Swashbuckling hats, carnival masks and wizard hats pepper the ball room. On the dance floor skims the turquoise crinoline of Sarah Hale, who is being twirled around by Capt. Percival Drayton, dressed in his Civil War best. In the corner leaning against the grand pillars of the ballroom is a gravedigger’s shovel.

This unusual scene is no ordinary costume party. This is the Gravediggers’ Ball, a benefit held every October for Philly’s oldest and most unique …

On a spring afternoon in 1992, Sultan Jihad Ahmad got into a fight with two youth close to his age. With a shotgun in their possession, the opposing youth shot 15 year old Ahmad six times–once in each leg, once in his side, once in his back and a final shot in the back of his head. Why did these two teenagers murder Ahmad? Because he had …

The area around 15th Street at Ridge Avenue is practically vacant during the middle of the day. Aside from a few people who live in the area and walk the streets or those who own the few businesses at that end of Ridge, there usually isn’t much activity.

Now fast forward to the hours after the sun goes down and take another look at the location. Between some boarded-up, abandoned …

It’s now the Marketplace at East Falls, but 3747 Ridge Ave. is the birthplace of something bigger.

Outside, there’s an inconspicuous, blue historical marker. Think of the cell phone pulsating next to you, the car that whizzed by a second ago, and the platform you are on at this very moment. Philadelphia played a massive role in developing the background of this technology.

The inky blue sign only winks. It was placed there in 2006 to commemorate the site of the first commercial digital computer, the Binary Automatic …

The principal at John F. Reynolds Public School near Ridge Avenue see the transient nature of her students and their families as a significant problem for the children’s education.“We’ll have kids in September, they’ll leave in December, and then they’ll be back in June,” says Principal Cheryl Hackett. 

It’s obvious that housing isn’t great along Ridge Avenue, especially close to Broad Street with vacant lots and abandoned buildings lining the street. While the outside appearance makes …

It was 11:30 a.m. and people were waiting to to go inside Miller Memorial Baptist Church on North 22nd Street off Ridge Avenue. This isn’t uncommon for  a Thursday afternoon because this is when the church hosts the Share A Blessing Ministry. Created 14 years ago by Deaconess Sarah Lynch, the ministry serves lunch to the homeless and needy every Thursday …

On Ridge Avenue—right before Strawberry Mansion hastily transforms into East Falls—on 78 acres of lush, tree-filled and flower-spotted land, sits the home of many important men and women. Their names aren’t always easily recognizable, but what they’ve done is. The founder of Breyers Ice Cream, the first American ballerina, the man who invented denim, the creator of Ladies’ Home Journal—they’re all here. Not all of them are good: rapists, murderers and Nazis, complete with their …