Badlands Background
5th & Lehigh
So my hood Badlands (Fairhill section) is known for "El Centro de Oro" (aka “The Golden Downtown” or “The Golden Block”) on 5th & Lehigh. El Centro de Oro was established in the 1970s by community leaders from an older Latino community that was in the process of being displaced from the Spring Garden area as a result of gentrification. Organizations such as El Concilio de Organizaciones Hispanas de Filadelfia (Council of Spanish-speaking Organizations of Philadelphia) and the Spanish Merchants Association of Philadelphia encouraged Latino businesses and organizations to move to the Fairhill and Kensington neighborhoods and worked to develop Latino and Puerto Rican-oriented housing, cooperatives, and social service organizations💪🏽
4th & Lehigh
This one is more personal history than from the city. This intersection is home of the "Fairhill Square" park. Growing up as a young boul, my mom would frequently bring me there and I'd play on the playground. Given the neighborhood I was in, I wasn't really allowed in the grass, especially at night. Lots a drug paraphernalia lying on the ground, but it was/is the closest park to my childhood home so there weren't many options. This park would also host loads of different events ranging from community parties, concerts and other celebrations. When I got older, I would hang out with friends there and eventually, take my son there. "El Gran Teatro De La Luna" (meaning The Great Theatre of the Moon, Created by Rafael Ferrer) is one of my favourite things about the park. It's basically a stage they made where performances are held. I had shot the music video for my "Lord Knows" freestyle back in 2017 (yes, it was the Drake record and no, the video is no longer on online). The other things i love about the park are these 2 tables that were made for chess games (ig checkers too). The table's made of cement and has the black & white squares painted on. I would frequently choose to sit there, even when solo. Outside of the zombies, it's a whole vibe 😅
Fairhill & Somerset
2800 block of north Fairhill st. I lived on this block for 23years. This house has been in the family since the 70s. I smoked my 1st L here. Written/created 10+ mixtapes and projects. Seen many people come and go (drugs, jail, death, etc.). Narrowly avoided death multiple times by just minutes (shootings and shit like that). A family member that lived with us was actually beaten to death in front of my house. Long story short, my grandfather and i had clean up the blood/grey matter off the sidewalk cause the fire dept took too long. Outside of the negatives, i grew up with some great people (like Danny Melody, Problem Matic and others). This was the grandparents house, so basically a revolving door. At any given time, 10+ people couldve been living there. Apparently, when i was a baby, my uncle had the crib raided. Cops bust down doors and everything. When they had bust in my room (i had a “big bird” toy that spoke and was light activated), so they either turned the light on or their flashlight hit the toy and they was ready to shoot the toy cause they was startled (this was a story that was told to me by multiple people, i find it hilariously stupid). Ahhh, hood stories be like 😭
3rd & Indiana
This intersection was listed as number two in a 2007 list of the city's top ten drug corners. On top of that, it inspired a novel called "Third and Indiana" (which was published in 1994), written by Steve Lopez. Now Steve was a columnist for the Philadelphia Inquirer and worked in other cities from different publications (such as The Los Angeles Times, Oakland Tribune and more) and he wanted to talk about what he saw "in a neighborhood that [he] found so shocking and so unlike what [he] had seen in [his] years of reporting in other cities." The reason why that book alone is so important to the neighborhood's history, is because it popularized term "Badlands". Badlands was originally coined by Lt. John Gallo, who was the head of the East Division Narcotics Task Force at the time. He was able to make the term stick by taking shows like 20/20 and 48 Hours with him during investigations. My hood major baby 🤗
