Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Philadelphia (sometimes referred to as "Philly" or "the City of Brotherly Love") is the fifth most populous city in the United States and the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, both in area and population. Since 1854, the city has occupied all of Philadelphia County.{{GR|6}} As of June 30, 2005, the population estimate for the city was 1,470,151.

People and culture of Philadelphia

Demographics

As of the census{{GR|2}} of 2000, there are 1,517,550 people, 590,071 households, and 352,272 families residing in the city. The population density is 4,337.3/km² (11,233.6/mi²). There are 661,958 housing units at an average density of 1,891.9/km² (4,900.1/mi²). The racial makeup of the city is 45.02% White, 43.22% African American, 0.27% Native American, 4.46% Asian, 0.05% Pacific Islander, 4.77% from other races, and 2.21% from two or more races. 8.50% of the population are Hispanic or Latino of any race. The ethnic makeup of the city is 32.5% Black, 13.6% Irish, 9.2% Italian, 8.1% Puerto Rican, 6.4% German, and 4.3% Polish.

Related Topics:
Census - 2000 - Population density - White - African American - Native American - Asian - Pacific Islander - Other races - Hispanic - Latino - Black - Irish - Italian - Puerto Rican - German - Polish

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Philadelphia has long been a Black and White city, and currently the city's white and African American populations are about equal in size. The city also has the second largest Irish, Italian, and Jamaican populations in America. Increases in Latino immigration have created a diverse Hispanic community centered around El Centro de Oro in North Philadelphia. There is also a large Puerto Rican population in the city. The Asian community has long been established in the city's bustling Chinatown district, but recent Vietnamese immigrants have also forged neighborhood and bazaar alongside the venerable Italian market. Numerous Korean immigrants have come to the already melting pot of Olney. Numerous other cultures can also be found throughout the city, including Subsaharan Africans and West Indians in the Cedar Park neighborhood, and many Russian, Greek and Ukrainian immigrants (Near Northeast).

Related Topics:
Irish - Italian - Jamaican - El Centro de Oro - North Philadelphia - Puerto Rican - Chinatown - Italian market - Olney - Near Northeast

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Of the 590,071 households, 27.6% have children under the age of 18 living with them, 32.1% are married couples living together, 22.3% have a female householder with no husband present, and 40.3% are non-families. 33.8% of all households are made up of individuals and 11.9% have someone living alone who is 65 years of age or older. The average household size is 2.48 and the average family size is 3.22.

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In the city the population is spread out with 25.3% under the age of 18, 11.1% from 18 to 24, 29.3% from 25 to 44, 20.3% from 45 to 64, and 14.1% who are 65 years of age or older. The median age is 34 years. For every 100 females there are 86.8 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there are 81.8 males.

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The median income for a household in the city is $30,746, and the median income for a family is $37,036. Males have a median income of $34,199 versus $28,477 for females.

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The per capita income for the city is $16,509. 22.9% of the population and 18.4% of families are below the poverty line. Out of the total population, 31.3% of those under the age of 18 and 16.9% of those 65 and older are living below the poverty line.

Related Topics:
Per capita income - Poverty line

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Annual fairs and events

• The Mummers Parade, held every New Year's Day on Broad Street
• The Greek Picnic, a reunion and celebration of African-American college fraternities
• Philadelphia St. Patrick's Day Parade
• The Wing Bowl, a chicken wing eating competition
• Philadelphia Flower Show
• Philadelphia Auto Show

Food

Philadelphia is a great restaurant town, with incredible diversity, depth, and quality in the restaurant scene. Notable restaurants include Iron Chef Masaharu Morimoto's self named Morimoto, Buddakhan, Old Original Bookbinder's, Vetri, Alma de Cuba, City Tavern, and Le Bec Fin.

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Little known facts:

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• In the 2005 Zagat Restaurant Guide, Philadelphia had more restaurants score 29 than any other city in the United States.
• Philadelphia routinely finishes first in food service industry surveys for the best tipping cities.

Distinctive Philadelphian dishes include:

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• Cheesesteaks, a kind of humble culinary masterpiece, made of paper-thin chipped ribeye steak fried on a griddle, cheese (usually either Cheez Whiz™, provolone, or American) and fried onions on an Italian hoagie roll. There tends to be some fairly fierce competition over the coveted "Best Cheesesteak" title, and many will often share their opinions vigorously on this topic. (Easiest place to get one is at 9th and Passyunk, where both Pat's Steaks and Geno's Steaks are located. Both are 24-hour operations, with trademark south-Philly Italian market awnings and tables on the sidewalks. Both being triangular shaped buildings, they stare at each other like opposing battleships facing an impasse while splitting clientele fairly evenly.)
• Hoagies -- a sandwich made with cold cuts and veggies on an Italian roll, similar to the submarine sandwich. Sandwich is so-named because of its popularity among Italian-immigrants employed at the former shipyards on Hog Island, with the sandwich originally being called a "hoggie".
• Scrapple -- corn meal mush cooked up with every part (scrap) of the pig, from the Pennsylvania Dutch country of Lancaster County.
• Italian ice (Water Ice)-- a frozen dessert, similar to a slushie except stiffer.
• Irish ice -- Water Ice served through a soft-serve ice cream machine, giving it a very unique texture.
• Polish ice -- A much looser, creamier form of Italian Ice, usually coming only in chocolate and vanilla.
• Gelati-- A mix of water ice and soft ice cream.
• Soft pretzel -- thick, doughy pretzels, generally coarse-salted, often served with mustard. Unlike soft pretzels of other cities, which are the same shape as hard pretzels, Philadelphia soft pretzels have a long, thin, block-like shape. Best eaten fresh, they generally don't keep well, becoming rather rock-like after several days.
• Stromboli -- similar to a calzone, invented in Philadelphia.
• Black Cherry Wishniak -- Old fashioned black cherry soda, made with actual black cherry flavoring.

