Nightlife

On Saturday Night, Old City Is Full of Drunks Who Like to Fight

Photo: Old City District

So… Old City. No one’s sure what to think about it these days. Is it a lovely, lively spot full of nice restaurants and jolly nightlife and charmingly quaint shops like the Franklin Fountain? Or is it overrun with an out-of-town doucheosie dipped in hair gel, doused in booze and itching for a fight or even a gun battle? The Inquirer followed around a police officer on Saturday night and finds evidence of the latter.

It’s worth a read for the descriptions of dorky drunks falling into piles of slush, but what’s really interesting is a police captain’s explanation of how things in Old City have actually quieted down in the past few years:

“Two years ago, it seemed like we were breaking up a lot of fights,” said Philadelphia Capt. Brian Korn, head of the Sixth District, which includes Old City. “Things have really died down a lot since then.”

Except for, you know, the shootings, of which there have been either two or eight over the past year, depending on who’s counting.

The same article refers to the “growing popularity” of Old City and how it’s now taking its turn as the new “hot spot” - stealing that questionable honor from South Street, Manayunk and Delaware Avenue - but a police officer notes the troublemakers “aren’t from the area and more likely visiting from New Jersey or the Pennsylvania suburbs.”

Now if someone would just write a feature on Old City on a weeknight, we imagine it might tell a different, less dreg-ful tale.

Old City Deals with Drinkers Turned Fighters [Inquirer]

On Saturday Night, Old City Is Full of Drunks Who Like to Fight