A community in pictures: Philadelphia’s Italian Market
Photos by Calvin Ho.
Last week, several SMP members took a trip to the Italian Market, a section of 9th Street in South Philadelphia. We found a vibrant commercial area that has been undergoing a dramatic demographic shift. The northern parts of the area were filled with Italian-American shops catering to locals and tourists. The further south we went, the more Mexican shops and restaurants we found.
As WHYY explains, Mexican migrants, mostly from the state of Puebla, are becoming a significant part of the population in South Philadelphia. Not everyone in the neighborhood is happy with this demographic shift; at 9th and Passyunk is Geno’s Steaks, which stirred controversy a few years ago when it posted signs at its ordering stations that say “This Is AMERICA: WHEN ORDERING, ‘SPEAK ENGLISH’.”