Notable residents

Philadelphia has been home to many people of note, the most famous of whom is probably Ben Franklin, who along with the others in the Continental Congresses helped shape the city along with the country and the world.

Related Topics:
Ben Franklin - Continental Congresses

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Its cultural diversity is reflected in the music and musicians that have come from or through Philadelphia: the R&B styles of Jill Scott and Patti LaBelle, the jazz of Grover Washington Jr., Stan Getz, and Sun Ra, the rock of Todd Rundgren, Hall & Oates, and Pink, the hip hop of The Roots, the electronic-funk of Josh Wink, and the opera of Marian Anderson.

Related Topics:
Jill Scott - Patti LaBelle - Jazz - Grover Washington Jr. - Stan Getz - Sun Ra - Todd Rundgren - Hall & Oates - Pink - The Roots - Josh Wink - Marian Anderson

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Famed comedian Bill Cosby was born and raised in Philadelphia as well as actors Will Smith, John Barrymore, Peter Boyle, and Kevin Bacon to name a few. Others, like Richard Gere, were born in Philadelphia, but moved elsewhere in their youths.

Related Topics:
Bill Cosby - Will Smith - John Barrymore - Peter Boyle - Kevin Bacon - Richard Gere

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Media

Philadelphia is home to some of the country's most prominent radio stations, including two of the nation's leading rock stations, WMMR at 93.3FM and WYSP at 94.1FM. Both stations have been breakthrough stations for many contemporary rock bands, and both are widely known in the rock music community for their influence in impacting the country's rock music trends.

Related Topics:
Rock - WMMR - WYSP

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In 2005, Philadelphia became the largest city in the United States without a modern rock-format radio station, in part because of the difficulty such a station has in gaining market share from WMMR and WYSP, two of the country's most popular rock stations. WPLY Y100 had formerly been a purely Philadelphia-based alternative rock station, but its format was changed to hip hop in early 2005 by parent company Radio One.

Related Topics:
WMMR - WYSP - Y100 - Hip hop - Radio One

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Philadelphia is home to WHYY-FM (90.9 FM), the Delaware Valley's premier public radio station and NPR affiliate. WHYY-FM produces Fresh Air, and is affiliated with WHYY-TV, which serves Philadelphia but broadcasts out of Wilmington.

Related Topics:
WHYY-FM - NPR - Fresh Air - WHYY-TV - Wilmington

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WXPN (88.5 FM), operated by the University of Pennsylvania, is responsible for launching the careers of many famous artists who couldn't get airplay from the major stations at first. The station is funded to a large extent by listeners who become members. WXPN sponsors a music festival each summer, and they now broadcast worldwide via their website: http://www.xpn.org.

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WXTU (92.5 FM) is the most listened-to country music station in the northeast, and second most east of the Mississippi, behind only Nashville's WSM.

Related Topics:
WXTU - WSM

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WOGL (98.1 FM) is a popular station for oldies.

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Philadelphia's current sports talk radio station, WIP 610AM, became the city's "Pioneer Radio Voice" on March 17, 1922. The station, which was owned and operated by the Gimbel Brothers Department Store, was the city's first radio station.

Related Topics:
WIP - March 17 - 1922

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Museums and art collections

• Atwater-Kent Municipal Museum
• Academy of Natural Sciences
• Barnes Foundation
• Edgar Allan Poe House
• Fairmount Water Works and its interpretive center
• Fort Mifflin
• Franklin Institute
• Liberty Bell & Independence Hall
• Mütter Museum of the College of Physicians of Philadelphia (museum of medical and pathological oddities and curiosities)
• National Constitution Center
• Philadelphia Doll Musuem
• Philadelphia Museum of Art (with 'Rocky' steps, although Rocky himself is currently installed down at the Spectrum)
• Please Touch Museum
• Rodin Museum (largest collection of Auguste Rodin's works outside France)
• Rosenbach Foundation & Rosenbach Museum
• University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology
• Mummers Museum
• Wagner Free Institute of Science
• 30th Street Station
• Betsy Ross House
• Philadelphia City Hall
• Eastern State Penitentiary
• Elfreth's Alley
• Fairmount Park
• Gloria Dei National Historic Site, built in 1700, is the oldest church in the state.
• Italian market
• LOVE Park
• One Liberty Place
• Penn's Landing
• Philadelphia Zoo
• Reading Terminal Market
• Rittenhouse Square
• SEPTA Museum
• South Street
• Walnut Street Theatre, the oldest operating theatre in America
• For a traditional Philadelphia cheesesteak - Tony Luke's, Pat's Steaks, Geno's Steaks or Jim's Steaks (though cheesesteaks can be found at most any corner pizza shop).

Sports