Devil's Pocket: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 06:51, 27 July 2012

Devil's Pocket is a neighborhood in the South Philadelphia section of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It is south of Lombard Street, east of 27th Street and north of Washington Avenue,^[1] on the western edge of Southwest Center City.

Devil's Pocket is a very small neighborhood of rowhouses tucked near an industrial landscape along the banks of the river. It has historically been heavily Irish-American. The term "Devil's Pocket", not commonly used today, is said to have originated with a priest saying the neighborhood kids were so bad they would steal a chain out of the devil's pocket.^{[citation needed]}

The area north of Bainbridge and west of Gray's Ferry Ave is separated from the remainder of this area by the former Navy Hospital, now Naval Square, a condominium complex developed by Toll Brothers. Unlike the surrounding neighborhoods, this area has not seen dramatic investment and rehabilitation, but has seen some gentrification, and a dilution of the Irish-American populace. Despite the increase in gentrification, however, there remains a large Irish population.