A Place To Live, 1941 

I've heard for years that the Free Library has tons of old documentaries like this stored away (and they probably threw out even move over the years). Someone should digitalize them and post them for the world to see.

Note the old gas street lamp on the left at 3:21. The last one was taken down in 1959.

back then, the farmlands were oxford circle, mayfair, Tacony, Castor Gardens, Burlhome, Fox Chase, Rhawnhurst etc.... Today the people who lived there or in N Philly live in the "Farmlands" and now call the suburbs the farmlands and there old homes the ''Badlands" 60 years changes everything

Yeah, Philly (And every large city) has violent crime and slums, but how can a young man make an honest living any more? Everything we did for work 50-60 years ago is GONE.

It's often a fine line between removing slums to give people better housing and removing the people and community with them.

The original Richard Allen Homes were later torn down after they became too dilapidated. Meanwhile some of the old rowhomes were fixed up and are now too expensive for most people to buy.

Philly is a great city - with typical urban problems found anywhere in the USA - and good and exciting things that make life worthwhile too. No it's not remotely like Detroit, but Detroit, too is just beginning to undergo a revival. This doesn't happen over night. It's clear some of the commenters here don't have a clue what is Philly is really like today.

It really is sad knowing that this video was made in 1941. I'm not ever sure our country was involved with WW2 since Pearl Harbor wasn't attacked until 12/7/41/. Here we are 80 years later and things have only gotten worse. What happened? I've been to so many cities in this great country and I've never seen a finer city then Philadelphia. But man, can you imagine if we all came together? How great every American city would be? So sad.

Actually, this film is from 1941, not 1947 - both IMDB and Wikipedia list it as being from then, and it was in fact nominated for an Oscar for Best Documentary Short for 1941. At the time, conditions would still have been much effected by the Depression, whereas in 1947 the huge economic impact from WW 2 might have been more apparent.

Why does ever documentary I watch have to be riddled with racial comments?

Philadelphia was once the capital of America back in 18th century but Philadelphia will always be the city of brotherly love.

Streets were so clean back then you could eat off them

Nice musical score by local composer and conductor whose names I hadn't seen for decades...

Have you ever been to Philly, No so why are you bashing it, Its one of the most beautiful and historic cities in the world.

My grandmother still washed her white marble steps.

Of course things were cleaner back then. There was no fast food, convenience stores and soda and beer and milk and OJ all were packaged in returnable bottles.My parents grew up in Swampoodle, and both had black friends and classmates in the late 40's, early 50's.

Philly looks way better than it did ten years ago.

Damn that is interesting--both for the street and apartment scenes and for the 1947 commentary. A late echo of New Deal thinking.

Strange film. By the end I gathered that the message was - Philadelphia is falling apart and needs to be fixed. Most of the viewer comments below seem to be about how Philadelphia looked cleaner 80 years ago. Honestly, it kind of looks the same to me. I just moved back to South Philly after 9 years away. Newspaper blowing in the street. Crumbling buildings and trash filled lots. It's all still here. So are the housing problems. Even still - it's a great city with a ton of character and awesome people. That's why I moved back. Loved seeing the strange south philly alley way @ 3:01 at the front of the house. I live in a house where that alley opening has been bricked over and is now a narrow storage room. My neighbor knocked on my door the other day and said "I need to get in your alley to find the cable wires" - I had no idea what he was talking about.

Thanks for posting this. I love to learn as much as I can about the history of the city. My mother told me how hard it was to grow up then, it was her, her older brother, and their mom. It was hard to find housing if you were divorced with children. They moved a lot, and her mom worked as a seamstress in the factories. I think there were/still are 2 realities in major cities like Philly...the areas of wealth and areas of poverty...and the working stiffs like us caught in the middle, some being squeezed out by gentrification. It's tough, no doubt...

I've lived in Philly almost 30 years, and to say your both right, wouldn't be off the mark at all. I LOVE the cultural, historical Philly. Too bad it's full of a kind of cancer that takes much of that out of the spotlight.

