacement has occurred on the side streets, Kater, Naudain, Rodman street. Pockets of displacement. Some of those blocks have been completely rebuilt so it’s kind of obvious when you look at it. But for the most part, the gentrification concern is not the same today. There are two levels of it. One, is starting again, the encroachment of middle class people. But the displacement we’re talking about was 35 years ago. It was more troublesome because people lost their homes and felt they were being displaced specifically because it was them and because, when you compared them to the people coming in, they may have outnumbered the people coming in, but the other people outweighed them. They were more “important”…they were “better” people…they were White people. There were some levels of animosity. There was a lot of homeownership of the Blacks who got displaced. Many of them made a few dollars in selling their homes.

Interviewer: Do you remember the 1960s when Cecil B. Moore came in?

Mr. Smith: I have a vague memory of that. I have to wonder when in his career this was. He became president of the NAACP around 1957. Cecil championed those Black people that felt they were being displaced. I don’t remember what they sought. Because what can you ask for in a case like that? That the taxes don’t go up? For the most part, people sold their houses, except for those condemnations through eminent domain.. I bet there were 500 families displaced…not to minimize that, but it’s not like University of Penn, where there was a master plan.

Interviewer: Somebody may have had a plan, on a small scale. A little here, a little there.

Mr. Smith: Yes, but the plan may have been bigger than small scale, though it was gradual. But that should give you an idea of what has happened in the South Street area around Broad…based on what I can remember during my lifetime.

................
................

In order to avoid copyright disputes, this page is only a partial summary.

Google Online Preview   Download