Northern Liberties: A Transformation
31 May 2011 | Share:
Twelve years ago I stepped into the enchanted, and hidden, terrain of Frank Hyder on Second Street in the Northern Liberties. Frank told me about the pioneering days in the mid-1970s, when he and compatriot Ira Upin moved into the neighborhood: encounters with revenge-filled Sonny Rosenberg, Mickey Grossman’s “Trashman’s Special,” and Mr. Big Balls. I put all these and Harry Schur, the “King of Nails,” into chapter seven of Song of the City. But mostly I was captivated by the world that Frank and Ira had built on everyone else’s ruins. This Friday at 6PM I return to Frank’s world for the opening of an art show: “Northern Liberties: A Transformation” at the Projects Gallery at 629 N. 2nd organized by Jennifer Baker. I’ll read selections from Song of the City. Plus there will be a viewing of a film about the neighborhood by John Thornton.