Wow, my dad wasn't even born until '47.....you'll never see ppl sweeping the streets like these good ppl @ the start of the video anymore. Philly was probably so clean....I wouldn't even call it "Philly" back then. I'd say "Philadelphia"....w my pinky out lol.

That young mother is an old lady.

Ironically, the Richard Allen Homes, shown being built in this film, rapidly turned into one of Philly's most notorious public housing hellholes. It would have been better to rehabilitate the existing neighborhoods instead of bulldozing them to build projects that warehoused and isolated the poor. Today, the Allen Homes are gone, replaced by townhouses of the same scalwe as the surrounding historic neighborhoods.

The streets and houses look just like London's East End.

I still love my hometown Philadelphia but with sections like Kensington it’s really embarrassing.

Wow so many places i recognized in the documentary. How they look so different yet they look the same

60 years later the neigborhood got wrose.

Most everyone used public transportation. Going back to that in mid 21st century. No more gasoline powered automobiles.

Wow... the 2601 on Pennsylvania Avenue hasn’t changed a bit. Maybe more parking at that time.

white people bought cars and moved to Levittown or Fairless Hills, where I grew up

I lived in a Philly project

And, for some, nothing much has changed.....

Reading Settling Accounts from Harry Turtledove And this gives me an idea of what the capital of the USA looks like in that alternate timeline

Nice surprise to see racial integration represented in a film at this time.

The 1950s was the height of population for Philadelphia. Every decade since then, the population went down, down, down. It wasn't until the 2010s, 60 years later, that Philadelphia saw a slight increase. Damn, 60 + years is a long time not to have a population increase. No wonder Houston & Phoenix have surpassed Philadelphia in population. Philadelphia will NEVER have the population like it once did in the 50s.

Are you serious? This film is from 1947

1905, 1910, 1915, 1920, 1925 TREMENDOUS new construction of row homes along the MFL public transportation. 15 cents round trip to ride in 1945.

ummm no the city has gotten better as time goes forward areas once thought of as a "shit hole" have really become high end many do not remember when south st was considered to be a "bucket of blood " and what is called old city was a slum !!....now fishtown ,south philly the market st corridor and yep even the dreaded norrrth philaaadelphia!!! have be come hip cool and trendy neighbor hoods change its is a cycle

Mama put all them ribbons in baby s hair lmao

My city 🤗

Guess you never been to Philly.

ok

The best place to live during the years 1940 1945 USA

I was born in Philadelphia it's the hood now

Public housing projects were the downfall. Well intentioned, but humongous failure.

iMAGINE WHAT HIS bLACK FRIEND WENT HOME TO AFTER SCHOOL BACK THEN?

My Dad was born in 1938 and Mom1942....they always told me how horrible this city was and OMG I despise. At times it was an okay city, especially in the 70's and 80's but OMG....all this city nowand forever be will be under construction it seems. The people are the WORST. All my schools have closed up except for college. This city is really dirty, that has not changed at all.

Now and in the long future a CITY OF RENTERS. Ownership no longer affordable.

Richard Allen Homes turned out real nice 😓

There goes the white privilege philosophy lol

Trying to find a TV 10 (then CBS) half hour documentary, circa 1961-63, titled "HELL ON HEATHER ROAD" which I think was produced/hosted by Donald Barnhouse, a special reporter for the Philly station, about a black family trying to move into an all-white suburban row home neighborhood in Folcroft, Pa. and the response that resulted.

Jesus Christ! TURN THE MUSIC DOWN!

COAL hot water radiator heat. TOASTY all winter.

Back when Philly was nice and many other cities. I wouldn't step foot in any city nowadays. Ghetto dumps every one I've been too.

So Philly has been a dump for years...I shouldn't be surprised

WOW… all this time, the names and faces have changed but the roles are still the same (if not worse). Social Planning has failed year after year, decade after decade and now generation after generation. Whether then or now why focus on what “others” need to do or what the “government” will do for you… this is insanity. We should focus on personal accountability. What are you going to do for yourself, where are going to move to, so that you do not have to live is squaller or so that there are jobs, what are you going to do to feed your family. Stand up for yourself and stop enslaving yourself to “free” programs… for nothing is free

propaganda

this is borring